Psalms 133
Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! 2 It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! 3 It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.

The first episode in a brand new series we are calling "Why Church". In this episode we unpack the connecting between the Spirit of Christ living in us and how that same Spirit interacts with The Holy Spirit.

Revelation, apocalyptic literature
What "end" or rather new perspective was John describing

Michael Gorman’s book, Reading Revelation Responsibly, Gorman illustrates views on Revelation in a grid with four quadrants. The vertical axis represents a timeline for past, present, and future events that Revelation could represent. The horizontal axis represents reading the text as a code on one side versus reading the text as a lens on the other. Below are the five views of Revelation.
1. The Predictive Futurist: This view sees the text as a code that represents future events. The original meaning wasn’t fully understood by its original audience and will only be revealed when the events happen.
2. The Pretorist: This view sees the text as a code, but the events represented by the code already happened in the 1st century.
3. Poetic or Theopoetic: This view sees the text as poetic language used to express ultimate truths about God, evil, and history.
4. Theopolitical: This view sees the text as a form of political protest and dissent against the Roman empire that emerged out of a time of persecution in the 1st century. In this view, an emphasis is placed on the Kingdom of God as the antithesis to the kingdoms of this world.
5. Pastoral/Prophetic: This view sees the text as anchored in the past but meant to speak to every generation of readers. The imagery is seen as a challenge and comfort by showing us a heavenly perspective on the events of our world throughout time.

WWI: 1914 - 1918
WWII: 1939 - 1945
Cold War: some estimates having starting as early as 1949 when Russia tests their first Atomic bomb and doesn't end until the US and Russia withdraw their atomic bombs from Europe in 1986
War in Afghanistan: US invaded Afghanistan in 2001, we still have troops there
Columbine shooting, Las Vegas outdoor concert, Sandy Hook ELEMENTARY SCHOOL


Steve Moyice called "The Old Testament in the Book of Revelation." It's about hyperlinks to the Hebrew Bible. And he has these cool comparative charts about the number of direct references or quotations for the Revelation. Just a quick scan here. 82 references to places in the Torah, 97 to the Psalms, 122 references to Isaiah, 48 to Jeremiah, 83 to Ezekiel, 74 to Daniel, 73 to the Minor Prophets.

So what's happening in the upper room on this day of Pentecost. Previously Jesus well in flesh breathed on many of his disciples and empowered them with his spirit with God's spirit the Holy Spirit to be Witnesses. That's why they received the Holy Spirit so that they could go out into the world and share the miracle of come to Earth through the person of Jesus the Holy Spirit exists on Earth to empower us Earthen vessels to be transformed so that we can come above this world of darkness and despair an enter into God's Kingdom while providing away for others to follow our path. Christ sends his spirit in the form of a comforter to be with us always in a way that Christ could not in his physical form. Now while I believe that Christ is accessible spirit makes him accessible to all Humanity at all times and it is that accessibility Christ and Powers is believers use and sharing the good news of God's Kingdom here on Earth look at what happens when the Holy Spirit falls on those that were in the upper room together the Holy Spirit fills them with this wind this breath and when they breathe out when they exhale they exhale words in a language they do not speak for the purpose of bringing new people into God's Kingdom specifically Jews from across the diaspora there are Jews from all over the world that have come to Jerusalem for Pentecost and In This Moment the Holy Spirit empowers Christ believers to reach these new brothers and sisters and bring them into God's Kingdom but it doesn't stop there. The only Spirit empowers Christ Believers to spread the gospel to Judea and Samaria and then to the rest of the world and so here we are some 2,000 plus years later still spreading the life-changing good news of God's kingdom through Jesus Christ.


In order for God' Kingdom to fully come Jesus had to do a couple of things:
First he had to give up (John 10:17-18 "The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”) Jesus surrendered his life for you and I.

Next he had to be raised up on the cross (John 3:14 "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up")

After he was raised he had to be laid down in a tomb (Mark 15:46 "So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in the linen, and placed it in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.")

Jesus laid down for three days, but on the third day he had to get up (Mark 16:6-7 "Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.”)

And finally when all his earthly work was done Jesus had to go up (John 14:1-2 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.
My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?")

Put it in the chat, text someone tell them give up - raise up - lay down - get up now go up. Jesus came so we could go up.

Looking at the big three -
Sin
Iniquity
Transgression

Exodus 34:1-7

God DOES NOT NEED YOUR MONEY and in full transparency neither does connected church. Your investments are welcome, but if what we are doing is truly God's work, provision will be made available for us to continue to do this work.
Why giving is such a challenging and controversial issue in the church:
1. We are accustomed to giving money to causes where we believe our financial support can do some real good and if we were to remove the "Godly obligation" to give from many of our churches they would not be places we would necessarily support financially
2. What does it mean to be a church member and what benefit do I derive from being a member
3. Many leaders don't want to have to maintain a separate full time job in addition to ministry
4. The love of money

Where did tithing come from?
The modern church has only been teaching tithing in America for 100 years or so, however in all our teaching, Christians are no more generous toward the church today than they were 100 years ago. During the great depression Christians gave about 2.6% of their income in 2006 when Christian were more than twice as wealthy are we were in the 1940's guess how much we gave to church…2.6% Christians are getting the message of giving because it is being taught wrong. So let's with the origin of tithing. To be clear this is not a teaching where I am making the case that giving is not necessary. In fact the opposite we when get finished I am going to make the case that tithing doesn’t go far enough.

To be a leader means to be a servant, as you are praying for your leaders this week, we want to ask God to lead you to the those leaders who are servants, we are willing to give of themselves without seeking reciprocity. In fact true leaders in the church should serve as if not model the role of a Deacon. One of my great joys and privilege's in this life were the years I spent serving as a deacon. It is among the most honorable offices in the church and a worthy vocation and calling. Deacon served in the line of the Levites, ensuring the care of the church, both the building and the body.
1Timothy 3:8-13
Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus. Servant managers understand the importance of modeling the kind of behavior they would like to see demonstrated by their teams. A manager does not exist for the benefit of receiving service from those in there direct line of supervision. Rather managers exist to serve those in their direct line of responsibility. The servant manager understands the best way to get the necessary results and performance from their team is to serve in a capacity that allows their team to function at their very best.

Mark 2:18-22 fasting is like pouring new wine into old wine skins or sewing new cloth into old garment / old garments are already shrunk, when old garments and cleaned and dried with new piece sewn in new piece with shrink and make a bigger tear, old wine skins have already been stretched, when new wine ferments it expands and if it is poured into a old skins, they don't stretch and will burst.
This is to Mary and Martha, where Martha is busy preparing the home and serving and Mary is sitting at Jesus' feet (so busy trying to righteous and do something righteous and when what we can do best is spend time with in Jesus' presence - Luke 10:38-42)
Fasting is no longer needed to atone for sins, if you try to take pieces of the law and sew them into new Christianity it will not work, similarly if you try to take new era of grace and try to squeeze it into the law it will not work, choose the better thing Grace given to us by Christ through our faith

It is just as important to prepare for the fast as it is to plan for breaking your fast (must go into and come out of the fast the right way)

God desires a relationship with humanity that is not possible with any other creature and therefore we must know and appreciate that God speaks and is speaking. That is certainly one of the reasons why the role or office of a Pastor/Preacher and evangelist exists these are individuals that come to not only reveal the mysteries of scripture but to share what God is saying. Beyond that because of Christ's sacrifice and the access we all have now as God's creation as the righteousness of God we can all speak to and hear from God because the petition the wall the veil that both literally and figuratively separated God from his most prized creation has been removed due to Jesus's sacrifice. What God is sharing with us family is that this is the season to seek God's voice and instruction for today and for what's coming. I believe there is a shifting away from what might be considered inspiration or motivation but the church is moving to a place where God is speaking in the form of instructions in the way that Noah received instructions for building the Ark in a way that Noah and then David and finally Solomon received instructions for building the Tabernacle and then the temple in the way that Moses received instruction in Egypt to prepare for the Passover in the way that Paul received instruction for building the body of believers in what would become the "Church". And if this pandemic has taught us anything it has taught us we need community and need connection.

Most prophets of God were men, but the Old Testament also mentions prophetesses such as Miriam (Exodus 15:20, ESV), Deborah (Judges 4:4, ESV), and Huldah (2 Kings 22:14, ESV). All prophets shared some characteristics that made their ministries “prophetic.”
A prophet was required to deliver God’s message accurately. The prophet Micaiah put it well: “As surely as the Lord lives, I can tell [the king] only what the Lord tells me” (1 Kings 22:14). Those who, like Jeremiah, tried to keep silent found they could not (Jeremiah 20:9). Those who, like Jonah, tried to avoid their responsibility were corrected (Jonah 1:3–4). Others, like the unnamed prophet from Judah who directly disobeyed the divine command, lost their lives (1 Kings 13:15–24).
A prophet often led a hard life. Isaiah was sent to a people “ever hearing, but never understanding” (Isaiah 6:9), and (according to tradition) he was eventually murdered for his efforts. Ezekiel ministered to “a rebellious people” (Ezekiel 12:2). The queen of Israel sought to take Elijah’s life (1 Kings 19:2). Jeremiah was thrown into a cistern, where he “sank down into the mud” (Jeremiah 38:6). Jesus spoke of Jerusalem as those “who kill the prophets and stone those sent” to them (Luke 13:34), and, speaking to the Jewish leaders of his day, Stephen asked this condemning question: “Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute?” (Acts 7:52).