• One student did not believe that God would raise up the $5,000.00 that she needed to be able to go to Moscow, Russia. Sure enough, she stood in the middle of the room declaring God’s faithfulness with financial support raising.
• Another student shared about the fact that he didn’t have other plans for the summer. So he figured he would apply to come on project and see what happened. And in no time at all he was accepted and encouraged to go. He had no idea that he would be called to go.
• Even one of our staff shared that she had dreamed that she would be in the country that she is leading a team. She shared how she knew that she was supposed to go, even though she didn’t want to go. Another awesome way that God is working.
• One last story, one of these summer missions projects is lead by students. And they are going into a closed country. Yes, they have staff that are going with them, but these students leaders will be guiding their teams direction spiritually, and in ministry.

Thirty-two men and women are taking the gospel to the nations. They are going to share Jesus with the multitudes around the world. They are sacrificing their summers… vacations… trips with families… jobs to support their educations… they are giving up six weeks for God’s Kingdom.

Please be praying for these students over the next six weeks.

Pray for their safety.

Pray for their travel.

Pray for their hearts and teams.

Pray for the people they will meet.

Pray for new brothers and sisters in Jesus.

In today’s world, people are not looking for a Messiah. The more and more I talk with people I realize they are looking for something. But that something isn’t a savior or a king. In fact, most people tend to run away from talk like that.

At the beginning of every semester at my college, we would have a church group blanket campus with bible study invites. I remember for my first year on campus I would try to find the hole in their campus perimeter. I didn’t want to have anything to do with them. Inevitably I would get stopped and handed a flyer. I would politely take it and go around the corner and throw it away.

After about ten feet, I would put them to the back of my mind and start thinking about class, women, work, or whatever else was on my mind. At my school, people had no need for a savior or a king. After all, I remember thinking that I was king of my life. I had no one to answer too, and I could do whatever I want.

We are in a battlefield for our lives.The world is telling us to be about us. God is calling us to be about Him. And there is a siege laying waste to our neighborhoods, churches, cities, and nations. This battle isn’t one of bombs and bullets. It is one of kings and queens. It is a battle of objects of worship.

Even this weekend, I was caught in the middle of this battle. I was brought back to my delusion that I should be king of my life. That I deserve this or that. I was mad that things weren’t happening the way I thought they should be. I went right back to my battle against God that started for me in college.

Sunday morning, as I read my Bible, I was reminded that Jesus is King. What started as a three year ministry in Israel has become world wide. It moved across the lands and transcended cultural boundaries. King Jesus is the incarnate Word of God, and as the Apostle John wrote in his gospel, He was here first.

“In the beginning there was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything amide that was made. In him was life, ad the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father full of grace and truth.” – John 1:1-5,15

Though we are not looking for a Messiah today, people are looking for something or someone to worship. As I read the gospel of John I am reminded that we do have someone to worship and He is who we are made to worship. He is our Savior yes, but he is also our King.

Who is king in your life right now? 

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us…” -Hebrews 12:1

I finished my 8K in about 54 minutes. I’m pretty proud of that time as you can see. I am also surprised at the fact that I was able to run the whole time. After all, I didn’t train all the way up to the full 5 miles. But I made it.

At about the two mile mark on the course I started thinking about the race in spiritual terms. It was about the time that I was having trouble talking while running. So the conversation was continuing in my head. I was reminded that things get hard. At this point my knee was beginning to hurt. I could have easily given up at that point, or stopped. But I didn’t.

When we become Christians we believe that life is going to be roses. At least in America where life is pretty sweet already. But after some time, we start to see sin habits in our life. Jesus wants us to shed the sin that we have in our life. He calls us to that. But its hard. And sometimes, we just want to give up. When I lived in Arizona during an internship I was deep into the sin habits of my life. I struggled against it, and I struggled with God over it.

There I wasn’t “surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses,” most of the time it was just me. Or me and a couple of other Christians that I knew. After my internship was over I returned to the place where I first began to grow as a Christian. During the next few months, I had time to work through that sin. I started to work hard to eradicate that sin habit in my life.

Today, it is a whisper in the past. Sometimes there are still reminders of the habit, but it doesn’t control me. At mile marker three I had confessed my knee was sore, and was encouraged to push on into the race. I laid the discomfort down and continued on. That mile where I started thinking about stopping because of my knee, I did the same while I was in Arizona. Thanks to having someone there through, I didn’t stop.

As Jesus Followers, we need to set aside sin that holds us back. We need to not allow ourselves to be bogged down by unbelief or our personal will. We need to confess that sin to God and move forward. I want to encourage you today to do that. Maybe you need to confess sin out loud, to someone you trust. And as you do that, they can pray and work through it with you. Or maybe you need to sit quietly with God and lay down the things that are weighing you down, and trust Him.

If we do that, as followers of Jesus, we are able to not only push on, but flourish. And the beauty is we don’t do that alone. We get to do that with others in the body of Christ. We get help from the Holy Spirit. We can let go of sin and move forward, running with endurance.

Will you allow yourself to run with endurance this week? Will you let go of sin in your life, to follow hard after Jesus?

Read my other posts about Running the Race:

The Start

A Jesus Follower

“I am a man redeemed by the saving blood of Jesus Christ. Every day I live I grow closer to God in a relationship. The more I learn and understand God, the more excited I am to live my life for Him, because he sent his Son to give his life for me. I have a great passion for people, listening to them, and doing all that I can to help them. It is from God’s love that stems my desire to do these things for His Spirit lives within me. If you think I’m a Jesus Freak, that’s ok… I am. I hope to be able to talk to you about Him as well, because that’s what Jesus Freak’s do. God Bless! ”

David Hafner, what a guy. Always a smile on his face.

David Hafner was part of my New Staff Training Class in 2011. He was on staff with Cru with the Southern Minnesota Team. I admit that I didn’t know David well. But when I took a look at his Facebook profile and saw his description of himself, I realized I knew him well enough.

I don’t know any details other than he left to be with Jesus. When someone who follows Jesus leaves this earth it is always bittersweet. It is sad for those who are still here. We lose a friend or family member. But we can also rejoice. Because we know they are with our Creator. And I imagine that David would want us to be happy for him and to celebrate his life. So that is my aim in this post.

Happy. Caring. Including. Listener. Spirit-filled. Loved Jesus. Excited. A Good Man.

I believe that many people would agree with me that he was a good man, who loved Jesus, and loved people. His room was next to mine at NST, and whenever he headed out the door, he’d check and see if anyone wanted to go with him. Though the world lost a good man, he now is in the presence of our God. And I am fairly confident that he is rejoicing to be there.

Friends, family, colleagues, and anyone else. Please join with so many of us to pray for his family. Pray for comfort. Pray for encouragement. Pray for peace. Thank the Lord for David and his life.  Thank the Lord that he brings us to Him and that David is with Him now.

In two hours a couple of Sunday’s ago, we got to see Genesis through Joshua. As I geared up for the second two hours I realized how much I did enjoy the first two episodes. If you didn’t get to read it, I gave you a couple of things I liked, and a couple of things I didn’t. Turns out, I really enjoyed the second two hours.

I realized thought that we need a Bible Guide as we see the stories. We need to read the stories!

• Noah and the Beginning: What Noah says in the beginning of the series is Genesis 1-4. The story of Noah is found in Genesis 6-9.
• The Story of Abraham: Abraham went out in Genesis 12:1-9. Then we read about Abraham and Lot in Genesis 13-14. After that God and Abraham make a covenant in Genesis 15. The story of Abraham continues in The Bible from Genesis 15-22. Now there is a lot more in those chapters then what was in the first episode, but they cover the stories over those chapters.

*The Bible Skips the story of Joseph, but I think it is important to read, you will find it in Genesis 37-47. This story explains how Israelites become slaves of Pharaoh.

• The Story of Moses: We find our friend Moses and his story from Exodus 1-3, and then continued on in Exodus 6-12. Those chapters we see the plagues that God inflicts on Pharaoh and the Egyptians. We pick up in Exodus 14 with the parting of the Red Sea, with a brief interlude about Exodus 19-20 and the Ten Commandments. The book of Deuteronomy has some insights that were probably drawn on for the story of Moses too. But then Joshua enters the picture.
• The Story of Joshua: We first find out about the succession of Joshua in Numbers 27:12-23 and in Deuteronomy 31 we see Joshua as well. The majority of his story is found in his book, Joshua. We see the following passages though: Joshua 1-3, 6.
• Samson, the only Judge mentioned: Samson is the only Judge of Israel that is mentioned. And we find his story in Judges 13-16. And then, it was on to King David.
• The Stories of Samuel, Saul, and David: Samuel has two books that are attributed for him. But we only get the following Scriptures: 1 Samuel 8-13. 1 Samuel 15-19 are the combined stories of Samuel, Saul and David. We pick back up in 1 Samuel 23-24. The last chapter of 1 Samuel is the death of Saul, chapter 31.
• The Stories of King David: 2 Samuel 1 is when David hears of Saul’s death. And then we jump to 2 Samuel 5-6 with David anointed King again and the Ark coming to Israel. Next is David and Bathsheba which is in 2 Samuel 11-12, and that is where we ended the last episode the death of David’s first son, and the birth of Solomon.

*We also get some insight on the stories of Samuel, Saul and David from 1 Chronicles 10-15. It also during a lot of this time that King David writes some of his Psalms.*

So that covers the first four hours of The Bible. I will keep this up as the series goes on, and at the end give a full list of what is used quite fully. I hope that this is useful for those who want it, and I would love feedback if I am missing something!

By the way, I am really digging the History Channel series, The Bible.

My wife and I have been thinking about what the future holds for us. We’ve been try to decipher what God would want for us next. And it’s hard to know God’s will too. That is frustrating. Even the other morning, I was really frustrated with not knowing what is next.

Then, my wife asked, “how did you know to marry me?”

I listed off a bunch of reasons, and the things I thought, the prayers I prayed. She told me it is important to remember where God has been faithful. I remembered Nehemiah 9. In chapter seven we saw the list of people that are part of Jerusalem. Then chapter eight, the Jews went back to the Law and the Prophets.

Chapter Nine is about the confession of sin, and the story of Israel is retold.

“Now on the twenty-fourth day of assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads. And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day; for another quarter of it they made confession and worship the Lord their God.” -Nehemiah 9:1-3

The people confessed their sins. Then we see the story of Israel retold. Nehemiah 9:6-37 is an overview of Genesis to Nehemiah. That is a lot of ground to cover, and I will probably post later on in time the connections, but if you want to learn more, you should totally read Nehemiah 9 and then read Genesis through Nehemiah.

What is the significance of telling the story of Israel?

It is the process of confession that the people went through. There are seven things that I noticed about their confession:

1. Fasting in sackcloth (v. 1)
2. Separation from foreigners (v.2)
3. Confession of Sin of their fathers (v.2)
4. Read the Book of Law and Worshipped (v.3)
5. The story of Israel (v.4-31)
6. Confession of the Returned Jews (v.32-35)
7. Asking for God to move (v.36-37)

When I think back to what God has done in my life, there has always been a form of confession that helped move me forward. The confession and repentance that can happen always brings us forward, and brings us closer to God. And sometimes we can choose to not confess our sin. And what does that get us? Separation from God. And if you are a Christian, that isn’t good on any level. We want to be closer to him. It is hugely important for us to be striving closer to our God.

Where do we go from here?

If you are looking to move closer to the God you love. Or the God you are not sure that you believe in. This chapter can give some insight into how to move closer to Him. I would encourage you to read the Genesis – Nehemiah. It isn’t always a pretty story. But once you get to Nehemiah, you will see that God is working hard for you to know Him. Will you choose to confess sin and repent? Will you choose to join His Kingdom and step out of the life that is only as good as it gets now? It’s up to you, make a decision.

If you want to learn more about what it means to know God, I would like you to go HERE! If you are not sure what you should do, or how to move forward for God’s Kingdom, leave a comment, or send me an email. I want to walk with you.

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.” -1 Corinthians 9:24

Have you ever ran a race where there are literally thousands of people running too? Before hand, they have you line up according to your pace at different places before the start. Some of us are near the beginning and some of us are near the end. And I know for me, this is the worst part. Right before I begin, I starting thinking about ways out.

Like I said in the previous post, I really don’t like running. I just know it is good for me. And I know that I need a challenge to do things I don’t like that may be good for me. But when the race is about to start, I want to bail out.

But the truth is, my anxieties aren’t about the discomfort of the race. My anxiety is about how I will do in the race. I worry that I might not make it to the end. I worry that I will finish last. I worry that I will have to walk a lot of the race. I have all these worries. And I know that they weigh me down a lot of times.

And then 1 Corinthians 9:24 shows up. “At a race, all runners run,” and yet, “only one receives the prize.” All I am thinking about is not receiving the prize. And how that is going to look.

But when we are almost to the start line, we need to realize that we can chose to run with the idea that we won’t receive the prize. Or we need to “run so that we obtain it.” We need to be in the mindset that we are going to when the race. Or finish at the time we set as a goal. Or whatever it may be that we have set up for the race.

Living as a Jesus Follower is very similar to that. We need to not be afraid of the ways we fall short. Mostly, because Jesus covers our short comings. We need to live our lives so that we would obtain the prize, be worthy of the prize that we have already. We not only get to go to heaven, but we get to be in the presence of our God! We get to commune with Him. In prayer we spend time with Him, in reading His Word we spend time with Him.

What if we started living like we have already won! What if we started running like we have the prize at hand! Jesus is alive! We can be in the presence of God here and now. Why are we afraid that we are going to fail, when God has not failed!

And the truth is, we have already started the race if we are Christians. We know God, we know Jesus, we have the Spirit living in us. So let us live like it. We need to live lives that praise God and show His power. It’s what we are called to do. And if you aren’t a Christian, if you are not a follower of Jesus, I implore you to start the race, to choose to live life with faith in Jesus. You can learn to Know God Personally. And then you can live a life that is different than anything you have ever known.

Will you live life like you have obtained the prize?

You are all dressed up in your running clothes. The comfortable top, running shorts, ear buds in, music playing as you get ready to start the race. You are in the crowd of other people moving closer and closer to the start line. You know that the beginning of your race is going to be hard. That first mile or two will be important to establish. But once you get passed that you will be able to run comfortably. And it will be in that comfort that you will think about pushing yourself at the end. Then you get to the start line and…

I’m not a fan of running. I do run. I am trying to enjoy it. But I still have a ways to go. As I have worked to become comfortable in running, I have noticed a few things that apply to my faith in Jesus. More specifically in our struggles and our entire journey of faith here on earth.

I have found three verses that remind me of three parts to running. Starting to run is hard. But when you think about racing or accomplishing a goal when it comes to running, I am reminded of 1 Corinthians 9:24. Then when you have to push through the difficult beginnings of running or a race, I am reminded of Hebrews 12:1. And then, oddly, I am reminded of Galatians 2:2 when it comes to finishing strong the race I begun. Over the next few posts, I want to help you see what they mean for our lives. Each post will be dedicated to the verses below.

The Start

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. -1 Corinthians 9:24

Pushing through the Beginning

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us… -Hebrews 12:1

Coming Up on the End

I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. -Galatians 2:2

When we run, there is an end goal in mind. At least for some of us. If we run a race there is too. For some it is just to finish. For others it is important to beat a special time. And for the select few it is to run to win. And I think that is true for some who are Jesus followers. Some of us just want to finish life and spend eternity in heaven. Others want to accomplish certain goals in life before entering into our God’s presence  Yet, there are still others who want to win, they want to stand before God and hear him say, “well done, my good and faithful servant.”

Which do you want to be? Maybe, by the end of this series of posts, your mind will change. I hope it will. And I know this will make a difference for me and for you. Please stay tuned to see where God will take us on this run.

]]> http://www.jackheimbigner.com/run-the-race-a-follower-of-jesus/feed/ 0 http://www.jackheimbigner.com/run-the-race-a-follower-of-jesus/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Jackheimbigner/~3/jEoFifOYQ8M/ http://www.jackheimbigner.com/history-channels-the-bible-part-one/#comments Thu, 07 Mar 2013 17:00:37 +0000 Jack Heimbigner http://www.jackheimbigner.com/?p=493

My wife and I watched the first part of the The Bible from the History Channel. The Docudrama as it has been dubbed was quite interesting. Though it was a two hour spot on the History Channel, there were a few good things and a few bad things.

The Good, The Bad

A Connected Story: The first part of the episode was amazing! Noah is recounting Genesis 1-4 as they ride the waves of the flood story. In fact, it is probably my favorite part of the first two hours. It helped to give a picture of how the Bible is really a connected story. And that is something I really appreciate about the show as a whole. They work hard to show the Bible a connected story.

Vague Details: Something that through my wife and I off a bit was that there were some details that weren’t there and were there. Some of those details? The vilification of Lott’s wife. The reason for the destruction of Sodom. The reference of Moses in the basket to the Genesis story and Noah. But, they have to pack the whole of the Bible into ten hours of footage, so I suppose it is expected.

Magnificent Burning Bush: Moses sees a burning bush. Whenever I have ever seen anything else about it, it is this small little dinky thing. Sure it is burning and not being consumed, but it is little. Here though, it is huge! Something of great magnificence.

Leaving Joseph Out of the Picture: Where was Joseph in this story? They jumped from Abraham and Isaac to Moses. There are some significant parts of the story in there to be seen. But I suppose more people know the story of Moses and the story of Abraham. We will see how those play into the coming episodes.

Will you keep watching? Or will you start watching?

I know that I will. Though I feel pretty mixed on it, I do feel like they are looking to bring the Bible out in a new way then anyone has before. And there are some very credible pastors that are behind it too.

But, what do you think? Did you like it?

When I lived in Tempe, AZ, I struggled through my faith. It was a time where I was disconnected from other Christians. It was a time when I felt disconnected from God. I stopped spending time with Jesus through prayer and Scripture. I struggled at living a holy life for him. It was a dark time for me. And it helps me identity with the Jews of Nehemiah’s time period.

But something happened when I returned to Washington and prepared to return to the place where I first turned my life over to Jesus. It looked a lot like this:

“And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.” – Nehemiah 8:1-3

If Nehemiah 7 was a turning point for the people of Jerusalem, then Nehemiah 8 is the first step toward reclaiming God’s call on there lives. Here we see that they are yearning to hear God’s Word, His holy book.

I think when we are in desperate need of our God, his Spirit moves us. I believe that when you or I are in dark places in our lives, the Spirit of God is knocking on the door of our heart. God is saying, “Come back to me.” That is what happened in Nehemiah 8. God was saying to his people, “Come back to me.” And the first thing they did was go to where they knew God had been: The Book of the Law, His holy Scripture.

When God tugs at our hearts, do we go to His Word?

If you aren’t, well, I am positive you should be. That seems to be a foolishly strong thing to say, but I really believe it. I believe it because of what happened in Nehemiah. Through out the Bible, we see similar stories. God gives His Word to His people, and they see revival in their lives.

I also know from experience. When I returned from Arizona, I went straight to God’s Word. I begin reading it earnestly. I don’t even know why looking back. I just KNEW that it was the starting point. And after time, I began praying again. Then I got myself back into community. Then these three things were becoming more strengthened and I started sharing my faith again. My faith went from dark and dismal, to bright and vibrant over time.

I believe you can experience that too. I truly believe you should spend time reading the Bible, after all, it is God’s Holy Word for us to know Him. I believe that will help open your eyes, and calm the turmoil you might be feeling. And it will bring you back into close relationship with God.

When was there an experience like this in your life? Are you there now? What is it like?