"Best Bible Study Ever"....

"Best Bible Study Ever".... or so one of my sport-faith biathletes exclaimed. Actually I kind of thought it was humorous and ironic. The study was simply a series of questions, most pertaining to finding purpose and meaning. Here’s some of them: "what makes you happy? What does your soul crave? In what ways do you think this craving affects your life?.....your time, $, relationships, etc.? Do you think people in general long to have their lives count in making a positive difference around them?" I guess it wasn’t so much the questions themselves but more in the fact that myself and their teammates were listening intently as they shared and bared what really was in the deepest part of their soul.

One of the lessons I wanted my ski and gun toting cadre to grasp is that people yearn to be listened to. So many evangelistic attempts fail because no one likes to be told they’re wrong and need to change. Perhaps even the major offense to Jesus’ claim to be the only way to the Father is the verdict of sin the gospel message brings. Again, no one like to be told they’re wrong....or sinful. So if my biathlon friends, or all of us, asked some decent, relevant questions and listened...really listened, I mean really listened, then maybe we could help our friends actually come to some decent God conclusions on their own.

Are You a Nimrod?

Ever been called a "Nimrod"? It’s not exactly a flattering complement. But we get the name Nimrod from the Bible. In fact Nimrod is said to have been a mighty hunter. That doesn’t sound too bad. Maybe a lot of athletes could relate to that... "a mighty hunter". If Nimrod were alive today perhaps he’d be a sprinter, decathlete, bobsled pusher or linebacker...a true stud!

Nimrod was the great grandson of Noah and resided in Shinar, current day Babylon. He organized the building of the tower of Babel. You may recall that. It wasn’t such a high time in the history of God’s people. So yeah, maybe Nimrod wasn’t such a sterling character. In fact one historical source said the hunting prey Nimrod pursued was human!

Ancient historian, Flavius Josephus writing 2000 years ago, "Now it was Nimrod who excited them to such an affront and contempt of God...a bold man, and of great strength of hand. He persuaded them not to ascribe it to God, as if it was through his means they were happy, but to believe that it was their own courage which procured that happiness."

Wow! We have additional information about Nimrod that dates as far back as 7000B.C. from a record found in a story written on clay tablets (Gilgamesh Epic). Turns out that the name "Nimrod" in the Hebrew language means "rebel"...and apparently that’s exactly what Nimrod was-a rebel to God, and he strongly led people away from God.

Look what Josephus wrote about Nimrod, it could be the byline on many a current athlete’s facebook page. "Believe", "Courage".......... "just do it!" "If the mind can conceive it, the body can achieve it." Maybe we should take a second look at our driving psychology’s. They seem more like lines out of Nimrod’s repertoire than what we’d find in the Bible.

I guess the bottom line is, are we trusting in ourselves and living independantly of God and His resources, or is our  faith and confidence and ultimately the object of our worship iin God?

Ps. 2 says, "Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth Worship the LORD with reverence, and rejoice with trembling...how blessed are those who take refuge in Him."

read this from a sermon of J. Edwards yesterday-

"Consider how you yourselves are ready to resent it, when any of your neighbours seem to slight you and to make no account of it, but to treat you as if you were good for nothing, or not worth minding

But if it be such a crime to despise you and set you at nought, what is it to set at nought the eternal infinitely glorious Son of God, in comparison with whom you and all nations are nothing, and less than nothing... You dislike it much to be contemned by your equals...What a crime is it then for a vile, sinful worm, to set at nought him who is the brightness of the glory of the King of kings!"

 

Did you follow this? All of us get treated at times less than we'd like. whether we're overlooked, dis-respected, not acknowledged, etc. Essentially what Edwards is saying is, if you feel this way-a finite, fallible human... how much more does God? Who's infinitely perfect, good and all worthy of total esteem, honoring and praiseworthy?

Do you think God gets overlooked? By those whom He created? By those whom He formed and made for Himself and His glory. That's what 43.7 is all about. Isaiah 43.7    There it says, "everyone who belongs to me, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed-yes, whom I made!"

We're all made for Him.