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Posts Tagged ‘John 03’

Breath

Posted in Action, God, Holy Spirit, tagged , on October 6, 2011| Leave a Comment »

And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. — Genesis 1:2

Throughout the Bible, in both Old and New Testaments, in both Hebrew and Greek languages, the word translated “Spirit” is the same used for Breath and Wind. Why?

Part of the answer, I believe, is that wind, breath, spirit is unseen and uncontrolled. It can be felt on our skin, it can be heard blowing through the trees and tall grass, we even try to track it with radar, but it goes where ever it goes without or control, approval, or direction.

God’s spirit is like that and so are his followers.

The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit — John 3:8

He moves and we benefit. We pray for it, wait for it, work with it or against it, but we don’t control it, and we don’t control those following him.

— fritz@langgang.com

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Snake On A Pole

Posted in Moses, Salvation, Sin, tagged , , on June 12, 2011| Leave a Comment »

“As Moses lifted up the snake on a pole in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up. – Jesus (John 3:14)

God’s object lessons can be strange. In the Old Testament, when God’s people complained poisonous snakes slithered out and bit them.1 God’s cure was to take an image of one of those snakes, put it on a pole and look at it! Those who looked lived and those who refused to look died.

Who would refuse to look when it was right there in front of them?! Yet some did.

Jesus speaking to Nicodemus, a religious scholar who would know the story well, said God would offer his answer for sin’s bite in the same way — putting sin on a pole (cross) for all to see. The apostle Paul later wrote,

[God] hath made [Christ] to be sin for us … that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. – 2nd Corinthians 5:21

Those who figuratively look to Christ and his sacrifice have deliverance.

Who would refuse to look when it is right there in front of them?

– fritz@langgang.com
1 Numbers 21:6

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How Jesus Gave Interviews

Posted in Jesus, tagged , on June 7, 2011| 2 Comments »

[B]e ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you…” – 1st Peter 3:15b

Reading Seth Godin’s blog entry from May 31st, ““How to be interviewed” started me thinking about how Jesus gave interviews; he did, you know – to Nicodemus, the woman at the well, the pharisees and sadducees. Jesus gave great interviews!

Some of the rules Mr. Godin mentioned are just what Jesus did:

  1. Jesus gave interviews, they weren’t taken from him. He was the one in charge, he was animated, interested in the topic and expressive.
  2. Interviewer questions and statements were not for answering but opportunities to talk about what he thought was important. When Nicodemus said, “We know you come from God …” Jesus ignored it completely and said, “You must be born again!”
  3. Everything Jesus said was “on the record” – there were no flippant, off-color, comments.
  4. Jesus was kind even when people made thoughtless comments or asked the same thing over and over.
  5. His answers were interesting, exciting and engaging.

Something to think about when people ask us questions.

– fritz@langgang.com

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