Are you expecting?

Do you remember writing a Christmas list? Mine would be filled with toys, treats, video games and that one special big wish. My big wish would include things like a BMX bike, a video game console, or a brand new Commodore 64 computer with a 5” disk drive with a set of “Where in the world is Carmen San Diego” floppies.
On Christmas morning, when I sat down with my family beside the tree we would open our gifts by taking turns. AS the youngest I would go first hoping that I would get that the first brightly wrapped package that I opened would contain the fulfillment of that one big wish. While unwrapping the box I would wonder, “Is this the one?” However, when I opened the box I would inevitably find something like several jumbo packs of tube socks and one pair of nice black dress socks. I would smile, weakly, and say something polite with a look of thinly veiled disappointment in my eyes. When it was my turn again, I would feel renewed with that same hope and anticipation as the first time, “Is this the one?” Then, I would carefully unwrap and uncover a big beautiful sweater. Another weak smile would creep across my face, except with greater effort this time, and I would force out another polite expression. My brothers would take their turns and then my parents and finally back to me for another round of gift unwrapping. Again and again we would go as I alternated between anticipation and disappointment until that one box was unwrapped to reveal that gift that I had been waiting for. My one big wish come true on display in front of me in all of its glory!
Expectations can take us on a roller coaster like that. We like to get what we want. We want to foresee what should be based on our desires and anticipate the future. When we don’t get what we expect, often feelings of disappointment and even discouragement follow. Something must be wrong. How can reality fail to conform to our rigid preset goals, ideas, and timetables? While searching for the expected we can easily gloss over all of the other gifts that God has given us along the way. We can fail to recognize the care and kindness in His provision for our lives.
Try laying aside your expectations for the next few months. Instead put on an attitude of expectancy. Trust God to do something good without defining what it has to be. Enjoy the wonder of anticipating the unknown, and accept every gift with genuine gratitude. Let it direct your attention to the giver, our good, gracious, and loving Father.

The Gates of Hell understood using commentaries

My pastor referenced matthew 16:18 in a sermon yesterday where he explained the reference to "the gates of hell" as signifying the Church overcoming death. I have heard this phrase explained in a different way in the past. I have been taught that the gates of hell refer to the spiritual forces of evil, namely Satan, demons, and every argument, image, or attraction that is contrary to the rule of Christ.

So, I decided to research the meaning using the resources available to me to learn for myself the best way to understand this passage. The sources I used for my initial research include commentaries by, John Gill's Exposition of the Bible(JG), Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible(MH), and Jameson, Faussett, and Brown's Critical and Explanatory Commentary(JFB). I used crosswalk.com to view the of these commentaries online.



Jameson, Faussett, and Brown

and the gates of hell--"of Hades," or, the unseen world; meaning, the gates of Death: in other words, "It shall never perish." Some explain it of "the assaults of the powers of darkness"; but though that expresses a glorious truth, probably the former is the sense here.


Matthew Henry

The gates of hell shall not prevail against it; neither against this truth, nor against the church which is built upon it. (1.) This implies that the church has enemies that fight against it, and endeavour its ruin overthrow, here represented by the gates of hell, that is, the city of hell; (which is directly opposite to this heavenly city, this city of the living God ), the devil’s interest among the children of men. The gates of hell are the powers and policies of the devil’s kingdom, the dragon’s head and horns, by which he makes war with the Lamb; all that comes out of hell-gates, as being hatched and contrived there. These fight against the church by opposing gospel truths, corrupting gospel ordinances, persecuting good ministers and good Christians; drawing or driving, persuading by craft or forcing by cruelty, to that which is inconsistent with the purity of religion; this is the design of the gates of hell, to root out the name of Christianity (Ps. 83:4), to devour the man-child (Rev. 12:9), to raze this city to the ground. (2.) This assures us that the enemies of the church shall not gain their point. While the world stands, Christ will have a church in it, in which his truths and ordinances shall be owned and kept up, in spite of all the opposition of the powers of darkness;


John Gill's

and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The Jews speak of the gates of hell: sometimes of the gate of hell, in the singular number; and sometimes of the gates of hell, in the plural number. They say, that

``(Mnhygl vy Myxtp hvlv) , "hell has three gates", one in the wilderness, one in the sea, and one in Jerusalem.''

They talk of

``an angel that is appointed (Mnhygd yert le) , "over the gates of hell", whose name is Samriel; who has three keys in his hands, and opens three doors.''

And elsewhere they say, that

``he that is appointed over hell his name is Dumah, and many myriads of destroying angels are with him, and he stands (Mnhygd axtp le) , "at the gate of hell"; and all those that keep the holy covenant in this world, he has no power to bring them in.''

Our Lord may allude to these notions of the Jews, and his sense be, that all the infernal principalities and powers, with all their united cunning and strength, will never be able to extirpate his Gospel, to destroy his interest, to demolish his church in general, or ruin anyone particular soul that is built upon him. Again, the gates of "Hades", or hell, sometimes seem to design no other than the gates of death, and the grave, and persons going into the state of death; see (Job 38:17) (Isaiah 38:10) where the Septuagint use the same phrase as here; and then the sense is, that neither death, nor the grave, shall finally, and totally prevail over the people of God, and members of Christ; but they shall be raised out of such a state, and live gloriously with him for ever. By it here is not meant Peter himself; though it is true of him, that Satan, and his posse of devils that beset him, did not prevail against him, so as to destroy his grace, hurt his estate, and hinder his salvation: nor could death, in all its frightful appearances, deter him from holding, and preaching, and maintaining the doctrine of Christ; and though death, and the grave, have now power over him, yet they shall not always detain him: but rather, it designs the doctrine Peter made a confession of; which, though it may be opposed by hell and earth, by Satan, and his emissaries, by the open force of persecutors, and the secret fraud of heretics, it may be brought into contempt by the scandalous lives of professors; and though the true professors of it may die off, yet truth itself always lives, and defies the power of death, and the grave: or else the church in general is meant, and every true believer. These words do not ascertain the continuance of anyone particular congregated church, but secures the church universal, which will continue as long as the sun and moon endure, and the perseverance of everyone of God's elect; and assure that death, and the grave, shall not always have the dominion over the saints, but that they shall be rescued from them. Once more, this "it" may refer to Christ the rock, who, though he was brought to the dust of death, by the means of Satan, and the powers of darkness, yet to the ruin of him that had the power of death; and though death, and the grave, had power over him for a while, yet could not hold him; he rose victorious over them, and ever lives, having the keys of hell and death, to open the gates thereof, and let his people out when he thinks fit.

I have used these commentaries in the past to great benefit. On this small portion of Scripture JFB and MH disagree while JG presents both understandings and some basis for each. At this point in my search for understanding, it seems that honest disagreement is possible since both interpretations reflect truths that are supported elsewhere in Scripture.

I'll need to look into this further. The sources that I intend to research next include

1) Bible dictionaries
2) Different English translations of the Bible
3) Strong's
4) An interlinear bible
5) Writings and/or sermons from history regarding this passage, especially from the Church Fathers if they can be found.

Confessions

I was rummaging through an old journal, and came across these statements that I wrote around October of 2007. I'd just accepted the position of Campus Director of ENCM at Augusta State University and was still not sure why God had me here. These statements represent the few things that I knew for certain amidst a lot of uncertainty.

---------------------------------
"I believe that I must obey God by doing my best to build at ASU

I believe that God will give me wisdom to manage well.

I believe that the lives of students will be altered and steered Godward by my service here.

I desire to give my life away.
If God approves that my life is worth giving,
He'll permit it,
and I'll marry my purpose

Jesus is worth everything
I don't deserve anything
I'll always have enough to give something




GO FOR IT!
Love Courageously Hope Fearlessly"

Parallels

No Regrets

Almost exactly one year ago, i posted about "5 things I've Never regretted." In this post, I list them and I expand how I understand what they mean below.

Loving God

Loving People

Dreaming BIG

Being Diligent

Being Patient

Loving God is essential. It means intentionally directing my affections by making lifestyle choices that diret my thoughts and actions towards things that give God pleasure. It means persistently realigning my passions so that I can pursue the thngs that are on my Father's heart.

Loving People is one of the ways that a genuine love for God is expressed. It means remembering to love others to the same extent that I love myself and treating people as well as I'd like to be treated. It also means holding others in higher regard than I hold myself.

Dreaming BIG is about being hopeful. It's about me continuing to believe that no matter how great I imagine something can be, God's going to top my wildest imagination. It's about meeting disappointment with an even bigger dream.

Being Diligent means translating passion and imagination into consistent effort. Love without action is just emothion. Dreams without implementation are merely fantasies. Diligence turns possibilities into performance and aspirations into achievement.

Being Patient is about knowing that anything I want to happen will probably take awhile. It's about learning to want only things that are worth waiting for.

When I think about decisions that I've made and the way I made them, I'm not always proud. Today, some of them make me wince with pain as I have come to understand how others were affected by my choices. However, I don't regret any decisions that I made loving God, loving people, dreaming big, being diligent, and being patient.

Cautionary note on Strengths Finder themes of talent

It has come to my attention that there is a tendency to use the results of the strengths finder evaluation in ways that are unnecessarily limiting. I don't believe that your themes should be seen as disqualifying you for things, nor should it be used as a way to cop out of certain responsibilities.

I'll give you an example using my own themes which are Input, Intellection, Responsibility, Context, and Connectedness. you will notice that none of these themes are obviously relational. I don't have Woo, Relator, Includer, Empathy, or some other theme that might mark me as someone who is good at relationships. However, I am pretty good at building and maintaining relationships. How I build and maintain relationships is affected by my themes in the following way.

{Input} I listen to people. I love talking to someone one-on-one and asking them quesitons about their life. I try to figure out someone's personality by observing their reactions in different situations or listening to certain phrases that they repeat like "It's the right thing to do." or "I had a hunch she felt that way."

It's even better if I can get them to take a personal evaluation test like Myers-Briggs, Enneagram, Love Language Test, Gifts Test, or Strengths Finder. If so, then I'll research everything i can find out about them based on their evaluation results.

{Input, Context} I like to find out about where people are from. I love to learn historical information about someone such as how someone came to Christ, how they met their spouse, or how they landed a certain job.

{Intellection} I turn over in my mind all of the things that I've learned about someone by listening, observing, and researching their themes or personality type. I look at things from different angles. I reinterpret situations that I've observed this person in and notice how personality influenced response.

{Intellection,Connectedness}I make connections between different thengs that they have revealed about themselves. How does being raised up in a country church relate to their Belief Theme? Does their spiritual gift of mercy have a parallel in their preferred love language? Is their personality fit their profession? On and on I go.

{Intellection} I try to understand how the person fits in the larger group. I also imagine how this person would fit in other groups and environments.

{Responsibility} Then, I think of ways to use this understanding of a person to tailor my style of communication. I try to encourage them based on who I understand them to be. If I can, I recommend experiences that I thing that they would enjoy and connect them with other people who may be able to help them pursue their goals or fulfill their desires. I'm often asked for advice because people feel like I 'get them' and can help them get a better perspective on situations. I relate Scripture, using my own teaching gift, to them in ways that make God's Word relevant to someone based on what I understand about them and about their situation.

The point is that I am not people-focused because of my themes, but because God commands me to love people. I use my themes to serve people in my own way. Don't let your themes define your mission. Let your themes serve your mission.

Access: pre-pimped vs. Post-Pimped

Based on the Pimp My Life theme

Community: pre-pimped vs. Post-Pimped

Based on the Pimp My Life theme.

The Heart: pre-pimped vs. Post-Pimped

Based on the Pimp My Life theme.

Expect to Fail

It's gonna happen. It's okay. Write it off. Enjoy the experience. When you succeed, you will fail. Failures can be sweet if you persevere. Rarely will you build character through success. Success is often more satisfying when preceded by a sereis of failures to attain it.

Scenerio 1) You try. You fail. You learn. You grow. Your appetite increases. Your vision increases. You do it all over. If your vision is big enough, you'll always fail, and along the way inspire others to see the same vision. If the vision is big enough, they will fail as well having inspired others to see the same vision.

Scenario 2) You try. You fail. You question why you ever tried. You can't remember why though it was worth the effort. You feel like a fool. You live with what you have. You wonder what could have been like.

My Default Vision

In my default vision,
All that I own is a message and the media on whch it is recorded.

In my default vision,
My tongue is on fire with a message that consumes my life.

In my default vision,
I am enveloped by a light emanating from within so only a shadow of self is visible.

In my default vision,
I walk with God until I am not.