There is none so high and holy
King of Kings the one and only
You are adored, you are the Lord of all

"At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God. Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.

In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come."

This is it. This is our high and holy God. His figure resembles that of a man, but since He is so holy, His face looks so bright and shiny like diamonds, that if we were to look at His face, our eyes would fry immediately (that's why we're getting new bodies in heaven)! There's even lightning and thunder literally coming out from the throne. Moreover, there are four living creatures with six wings covered with eyes in front and in back, just praising God on and on from day to night--that's impressive, really. Our God is impressive.

But how does the majority of Christians respond to His Majesty? If we were to meet Him in the same setting as Revelations 4, would we still fall asleep while praying to Him? Would we still be worshiping him half-heartedly? Would we still be living each day of our lives casually, as if our high and holy God did not deserve more than that?

If He is so BIG and mighty, we should respond with the respect that He deserves. So before we say our prayers, let us ponder whom we're praying to; before we surrender in worship, let us ponder whom we're worshiping--a high and holy God.

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  There is a website (www.crazylovebook.com) which is for the book Crazy Love. I recommend guys to get this book and read it daily. This book is about how God wants a relationship with you and wants you to live with Him for eternity. I am going to be posting some notes from each chapter with some of the verses to go along with it.

Chapter 1: Stop Praying

The First Section: We are not to rush into God's presence with words. Solomon said that fools did this. This means that we should not start saying words when we start praying. Francis said that we should wait at least 30 seconds during a prayer before we start asking God for help. Romans 1:20

The Second Section: In this part of  the book, Francis Chan is mostly talking about why we should worship God. Worship should be kept pure. God has made many interesting plants, animals, and other things as well. God's diversity in the universe speaks for Himself. We shouldn't need to be told to worship. Everyone should be able to worship without being told to, because of God's magnificent power and creativity. Psalm 19:1-4 " The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands..." 

The Third Section: We are very forgetful of the things God has made. We see the most stunning sunset and praise God, but then minutes later, we forget. Everyone should remind each other that God has made this and that. We shouldn't take God casually, as Francis Chan had said, but fear and love Him. We shouldn't obey God because we are scared that he will hurt us, but because we love Him as a Father. People also often focus on things they don't have, then get jealous and not focus on the things do have. Ex. Don't focus on your friend's soccer skill, but try to improve yours. GOD IS HOLY= We are not to make up God's image, believe in it sincerely, and then say that it is right. We do not choose His identity. From the book Ex. Your friend thinks that God is a 300 pound sumo wrestler, while your other friend thinks that God is a five-foot-two , 90 pounds gymnasts and someone says it's OK. That is where they are wrong. In Exodus 3:14, "God said to Moses, ' I Am Who I Am'..." This means that God already has and identity and nothing can change it. If you try to describe Him in your words, you will a very hard time trying to.  If God is holy, that means He is separate from everyone else. We cannot go near Him at all.  You cannot compare God to anything. GOD IS ETERNAL= God has always existed, even before time. God lives outside of time (we can never understand Him). Please go read Psalm 102: 12,27. God had NO beginning will NOT have and end. GOD IS ALL-KNOWING= God knows everyone single person very, very well. You can never hide from Him. David wrote that he couldn't hide from God in the darkness, Psalm 139. No matter how dark the sky was to us, it is like daytime to God. Everything in God's eyes is naked, Hebrew 4:13. He has like x-ray vision and can see through houses, and etc. God could have chosen to not understand us at all, even not care about us, but He CHOSE to understand us very well. If we start losing faith in God, He isn't surprised at all. GOD IS ALL-POWERFUL= Everything on Earth is made for God and always will be. Read Colossians 1:16. We are to live FOR God, not vice versa. We often ask God why there are many problems in the world, but it should actually be the opposite. God should be the one asking us why there are many problems on Earth. Psalm 115:3. We have no right at all to demand things from God. Daniel 4:35. He owes us NOTHING. GOD IS FAIR AND JUST= During Judgment Day, He is the one that chooses whether we are guilty or not, not us. God is the one that chooses our punishment and our rewards. Everyone on Earth WILL be guilty. God HATES pride!! Proverbs 8:13, "...I hate pride and arrogance...". God is always fair in His decisions on punishments. 

The Fourth Section: This section would refer to Revalation 4 and Isaiah 6. When John goes to heaven, he tries to find words to describe God's majesty. He said that God was like jasper and carnelian, which is 2 gems. John said that around the throne is rainbow that looks like emeralds. The body of God actually looks closer to jewels instead of flesh and blood. His skin is shining with bright light coming out. The throne had lighting and thunder coming out. John said there were seven blazing torches and something that looks like a sea of glass that looks like crystal. There were 24 elders around the throne wearing gold crowns and are dressed in white. He said that there were 4 6-winged beings with eyes all around theire body and wings. each had a different face. One had a face like an ox, a lion, an eagle, and one of a man. John says that the elders put their crowns before God and talking about how holy God was and how majestic is His glory. The 4 angels were also singing, "Holy, Holy, Holy, who was, and is, and is to come. When Isaiah saw the Lord, he saw God clearer than John. Isaiah said that God's robe filled the whole temple and the Seraphim were above Jesus. The Seraphim were the angels that John explained earlier. There were smoke from the lightning and how the foundations shook from the thunder.

This is just the notes I took from Crazy Love. To understand more, go to www.crazylovebook.com

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For the next few days I'll be putting up parts of Francis Chan's lessons as both reminders to those that heard him as well as new stuff to those that didn't. Of course this series will be based on what he said and my only contribution might be a little expanding. Also since these are short, his lessons will be divided into more than the original three parts.

 

 

Francis started out talking about prayer. Growing up his family prayed the exact same prayer at every single meal. They alternated in people praying but they all said the exact same thing every time. It is the English equivalent to "God is good, God is nice, thank you God for all this rice." And for them it was just something mindless they repeated. He must have said it thousands of times.

Besides his prayer life, he didn't take Christianity really seriously. He told a crazy story when he was a door to door vacuum salesman when he was younger. Francis and his partner sold $1400 vacuum cleaners by knocking on people's doors and telling them about the cleaners. One day Francis and his partner decided to have some fun. They dressed Francis up in traditional stereotypical Chinese clothes and went to a house. There they pretended he couldn't speak English and that his partner was an interpreter. None of the conversation was planned and they had to improvise. Francis would say random phrases in Cantonese while his partner came up with "translations."

At the first house they tried it, their charade lasted for a while. At one point the elderly woman asked a question to Francis. His partner, not knowing any Chinese, made some random sounds in an attempt to sound Chinese. This whole time they had been trying to hide their laughter at how ridiculous everything was. So of course after hearing how idiotic his friend sounded Francis burst out laughing. His partner soon followed and they both rolled around on the ground. After a while of laughing they got back up and the woman asked what was so funny. His partner replied that he had told him some joke. Of course that didn't make any sense as to why his partner would randomly tell a joke instead of asking Francis the question, but she fell for it. Eventually they got the lady to buy the vacuum cleaner.

On the car ride back they realized that this scam worked. So they repeated it. They frequently came up with background stories for Francis' Chinese character and most people believed it. Even though the vacuum cleaner was actually worth $1400, they got some people to pay more for it by telling them a higher price, like $1500 or $1700. Normally they got $350 commission a cleaner, so the extra few hundred was a big difference. One day they managed to get a person to pay $2000 for a cleaner, which meant an extra $600! In one day he managed to make $950, $600 extra from cheating someone.

And then it hit Francis. All this time he had actually been teaching a youth group. As he put it, in the daytime he was getting money and the acclaim of his peers by twisting the truth and at night he was looked up to for teaching the truth. His religion didn't really mean anything at that time. His Christianity didn't really impact his life until he realized this problem. This was a turning point for him.

So here is a question. How does your faith and Christianity affect your life? Is it something that is ineffectual? Are your prayers simply mindless repetition? Do you live a double life? How does your faith really affect you? Really sit there and ponder this point.

 

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Student Life is tomorrow the 6th! Yippee! Here are some reminders!

Get to church by 5:15pm latest! We will get back at 3pm Saturday.

 

What to bring:

- Bring a change of clothes and undies. You should usually share with most things, but a line should be drawn.

- Bring a towel. I doubt the Lengs have towels for 15 people. 

- Bring a toothbrush, contact lens stuff, hair gel, and whatever other toiletries you need.

- Bring a light jacket. Friday and Saturday are both 72/57.

- Bring a Bible and a pen. Take notes so you don't forget everything Saturday night.

- Bring a sleeping bag. The Lengs don't have 15 beds.

- Bring some money for dinner Friday night and lunch Saturday. I've never hit an animal on the road and I don't plan to anytime soon.

- Bring a positive mental attitude.

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