A Real Men, and a Real Life Notebook Scene…

So I don’t know if you have seen the Notebook, I have, and yes I am still a man. At the end you realize that he is telling her the story of their love story everyday because she has Alzheimer’s.  You think, no one does that, love like that is for the movies.

Yesterday I saw it played out. I was at BJ’s restaurant with a few other guys. It was lunch and this older couple (70s) came in. It was obvious that the woman was worse off than the man. He was so tender with her, he guided her down the stairs, he gently took off her coat and helped her sit down. Then as they ordered and waited for their food he talked. She wasn’t into talking much it seemed, so he talked and talked. He carried on a conversation with her just to let her know he was there. When their food came he went over and cut half of her food up for her. Then he sat back down and talked and talked to her, while she ate. When she was done with some of her food, he got up again and cut the rest for her.

Then as they got up and ready to leave he got up first and went over to her side and helped her up. He was so gentle you could tell that he loved this woman very much. He delicately helped her put on her jacket again and guided her out.

Before he left Pastor Jim who was with me stopped the man and went over to him. Pastor Jim thanked the man for being such an amazing husband. The man said his wife had Alzheimer’s. The man started to tear up…then he said, you know what, last Friday we celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary.

Our culture tells us that love is romantic, and fast-paced. We think of love in movies like Mr. and Mrs. Smith, or any Disney Movie. At weddings we speak of 1 Corinthians and love being patient and kind, we really have no idea.

Furthermore, our culture tells us a man is driven by desires and is masculine and a woman-chaser. That is not a real man. That old man at BJ’s was more of a man than most of America. A real man loves his wife, that takes extreme devotion and courage.

What if we thought of love and had wedding vows like this…

I will feed you when you get old.
I will talk to you when you can’t speak anymore,
I will take you out on a date even when I know you wont remember.
I will be there for you until my end or yours.
My love is not something I have to choose to do, its not a task.
I have already chosen you and I will continue to choose you until HE takes you to be back with him, for now you are mine.

I will forever and always think of you as my greatest treasure.

I was at a friends house and they have two little girls. One of the girls came to me and asked me if Leslie (my wife) was my princess. I said yes, and she will always be.

True love, is like that man and his wife…because really that is what Christ does for us.

In Him,
JC

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by JC on January 24, 2012  •  Permalink
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I’m Running for President…

This is my announcement publicly that I am throwing my hat into the 2012 presidential campaign. I don’t want to fill out paperwork and get all the signatures so you will have to pencil my name in….just remember its Elliott with 2 t’s.

 

Here is my platform….

  • All political races will be determined by popular vote, goodbye electorate.
  • The president will make the average annual amount for the American family (2011=$39,000)
  • Deadlocked congress will always be decided by rho-sham-BO, best 2 out of 3.
  • Abortion will be illegal, but adoption will become much more readily available and almost free. There will be parents for those babies.
  • Senators and congressmen, as well as the president will have the same health care as medicare patients.
  • The federal government will get rid of the department of education, it will be the states to educate kids.
  • There will be a balanced budget every year. We will pay off our debt. It is ridiculous that we continue to spend more than we earn and expect the American family not to
  • I will reinstate the gold standard, our money has to become worth something.
  • The president will sell Air Force one, probably to Jay-Z, and ride coach everywhere.
  • I will also, as president, sell Camp David, to pay off the countries debt.
  •  There will be no speed limit in the desert of Nevada, its like the autobahn.
  • I will change the Baseball season to no more than 30 games, after that nobody cares. (same with basketball)
  • I will make all the Whitehouse staff paid out of my pocket, no more of the tax payer paying for my chef.
  • I will sell  territories like American Samoa on ebay to the highest bidder (probably Bill Gates) to pay off the debt.
  • Before my State of the Union address, I will tell a very funny joke
  • And while on that subject, no more of this standing and clapping and sitting, you all will be seated, and listen, I worked hard on this speech so let me say it.
  • My Secretary of Defense will be the Dali Lama
  • Flat tax, period. No write-offs no minimum, nothing like that. You wont have to have a degree in advanced mathematics to do your taxes.
  • You cannot put more money into political ads than you give to charity
  • I will adopt a pit-bull as the white house dog
  • Most importantly I will have a facebook poll for my vice president, the winner will become my vice president.

 

So Remember during the primaries, Justin C. Elliott with two t’s. Pencil it in!

 

If you were running for president, what would your platform be?

In Him,

JC Elliott

 

PS: If you think I would make a mockery of the position by doing these things, look at what the current government is already doing!

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by JC on January 18, 2012  •  Permalink
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Bill O’Reilly vs. Bill Maher: a whole lot of Ignorance

First check this out…

I don’t even really know where to begin. so much in here is so wrong. First off is this really how the majority of Christians (Bill O’Reilly) and atheists (Bill Maher) think? I don’t  blame Maher for not understanding the Bible, he doesn’t claim to believe,  so he doesn’t have to have any knowledge in it. But O’Reilly, really bud? My high school students know scripture better than you here. I understand if a Christian is out debated by an atheist, but at least be humble enough to admit there are things you don’t understand, and that you are not sufficient to debate here.

For everyone who doesn’t believe in Jesus who watched that, or others of us, please let me clear up a few things:

Maher  says correctlywe have to take a look at both the Old and New Testaments, where as O’Reilly says Christians need to look at the New. NO. It is all the same book we as Christians are called to read it.

O’Reilly…if you read the New Testament you would quickly understand the point of love you neighbor as you love yourself is not the central theme. Its that Jesus came, died, and was resurrected, ushering in the kingdom of God.

Really the quote that got me riled up was O’Reilly’s, “I read the New Testament and there isn’t to many downsides to being like Jesus, seemed to be a pretty good guy to me.”

AHHHHH

Really the Jesus who says, “If you don’t hate your father and mother you cannot be my disciple.”  And “Come and Die” The guy who flipped over tables at church, who denounced material posessions. There are tons of downsides to being like Jesus!

He tells you in the book of John, “The world will hate you!” A big downside Bill.

Finally… before I have a heart attack for being so frustrated.

O’Reilly said, “If Jesus ran the country we would be in a better situtation would we not?”

Maher- “I think if Jesus were in charge of the country we probably would have healthcare for everyone!”

Wham-o!

What did you think, leave your comments below…

In Him,

JC

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by JC on January 10, 2012  •  Permalink
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The War on Christmas is Over!!!!

I don’t understand Christan’s sometimes…

…for example us fighting the “war on Christmas” What exactly is the war? Are we gonna spend less on gifts? Are we afraid it might disappear? As far as I can tell we are fighting to keep Christ the center of the season, especially December 25th. But there are at least two major flaws with that. 1. When in the last 60 years has Jesus ever been the center of the holiday? The time of the year when materialism, selfishness, and consumerism is at its worst.  2. Also, Jesus probably wasn’t even born in December (trust me look it up!).

I can’t believe that as Christians we make these stands, and create a culture war based on the mainstream. It never ends well for us. What is the best we hope to accomplish? At the very best we can hope for people to say Merry Christmas, and for advertisers to display Merry Christmas. (Last time I checked Walmart wasn’t Christian) But Ddes that save souls? Does that glorify the Lord? Does that guide people closer to Him? Probably not. Look at it like this…what does it tell an atheist when all around is Merry CHRISTmas…nothing. What does it say about Christ when Christmas is synonymous with shopping yourself in to debt to get your spoiled kids a pair of 200 dollar Air Jordan’s.

At worse, the war we have either created or allowed ourselves to be involved in polarizes Christians as “extremists”  shoving their political and religious power down the throats of those who do not claim Christ as King. As much as we have a right to say Merry Christmas, they have a right to say whatever they want to say. They more we force Jesus on to people the farther they run will from him.

We as Christians need to focus less on what the world says the season is, and more how we can manifest the incarnation here on earth. Maybe the world would see Christ in a better light if Christians were feeding the hungry the whole time saying Merry Christmas. Maybe the world would wonder what happened in the small town 2000 years ago, if Christians worried less about the media saying Happy Holidays, and worried more about those  that can’t afford their heating bill during the winter season.

What we have to realize is that the more we force Merry Christmas the more others reject it. When the phrase “Merry Christmas” is always used it can cheapen the meaning. But what if the whole world said Happy Holidays….Well one person saying Merry Christmas could actually say something.

Very early in Christian history there was a symbol for Christians. It was called the Ichthys, or as we know it the Jesus fish. Basically the spelling for Fish was an acronym for Jesus Christ God’s Son Savior. That is why you see the Jesus fish with the Greek letters. So, because being a Christian was punishable by death, you couldn’t outright ask someone if they were a follower. So the Christians devised a secret code using the fish to distinguish other believers, and inviting unity between themselves. It was a subversive approach to fellowship.

This could be what Christmas becomes, let the world (which doesn’t worship Christ) be the world, and us Christians we can actually have Christmas back, where it belongs in the courts of the Body of Christ. Then when you are in the store and the clerk says Happy Holidays, you can look at him and say, “Yea, Merry Christmas.” In that you are subversive in sharing love, and standing up for Christ.

To the Christian, especially the one who thinks there is a war, what do you really want to accomplish? Forcing people to say merry Christmas? Lets take back our sacred holiday, and keep it holy.

To the non-believer, I am sorry, sorry that we have forced Jesus at you, I apologize.

The war is over, so let’s stop fighting.

JC

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by JC on December 28, 2011  •  Permalink
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Amazing Poetry…David Bowden

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Open Letter to the Pacific Believers,

Wrote this for a group that meets for prayer, I missed one week….

 

Brothers and Sisters in Christ in the village of Pacific,

From Justin a slave and a servant of Christ, from the town of Stockton, I write you.

Grace and Peace of our Lord Jesus be with you always.

The grace that we didn’t deserve, that we didn’t earn that we could not attain, which caused the peace. Peace that was in the beginning when God saw all that he created, we now posses, because of Him.

My heart is broken at the knowledge that I am not with you in physical body today. However, rest assured that in the spirit, I am with you all. I thank my God for each one of you and your dedication to the one who was crucified on our behalf.

I have always prayed for you, from the first time I heard about your dedication to Christ, I was encouraged by your devotion to prayer. Then, I was able by the grace of the One to be with you in prayer, which was a blessing, and I grew more and more in love with the unity that you all share first in Christ, then in each other. I pray you never loose that connection, pray always, for each other and for the campus in which you live. Surly we pray for those that have not found the truth, and we pray for those brothers that are struggling.

Because we know that the Land of UOP is full of all unrighteousness, full of immorality, and perverse sexuality, where glory lies in drunkenness and harlotry. But let it not be so with you. Be like children in this, but as wise as owls.  Be pure as your Father in heaven is pure, and though your actions and words they will know who you belong to. Be in the world brothers and sister, but be not of the world. Let your light shine before all me that they might see your pureness and your good deeds and praise your Father in Heaven.

Currently my travels prevent me from being with you all. As you know the Lord has called me in many directions and currently I am in Livermore meeting with a leader from the region of the Bay Area.  Put me in your prayers. Pray that I speak the words of Christ and that I always keep my focus on him, as I have since I came to know him. I will do my best to be back with you all if the Lord wills it. I have plans on traveling the next few weeks to the far away land called Minnesota, and so I will be even more vigilant to pray for you, and will try and return. But until then keep you minds and your spirit fixated on Christ. Let nothing vulgar or harmful come from your mouth, because as the brother of Christ says, the tongue is a rudder that steers the ship. Let your whole focus this time of prayer be on him.

Since he has died for us, in our place, he went to the execution chamber, for our transgressions. The one who created the world, was also sentenced for us, and this is how we know love. The trial was ending, and everyone knew the defendant (us) was guilty, the prosecutor is sin, but because of the shameless love of the judge for the defendant, the judge took the penalty upon himself. The fine needed to be paid, justice had to be served. The courtroom was astonished. The judge took the death penalty as the whole world watched, he died. Three days later the judge rose from the dead, conquering the prosecutor, which is sin, and conquering also the sentence, which is death, and finally declaring the defendant innocent, because the price of his transgressions has been paid! What a glorious judge! And now we have freedom because we have been to trial and have been declared innocent, we know that someone cannot be tried twice for the same penalty, we will not face death again.

I say this brothers and sisters not that we will not face trials in this life, or even death, we surly will!!! But I say this to assure you that we do not live in this life, but we should keep our eyes on the real King and Kingdom, the one that is invading the earth as we speak, and at a time will come again. If we keep our eyes and our hearts in this kingdom we will not die, because we have already, our lives are now not chained to sin, but chained to love. We shall not fear death in this life, because we have already faced it and our Savior conquered it for us. We shall not taste death again, but rather true life.

And this true life I speak of is one more beautiful than I can explain. When a person is dreaming the dream feels real, sounds real, appears real. But when that person wakes up from the dream into real life, the dream in retrospective is false, there was a lack of color, a lack of reality. This is the same with what will be our new life. We will wake up from this falseness and truly see a world without sin, in its true color and this present life will then seem monochromatic.

So, be chained not by sin, but by love, because God is Love. And what is love if it is not from one person to another. If a person is solo, they cannot love. That is why God is singular and three. The perfect unified love the Father has for the Son, and the Son for the Spirit and the Spirit for the Father, is the reason God is Love. So this is the love we should attain for in the church, that perfect self sacrificing love. Be chained to that love and not your old ways which made you a sin to vanity, lust, and pride. We know those things are like plated jewelry, they appear real, but under the surface are false.

So in my absence pray always, I encourage you all to look after one another, have unity like a car, where all the pieces have unique purposes, but function for one purpose, which is arriving at a destination. Our destination is seeing the Lords Kingdom come. Pray, and rejoice, I say it again and again rejoice.

And when you pray do not just babble, but remember as sons and daughters you enter the holiest of places boldly, as heirs of the creator of the universe. I encourage you to pray standing with your heads toward the heaven, not in pride because you’re worthy, but because he has adopted you, you are family and a daughter or a son can boldly enter their father’s presence and the father is pleased by them.

 

And may the Lord of Hosts be with you always,

JC

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by JC on November 29, 2011  •  Permalink
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The art of Stories, Folgers commericals, and what we have robbed the Bible of…

The other day I asked a couple college students what people told them the Bible was. When they were young, what did their Sunday School teachers, and Pastors tell them the Bible was. Here is what I got.

-A bunch of Stories

- Rules for Life (Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth)

- God’s Love Letter to me

- An Old Document

I was disappointed because these are all misconstrued ideas of what the Bible is.

I have to tell you, above all of those the Bible is a Story….The Story of a God that created something good, we ruined, and he is bringing back together through his Son, and spirit.

We have to start there, we have to start with the knowledge that that Bible is a story. As humans, stories do something inside of us. Whenever we hear someones story, we are moved by it. We are moved by stories of people, fact or fiction. Stories have a way of transforming how we look at ourselves and the world. We are not moved by science, in the means of facts and numbers, but stories. Why do you think you start to tear up when extreme home makeover tells you the story of the family. They could very well tell you how much, or little, the family makes. They could simply tell you the family needs the house. Advertisers know that stories sell, and stories move. This is why the show spends most of the time talking about the family and showing you the families story. This is why some women cry at a 30 second Folgers commercial, because it is a powerful story. A successful way to raise money for whatever cause you want, is tell a story of someone moved by it. (Insert African child here to get you to donate)

It’s simple if you really think about it, we love novels, we love movies. We don’t care if they are true or not, we love the story. We even see this in church. The most powerful stories are the testimonies of what God has done in someones life.

Here comes the bad news, we have taken the story out of the Bible. We missed the forest for the trees. I’m not sure when exactly this took place.Maybe the formal organization of the Church in the 4th century. I don’t know if it was the fact that theology was the queen of the sciences prior to the Enlightenment Period, and after theologians had to use the Bible less as a story, and more as a reason, and  fact book, to defend it. Or if it was our obsession to prove scientifically what is in the Bible. I was reading a magazine the other day and their tag line was “The Bible is Scientifically Accurate.” As true or false as that may be, you just robbed the Bible of its purpose, telling the Story of God. I’m not sure when it was we removed the story, but we have.

We do this too as pastors, we preach the Bible as a rule book, or a salvation plan, with our three points, and our “big idea”. We say things like “this verse is telling us…” We have forgotten the story,  what it can do, and laid it down for numbers and facts. Thinking that “reason” and our facts will change people’s lives. No wonder people have a hard time being transformed in church, and by a sermon. Our sermons, without the story, simply command people into obedience of our man-made rules, instead of finding life in the story, and becoming transformed more like Christ because of it.

When we rob the Bible of the story, and lay it out as a bunch of pragmatic verses without context or real meaning, we can be at the very least ignorant, and at the worst heretics. We rob it of its story, and a majority of its power to transform our souls. We need to rediscover the story.

This week as you read the Bible, rediscover the story, read it as a story, not as events that need to be proved, not as verses that speak “to you”, but as the story of what God has done,  is doing, and will do here on the earth.

In Him,

JC

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by JC on November 21, 2011  •  Permalink
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Pastoral Survival Tips…

Many times as a Pastor you can get caught off guard by the craziest things. Life is never normal for you and a million things can happen. You need to be prepared for everything and I am here to help you deal with hard situations you might find yourself in…hope you enjoy.

 

 

 

1. You are preaching and in the middle of it you loose your train of thought…

All of us pastors have been there. Maybe it was the door opening, a brain fart, that child that wouldn’t stop screaming, someone passing out. Or that tangent you started speaking on, but forgot the point of it. In any case don’t fret, don’t fear, here is what you can do.

A. Pretend your getting choked up.  Take a minute, put your fist to your mouth, look like your fighting back tears, and say nothing. Everyone will be amazed, and ponder your brilliant thought. Meanwhile, you can think to yourself….where in the heck was I going with that. The great thing is the longer you do this, the better the next thing will seem to everybody.

B. Check the clock, if you are within 10 min either way say, “Jesus loves you and died for you, lets pray.”

 

 

2. You get asked to do the invocation at an event you are attending.

We have all been there, you are just at the football game to watch people hit each other, or your at that fund-raiser to support someone, or whatever, and now someone whispers in your ear, do you mind doing the invocation? What in the world are you supposed to say, “NO! CANT YOU SEE MY FAMILY, I AM HERE TO WATCH A GAME. I AM OFF THE CLOCK!” Don’t say that.

A. But have no fear here is a simple mad-lib type prayer for invocations, write it down and keep it in your wallet with you always. Everyone will be impressed.

Dear Heavenly Father, Have your hand over __(Noun)__. We are so thankful for your blessing and everything you have given us. I pray that __(the event)__ will be successful and that you will ___(bless the food/keep safe/keep watch)__ the __(noun)__. We thank you and love you. In Jesus Name, Amen. __(Play Ball/Let’s Eat/Thank you)__.

 

 

3. You are at a dinner party and someone asks what you do, after saying your a pastor, they say, “Oh that’s nice.” as they look around the room for an escape and the conversation gets really, really awkward.

We have all been there, maybe the people don’t go to church, maybe they expect you to preach at them, maybe they don’t know what to say next. They don’t want to leave but don’t want to stay either. Whatever the case, there are ways out of awkward conversations. In these ways you will look either crazy, or uber cool…your choice.

A. If you have a drink, spill it. I don’t care if its grape soda on that Persian rug. Spill it, that would be less awkward. Everyone will turn to autopilot cleaning, you apologize for being clumsy and the conversation will be over. And then you could say something cliche at the end like, well Jesus spill his blood for you.

B. If you have a cell phone act like your getting a phone call… say, “It’s Jesus and he want’s to talk, sorry but I got to go.” The person won’t say anything…trust me.

C. If you don’t want an out, just sit there…quiet. Scientifically there is only so much awkward a person can take, see who’s bar is higher, yours or theirs. So just stop talking, it will get awkward, and eventually one of you will break and say something, or just walk away. The conversation ends, and you didn’t have to end it.

D. Ask them who they voted for in the last election. Because that would be less awkward.

 

 

4. Your preaching and all-of-a-sudden you realize that your fly is down.

This has happened to me, and is the reason why I XYZ every time before I preach. Don’t freak out. Don’t panic. Don’t sit down… try these things:

A. Say, “Let’s pray.” The good thing in American culture everyone closes their eyes when they pray, zip-up and no one is the wiser.

B. If there is a cross behind you on the stage, turn to it and talk about it for a second, and tell the people to fix their eyes on it. With your back turned…you know what to do.

C. Face it, Like a Man. Tell the people whoops I’m sorry. Then use it as a sermon illustration. Try this one. Just like a zipper Jesus pulls us to God, connects us to the Lord, he closes the gap of our sin. Is Jesus your Zipper?

 

 

5.Your at the grocery store and your running late, you see that person who you know will take 30 minutes telling you about their life if you say hi…

Assuming that they haven’t seen you yet, you are still in the clear. This is a messy situation and you have to weigh the options: wife and family waiting on me, or pastoral care. Don’t worry you can achieve both. Here’s how.

A. Buy a wig. Keep it on you at all times. Use it in these situations and avoid being in close proximity with the person. The CIA uses disguises, why can’t you?

B. Keep shopping, but pretend your a twin. If the person says, “oh Hi Pastor.” Say oh that’s my twin brother, I am visiting from Fargo, I haven’t seen him in years, but I’ll tell him you say hi…flawless. Unless your family attends your service, and unless you are with your twin.

C. Run. Yup, those groceries are not necessary, or if they are, you could throw cash at a checker (make sure it’s enough), as you bolt out the door. That’s why I always keep a running tab on what I have in my cart.

D. Ask to meet with them. This is proactive thinking, go to them telling them you have been meaning to talk to them about something very important, you can’t talk  in public about it, but can they come to your office Monday at 2pm? They will be so caught off guard and you can check out and get home to the family!

 

Until the next edition.

God Bless

In Him,
JC Elliott

PS if you can’t tell this is a completely tongue-in-cheek.

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by JC on August 29, 2011  •  Permalink
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Q and A Time….Send me more questions…

I had these questions about faith come to me recently…

1″You think that God cares about the world’s suffering (i.e. Japan, Iraq/Afghanistan) and yet He still cares about you…your career, place of residence, life. Why do you feel that you are important enough for him to care about you the same way he cares about the world? Are you problems/needs that significant?”
2 “If we do not live under the law (torah laws) anymore, why did Paul preach the law and make animal sacrifices at a church, he supposedly started, after Jesus’ death and atonement for our sins, if we are not supposed to live under the law?” Acts 21
3″If it is our responsibility, as Christians, to be biblically knowledgeable in our faith and to know scripture…does that apply to mentally handicapped people too? If so, wouldn’t it just be easier to be mentally retarded because won’t they go to heaven anyway?”

Here is how I responded.

1. I know that God can care for the whole world and us individually because simply he is love. Take a look at the difference between parents of a single child compared to the love parents like the Duggers (19 and counting) have for their children. Just because there is more people to love for the bigger families, does not mean there is less love, God’s love is like that. With more people it is multiplied, not divided. Also think, God cares about the world’s struggles, and care about our plans, because they are intermingled, we are his hands and feet to help solve the suffering in the world. That is how God can care about us intimately and care about the larger things, because the are the same. He cares about the struggles of the world, and his path for our life is to help those.

2. I read the Acts 21 verse. It sounds like those were accusing him of NOT teaching the law, yet he goes through a purification cermony with them. In 1 Cor 9, Paul tells us that “Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. 23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.” Later in Acts 23 his teaching contradict the Law so much they ask to kill him. So I believe that to win those Jews, he was becoming like them, though not under them. If he was, that would make him a hypocrite because he openly said that we are free from the law.

3. Great question, a while ago there was a similar discussion about how a mother murdered her 9 year old so he would go to heaven, instead of allowing him to grow up and possibly refuse God. We are not saved by what we know, and we should rejoice that we have the mental capacity to share the love of Jesus. I am assume your question means severely mentally handicapped individuals, not the majority that know and share Jesus, often times more than us “able-minded”. We will all be judged on what was revealed to us, in our capacity: child, handicapped, Alzheimer, and able minded, ect. But a premise in your question is alarming, Biblical knowledge is not a requirement for heaven, that would be works. We should desire to know Jesus, out of response of Love, not a prerequisite of it. So the fact you relate that to access to the Father, is wrong in the first place. And I don’t know if being mentally handicapped would be easier than just studying scripture….ever.

And where does mentally handicapped come in? Is it ADD? ADHD? dyslexia? Cerebral palsy? Downs? There are many different levels of each, and only God knows the heart!

In Him,

JC Elliot

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by JC on August 4, 2011  •  Permalink
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Posted by JC on August 4, 2011

http://heismightytosave.wordpress.com/2011/08/04/q-and-a-time-send-me-more-questions/

I am not related to Jim Elliot…(I wish I was) and why Jesus probably doesn’t want you in yet another Bible Study

Hear me out….

I just got done reading the story of Jim Elliot, I found these two great quotes while reading his biography called “Shadow of the Almighty.”

Those whimpering Stateside young people will wake up on the Day of Judgment condemned to worse fates than these demon-fearing Indians, because, having a Bible, they were bored with it – while these never heard of such a thing as writing.

So what if the well-fed church in the homeland (USA) needs stirring? They have the Scriptures, Moses, and the Prophets, and a whole lot more. Their condemnation is written on their bank books and in the dust on their Bible covers, American believers have sold their lives to the service of Mammon, and God has His rightful way of dealing with those who succumb to the spirit of Laodicea.

I still maintain that there is too much collectivism of spiritual truth in Portland. There are sufficient numbers of believers to turn the whole city to God if they would once turn to Christ and confess their shameful neglect of His work.

This stirred something in me…

Is another Bible study really what we need, or do we need action, remember 1 John 3:18.

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

See I can read all day about what Jesus tells us to do, and I can learn the Greek or the Hebrew, we can dissect every little word, but if we don’t simply do what it says, what good is it? It’s like we are trying to figure out what it truly means because we simple can’t believe he asks us for everything. Or maybe it’s a stall tactic, so we can appear religious without doing any real thing. Good thing James 1:27 says God doesn’t want religion other than helping the widow and orphans…

Western Church goers are fat, we learn and “get fed”. We leave churches if we are not “getting fed”. We want the next Bible study, the next small group, we what to know everything, yet all the time not doing the will of Him! We are getting fed, for sure, more than any other nation and as a result of no exercising what we have been fed, we are fat. We need to work out as much as we get fed the word. Other wise we are full of knowledge and have nothing to show, is that what Jesus really wants? Aren’t we his hands and feet? We have more Bible-knowledge than any other generation-yet lack action. I truly wonder if we need another Bible study, of if in fact we need more Bible doing.

All is not to say that we shouldn’t study the Bible. I am in love with the scriptures, we need to study the word, Amen to that, all of us. We need to know what it says, in Acts 2 the believers devoted themselves to the Apostles teachings… but also we need to be doing what we already know it says. So if you are in a Bible Study or small group, each time you meet, what you learn ask everybody how you all can put that into practice.

1 Cor 13:1

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

 

Study the Bible AND…

Help the single mothers in you congregation

Help the homeless

Adopt

Give your money away to a needy family in your faith community

Love your enemy

Let a friend borrow your car and don’t ask for it back for a long time

Open your house to the homeless

Stack chairs in your church

Pray for your community

Serve the least of these.

In Him,

JC Elliott    (no relation to Jim Elliot)

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by JC on July 20, 2011  •  Permalink
Posted in Beatitudes, Ecclesiastes, Funny things, The Kingdom of God, Things Christ is teaching me
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Posted by JC on July 20, 2011

http://heismightytosave.wordpress.com/2011/07/20/i-am-not-related-to-jim-elliot-but-i-wish-i-was-and-why-jesus-probably-doesnt-want-you-in-another-bible-study/

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