As Jesus hung on the cross it is said in the Scripture that He was suspended between heaven and earth.
It was at that point that He was caught between two worlds.
In the world below He was leaving 33 and 1/2 years of family, ministry and friends.
In the world above it was heaven the place of beginnings (for the lack of a better term).
Have you ever been there? Stuck between there, here and there?
Wanting "this cup to pass from you"?
Feeling rejected after dieing for your cause?
Thats what it means to be caught in between two worlds.
What jesus wanted to do is to tell the world that God loves them... they did not like Him or recieve Him. Heaven was waiting.... The angels were watching and God was weeping.
Today.... we are there... stuck between the there, here and the there. The world rejects us, the angels are watching and God is weeping.
One day it will all make since... Until then, be you. be yourself be creative and keep listening to God.
We are suspended between earth and heaven... they are watching. They are wondering why you are unique. Why you just wont be like them (the unchurched, the churched, the christian, the non believer, etc....).
What do we do. We remain open to His uniqueness to be manafest in us. His creativity to be used through us.
Be different
Be you
go for it
yea, they might kill you, but you will end up there. :)
Friday, September 25, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
TRAPPED
1 Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives,2 but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them.3 As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.
4 "Teacher," they said to Jesus, "this woman was caught in the act of adultery.5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?"
6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger.7 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, "All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!"8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.
9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman.10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, "Where are your accusers? Didn't even one of them condemn you?"
11 "No, Lord," she said.
And Jesus said, "Neither do I. Go and sin no more."
—————
People are trapped
Religion is trapped
We can be seduced by systems that will trap everything about us.
Our creativity
Our expression
Our opinions
Our interpretations
Only when we are caught in the act of sin does the church at large come on the scene…. To stone us.
I am not speaking on tolerance this morning, I am speaking on grace
Trapped, confused, dirty, matted hair, naked before her accusers (while the dude got away!!!!)
Sin? Yep
Wrong? Sure
Guilty? As charged
Do you remember what it was like to be trapped?
Can you relate to people who are?
Are you trapped on this side or that side?
This side –
The woman that was caught……..
Jesus was teaching, they brought this women and threw her on the ground in her shame at the feet of Jesus
She was snatched out of the bed
Most likely not enough time to put her clothes on
She lays there trembling and shaking
Dazed, confused and condemned
Trapped by her sin
Oh what a terrible thing to be trapped on this side. What a terrible thing to know that you are living in a way that does not please God.
To know that at anytime your sin could be called out on you.
Trapped
To know that you want to stop, but can’t
She probably said to herself as she lay in the bed after the act, “why do I keep doing this?”
Why can’t I stop?
Why can’t I get out of this depression?
Why do I gossip so much?
Why do I always spend more than I make/
Why do I do what I do?
Trapped
The evidence was in their hands and all she could do is sob on the ground as they asked Jesus,
“What are you going to do with this women???!!!!!!”
Trapped
THAT SIDE
Religion, the Church, the ones who have it all right??”
The Pharisees knew the word; they just did not know the author!
They came to challenge the author about his own word!
It’s always stupid to challenge an author about a book he wrote.
They attacked that women’s sin in the name of the “word”
They attacked her with words, they abused her with words
Calling her a whore, no good person
Trapped!!
(Story of a lady at Ferndale Assembly of God that was told to wear a dress if she came)
Trapped!!
On this side it’s hard to see grace
On that side it’s harder
She has shame
They have venom and judgment
They threw her down and said
What are you gonna do now?
She lay whimpering
Trapped
But before he spoke……………….
The bible states that He stooped down
On that ground is where divinity touched humanity
The statements were not in what he word or words or whatever He wrote
The statement was that he turned his back and did not say anything
She was trapped – Jesus was stooping
When the law caught us in the lowness of our sin, God stooped
They watched him
She peaked out of the corner of her eye
Maybe in his silence they remembered some of the words that the author of the book said
Like…….
“He humbled himself even a little lower than the angels
“He came in flesh”
As a baby in a horse troth
He became poor so we could be rich
Isn’t it funny, that when the religious men stood up, Jesus stooped down?
Do you remember what it was like to need Jesus to stoop down and save you?
Jesus stooped down, because she could not get up
Trapped
I don’t wanna thank him for my job this morning, or my clothes or my house or my family
I wanna thank Him because when I was caught in the act on THIS SIDE – THAT SIDE had to throw down there rocks!!!!!
I was in trouble
Trapped
No where to look – so low I couldn’t look up
But Jesus stooped!!!!!
Jesus reached waaaaayyyyy down
I should have been stoned –
They had the evidence to destroy me
My sin mocked me
I was trapped!
This side – that side
To get out of the trap of this side we have to allow Jesus to stoop down
To get out of the trap of that side, stoop down yourself!
4 "Teacher," they said to Jesus, "this woman was caught in the act of adultery.5 The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?"
6 They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger.7 They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, "All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!"8 Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.
9 When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman.10 Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, "Where are your accusers? Didn't even one of them condemn you?"
11 "No, Lord," she said.
And Jesus said, "Neither do I. Go and sin no more."
—————
People are trapped
Religion is trapped
We can be seduced by systems that will trap everything about us.
Our creativity
Our expression
Our opinions
Our interpretations
Only when we are caught in the act of sin does the church at large come on the scene…. To stone us.
I am not speaking on tolerance this morning, I am speaking on grace
Trapped, confused, dirty, matted hair, naked before her accusers (while the dude got away!!!!)
Sin? Yep
Wrong? Sure
Guilty? As charged
Do you remember what it was like to be trapped?
Can you relate to people who are?
Are you trapped on this side or that side?
This side –
The woman that was caught……..
Jesus was teaching, they brought this women and threw her on the ground in her shame at the feet of Jesus
She was snatched out of the bed
Most likely not enough time to put her clothes on
She lays there trembling and shaking
Dazed, confused and condemned
Trapped by her sin
Oh what a terrible thing to be trapped on this side. What a terrible thing to know that you are living in a way that does not please God.
To know that at anytime your sin could be called out on you.
Trapped
To know that you want to stop, but can’t
She probably said to herself as she lay in the bed after the act, “why do I keep doing this?”
Why can’t I stop?
Why can’t I get out of this depression?
Why do I gossip so much?
Why do I always spend more than I make/
Why do I do what I do?
Trapped
The evidence was in their hands and all she could do is sob on the ground as they asked Jesus,
“What are you going to do with this women???!!!!!!”
Trapped
THAT SIDE
Religion, the Church, the ones who have it all right??”
The Pharisees knew the word; they just did not know the author!
They came to challenge the author about his own word!
It’s always stupid to challenge an author about a book he wrote.
They attacked that women’s sin in the name of the “word”
They attacked her with words, they abused her with words
Calling her a whore, no good person
Trapped!!
(Story of a lady at Ferndale Assembly of God that was told to wear a dress if she came)
Trapped!!
On this side it’s hard to see grace
On that side it’s harder
She has shame
They have venom and judgment
They threw her down and said
What are you gonna do now?
She lay whimpering
Trapped
But before he spoke……………….
The bible states that He stooped down
On that ground is where divinity touched humanity
The statements were not in what he word or words or whatever He wrote
The statement was that he turned his back and did not say anything
She was trapped – Jesus was stooping
When the law caught us in the lowness of our sin, God stooped
They watched him
She peaked out of the corner of her eye
Maybe in his silence they remembered some of the words that the author of the book said
Like…….
“He humbled himself even a little lower than the angels
“He came in flesh”
As a baby in a horse troth
He became poor so we could be rich
Isn’t it funny, that when the religious men stood up, Jesus stooped down?
Do you remember what it was like to need Jesus to stoop down and save you?
Jesus stooped down, because she could not get up
Trapped
I don’t wanna thank him for my job this morning, or my clothes or my house or my family
I wanna thank Him because when I was caught in the act on THIS SIDE – THAT SIDE had to throw down there rocks!!!!!
I was in trouble
Trapped
No where to look – so low I couldn’t look up
But Jesus stooped!!!!!
Jesus reached waaaaayyyyy down
I should have been stoned –
They had the evidence to destroy me
My sin mocked me
I was trapped!
This side – that side
To get out of the trap of this side we have to allow Jesus to stoop down
To get out of the trap of that side, stoop down yourself!
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