The Romans Road pt.5 - Epic

The Romans Road pt.5

The Bible

Epic

Dear Family,

As we are completing this walk down the Romans Road I wanted to look forward rather than backwards. We started this walk in Genesis and we've covered the gospels. However, that's not where the story ends, in fact all of this has been like parts one and two of an epic story.

In Part one we found God creating, doing what He does best. We found Adam and Eve in the perfect World God had created for them, living with Him, walking with Him, loving Him. We saw God's creation in all it's glorious perfection, shining as the reflection of it's creator. That didn't last too long though because all of a sudden there was a twist, a turn, the story line changed dramatically, God's creation turned traitor on Him! The perfect apex of His creation choose of it's own free will to commit treason, how horrible an act that was. We were able to imagine God's heart breaking as He learned of this deed, of Adam and Eve's fall from perfection As He explained to them of their punishment and the curse upon the earth as a result of their actions. We saw God's pain and His heartbreak as something real, as something not in a book written eons ago, but as a father loosing His children, or as a husband loosing His wife... and part one ends with Adam and Eve forced to leave the Garden of Eden and now owe a debt for their actions against their creator Part one ends with a death sentence for all mankind.

Part two begins in Heaven, where a heartbroken God turns to His Son and explains how much He still loves His creation despite everything that has taken place, despite their rebellion, their apparent disregard for His laws and rules. God asks His Son to put on skin just like them. He asks Him to go down to earth, and then He asks Him to pay the price tag, to pick up the tab for this debt of death that mankind owes and pay it once and for all. God showed us just how much He love us and wants everything to be right again, just the way He made it in the first place by sending His son to die in the place of all mankind. And that's were Part three ends, with a death sentence, Jesus' death on a Roman cross bearing the weight of the sin of all mankind.

Which brings us to Part three! And no, it doesn't end in a death sentence, well not for everyone anyway. Part three begins right now, here, in the present... the “Church Age”... and we're waiting. waiting for what? We're waiting for Jesus to come and get us! You see, part of what Jesus did on the cross by paying off our debt was to make it so that we can live and walk and be with God again! The best part is this, when Jesus ate what we call “the last supper” with His followers, he was explaining something to them simply by what they were eating. Bread and Wine, simple enough right?

Let me explain, what the followers of Jesus saw Him doing was preforming an engagement ceremony. I need to add right here with all of the Da Vinci Code non-sense floating around, that this was meant to be a symbol, a teaching, not a literal engagement to any person, male or female... ok, that being said i'll continue. Bread and Wine held a special meaning to a middle-easterner, it was a symbol of engagement, we have a diamond ring, they used bread and wine. And the tradition was this, after the groom and bride to be had shared the bread and wine, the groom-to-be would return to his father's house and build onto it a house for his bride and himself. After the house was ready, the groom would return and take his bride home. But here's the catch, this could happen at any time, the bride-to-be had no idea when he would return so she had to wait in readiness for His return... this is the meaning of the bread and wine. When Jesus said do this in remembrance of me, He was asking us to remember that He is going to come back one day and take us to be with His Father again! WHAT!?!

Now, here's the clincher. The house that Jesus is building for us, an entire new heaven and a new earth! He's re-building everything for us, and Revelation 21:3 says “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.” Sound remotely familiar? Because it is! Jesus didn't just fix our debt, He's fixed everything we messed up in the Garden of Eden way back in the beginning. Take some time and read Chapter 21 of Revelation...

Wow, isn't that amazing!? That's what we have waiting for us, I can't wait for it! However, it's not for everyone. It is the free gift of God, yes. However one has to be willing to come to Jesus and receive it. The bible says that if we confess with our mouths and believe in our hearts that Jesus is Lord and that God has raised him from the dead, we will be saved. That's it. Period, no hidden agenda, no membership fees, or annual charges. The free gift of God is a free gift for anyone who believes that that what the Bible says is true and that Jesus has paid the price for the sin we were born into, and that He is going to take us one day back to a perfect creation, exactly the way He intended in the first place.

That's all it takes, no fancy prayers, no huge dramatic ceremonies, just you and Jesus. I like to put it this way, I know that my parents love, but it's great to hear them say it every once an a while. It's the same thing with Jesus, He knows your heart, but He wants to hear it from you. That's why the bible says to confess with your mouth AND believe it in your heart, they go hand in hand like salt and pepper, like white on rice... you get the picture. Take some time tonight and think about these things, ask God for understanding and I promise you this, HE IS FAITHFUL.

Until,

Hunter S. Brewer

P.S. Part three doesn't end, because we're still waiting for Jesus, and besides we're going to live with Him forever anyway... so is there ever really an end to part three?

The Romans Road pt.4 - This is Love

The Romans Road pt.4

Romans 5:8

This is Love.

Dear Family,

I wanted to write you about something life changing this week. You see, to those of us who believe in the bible, and call themselves “followers of Jesus” all too often find ourselves immune to the gospel. I don't mean to say that it's message has no effect on us, it's just that the story of Jesus dieing on a cross has become somewhat cliché. We have WWJD bracelets, we've got cross tattoos, we even have the story of Jesus on blu-ray DVD, and through all of these good intentions we've lost the meaning behind of it all.

I've been really searching scripture for anything that bears the image of or even looks like the church we all attend every sunday, and the fact of the matter is that I simply cannot find a single place in the entire word of God that tells us to meet on sunday morning, sit in rows, sing songs for thirty minutes, listen to someone talk AT us, and then everyone goes to lunch. Then, the apex is that we all go home feeling good about ourselves, because we've fulfilled our “christian” checklist for the week... really!!!??? Honestly though, I know I fall into this pattern way more than I should.

It's really easy to make our relationship with Jesus into a system, or a list of rules that need to be obeyed... a religion. But the fact of the matter is this. Romans 5:8 says that “while we were still sinners, Jesus died for us”. Bleh, we've heard that verse a million and ten times before. I know. Seriously, how many times do we need to hear that verse before we get it's meaning? I mean hello McFly! Jesus left heaven, put on skin, had boogers, got sick, threw up, who knows... maybe he even had dandruff. Then, He chose on His own free will to take everyone's tab, everyone's debt and pay it off once and for all. (That's what the dieing on the cross is all about, it's about Jesus paying the price of death, which we all owe now thanks to Adam and Eve.)

Do you see it yet? Jesus came while we were still broken, while we were still traitors. He lived for 30 some odd years exactly like us, (not in Heaven, but on earth) before He was beaten and died on a roman cross to pay that price tag that each and every one of us owe just because we were born. Let me explain, Imagine if you will, Osama Bin Laden, would you for even one second consider paying his price, his debt for the atrocities on mankind he is responsible for? Would you willingly stand in his stead? As tough as that question is to wrap your brain around, that's what Jesus has done for us. He has paid the penalty for our treason, our betrayal, and the reason for all of this is quite simply His love.

He loved His us so much that He made us to be Him for eternity. When we broke that communion and turned our back to the creator, to Love incarnate, He never turned His back on us. He launched a rescue mission unlike anything the world has ever known (and many still don't know).

However, to take it back to the beginning, it's like I said earlier, Jesus didn't die so that we could sit in a pew once a week, quite simply, that's idiotic and just plain stupid. Why would the God of everything, the King of Kings, the Creator, die for something as LAME as that? No, Jesus died so that we could be in communion with Him again, so that He could fix what we broke. He died so that our debt was paid. He died so that when He comes back to take us home, His Father can exist alongside us once again, just as it was intended from the start. Jesus' death and resurrection is not something cliché, this is revolutionary!

This thing that we stand for, this belief that we all too often hide behind is more than just words in a book, it's not something that we can slap on a bracelet, check off of our to do list and call it done. No! This is a call to return to the heart of the Father that created each and every one of us, it's a redemption not only from our personal sin, it's an invitation to return to our former glory as man, “made in the image of God”.

Until,

Hunter S. Brewer

Romans Road Pt.3 - Freedom vs. Failure

The Romans Road pt.3

Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23

Freedom vs. Failure

Dear Family,

Last week we saw God's heart break in two because of the betrayal He witnessed in His own creation, the creation meant to be in a relationship with Him forever. When Adam and Eve took the fruit from the tree in the garden of eden, the only tree that God said not to eat from, there was a rift created between God and man.

You see, God is perfection, He is everything that is perfect. He's like a can of white paint, it's the purest white paint you can ever imagine, not eggshell, or cream... God is a can of WHITE paint. And when he created Adam he made a can of white paint just like his own (in His image). When Adam decided to betray God, it's like Adam took a cup of black paint (or any color of your choosing) and poured it into the White paint. Now, as I'm sure you can imagine, Adam's can still looks white to the naked eye. It still bears a simbilance to how it was created. However, when you place it next to God's can of white paint, it's color is off. It won't mix with the pure WHITE paint any longer.

This is the reason why God told Adam to leave the garden, why Adam couldn't live with God any more. God looked at Adam and said, “your paint doesn't mix with mine anymore” it's as simple as that, our imperfection doesn't mix with God's perfection anymore.

In Roman's 6:23 we read that “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus or Lord”. Pretty straight forward isn't it. You see, there is a very distinctive difference between the two halves of this verse. And they are this, the first is that when sin entered the world mankind all of a sudden owed a debt, and that debt was death. Man could no longer commune with God anymore, man could no longer live forever with God, and man was cursed to the ground he came from. In light of eternity in a garden paradise with God almighty, I'd say that's as much death as death can be in anyone's eyes. And that death is the debt we as humans owe, it's our “wages” that we all must pay regardless of how good of a person we are.

But the flip side is this, the gift! The second half of this verse says “but, the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus our Lord... how amazing is that? When we all were born into this debt that we'd have to pay at some point, Jesus steps in and takes our ticket. He pays the tab on our bill. What Jesus did was take that fruit from the garden, that sin, and rip the price tag off of it, take it to the register and said “I'll pay for this”!!!

What!? That's what the Cross was all about, it was about Jesus taking our debt and paying it off. It's a gift, and the only way to claim that gift is by coming to Jesus for it, acknowledge what he did, and accepting it. How good does being cursed to the ground we came from/eternity as a broken, off white can of paint compare with being purged of that impurity and being made right, the way we were created to be?

Jesus never wanted anyone to become a baptist, presbyterian, catholic, methodist, or whatever... all He wants is for His creation to be made pure again, to be in communion with Him again, to Love Him again... to understand what it meant for Him, when he died on the cross and paid our debt... the bible says to believe in your heart, and confess with your mouth and you will be saved... it's like with your family, they know you love them, they know you care about the things they do... but it's so much better when you tell your mom that you love her, when you tell your siblings thank you for the things that you do for me.

Jesus knows your heart, but he wants to hear it. Tell Him that you love Him, that you are thankful for the gift he gave us on the cross...

Until,

Hunter S. Brewer

Romans Road Pt.2 - Enter: Sin

Romans Road Pt.2

Romans 3:23/Genesis 2:15-3:24

Dear Family,

I thought that as we were walking through the book of Romans with the Wind River Community Church Youth Group I would share some more with you about what we've been learning.

The story of Romans 3:23 (For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God) starts all the way back in Genesis when God created a reflection of himself. He made man not only to take care of His perfect creation (Eden) but also to commune with Him. He told his perfect creation, man, that he could eat anything in the garden that he wanted, except from one tree. God told the Man not to eat from this one tree because it was bad for him, plain and simple. It's like when a parent tells a child not to put their finger in a light socket, because it's bad for you. The same principle applies here as well, God didn't want His kids to get hurt.

When Paul writes in Romans that we “fall short of the glory of God.” I think back to the fall of man in Genesis chapter 3. When God's perfect creation chose to turn traitor on Him. Adam, who God made perfect, willingly acted in defiance to God's one request that he not eat from this one tree that was bad for him. So when Adam ate from that tree He absolutely shattered God's perfect creation. By breaking the rules and sinning, Adam knew what he'd done was very wrong. Because when he heard God walking through the garden later on that evening he took his wife and hid, he tried to hide what he'd done by avoiding God.

Let me paint the picture for you. So, God is strolling around in the Garden one evening and He's looking for his perfect creation (man) in his perfect creation (Eden). He calls out, “Hey, Adam, Where are you bud?”........... “Aaaadam.”....... “Where'd you go?”....... Finally Adam steps out from behind a tree wearing some sort of makeshift clothing and drops the biggest bombshell in history. He said, “I heard you coming, so I hid because I was naked”. Have you ever tried to imagine what God looks like when His heart breaks, because I have a feeling that Adam saw it just then. As soon as those words came out of Adam's mouth I can picture God's face falling as tears are beginning to well up in His eyes, His voice faltering as His gaze slowly turns toward the one tree He had told Adam not to eat from. Then as His voice falters a little, He asks the question, but He already knows the answer. “Who told you that you were naked?” then He raises a shaking emotion filled hand and points toward the tree, and asks, “did you eat from the tree that I told you not to eat from?”

Adam broke God's heart by breaking the rules, and God looks at Adam and says “do you realize what you've done?”, “don't you understand that I had a reason why you couldn't eat from that one?”... “Do you realize that now everything is broken because of what you just did?” Then God goes on to explain to Adam the consequence and enormity of the situation and the results of His betrayal. Finally God looks at Adam and his wife and says. “You're broken and I'm still perfect, now this relationship is unequally yoked.” If you can imagine what Adam is feeling right now, he's probably Got a lump in his throat as he's watching his creator go through all the throws of heartbreak. Adam's eyes start to sting as God turns His head and points away saying. ”Adam, you're going to have to die, the price of that fruit was death, I told you that it was bad for you... why did you do it, did you have to?” Adam looks at God through his tears as God tells him...“now, you have to go, you can't be with me anymore, because I'm perfect and your imperfection doesn't mix with me.” ...”You were meant to be with me forever, but now you have to spend forever away from me.”......”Leave the garden now Adam, you can never come back.”

And so in one heart wrenching moment, sin entered the picture and the brokenness of humanity's existence ensued. Man, who was meant to live with God forever, broke God's heart and divorced himself from the perfection he was created for.

So when Paul writes “for all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God” what he's saying is that because Adam chose to brake what God made to be perfect, we are all broken , we were born broken (all have sinned) and aren't perfectly the way God intended anymore (fall short of the Glory of God) and because of that, there is a rift between God and His creation.

Until,

Hunter Brewer

Romans Road Pt.1 - Revival Town

The Romans Road Pt.1

Acts 2:42-47

Revival Town

Dear Family,

As I have been Reading through the books of Acts and Romans while preparing for the message at youth group each week at Wind River Community Church in Lander, Wy. I've discovered three things that happened to the early followers of Jesus in Acts chapter 2. Just before the Gospel message literally exploded around the world.

The presence of God in the lives of His followers was so profound that it literally consumed them to the point where the world around them couldn't help but change. The Power of the Gospel (good news) message of Jesus was released in it's fullest array of glory. Because the followers of Jesus Truly understood and acted on the last thing that Jesus said to us in the Gospel of Mathew. He said, “Go and make disciples, baptize them, and teach them the things that I taught you” (Matthew 28:19-20 paraphrased)

I believe that when the followers of Jesus truly understand the enormity of the Gospel message of Jesus, that the world around us will change as a natural result of our obedience to God. I have this theory that, if God created the world to be perfect, and we broke it right from the start, wouldn't it make sense that when His presence is near that His creation would naturally respond to Him? That our hearts, that were made for communion with Him would react to His presence? That the deep places of our hearts where we stuff all of the emotions and feelings we're afraid to feel would come alive?

I want that! I want to understand how huge this message of Jesus is. I mean we all know the story, that Jesus came to earth to save us from our sins by dying on a cross, then he rose from the dead... great now that we've got that down, now what? What did the early followers of Jesus know that I don't? What did they do that I'm not doing?

I found three things In Acts chapter 2 that astound me about the early followers of Jesus.

First of all, they devoted themselves to the teachings of Jesus (every day), second they devoted themselves to fellowship (every day), and finally they devoted themselves to the breaking of bread and prayer (every day).

While I was reading this God laid it on my heart to pursue these three things in my own life. So, after much prayer I have decided to run at these three goals with reckless abandon and not try to excuse myself from them. Starting on monday June 1^st I will be at city park in Lander, Wy. every evening (except Wednesday for youth group) at 7:00pm until whenever to pray for... well anything and everything, to study the word of God, and to fellowship with whoever would like to join me.

Now, here's the crux of the whole thing, I'm asking you to commit as well. I know every single day seems a bit much, but what is the cost of commitment when you factor in the presence of God anyway? Please, join me as I seek after God with reckless abandon each and every day at city park in Lander, and wherever your city center/downtown/community park might be...

Until,

Hunter