The Life Of Jesus pt.1

So I thought I would go through different parts of Jesus' life and write my thoughts. I will not go "too deep" with my thoughts. What I think I will do, is comment on the verses and maybe share a practical application to life and then a prayer. I may call it "The Life Of Jesus" and as I add a new post I will go pt.1, pt.2, etc. So we will begin with Matthew chapter 1.

 1 The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham : 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. 3 Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram. 4 Ram was the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon. 5 Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse. 6 Jesse was the father of David the king. David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah. 7 Solomon was the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asa. 8 Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah. 9 Uzziah was the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah. 10 Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, and Amon the father of Josiah. 11 Josiah became the father of Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. 12 After the deportation to Babylon : Jeconiah became the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel. 13 Zerubbabel was the father of Abihud, Abihud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor. 14 Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud. 15 Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob. 16 Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah. 17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations ; from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations ; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.

When you first begin to read Matthew you get a bunch of names. This is the genealogy of Jesus. You can read about some of these people in the Old Testament. This list only goes back to Abraham. You can begin to read about Abraham in Genesis 12. At that time he is known as Abram.

The Jews were waiting for a Savior. They had been waiting many years for the Christ. (Christ means Annointed One). But if you really think about it, all people have been waiting for a "savior". It seems to be a universal longing. When you think of many of the most popular movies or books, there is usually a savior of some kind in the story. Think about it, Star Wars, The Lord Of The Rings, Braveheart, Gladiator and the list could go on and on. They all share the idea of a savior. Even romantic movies have the idea of a person coming to be your savior. Jane Eyre books like Sense and Sensibility. In fact, in Titanic, at the end Rose says, "He saved me in every way a person can be saved."

 You would think that if Jesus was going to come into this world He would come through a "pure" line. As you read about some of these people you quickly learn that this family is anything but "pure".

Abraham, for example. He is a great man of faith. But also out of a lack of faith he lied, which put his wife's life in jeopardy. He did this not just once, but twice.

There is David who was known as a man after God's own heart. But as Ken Gire says, he was also a man after other things. Bathsheba, for one. With whom he committed adultery." He also in trying to cover up his sin, had her husband murdered.

Rahab was a prostitute. Jacob was a trickster. As you read about these people in the Old Testament you begin to see they all had dysfunctional lives. You want to talk about a dysfunctional family, this is it.

And yet, this was the line that Jesus came through. These were the people Jesus chose to identify himself with. You and I don't get to choose our family. But Jesus is God, and He came through this group of people.

Application: As I reflect on this passage it reminds me that God can still use people who have made some mistakes in their lives. These people didn't make "small" mistakes. These were mistakes that society looks at as big. Murder, adultery, prostitution, deception and the list could go on and on. So we need to remind ourselves that our sin can't get to a place where God's grace can't reach.

I also am reminded that God is still working out His plan in spite of our shortcomings. Now this isn't an excuse to be disobedient to God. But God still worked out His plan even though these people seemed to make some very big mistakes in their lives.

Finally this passage reminds me that Jesus is not ashamed to identify Himself with us. As I stated earlier, He could have come through a line that was more pure than this line, but He didn't. He continues to reach out to people even when we have made a mess of our lives. Others may be ashamed of us, but He isn't. In fact, the Bible says that the way that He would be ashamed of us, is if we are ashamed of Him. But He doesn't say He is ashamed of us because of our sins and failures.

Prayer: Oh LORD thank You for coming to this Earth and living among us. Thank You for identifying Yourself with us. Thank You that even though it seems like we have messed up our lives, You are still working out Your plan.Help us to not listen to that voice that tells us we have gone too far and there is no hope. As we look at this list of people and their history we know there is always hope. Help us to listen to You and respond in obedience. As You help us to get our lives to the place You want, help us to never become self righteous or to think we are better than anyone else. We thank You for never giving up on us. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Walking With God And Live Music

I remember one of my joys as a young child was to buy a live lp by an artist. I remember "Wings Over America" being one of my early favorites.Later on in High School my friends and I would listen to Dr. Demento on Sunday nights because many times they would broadcast a live concert recording by a band. We would get our blank cassettes ready so we could record the show. I remember hearing Santana on his "Zebop' tour many times that year on Dr. Demento. Even today I still enjoy buying a live dvd. It was and is always exciting to hear what an artist would do with their songs live. It is interesting to see how some of the songs have evolved. They might play the song longer, the tempo might be faster, there would be certain breaks or "kicks" that weren't on the studio performance. We would then learn the "live' versions and go perform them.

Now as a musician one of my joys is performing live with a band. It is really great to interact with other musicians in a "live" setting. You see when you play live in a band, the way it is suppose to work is that each musician is feeding off each other. This is why it is important to be a musician who not only can play well, but also listen well while he is performing. You can do this even while you are reading a "chart" or music. For example, when a drummer goes to a ride cymbal in a certain part of a song I will go to a certain run if I am playing the bass. Now the wonderful thing is that the next time we do that song the drummer may not use his ride cymbal in that part of the song so my bass line would be inappropriate at that part of the song, so I change my bass run. That is all in the process of listening as a musician. The chords haven't changed, the arrangement hasn't changed, but just by one musician changing how they did it before causes you to change how you approach that song. When I play guitar if the keyboard is "busy" in a certain part, then I try not to be. I expect the same response from a keyboard player if there is a part of the song where I am suppose to be "busy".

Now what does all of this have to do with trying to live for God? Well, in many ways the process is the same. You learn in life how to interact with God. You listen for His lead, and then respond. I think by our very nature we want a life that is fixed with formulas. If I do (a) then this should lead to (b). But walking with God doesn't always go like that. We sometimes want a list of what is ok and what isn't ok. We sometimes want to know how close can I get to the fire without getting burned. What we end up doing is turning a living relationship with Jesus into religion when we begin to do this.  Jesus didn't come to start a religion, He came that we might have abundant life.

Of course there are some laws like the Ten Commandments which cannot be broken without harm to our lives. But, there are other things in the Bible that aren't so black or white. This is where I see the correlation between playing music live and living for God. Just as you would as a musician get bored of playing a certain song the same way over and over again, living for God can get boring if you don't learn how to interact with Him.

In the areas that aren't black or white, what may be ok for you, may not be ok for me because God is directing our lives in two different ways. I'll give you an example from my life. Many years ago when I was "doing gigs for a living" I began to feel uncomfortable about doing gigs anymore. I began to feel like God was wanting me to stop doing gigs. Well, eventually I stopped. It was a step of faith. No, it was a leap of faith because I was doing about 125-150 gigs a year at that time. Where was I going to get that money that I was making from gigs. I also enjoyed doing gigs and playing music with all kinds of different musicians. I can say God supplied my needs. Looking back I don't know how, but He did. What I didn't know, was that God was putting me on the fast track in ministry. So, all that I was able to do in ministry I wouldn't have been able to do had I still been commited to doing gigs. But my point is, even though I was called away from doing gigs, that doesn't mean that every musician has to stop doing gigs when they begin to live for Jesus. That was the road He led me down. He may lead someone else down another road. By the way, about a couple of years ago He gave me the ok to play gigs from time to time. That is just one example of how we learn how to follow God's lead. We learn that there isn't always a clear cut way that is the same for everybody.

As I mentioned before, we make living for Jesus boring by turning it into a routine. We also do harm to others when we try to get them to live their lives for God in the exact same way that we have. It would be wrong for me to tell other musicians, "ok you need to stop doing gigs once you begin to live for Jesus." The sad thing is, is that many people do this. We expect them to go down the same road that we went down, but God may have a different road for them.

I have just used music as an example, but there are so many more. A tv show that may not be ok for me to watch may be ok for you. A movie that is ok for me, may not be ok for you. The list could go on and on. He may lead you one day to pray for someone at work and then the next day, you may not be lead to pray.

Again, there are some pretty black and white areas in the Bible and we need to obey those to enjoy the type of life that we have always desired. But there are also other areas that aren't so black and white. In those areas we need to learn to follow the lead of the Holy Spirit. He will guide us.

Hopefully I have been able to show you the correlation between playing music live and changing parts of the song and walking with God. Remember though, you can use other activities to get the point across. We interact, we follow His lead. We listen and obey. We make adjustments. This was how Jesus lived while He was on the Earth.

"Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.
                      John 5:19

For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
                     John 6:38

Jesus would follow the lead of the Father. One day He would be in a certain part of the country, the next He would be led to another part. In fact it was the Spirit who led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted for 40 days.

Jesus lived His life by interacting with the Father. When you read the Bible you don't get the sense that Jesus got bored by His relationship with the Father. As we follow the example of Jesus, our lives won't get boring either.

Troy


This first video is a clip from the Wings Over America Album. It was one of my early favorite live albums. I always loved how Paul put Jet with Venus and Mars and Rockshow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfKugneK5ao

The next video clip is just an example of a band interacting with each other.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2laQJWkxh0

This final video is a well known song done a little bit differently by the band. You can hear the guitar player adding parts that weren't in the original recording. It is a great example of how a song developed over time by the artists through live performance. You can sense the energy of the band, the artists, and the audience. Oh to have that type of energy for God. To live life following His lead where life is exciting and full of energy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhcq_Km5QcA

Blowing A Good Thing

Have you ever looked back on your life and realized you blew a good thing? Many people have. Some have blown a good marriage, others a good job, some a good gig, others a good opportunity. The list could go on and on. I know looking back over my life I have blown many situations. I think we all could look back over our lives and realize we have blown some good things in our lives. Sometimes we didn't just realize how good we had it. As we look around at people who have blown different areas in their lives I think the main thing to think about is not that they blew it , but what did they do after they blew it. I mean, since we have all blown a good thing at least once in our lives, the key is what do we do after that.

I was thinking of Adam and Eve. You want to talk about blowing a good thing. They were living in paradise. They had access to everything except some fruit on a tree. And what did they do? They blew it. The serpent deceived Eve into thinking things weren't as good as they were. I wonder if after they blew it did they ever think to themselves, "we really blew a good thing."

What was the key for them to be able to keep going in life? God. Sure they had to live with the consequences of their actions. But they were able to keep going on in life because of God and His provision for them. What do I mean? Well, they both realized they were naked, they had done what they weren't supposed to, and they couldn't fix the situation. Their solution was to run and hide from God. Which ironically is what we often do when we have blown a good thing.

       They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
                                                 Genesis 3:8

If we aren't necessarily thinking of God in our lives, we may not run from God but we run from the situation, or we may from people. But again Adam and Eve were able to keep going. Why? God. Genesis 3:21 says," The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them."

You may wonder why is that verse so important. Adam and Eve had blown a good thing. God had told them the consequences of their actions. But still they were naked and had no solution. But God clothed them. Also, by killing an animal to make clothes for Adam and Eve Blood was shed. This points forward to a time when we have blown it with God and we can't fix ourselves before God. What did God do? He sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross for us. His blood was shed for us. He covers not our naked bodies but our sin.  Hebrews 9:22b says," and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness."

So the key for Adam and Eve to be able to keep going on was accepting God's provision for themselves. It is the same for us. We have all blown good things in our lives. God wants us to keep going forward with life and learn from our mistakes. But we also have all blown it with God at some point , and God wants us to accept His provision for us, His Son Jesus.

God's love is amazing. He initiated the whole restoration process with Adam and Eve. If it had been left up to them they would have been still running from God and trying to cover their nakedness with fig leaves. The same is true for us. If it had been left up to us, we would all be running and hiding from God. We would be trying to cover our sin with our own religious efforts. But God initiated the restoration process not only with Adam and Eve, but also with us. His love and grace are amazing !!!


Troy