tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64046284884293111142024-03-07T22:15:58.699-08:00Mark's blogMark Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00811486456256467613noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6404628488429311114.post-38697820792645068612010-03-07T21:59:00.000-08:002010-03-07T22:11:48.382-08:00PapaMy Papa, Paul Albert Turner, was 83 years old when he died this Thursday morning, March 4th. A couple weeks ago I read his memoirs, and was reminded of the incredible stories he told me as I was growing up, especially when we were on the porch of our Sinclair Island cabin. The most incredible thing about his stories was that they were not born of creativity, they were simply a retelling of his life.<br /><br />Never have I known anyone with such a variety of experiences, or a memory so precise in its retelling. He went to 27 different schools before he graduated from high school, and he remembered them all. Despite the fact that he lived with multiple members of his extended family in his early childhood, he remembered his younger years with fondness, and loved all the people who raised him. He always quoted Thumper the Rabbit to us, saying, "If you can't say nothin' nice, don't say nothin' at all." This sums up the way he viewed and talked about his personal history. Rather than remember the cold nights at his grandma's house, he would lovingly tell us how she brought hot rocks to him, and put them at the foot of his bed to warm his feet.<br /><br />There are so many things that I remember about my Papa, but one theme runs through them all: God's faithfulness to his children. As I look back on my short life and see the depth, richness, and weight of all that I have experienced so far, I wonder how it is possible for someone to contain it all after 83 years. The answer I find is this: He never had to carry the weight of life, either its pain or its joy, but he was sustained by a God who loved him, and had a plan for him.<br /><br />I see the faithfulness of God when I see the amazing impact my Papa had on his family as a father, uncle, and grandfather, and his community as a junior high principle. I see that God put him in my life to teach me how to fish, how to swim, how drive a boat, how to filet a fish, how to use " I" and "me" in their proper places, and how to sit on a boat when the tide is wrong and the fish aren't biting, and look at the ocean, and be thankful for what I have.<br /><br />There is nothing that I am more thankful for than my salvation, but I am thankful that God gave me Papa to show me, in part, what a saved life looks like, and that God is always faithful.Mark Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00811486456256467613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6404628488429311114.post-34263138432547900552009-12-23T17:34:00.000-08:002009-12-23T17:55:51.793-08:00Check It Out!My friend Chris is a man with a great passion for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He had a personal blog for some time, but recently purchased a web domain to be used for the advancement of the Gospel in Orange County. His purpose in doing this was to draw attention away from himself, and focus on the Gospel. In keeping with the Gospel-centered, rather than Chris-centered, approach, he has asked my friend Jon and I to join him in writing for this new endeavor. I am excited for the opportunities we will have in proclaiming the truth of the Gospel together through the written word. Please check it out at http://thegospelforoc.com/<br /><br /><br />If you are interested in reading Jon's personal blog as well, direct your little eyes to the right of the screen, and click on the link that says "Jon Chenot."Mark Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00811486456256467613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6404628488429311114.post-60938598369124238262009-12-06T22:38:00.000-08:002009-12-06T22:45:30.221-08:00Fistfights With a DreamAnd so we burned everything we owned. Because, who cares? And because why not? And because who are you? And because we don't need you. And because if we don't need you, you can't hurt us. So we learned to drink bitterness and eat disappointment, and every time you failed we feasted. And we wanted to tear down walls, because we thought if the roof collapsed, we would see the sky. And we did everything you said we couldn't, because who are you anyway? And who are we? And why do you care? And why do we? And if I knew who I was asking, I might get a better answer. And if i knew who I was fighting, I might strike a better blow. And because it felt better to swing than to sit, I kept on fighting. And you kept on failing. And we kept on eating and drinking. And we gave questions that couldn't be answered. And you gave answers that couldn't be questioned. And we stood in lines staring one another down, waiting for someone to blink. And we were sure. And you were sure. Yet we were right because we didn't blink. <br /><br />So we began to get closer to the sky. To do this we tore down one wall at a time. First we tore down the wall of need. You gave us this wall. You gave us malls, and churches, and clothes, and ovens, and cars. And so we burned them, and tore them down. After that we could see the east. Next we tore down the wall of hurt. You told us hope, and ideas, and futures, but you never gave them to us. And when we tore down this wall we could see the north. Encouraged by our new view, we decided to take down the walls of God and laws both at once. God gave us laws, and hopes, and needs, and we had never seen him provide for any of those--so we knocked out both at once. But we should have knocked out the roof, which was made of fact, because when those two walls collapsed, the roof collapsed with them. And as I lay crushed into a hard reality under the weight of fact, I decided that bitterness did not quench, and disappointment did not fill, and that a staring contest is no way to settle an argument.Mark Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00811486456256467613noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6404628488429311114.post-43600732810793757942009-11-22T11:48:00.000-08:002009-11-22T20:42:00.633-08:00Who Do I Really Trust For Today?The other day I was talking to a friend of mine about the dangers of people-pleasing, later I wrote this...<br /><br />People-pleasing is bad for reasons far more important than the fact that it causes us to be over worked and over committed. When pleasing people is our primary concern we are walking in idolatry. I see two ways that this is true:<br />'<br />1) when I seek to please people I am making myself God. One reason I might have for pleasing people is the thought, "If I don't provide for them, no one will." Not only does this show a misunderstanding of how i relate to other people, but it shows a misunderstanding of good works as a whole. It is not my job to provide anyone with satisfaction. In fact, I am not even capable of providing another person with satisfaction; that is God's job. The problem with this sort of people-pleasin is that it causes us to forget that we are supposed to obey God and care for people because of love, not because of need. The moment I imagine that I am providing something that God can't, or that He won't, I am elevating myself to his position and am not longer serving Him, or others, out of love, I am "serving" Him out of anxiety. <br /><br />2)another way that people-pleasing becomes a form of idolatry is when other people become my god. Rather than feeling justified, satisfied, and glorified because of what Christ has done, I begin to feel like i want something more, I begin to feel like I need your approval. The problem with this is primarily that it robs us of our ability to delight in the love that God has lavished on us. When I make another poerson's approval, or love, or anything else my God I am unable to delight in the fact that God knows everything I need, and He has given me exactly that. When I worship the opinions of other people I trust the thoughts and feelings of people over what God has given to me.<br /><br />In short, people-pleasing is a refection of the fact that, whether it be in our own lives or in the lives of others, we do not trust God to provide salvation in people's everday lives. The fact is that the Gospel is for every day, not just heaven. The Gospel says that each day God has given me new mercies that provide specifically for the needs I have today, that each day God will give me the bread I need to live, that each day God has saved me from any need that I might have, and that each day I can walk confidently in the victory that Jesus won for me on the cross.Mark Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00811486456256467613noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6404628488429311114.post-55943850744309736582009-11-09T17:31:00.000-08:002009-11-09T17:32:56.340-08:00Desperation"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God" (John 6:68&69). <br /><br />I like Peter. He made a lot of mistakes, but in the midst of his folly is a heart that is utterly desperate for God. I relate to Him in this passage. Just before he says this, jesus sees that many people are leaving Him after He had spoken some truth that they didn't want to hear. After they left, He turned to His disciples and asked if they were also going to leave--Peter says what I would say if Jesus asked me that, "NO! Please no! Don't let me leave you. Where else would I go? What else could I do? You've seen my works, you know my heart. I am so helpless without You!" Ok, so that's a paraphrase, but I think it's an accurate one. This is not a response of arrogant piety, it's a cry of desperation. This is how I feel, and sometimes I think that my inability to be righteous is the only thing that keeps me near to God. Yet, I thank Him for that, I thank Him that I have no choice, in light of my behavior, other than humility and childlike dependency. I know that it is His strength, and nothing else, that brings me to righteousness, and in this state, where i have nowhere that I could possibly go for life, I am satisfied by the one and only living, faithful God. Hallelujah!Mark Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00811486456256467613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6404628488429311114.post-15008463470559779712009-10-25T23:26:00.000-07:002009-10-25T23:29:32.642-07:00My Feelings Via Antiquated Song LyricsJesus sought me when a stranger,<br />Wandering from the fold of God;<br />He, to rescue me from danger,<br />Interposed His precious blood;<br />How His kindness yet pursues me<br />Mortal tongue can never tell,<br />Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me<br />I cannot proclaim it well.<br /><br />O to grace how great a debtor<br />Daily I’m constrained to be!<br />Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,<br />Bind my wandering heart to Thee.<br />Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,<br />Prone to leave the God I love;<br />Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,<br />Seal it for Thy courts above.Mark Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00811486456256467613noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6404628488429311114.post-61337797470235415982009-10-09T13:28:00.000-07:002009-10-13T21:57:16.166-07:00Love Does Not Rejoice At Wrongdoing, But Rejoices With The TruthI am sure that most Christians, at one time or another, have experienced someone else or themselves quoting Romans 8:28 in regard to personal sin. For instance, I might get drunk one night, and the next day ease my conscience with the knowledge that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him. I would be right if I said that God is going to use my sin for His plan and for my good, the problem is that instead of celebrating His grace, I have now cheapened it. God did not tell us that He has a perfect plan, with His children in mind, so that we could sin with a clean conscience. He told us about his plan so that we would always seek the good work that He has prepared for us rather than the sin that is so easy to walk in. <br /><br />Too often I have seen god’s plan being used as a comforter to the unrepentant. The fact is that is was never meant to keep people from feeling guilt for sin. The problem with forgetting God’s plan is that we are then inclined to cease in our service every time we make a mistake. Without “God Works all things together for the good of those who love Him,” each sin seems to be a foil to God’s plan, another reason to give up, more proof that I am God’s enemy, not His soldier. Romans 8:28 should not lull us into unrepentance, it should motivate us toward good works. God is working in our favor, and for His glory, despite our sin. No matter what, never give up. God’s ability to use you is not bound to your ability to attain perfection—He has already done that for you. Therefore, do not be discouraged by your own weakness, but rather be encouraged by God’s strength.Mark Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00811486456256467613noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6404628488429311114.post-81939789049013047182009-09-25T17:11:00.001-07:002009-09-25T20:45:26.528-07:00Sin, Death, Love, and LazarusI think that if we are to be successful in ministry, we must understand the world that we are dealing with and the true state of the human soul. I have witnessed very frequently (in myself as well as in others) compassion for things that true love ought to hate and rebuke, and hate for what true love ought to have compassion for. I have seen us going about things all wrong. I believe the root of the mistakes that I have seen and made in ministry lies in a misdiagnosis of the human soul. We may think of it as rotten, gimpy, broken, injured, or otherwise damaged. To us, our souls are severely handicapped, perhaps even in the ICU, but even this view does not get to the truth. People are not hurt, injured, or struggling, they are dead. One hundred percent dead. There is no in between, you are either dead or alive, and people are dead without Jesus.<br /><br />This changes our treatment tremendously. If someone has the spiritual equivalent of a knee-scrape, we might treat it with encouragement and kind words. If someone is on spiritual life support, we might offer a spiritual IV. What do we do for someone who is dead? Who has a cure for that? The truth is that only one can give life, and this is not by encouragement, but only by the breath of God! He must speak us into life. How was the world created? God spoke life into it. How was I created? God spoke life into me. How was I reborn? God spoke life into me. And the only hope I have is in the life that He gives. <br /><br />So let’s go back to the compassion that should be hate and the hate that should be compassion. John 11 chronicles Jesus raising Lazarus from a bodily death. In this passage we see very clearly that God does care about our pain. Jesus knew that he was about to raise Lazarus from the dead, and yet he saw the suffering of his family, he saw that Lazarus was dead, and HE WEPT. He knows the end, He IS the life, and when He sees the effects of death…He cries. However, He has no compassion for death itself. He has no compassion for the things that cause it. He spits in the face of death by overcoming it, and saying “Lazarus, come forth!” He does not say, “Lazarus, I know you’ve been struggling with death lately, and I want to be sensitive to that, but I also want to encourage you in your fight against it.” He hates death and He calls Lazarus out of it. This is the way we ought to deal with sin. We should hate it. We should not tolerate it because it is death, and we don’t want death in the lives of our friends. We must call people out of it because of our compassion for them, and our fervent hate for sin.<br /><br />It is my prayer that we would rebuke and disown the work of Satan, which is death, and call one another into the true life by the faith and authority given to us by the grace of God.Mark Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00811486456256467613noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6404628488429311114.post-12906054872387861402009-06-11T15:26:00.000-07:002009-06-11T15:46:03.402-07:00Who's the Boss?I'm reading a book by Mark Dever right now called What is a Healthy Church? It's totally legit. On the section where he is stressing the importance of the teaching of biblical theology rather than whatever is easiest, or whatever a passage might be able to say when taken out of the context of the bible, he asks four questions that cause any christian who answers them to see how simple the facts of our faith are, even though it may be difficult to summon up the bravery or the faith to proclaim them. <br /><br />1) Are people basically bad or good? Do they merely need encouragement and self-esteem, or do they need forgiveness and new life?<br /> <br />2) What did jesus Christ do by dying on the cross? Did he actually and effectively satisfy the just wrath of the Father, or did he merely set an example of self-sacrifice for his followers?<br /><br />3)What happens when someone becomes a Christian?<br /><br />4) If we are Christians, can we be sure that God will continue to care for us? If so, is his continuing care based on our faithfulness, or on his? <br /><br />Now, obviously each of these questions is a trap for anyone who opposes the author's presuppositions. Regardless though, aren't the latter possibilities of 1, 2, and 4 eerily familiar? And also, does it not seem that the latter possibility is using what works practically rather that what is true? If the answer is yes, then my question is this: who are we trusting to change people's hearts? Is it the revelation that comes by the holy spirit, or is it the techniques and presentations that we use to portray a message that is, more or less, the Gospel? Are we picking and choosing the things about God that are easier to understand and are more universally appealing while we throw out the difficult and more counter-intuitive or counter-cultural aspects of our God? I would say yes, the church as a whole (of which I am a part) is guilty of a lack of faith when it comes to God's ability to reveal himself to the hearts of people. <br /><br />He closes out this section with this:<br /><br />"Just consider: If we want churches that display God's character, don't we want to know everything he has revealed about himself in the Bible? What does it say about our opinion of his character if we don't?"<br /><br />This is the question that I am left asking myself, and challenge anyone who reads this to ask as well. May we, God's people, have faith in the power of God to redeem lives, and utter mistrust in our own ability to do anything of the sort. It is God who saves, and God alone. It is all of God who saves, not just the parts of Him that i enjoy, or am comfortable with, or the ones that i understand.Mark Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00811486456256467613noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6404628488429311114.post-74755176555477105322009-05-04T11:51:00.000-07:002009-05-05T11:51:56.644-07:00God is RealI find that I need to remind myself that God is real. This is not from any deficiency of His; the fault is my own. I love to think, I love to discuss, I love to have a healthy argument, but in this God becomes nothing more than an idea. I am so thankful for my mind, but I hate what Satan can do with it. Satan, I rebuke you in the name of Jesus! In the course of my defense of God and the Gospel, I feel like I have created God. After all, I create stories, I create songs, all other practices of this sort do involve invention on my part. The problem is that God is real. He is not subject to my opinions, and He certainly is not formed by them. I hate pride. My boast should be in nothing but Christ. Why can I be great, glorified, and humble? It is because the work is done in me by the Spirit of God, not by me.<br /> <br />I keep coming back to the subject of my inadequacy because I find so much joy in it. Let me make it very clear that I am not beating myself up when I say that I am bad, or useless, or that my efforts are futile. There is enormous freedom in these admissions because I am no longer fighting a battle that I am unable to win, it is in the recognition of my inadequacy that I am enabled by and empowered with the strength of Christ. I get frustrated when I attempt to glorify and serve God on my own because it does not work. I find joy and greater worship when I concede because I am filled with the power that comes from the Spirit of Sonship, the power that causes me to be more than a conqueror.Mark Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00811486456256467613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6404628488429311114.post-43706143925464752982009-02-14T23:42:00.000-08:002009-02-14T23:44:07.438-08:00GuiltWhy is guilt bad? It is a simple question, and most children in Sunday school know to say that guilt is from the devil and conviction is from God. This is true, but it does not answer why guilt is bad, it only explains that it exists and where it comes from. There is something in the very nature of guilt that can explain its opposition to conviction, its good counterpart, in a way that goes beyond a simple lesson of origin. So, what is the true difference between guilt and conviction? Is guilt bad because it makes us feel bad? No, that cannot be true because conviction also come with the feeling and/or act of contrition (which is not necessarily bad, but one does not enjoy contrition in the same way one would enjoy a warm bath or a candy bar). I would like to argue that it is because of they why (why do we feel guilt, and why do we feel conviction?), and also the subsequent action (which cannot be divorced, especially in the case of guilt, from its cause). <br /> <br />Repentance is the act of turning away from something, presumably sin, and this is the natural successor of conviction; the heart is made aware of its rebellion, the mind defines this, and the will carries out a definite change. Out of such an act comes freedom. We believe that the mandates of our God serve first to give Him glory, but, through His grace, they also benefit us by freeing us from our fallen nature, which always proves to be binding. The difference between conviction and guilt is that guilt is produced through a lack of repentance. I realize that this idea is very simple, but for some reason or another I find in myself the need to write it down. Perhaps it is because through this revelation one can cease to blame God for guilt. He produces within us the distinction between right and wrong because He wants us to be set free, rebellion against what is known sets a person off balance, an unwillingness to conform to righteousness causes a disagreement within a person between what is known and what is practiced. <br /><br />Therefore, it is not a mean, imposing, or joyless God who causes people to feel guilty, but rather it is a person’s unwillingness to be set free, his or her inconsistency, that causes confusion and subsequent depression. May our hearts remember that it is for freedom that we are set free, that guilt was never God’s desire for humanity, and that we will be satisfied when He is glorified.Mark Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00811486456256467613noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6404628488429311114.post-83465881874217845392008-11-24T16:09:00.001-08:002008-11-25T12:47:49.397-08:00JudgmentIt’s a word that people like to stay away from, but as much negative though as there is surrounding it, judgment is a righteous, holy thing that is to be celebrated. It is difficult for the post-modern (or even the modern) mind to view judgment in a positive light, yet somehow justice seems to be an overwhelmingly popular notion for my peers, and even myself. The truth is that justice can never come without judgment; those who are worthy must be distinguished from those who are not in order for justice to be…well…justly administered. What does justice mean? Well, my friends, it means restoration. There is something very wrong with this world, I would like to posit that this wrongness is an outcome of the fall, but I think that, regardless o the causation, any thinking person would readily agree with the statement that something has gone awry. <br /> <br />The idea of restoration is exactly what would come to the mind of an ancient Jew when presented with the idea of judgment. First, Adam and Eve caused the fall, then a lot of kings did a lot of stupid things involving Baals, and asherah poles, and foreign women, but all along there was a promise of restoration for Israel. From David’s line there was to be a child who would restore Israel, and the Jews held tightly to this promise. Judgment, to them, was the condemnation of the wicked, by judgment things would be put right with God, and with God’s people. Jews would rejoice in this and await it eagerly. To them, it meant the expulsion of foreign leaders and the end of oppression because this child was to become a king and liberator to God’s chosen people. <br /> <br />The child was born, and His name is Jesus. He has been around since the beginning, but He spent a brief amount of time on earth. While He did not come in the way that many expected, He came with a reign of justice. So what does this mean to the modern human? Well, it still means a lot. There is still a final judgment to come (whether this will come in my life or through my death I do not know) where the world will end and all who are in it will bow before God in the necessary worship that happens in His presence. Every soul will bow, and all of them will confess the Lordship of the Godhead. In this there will be no refutation of God’s judgment because all things will be made clear in His presence. Some will go to heaven, others to hell; this is the judgment that concerns every person. Paul tells us that those who are justified through faith in Jesus Christ have been grafted into the line of Abraham, and therefore we, being the chosen people of God just as the Jews are/were, should see judgment in the same way as an ancient Jew. Judgment sets right the things that are wrong, restores God’s place in His creation, and restores the fullness of communion between God’s people and Himself. This is just, far more just than anything carried out by the heart or hands of man, and that is the most important thing of all and the reason we rejoice. This is not justice carried out by the mind or judgment of humanity, instead it is justice carried out by a loving, good, and perfect God. WE recognize that He works all things together for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28), but we cheer louder for the glory of God than we do for the glory of man. The victory is God’s, and it is God who will be praised ceaselessly into eternity.<br /> <br />This is very important to remember because justice is carried out by God and to God. Salvation, and any other gift, is a product of God’s grace, but His goodness does not rest upon His grace. It is important that grace does not become an expectation because grace is beyond goodness. It would be good of God to condemn all, for all have sinned and fallen short of perfection, the fact that He does not makes this victory even greater. Let us always remember to praise God for His goodness, and thank Him for His grace as we wait patiently and expectantly for the day of judgment.Mark Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00811486456256467613noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6404628488429311114.post-29700127614298209032008-11-22T02:00:00.000-08:002008-11-22T02:01:30.889-08:00What Does Jesus Christ Mean to you?First of all, the answer to that question is meaningless in regards to who he actually is. Who did he say he was? He said, “I am.” He is self-existing and unchanging, he is from everlasting to everlasting. If his existence is not dependent upon the actions of others, his character is certainly not dependent upon my opinion, or anyone’s else’s. he is who he is, regardless of whether or not anyone likes it. Now, why should I serve Christ? The overwhelming answer to this question is a s follows: because he will save me from eternal damnation, bring me into eternal life in heaven, and provide for me in this life. Really? Is that it?! I should serve Christ because I loce myself?!! Let me present this fact, the church is the bride of Christ. Think about that for a while. If a groom was to ask his bride why she chose to be devoted to him, he would not expect a utilitarian response, that is to say, if her answer involved, “because I can get something from you,” the verity of the romance in this relationship, and the prospect of the bride’s faithfulness would undoubtedly be called into question.<br /> <br />So, why should I love Christ if it is not primarily for my own benefit? Could it be possible that he is simply worthy of my praise and service? What sort of love only exists to serve itself? 1 Corinthians 13 (the love chapter, I know) says that love is not self-seeking, and honestly, that seems fairly obvious to me. So what does it mean to truly love something? It means that I will love the object of my love for its own sake. It means that I believe Christ is worthy of my life simply because of who he is, that I delight in his character and his work. Let us rethink our relationship to Christ, and let us love him for the sake of who he is, not because of what he can do for us.Mark Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00811486456256467613noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6404628488429311114.post-22097582170790533852008-10-27T14:00:00.000-07:002008-10-27T19:19:19.644-07:00Human Effectiveness Requires SubmissionI wrote this in my journal a few weeks back after having a very busy week and, consequently, spending nearly no time in prayer...enjoy!<br /><br />This week has been in stark contrast to the preceding couple months; I have been distant from the Lord. This distance was entirely my fault, but I certainly felt it. Coming out of a busy, disconnected state, I am thinking a lot about prayer and what it means to truly know God. The most important part of knowing God (which is the part that I most often see myself and other failing at) is believing in Him literally and actively. I need to believe that God moves through my prayers. I need to believe in the power and authority that I have been given through Christ, who’s spirit lives in me. Prayer is not a rite or a ritual; it is a battle. The difference between me when I am close to God and me when I am distant is the submission to this fact, and the trust that it is true. Faith and trust both require action in order to be real. If I truly believe in God as a living being, I and if I truly trust that He will not break His promises, then I will act accordingly. If I believe in God, I will pray intercessory prayers, if I believe in God, I will pray for healing, if I truly believe in God, even my own prayers will not be my own, but they will be a practice of His spirit interceding and preaching to me and through me things that are true. Miracles happen through those who have faith and trust, because part of what we trust in is our own incapability to accomplish goodness aside from the Lord’s power. It is in this humble recognition that our hope of glory is only through Christ’s spirit in us, that it is by the acceptance of His spirit of sonship that we cry “Abba, father,” and that we do not rejoice in our power over anything, but rather that our names are written in the book of life, that true faith, glory, power, and active redemption are carried out in the life of a human being.Mark Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00811486456256467613noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6404628488429311114.post-91683430068577048132008-07-23T12:37:00.000-07:002008-07-23T12:52:27.281-07:00May the Grace of God Be Strong, Perfecting our Hearts Along With our ActionsMy good friend asked me a question in response to my previous post. i was obliged to answer. i tried commenting back on his blog, but it turned into this...so i just decided to make a blogpost for it.<br /><br />Question: <br />Do you think it is possible to serve God and not worship Him? Does your heart have to be set on praising and worshiping Him to also truly serve Him?<br />Answer: Yes, to both. My heart does not need to be in the right place for God to be glorified; that is part of His nature, and He will forever be glorious. But as for the question of whether or not i have to be intending to worship God to worship him: yes! absolutely, 100%. If this was not the case, everything would be worship because, by grace, everything is perfected (even the darkest of sin) and turned to something that is A)beneficial to those who love God, and B) (here's the kicker) brings God to glory. The beauty of our Lord is that He has chosen to fuse a and b together so that He is glorified when we are brought to glory along with Him. He has chosen to glorify Himself by loving us, and us by loving Him. This is why we call it a romance, it is reciprocal. Not to say that our love for God could ever equal His for us, or that we could ever be as glorious as Him, or that the end purpose of anything has ever been that we should be glorified. My point is quite the opposite. None of this is necessary, God could cause us to serve Him without love or benefit to us, and He would still be worthy. But our God is gracious, our God is loving, our God has compassion on us while we are still sinners, and He chooses to make us like Himself. We are promised this in 1 John 3:2, which i have posted on before. So, is God glorified when our intention is not praise? yes. Could a selfish act, with no consideration of God be considered an act of worship? no. It is by grace that every sin is brought to perfection, but it must be brought there, it must be perfected and by this logic we recognize that it did not start at such a state. May the prayer of our hearts be that we could grow closer to the purity of a soul that longs only to please the loving and glorious maker who was gracious enough to call us while we were still lost, and to one day make us into the likeness of Himself.Mark Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00811486456256467613noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6404628488429311114.post-32520800695930694172008-07-12T18:00:00.000-07:002008-07-12T18:18:27.762-07:00for by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of GodWhat a gift we have in knowing God! My God, who is holy, and just in all His actions, has chosen to make Himself known to my heart. This is gracious, this is romantic, this is the very personification of love. And yet, I choose to refuse the fullness of such a gift, to be satisfied with mere knowledge when I have the opportunity to experience intimate acquaintance. I don’t understand this. It’s as if I think that I can have either one or the other, that I could either know God, or know about God. This is so ludicrous. I know that the only true understanding I can have comes by way of the Holy Spirit’s revelation. I must submit my knowledge and opinion to Him for discernment and completion. May I seek God in a way that indicates that I believe that He is still alive.<br /><br /> Sometimes I read the Bible as if it is a eulogy, as if I am reading about a great historical figure who once was. God is real and he is here! I know Him!! He has revealed himself to me in ways that are altogether unnatural and unimaginable. Throughout history, people have worshipped stone images and engraving, but I worship a God who sits in His holy temple at this very moment. This is a God who has made a temple for His Spirit in my own body. He is alive and He is speaking to me right now. He is revealing Himself constantly, graciously revealing to me the secret wisdom that can only be known through acquaintance with His Spirit. I am weak, and I am unwilling, but He is so strong. He overcomes my distant and unwilling heart and turns it to praise. I have never been righteous, and I have never sought holiness, but holiness sought me and he has raised me up with Himself that I might become like Him! He has given me power that I might glorify the name which has saved me, and all this when I was satisfied in my sin. May he continue to pour out His grace. May He continue to save me from the reckless comfort that I have found in unrighteousness, that I might know Him better.Mark Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00811486456256467613noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6404628488429311114.post-61078875463356936602008-04-02T16:03:00.000-07:002008-04-02T16:06:04.676-07:00Luke 1:53“He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.” This verse is as beautiful as it is subtle. It seems to be a theme that God blesses the needy and rejects those who are satisfied in themselves. The interesting part of this passage is that He fills the hungry with “good things,” not food, while he sends the rich away empty, not penniless. I say that I do not believe money to be of much importance, and yet I wait upon blessings that are of the world. Perhaps “good things” are such things as faithfulness and the Holy Spirit. Perhaps being sent away empty has nothing to do with finances. After all, it seems that the rich are still rich and the hungry are still hungry. Do we really believe that man does not live on bread alone? Do we believe that someone with a belly full of food and a wallet full of money could be empty? By the looks of it, God does.Mark Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00811486456256467613noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6404628488429311114.post-25950663343017124432008-03-17T20:44:00.001-07:002008-03-17T20:47:13.190-07:00In Response to a Yahoo! News Article:The headline aks the following question: The women's field for March Madness is officially set. Any surprises?<br /><br />answer: yes, who gave march madness to women's basketball?!Mark Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00811486456256467613noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6404628488429311114.post-59386157425466459742008-03-16T16:35:00.001-07:002008-03-16T21:20:20.795-07:00Read 1 John“No eye has seen,<br />no ear has heard, <br />no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him”—<br />but God has revealed it to us by His Spirit.<br />1 Corinthians 2.9&10<br /><br />The idea of sharing glory with God is exciting, convicting, empowering, terrifying. 1 Corinthians says that God’s secret wisdom is a wisdom that God has destined for our glory. 1 John says that when God appears we will be like Him! With the gift of the Holy Spirit we are no longer in the dark regarding God’s wisdom, it has been revealed to us by His Spirit. Still, we are not yet like God because we have not yet seen Him as He is in completion. We are in limbo. Even so, we are not clueless, for we know his secret wisdom; may we live accordingly. How can I do this? By living in the Spirit. Romans 8:5 “…but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.” 1 Corinthians 2:11 “…no one knows the thoughts of God except by the Spirit of God.” And verse 12, “We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.” It is God’s desire to bring us to glory alongside himself through the Spirit. This can only be accomplished through prayer and devotion. This era has a difficult time acknowledging the idea of a romance between man and God, but there is no greater love story. WE are His bride, and prayer is the mode by which we are able to pursue our love. May I recognize God’s pursuit of me and be compelled to pursue Him in return, and one day be like Him.<br /><br />"To please God... to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness...to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son--it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is."<br /><br />-C.S. LewisMark Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00811486456256467613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6404628488429311114.post-72132586176109857022008-02-28T15:08:00.001-08:002008-02-28T15:08:38.318-08:00Pairs Well With Hebrews 2I’ve wasted a lot of time trying to figure things out that are of no consequence to my life. God honors, and is pleased by, my pursuit of truth, but only when it is rooted in pure motivation. Oftentimes I am ensnared by deviations that pose as truth seeking questions. I feel like I need to know everything when that is simply not my place. In fact, an attempt to know all things is an attempt to make myself God, which is what got us into this sinful state in the first place. I do not see everything, I do not need to see everything, I should not see everything, I cannot see everything; I do see Jesus. This is what matters: that I see Jesus, that I fix my eyes, my heart, my mind, my intentions on Him and His glory. I must seek knowledge and understanding, but I must seek it for and through Christ. If my understanding is to be true, it cannot be my own, because my heart begets selfishness and lies. Therefore, in order to know truth, I must learn through my transformed heart, which only exists through Jesus and His Holy Spirit. Am I capable of explaining truth on my own? To an extent, I can parrot phrases and ideas that describe truth. Am I capable of understanding truth on my own? No! It is the Spirit that gives us understanding and discernment, and all reason or logic should not be abandoned, but rather it should be submitted to Him for fullness, completion, and refinement. No matter how sound my reason or how strong my argument; if it does not come from God, it is nothing because everything exists for Him and through Him.Mark Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00811486456256467613noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6404628488429311114.post-26690432466225405292008-01-28T00:02:00.000-08:002008-01-28T00:10:18.468-08:00FreedomWhat is freedom? Is it the lack of constraints, the opportunity to do whatever we want, or the opportunity to do that which is most beneficial to us? When people are told that the gospel is freedom, they are often puzzled by the fact that it comes with many regulations on how they should live. If I am free, why am I not free to engage in debauchery? This question is valid because, on the surface, it seems that freedom is merely the absence of rules or constraints. The only problem with applying this definition to our lives is that it is a simple definition and it cannot be applied to a complex situation. If I am given the freedom to do anything I please, I may do something that will cause me to be incarcerated, or otherwise constrained. Therefore, freedom is not merely permission; it comes with a set of rules, which show us the way toward a life that is free of harmful constraints. <br /> <br />With this view toward freedom, many circular questions are avoided. “Why doesn’t God want me to get drunk?” “Why does it matter whether or not I give glory to God, if His glory is not subject to my actions?”…. I could go on. When we realize that part of freedom is rules that set us free from many things (things that we call sin), we see joy in the rules and cease to follow them without meaning or personality. This is why many Pharisees offended Jesus, they demeaned the rules that were created for freedom by making them into constraints; the very thing they were meant to destroy. <br /> <br />So, we see that there are two extremes when viewing moral law, and that neither is true. First we have the view of the anarchist: rules cannot beget freedom. Second we have the view of the legalist: rules should be followed for their own sake. Both of our characters have fallen into deadly traps of slavery. The anarchist is a slave to himself, while the legalist is a slave to rules. One has bastardized freedom, while the other has bastardized order. If only we could see that the two are not separate, I believe we would be on the road to the freedom that is promised through the gospel of Christ.Mark Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00811486456256467613noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6404628488429311114.post-14085636404967843402007-12-30T03:14:00.000-08:002007-12-30T03:15:38.586-08:00I'm Not a PoliticianI wonder how many beliefs i hold for the sake of diplomacy.Mark Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00811486456256467613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6404628488429311114.post-52122118088070422572007-11-09T03:25:00.003-08:002007-11-09T03:25:48.461-08:00You're probably right, God is probably wrong...It seems like a contradiction that we would be fulfilled though service, that we would gain by giving. We wonder how God could love us if His will for us is only that we glorify Him. Is this a paradox or a contradiction? Does it benefit us to serve God without regard to ourselves? If so, why?<br /> <br />The discrepancy here arises due to an inaccurate view of who God is and who we are. When determining what is beneficial for anything, we must first determine what the thing is and why it exists. Let us apply this concept to humanity. What is humanity and why does it exist? This can be answered by first asking how it exists. The Bible teaches that we exist as a product of creation by an all-powerful God. This is so simple and so matter of fact to a Christian that it is often overlooked when he is considering the dynamic of his relationship to God. The profound revelation that is found in this simple truth is this; since God is our creator our meaning, purpose, and worth can be nothing greater, or less, or anything at all other than what is assigned by Him. <br /> <br />If the creator assigns the purpose, then humanity must look to its creator in order to find its purpose. The Bible teaches that our purpose is to please God, to glorify Him. It can be said in many ways, but any way it is put, we are meant to be servants. Is it any wonder then that the selfish are unfulfilled while the selfless live at peace? We were created for God, not God for us. God is for us, He does love us, and He does work for the good of those who love Him, but we cannot define a Godly good in human terms. <br /> <br />Now, if we are servants and God expects to be served, does this make Him any more selfish than we are for expecting our meals to sustain our bodies through the day? After all, that is what a meal is designed to do. This is not a case of pride or arrogance; this is a case of a God who created things, which would be made full by glorifying Him. How can one be called arrogant for calling something exactly what it is?Mark Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00811486456256467613noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6404628488429311114.post-59703948955006712442007-10-25T01:14:00.000-07:002007-10-25T01:23:47.090-07:00It's A Learning ProcessI hear people say that salvation comes through our deeds. I hear others say that our salvation comes through belief and belief only. Both of these ideas make me sad. Our salvation is something that could never be earned, and yet will not come without commitment. Salvation will always be followed by the process of sanctification. (Or perhaps it should be said that salvation is completed through sanctification). <br /> I think that in order to dissolve the myth of salvation through deeds one must only examine their own life and heart. I know that my life and my heart are far from perfection and therefore I cannot believe myself to be able to earn anything good. Since this is so naturally evident I will choose to focus on the fallacy of salvation based strictly on belief. <br /> <br />It is true that the Bible teaches us salvation comes through belief, but this cannot be thought of as a mere intellectual agreement. The Bible shows that following the teachings of Jesus and pursuing a likeness to Him is truth. This belief would not be held without action, it could not be held without action. Thus, we cannot fully believe it at first. Our initial belief comes in the form of a commitment to pursue lives that are Christ-like. This is when God takes hold of our hearts and our lives and begins the process of sanctification. <br /> <br />The rest of a believer’s life after this commitment is spent learning to believe what he already knows and becoming who he already is. He is already a follower of Christ, though he is still learning the way. He is already a Son of God, though he is still a slave to his flesh at times. In this way, a faith that does not have deeds cannot be real. This is not because the deeds earn salvation, but rather it is because the salvation creates the deeds. The life and heart are learning to believe what they know and they are showing this more and more through action.Mark Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00811486456256467613noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6404628488429311114.post-6429546450103069162007-10-17T23:19:00.000-07:002007-10-17T23:20:00.323-07:00Postmodernisn'tmYesterday I read a church’s billboard that read the following: “The Bible is not a weapon.” I agree with the idea that the Bible is not something to be used simply for our own advantage or to the disadvantage of others, but this statement is fundamentally false. The Bible’s very definition is as a weapon. We have been told that the Bible is not only a weapon; it is a double-edged sword. In the battle that we are called to fight, the Bible is our offensive tool. <br /><br />This sort of fallacy seems to be all too prevalent in the church of our time. As a response to the mindless rejection of past generations, we exhibit mindless acceptance. Truth is final, Truth is eternal, Truth does not change. Truth was before creation and will be after creation. Truth is not relative to our time or situation because its home is outside of both. Postmodernism has no more of a place in the church than does persecution. And yet, we accept, we bow to the idolatry of acceptance in the world and therefore fall into accepting the world itself. We are so concerned with the way the world sees us that we look at its criticism before we look at the Lord’s. We are so concerned with presenting God to the world in a way that is not offensive that we forget the fact that God is offensive to those who reject Him because He must in turn reject them. Do we trust God so little that we can’t even show Him for who he has revealed Himself to be? Do I actually imagine that I am capable of softening a human heart? I am not God; therefore all I can do is show God to people as He actually is.Mark Doddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00811486456256467613noreply@blogger.com1