The End?

I finished reading the whole Bible two days ago, and now, for my final assignment, I should write the Bible story… and that is a heavy task, so, here we go…

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, then He created everything in between, including man and then woman. Unfortunately, they get deceived by the serpent and sin enters paradise: the “fall of man”. The redemptive plan of God starts rolling…

Adam and Eve (man and woman) were given the order to “be fruitful and multiply”, so they did. We fast forward to the point when humanity had grown a lot (as well as their wickedness), so God decided to apply justice to the earth and in the process he saved the only just family in the planet, he asked Noah to build an ark, big enough for a pair of each of the animals of the whole world: the flood happened. We fast forward again a few years… and humans decided that they wanted to build a tower to reach heaven: the tower of Babel was started. God “confused their tongues” so that they could not finish the tower, languages were born!

Then God promises Abraham land, as many descendants as the stars in the sky and many blessings and redemption for his people. Abraham had faith in this promises though he was around a hundred years old (his wife was around 90 years old) and he had no children yet. Time later a young guy named Joseph gets sold into Egyptian slavery and then becomes the second in command under Pharaoh. God redeemed the bad act of his brother who sold him into slavery, so that he could safe them years later when a great famine desolated the lands. Later, the whole nation of Israel falls into slavery to Egypt. God called Moses to rescue them: the ten plagues occurred to Pharaoh and his kingdom. He finally let the Israelites go, but only to chase them later! Between a sea and an army, Moses had faith and with the help of God, he parted the red sea so his people could cross it to security, they walked on dry land. But the water came back to destroy the Egyptian army!

The exodus from Egypt to the promised land started. At Mount Sinai, God gave Moses the law and detailed instructions on how to live and walk with Him in purity and holiness. The Israelites failed to obey these commandments, as a consequence the exodus was extended for almost 40 years. However, God did not forsake them, He gave them Manna and birds to eat, every single day for all those years. Yet, they complained they had no water, so God provided water miraculously too.

The people of God arrived into the promised land! But it was occupied by other nations: Israel was ready for war, so God stopped the Jordan river so they could  cross it and defeat Jericho by shouting at its walls and making them crumble! The promised land was never completely cleared of the other people groups and God warned them not to intermarry because that would cause them to sin and follow pagan gods, but they did it anyway. They started desiring to have a King like all the nations around them, and they were warned about all the bad things that could happen to them if they had an earthly King instead of a heavenly King, yet, they insisted: God gave them a King! Saul was anointed as the first King of Israel! Saul was not a great King. Young David came into the picture, he killed a giant: Goliath, hero of the Philistines. Time later, David got anointed as the successor King of Israel, and Saul tried to kill him several times, but failed to do so. David became King and under his rule the Kingdom of Israel captured the city of Jerusalem. David received a promise from God, that the throne of Israel will always be of his descendants! David’s son Solomon got anointed as King and he was even more prosperous than King David himself. King Solomon built a majestic temple for God. He became the wisest man of all times! Soon after his death the kingdom got divided into two: 10 tribes of the North and 2 tribes of the South. And the promise of the “Eternal Throne” stayed with the clan of Judah in the South. At times it was hard to safe the bloodline of David, but God was faithful and always preserved at least one male alive! The Northern Kingdom fell to the Assyrians, who also attacked the South and took Jerusalem (it was recovered later on). The Northern Kingdom was then occupied by the Babylonians, who kept trying to conquer the South Kingdom as well, and then finally conquered the Northern Kingdom as well and completely destroyed Solomon’s Temple later on. Both Kingdoms of Israel were taken into exile by the Babylonians. Then Persia took over the known world ruling and decreed that all the captives could go back to their homelands! Some of the Israelites of the Southern Kingdom went back and rebuilt the Temple, then the walls of Jerusalem.

400 years of silence

(when God did not send any words through prophets or angels)
Here is where the division between Old and New Testament is...

John the Baptist was born. He was called to prepare the way for the Messiah, the savior of the Jews! Jesus was born! His family had to move to Egypt because the government wanted to kill all the babies! Later on they came back and Jesus visited the temple at age 12. The Teachers of the Law were impressed by His knowledge. Fast forward to right around His 30^th birthday: John baptized Jesus! Then Jesus was tempted by the devil himself, after fasting (not eating) for 40 days! Yet, He resisted the temptations! Jesus came back to the Temple and kicked the merchants out… it was supposed to be a house of prayer not a house of trade.

Jesus then chose the 12 disciples to teach them God’s ways and He walked with them teaching them how to do miracles and how to teach. Then He preached the famous “Sermon on the Mount” were He taught the people (and the disciples) about Him coming to fulfill the law, and not to abolish it. He also talked to them about all the different laws they should follow to be righteous and to inherit the Kingdom of God. He even warned them about false teachers and false disciples. And in between all of that, He took time to teach them how to pray to the Father.

Jesus performed many miracles and one of the most famous ones was when He raised His beloved friend Lazarus from the dead! As to show people (one more time) that He had power over life and death. Then John the Baptist gets beheaded. When Jesus learned this, in His sadness, He was moved to compassion of the big crowd and fed more than five thousand people with only a handful of loaves of bread and a couple of fish. Jesus went back to Jerusalem, knowing that the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law wanted Him dead. He rode a donkey into the town, to fulfill the prophecies of the coming King. After that, Jesus had His “last supper” with His disciples, and He told them that one of them would betray Him soon. And Judas was the one, He was paid 30 pieces of silver, just like the prophecies of the old testament foretold… Jesus got taken and judged for being “the King of the Jews”. No Roman ruler found Jesus guilty of anything, yet the was handed over to His accusers for Him to be crucified. Then He was crucified and died. However, He resurrected from the dead 3 days later! He appeared to His disciples and even ate with them a couple of times, He also appeared to many people in days after His resurrection. Finally, Jesus gave his disciples the “Great Commission”: to “…go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Then He ascended to heaven.

The apostles and disciples took the big task to go to the places near, and even to the ends of the world, and we have records of their missionary journeys and mishaps. Some of them died of old age, others died pretty young as martyrs but all of them followed Jesus’ steps and instructions as closely as they could. And I feel that is our mission too. The Great commission was not only given to the original disciples, but to all people who believe in Jesus as their savior. My bags are packed, so we better get going, it takes a while to get to the “…ends of the world.”

The Sidekick!

Essay response 

to the question “how did the coming of the Holy Spirit revolutionize the people of God?”

When I think of the Holy Spirit, I think of Pentecost, because that was like the flashiest representation of the pouring of the Spirit. And it is because the pouring of the Holy Spirit was evident to so many people that I want to start there. However, I will not start there, I want to go to the very beginning, where it all started and pose a question, and then take it from there…

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." (Gen 1:1 New Living Translation)

In there it sounds like God was by himself, right? Maybe I backed up a bit too much… let’s try this reference instead…

"Then God said, "Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground."" (Gen 1:26 NLT)

Now, this time around it seems like God was not alone when He said, “Let us make human beings…” Have you ever wonder why he said “us”, well, I believe this is the earliest reference to the Holy Spirit, and possibly of the Trinity that there is in the Bible. It makes me wonder if the Holy Spirit was at work since the very beginning of our time. However, it was not living in us from that time.

In the Old Testament, there is prophecies about the outpouring of the gift of Prophecy:

“Then, after doing all those things,

    I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.

Your sons and daughters will prophesy.

    Your old men will dream dreams,

    and your young men will see visions.

In those days I will pour out my Spirit

    even on servants—men and women alike.” (Joel 2:28-29 NLT)

And this prophecy is again pointed at in the New Testament, by Luke:

“‘In the last days,’ God says,

    ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.

Your sons and daughters will prophesy.

    Your young men will see visions,

    and your old men will dream dreams.

In those days I will pour out my Spirit

    even on my servants—men and women alike—

    and they will prophesy.

And I will cause wonders in the heavens above

    and signs on the earth below—

    blood and fire and clouds of smoke.

The sun will become dark,

    and the moon will turn blood red

    before that great and glorious day of the Lord arrives.

But everyone who calls on the name of the Lord

    will be saved.’” (Acts 2:17-21 NLT)

This time around though, it expands the explanation on who will receive the Holy Spirit and Salvation! It states that “…everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” And that is exciting! Because during the OT times, only Jews were chosen people and the pouring of the Holy Spirit was not even thought of as something that Gentiles could ever have. At this point I can go back to Pentecost…

"On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability. At that time there were devout Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem. When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers. They were completely amazed. "How can this be?" they exclaimed. "These people are all from Galilee, and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages! Here we are--Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans, and Arabs. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!"" (Act 2:1-11 NLT)

Not only did the church receive the Holy Spirit, but also the gift of Speaking in Tongues at the very same time! And the list of languages that they were speaking in is long… I wish I could speak that many languages. And here we are, now, the question for this essay is how did this moment revolutionize the people of God (the church)?

To start with, believers, new and old, from all countries were living in Jerusalem; which means that the Gospel was being translated to all of their languages right there at Pentecost! Which, at the very same time, means that the Gospel could now go to ALL the nations! I need to make a little parenthesis here, because when I say “all” I mean all the countries in Asia minor and part of Europe, which is their known world at the time. I hope that there were Central Americans there speaking Spanish in Jerusalem in those days, but I really doubt it. So, I let’s keep that in mind, to keep this in their context.

So, I picture believers of all languages, going to all the known world with the gospel. The implication is that the growth of the church was exponential at the moment because the Holy Spirit did the instant translation of the Gospel! This means that the church had the potential to grow from thousands to millions, faster than ever before.

Another great thing that came along with the grace of God for all people is the fact that they were not required to fulfill every single bit of the law, actually, the apostle Paul told the people that…

"Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God's grace." (Rom 6:14 NLT)

And in this respect, it opened the door for all those people who were not Jewish. So, for gentiles it was an incredible opportunity to come to Christ without all the minor details. However, for the Jews to abandon this huge part of their teachings was really complicated. I am thinking about all the centuries that the law was in place up to the moment when the epistle of Romans was written and distributed. And then, as if it was a simple thing to do, they are told that they are “free” from the law too! I can only imagine the chaos that generated among the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law… they were losing their pride and joy: the written law! In a way, this is like fuel thrown into the fire of persecution toward Christ followers. Just think for a moment about how would you feel if you are told that the main source of your identity is obsolete and you need to forget about it and move on… not an easy task to do. But if they were serious about following Jesus, and God, they had to do it, for the sake of Faith. And I know by personal experience that it is a difficult thing to do.

Now, how do you forget those things that have been “true” for you your whole life? Can you replace them with something else? How do you get rid of your extra “baggage” for the sake of a better future? Can it be done? I personally believe it can be done, because I have done it myself. For example, in my life, I have heard and learned many teachings of grace, and many of them tell you that no matter what you do, you are forgiven. That sounds really good, and I believe it’s true, if… you bring your sin to God and ask for His forgiveness, then He will extend His grace to you. But, the key part in here is the “if” clause. Because I have heard people say that they will sin their whole life, and right at the very end, they will “repent” and God will forgive them. That’s deliberately sinning and manipulating grace and forgiveness! I don’t think that is the correct way to see grace, but if that is the way you learned about it, it would be harder to turn away to the new scenario of NOT sinning and if you accidentally do, then to come to God and ask for His forgiveness then, and not at the end of your life. And then I think I would be easier to not sin at all! But that is totally out of the picture as far as we are humans and in this fallen world.

My point is that I have given up on things that I believed to be true because the truth has been revealed to me by teachers or by the Holy Spirit Himself. Sometimes, I bring the matter to God and He directs me in the right direction. This has changed my life because before I decided to read and study the whole Bible, I heard from God to start a food truck ministry. And that is a very big leap of faith for me. First of all, I never thought I could “hear from God” about what to do in the future. In addition to that, I never imagined that I would be telling people that God “talked to me” about a specific matter. And I did not think that someday I would be praying to God for Him to continue talking to me on a daily basis! But I am doing so, and He is talking back. That can only be the work of the Holy Spirit that dwells in us, He is like our walkie-talkie, and I am very glad that I have learned that during this two Bible schools I have completed.

On the other hand, just like any other Gentile, I am glad that the Holy Spirit has come and now lives within us! Because it means salvation and a direct communication line to God. I am also very happy that I am not a slave to sin and/or the law! I do not have to complete all the requirements of the law to have a shot at salvation, I am guarantied salvation by believing that Jesus is “…the way, the truth, and the life.” He even added that “No one can come to the Father except through me." (John 14:6 NLT)

When it comes to my ministry, some people know that I have always wanted to do something with food. That is why my “Point of Passion” for my class assignments always had to do with food and provision from God. I want to start a Food Truck ministry that will visit the communities and feed the homeless and the poor where they are at. I want to cook for them, hot, delicious meals that will, hopefully, make them desire to come back home or to start a home of their own! Just as it is described by Paul in his letter to Titus, the Holy Spirit can give people a new birth through Jesus: "He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit." (Titus 3:5 NLT)

I know that it sounds crazy to some people, a Food Truck to cook good meals for people who won’t be able to pay for them, that is not a great business. But I believe it is the best business possible, because helping another human being be better, and feel better is the best investment of my time, my money and my heart! I want to make a difference [like almost everyone else], and I hope that change comes related to food, because I love cooking and eating! In 1 Corinthians chapter 12, Paul tells us that there are different kinds of Spiritual Gifts, but all of them come from the very same Spirit. And then he tells us that there are also different kinds of services but all of them serve the same Lord. And finally he insists in the fact that "A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other." (1Cor 12:7 NLT) So, I believe that my Gift is Service but I pray that God will also bless the people of the streets through the Spiritual Gifts of the rest of the team who will work with me. I pray that in that truck we will bring all of the Spiritual Gifts to be able to help the homeless and the poor the best way possible!

The Less the Merrier

Romans

Personal Application

The book of Romans is challenging me to rethink the whole concept of grace, especially in missions. Somehow, I thought that if I did more, God would be happier with me, and therefore I would have a bigger house [I’d rather call it “mansion” or “castle”, but anyway…] in heaven. I actually have heard this in some churches… and here comes the teacher of the week and tells us [in a few words] that when we do that, we are treating God as pagan people treat their gods. In some ancient civilizations, they believed that by praying a certain way or by doing some works for the god, people could affect the will of the god in a positive way for humans! So, I think I have been doing something similar all this years! But Romans states that God’s grace is free and undeserved (11:6), and that means that we do not need to do anything to receive grace from God. We just need to be alive.

I feel as if something that I believed true my whole life is actually a little bit off, but, being the positive person that I am, I am really glad that I realized that, because now I can adjust that “glitch” and continue growing in truth. I want to take a moment to thank all the teachers that have gone through my life [good ones and bad ones alike] and have taught me something. They took time to learn that something themselves and then they took the time to teach me that something. And teachers make the world go round… because if it were not for teachers, I could not type this text and you could not be reading it! God bless all teachers of the world and give them revelation of what is true, so they can teach it to their students.

Point of Passion:

In Romans it says not to argue with other believers about what they eat… “For instance, one person believes it’s all right to eat anything. But another believer with a sensitive conscience will eat only vegetables. Those who feel free to eat anything must not look down on those who don’t. And those who don’t eat certain foods must not condemn those who do, for God has accepted them.” (Romans 14:2-3) And I feel this example is really strange if it is out of context, so, here is some of my own context:

I once was in Peru and they eat Cui [I think that’s what they call it], and it is basically a big guinea pig, which in my mind is a big rat. So, in the couple of weeks I was there, people tried to make me eat it, but I would not. I always refused it politely. And somehow I managed not to eat it! I feel this is a matter that could have escalated to an argument if I would have offended them by saying that I did not eat oversized rats. And I don’t think that there is anything wrong with eating them, they’re just not for me! Like cinnamon or oatmeal! People can eat those things, even enjoy them, but I try to stay away from the things I don’t like to eat. And I try to respect those who eat them in the same well. There’s not benefit in discussing about such matters because they don’t really take us anywhere! [I’m learning more and more about this skill because it can be applied to marriage in many contexts!]

1 Corinthians

Personal Application

This book really depicts the gross part of Christianity in the sense that it shows a lot of the problems the church actually faces [even] nowadays! “Fights. Rumors. Factions. It’s all here in 1 Corinthians. Few other passages of scripture reveal the weaknesses of Christians as vividly as this book does.” (SourceView Bible p. 1474) And whoever says that is not true in our times, can just look and count the amount of denominations we have in Christianity… if we were all so sweet and loving, we would be one international mega church. But we are not, and I don’t even think it is important to think about why we are this way today, but I want to think more on how to fix it. Well, I guess it’s my lucky day because Paul addressed all these issues in his book! Let’s see… maybe the solutions are around here, hidden in the pages of 1 Corinthians:

Don’t Judge - it’s not your job: “So don’t make judgments about anyone ahead of time—before the Lord returns. For he will bring our darkest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives. Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due.” (4:5)

Unity - be one in Christ: “The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.” (12:12-13)

Love - that is your job: “If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.” (13:1-3)

Point of Passion:

There’s only a few books left in my Bible to read… and I keep on my search for food! I want to someday go on the streets and cook for people. I want poor people and homeless fellows to experience a great, hot meal, and maybe that would be the trigger for them to desire to go back home, or start a home of their own! Now, in 1 Corinthians, Paul talks about caring for others and not judging and being a great Christian, and all of that sounds great, but then, he drops the bomb:

“If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.” (13:3)

Here we have the conditional “if” of someone who gives everything [even sacrificed his/her own body] but has no love for others… then what happens? That person gained nothing. How is that possible? Here’s the formula, you give all you have + even your body - LOVE = 0 (zero). I’m no mathematician but that sounds awful! As humans, we usually want to give something to get something else in return… but here Paul is analyzing the motives of the heart. So, I’m challenged to give with a good intentions, even more so, with love!!! Here’s the catch, how can you love someone you don’t know? Someone who is dirty and smells bad? I don’t have a formula for that one, but all Paul says is that whatever you do, do it with love, or else it means nothing. So, next time I go to eat with the homeless and the poor, I need to remember that I am there to love on those folks. And that’s why I really like to eat with them. Notice that I didn’t say to “feed the homeless”, because I do not feed them, I have dinner with them. I always try to talk to them [sometimes they don’t want to talk], or I just sit silently next to them until they ask me something, which usually is “can I get more food?” I always say yes, with a smile and offer to bring it for them. You would be surprised how many of them say not to bring it to them, they are completely independent and don’t think that other people should do certain things for them.

I really enjoyed last weeks Monday dinner with them, I had a very good conversation with Shawn from South Point, Hawaii. He has been a homeless for a few years and he was telling me how he became a homeless. I asked him if it bothered him if I asked him some questions about “homelessness” and he agreed to answer my questions. I asked him why was people homeless… he gave me several reasons, but most of them involved drugs and loss of homes and families in the process. I also asked him if he missed the concept of “home”, and he said he kind of did, but he did not mind it now to sleep on the streets. I wanted to decipher how to get him out of the streets, I needed to “rescue” him. And then I realized that he was confortable where he was. He does not want to get out, or at least that’s what he said. So, it really does not matter what I do to get him out of the streets, I will fail in every scenario. So, I just aborted my mission and started to talk about the island of Hawaii and his eyes got all sparkly! I learned that he loves traveling and seeing new places… he longs for long road trips and flying to places. Just like me! I talked to him about ancient Rome and Corinth. I told him about my trip to Italy and he was drooling about it. I then realized two things, first, we share a dream: traveling! And the second things is that the same key does not open all hearts. I feel he will get out of these streets if he had the opportunity to go far, to travel, to know other places. And maybe he would just find another set of streets to sleep on, or that might be the way to get him back on his feet. I don’t know. But what I do know if that before that conversation I saw homeless people like a different race. Like a lower class. Not exactly like me. Similar to me, but just not the same. And then I noticed that we are exactly the same. I don’t own a house, I don’t have a car, I don’t even have money in my wallet, the only actual differences I can find are that I don’t do drugs, and that I know my goals in life, and those things keep me going like fuel to my soul! My faith in God keeps me up and running. And my purpose of getting people out of the streets is suddenly changing into bringing Jesus into their streets. I’m sure He can get them out of there, but now I know I can’t.

Philippians

Personal Application

The book of Philippians is like a fairy tale in the sense that it is all about joy. It seems to be like the happiest letter that Paul wrote. I really enjoyed this book, especially after all the nagging he did in all the other epistles. And I feel the one verse that sums the reasons why he is so joyful here is because he is “citizen of heaven” and he lets the believers of Philippi that they are too (Philippians 3:20)! I am trying to picture Paul singing as he was writing this letter because he is looking at the end of the race. He knows what will happen at the end. He is confident he is going to heaven, where Christ lives. And Paul knows [and longs for] that God will give us new bodies which will not die like these ones we have (3:21). And at the time Paul was sending this letter, he was old and sick. He is really hoping for a new body! The one he’s got is kind of falling apart. However, I’m sure [after reading all his epistles] that he did not work to gain these heavenly prizes, but he knows it is “collateral damage”. He is so joyful that he advises people not to worry but to enjoy God’s peace:

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” (4:6-7)

Point of Passion:

Yesterday I was thinking about some people who have asked me why did I leave my good paying job and joined missions. And that was not a one step thing… in between those two events there is a year and a bit worth of time and thinking. Yet, the questions remains, and I think that for me it has never been about money. Money does not move me, I prefer to see it as a tool to achieve my goals, if it is even needed for that [sometimes it’s not needed at all]. And once again, here’s Paul answering the question that we ask, I feel this verse compresses how I feel about going from a multinational corporation job’s monthly payment to a “wondering about the next check’s amount” kind of “job”:

“I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little.” (Philippians 4:12)

I have come to the realization that I really like my stomach to be full, but I will take a heart full of fulfillment over a full stomach any day!