Hunger for Jesus and His Kingdom

Well it’s been a busy couple weeks and days, and here I am, the night before I leave for Israel. It hasn’t really hit me yet. I’ve been scrambling to meet with people and get everything I need and pack, etc, etc. Today was the first day I really realized that this was my last of everything- last shower, last Coldstone, last time driving- so some of it’s been surreal, and other things have gone by so fast that I can’t remember them. What I want to talk about in this blog is something I’ll be doing in Israel that I want to invite you in and share in.
To sum up my previous two blogs, I really just desire a greater intimacy with God in Jerusalem, and to carry out in all my life. What I want to do in Israel is to fast two times a week- one for personal growth in Godliness, one for Christ to come and the Kingdom to be established. Now I’ve been debating on saying this or not, being weary of Matthew 6, but I’ve searched my heart, and want to you to share in this command of Jesus for your ultimate joy. I think there’s danger in describing what days I’m doing it or how or anything, but all I want to explain is the why question. This isn’t to be copied in exact regimen, only repeated to develop a hunger for God more than food, or internet, or anything in this world.
First, like stated previously, I want to desire God more intensely than I desire anything else in this world. I want the hunger pains of food to remind me of the same passion and desire for God. So on this day, or time, I’m going to be praying for my own personal spiritual growth- that greater intimacy with God. I want to experience God in new ways, and to have a fresh, renewed vision of His power and glory. Like Paul, I want to put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit (Romans 8.13). I desire to listen and obey God, more than to listen and obey my body- ultimate satisfaction over temporary pleasure. I long to desire the ultimate treasure, and the Giver more than the gift.
The second purpose this will serve will be to pray for Christ’s Kingdom to come and be established. By the Spirit’s indwelling, this will allow me to detach myself from the trivialities and pursuits of the world, and to attach my eyes to my true home, not this temporary dwelling. I say I long for Jesus, but how intense is that desire. Do I really want him to come again? Or do I want to accomplish things and life a full life first? How much do I desire to see Him again? In this day, or time of prayer, I want to cry out to God to come and restore and redeem all things- to initiate the new heavens and new earth where there will be no more death, decay, tears, disease, sickness, or sadness. I want to long for Him to come and rule and make everything glorious for all eternity.
In both cases, my plea again is for greater intimacy with God- here on this earth, or in new creation. My prayer is that He’ll come when I’m in the Hoy Land and to establish His Kingdom and the New Creation when I’m on the Temple Mount. How sick would that be?
But again, I say these things for two reasons: 1.) That you’ll share in this command of Jesus and desire Him more than the world, and 2.) That you’ll pray for me in my striving to know God better and glorify Him more through this.
John Wesley has said: “Some have exalted religious fasting beyond all Scripture and reason; and others have utterly disregarded it." I don’t want you to be guilted into this, or exalt it to something beyond Scripture mandate, but I do want to experience the joy God brings through the strength of the Spirit. That’s my prayer for me and you.

Hungry for more of Him,
Sos

"Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him" -Psalm 37:7

Today is the eve of our journey, and while Sos has spent the last two week gallivanting around the United States, I have been stuck at home with no one to play with. Nevertheless, it has been an awesome two weeks. I've been able to spend countless hours in silence, reading, praying, mediating on the trip, and most importantly, sculpting my biceps and upper back. Though I still have yet to pack or accomplish the other minor logistics pertaining to our trip, these two weeks have prepared my mind and focused my affections, which is far more important than packing enough warm clothes! The other night Sos turned to me and said, "Do you know were we're gonna go once our plane lands in Tel Aviv, Israel?". To which I said, "No idea... but we're going baby!" Most likely we'll wonder, mindlessly around the holy land for a few months until we have to be back at the airport in Tel Aviv for our flight home on May 14th.

During the last two weeks, I've had time to read a few books. Sos requested that I read Why Revival Tarries by Leonard Ravenhill. I believe his words were, "read this, it will mess you up!". I wasn't really interested at first but after reading the first chapter, it's safe to say that I was messed up. The book is basically about the power and importance of prayer as it relates to both corporate and personal revival, focusing especially on the prayer life of the minister. I have heard this message a thousand times and I thought I believed it, but I was haunted by Leonard Ravenhill's words as I spent the next few nights sleepless and wrestling.

So now, my goals for the trip have changed dramatically. Before, I wanted to take some heavy book of Biblical doctrine and immerse myself in reading and study. Now, I want to spend all my time in prayer and meditation, waiting on the Lord. I am no longer taking books like Systematic Theology and The Sermons of Jonathan Edwards. I will only take one book, my Bible. I hope to submerge myself deep in God's Word and never come back out. I have been reading the bible for a few years now, but I still feel like a stranger to this God who has so radically redeemed my soul. My goal for these next few months is to simply meet God in the Scriptures, to wait for him there, to see him, to hear his Words, to know him, and to fall in love with him.

Waiting patiently,
Danny

Sweetly Broken, Wholly Surrendered

It’s been a busy couple weeks for me. I traveled to North Carolina, Boston, and now I’m at the airport on my to California. While in NC, I heard about Haiti. Now let me reveal to you some wicked things about my heart: I did not feel anything. It’s not that I didn’t think it was terrible; I did. But my emotions were untouched. I remember when 9/11 happened (in fifth grade) I didn’t really know why everybody was getting worked up. If it didn’t affect you, why are you freaking out? HOW WICKED IS THAT! I mean how heartless of a soul do I have? With this reaction, I knew something was wrong in my heart. I want to think that my arrogant, selfish, self-centered, prideful heart has changed since 5th grade. Then I came across a book….

I read a lot this past week. While reading (and having time to think) God blew me up. What I mean by that is it was like God took a stick and beat me over the head repeatedly. Loving discipline. I read a book called “Why Revival Tarries” by Leonard Ravenhill. To put it in perspective, Ravi Zacharias calls it one of the most influential books on his life and ministry. So… pretty big deal. Some of the things he said kept me up at night and made me lose sleep and really exposed my wicked heart. So I thought I’d share. (sorry!)

“Preaching is spiritual business. Ministers could afford to be ½ as intellectual if they were twice as spiritual.”
“No man is greater than his prayer life”
“Our eyes are dry because our hearts are dry”
“True Preaching is the sweating of blood”
“What is deeper knowledge with shallower hearts?”
“A ministry that is college trained, but not Spirit filled works no miracles”
“Spiritual child requires months of toil and travail”
“We are more concerned that heads should be filled than hearts be fired”
“Vital preaching and victorious living must come out of sustained watches in prayer closet”
On top of this, during the fall I read this quote from Bryan Chappell: “Interpretation of Scripture requires scholarship. Proper application requires holiness”

If you know me at all, you know that I like to read. So this prayer stuff blew me up. I want to be an effective communicator and know what I’m talking about, but if I have no power, passion, or tears, I’m worthless. And the only way to develop feeling like that is through prayer- something that’s been largely neglected in my life. God can use reason to lead someone to Himself- he never requires blind faith, but the birth of a spiritual soul is conceived by prayer. I have no feeling or passion, because I pray little.

This past week, since reading that, God has really exposed me more to the sinful things of my own life. But I think that’s normative. I think of Isaiah 6, when Isaiah is in the throne room of the Lord. His response: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips!” You can’t grow closer to the Lord without being revealed for what you really are: a sinful, finite human being. You see, God is Holy and perfect. That’s His standard. We can appear morally upright and decent human beings compared with each other (and by each other, our standard seems to be the mass murderer on the news, and we’re better than that guy, right?) It’s just like Kyle Spodnik is strong compared to the rest of his 3-year-old playmates. But you set up a cage match with me and him, game over. That’s a quick match. I’ll kick him in the head, give him the elbow from the tight ropes and walk out the ring. It’s no contest. It’s the same thing when we compare ourselves to a Holy God. We’re helpless. We need a Savior. That’s why I never get tired of hearing the Gospel. As I grow closer to Him, I know my sinfulness and need of Jesus- the only way to God.

I’ll end with a poem that I found recently, which really expresses my hope and need in Israel. I’ve cut back on the books I’m taking, so I have time in the God’s Word where he reveals Himself, and time alone to invoke and kindle a fire for His name and for lost souls.

Oh! For a heart that is burdened!
Infused with a passion to pray;
Oh! For the stirring within me;
Oh! For His power to pray.
Oh! For a heart like my Savior,
Who, being in an agony, prayed.
Such caring for others, Lord, give me;
On my heart let my burdens be laid.
My Father, I long for this passion,
To pour myself out for the lost-
To lay down my life to save others-
“To pray,” whatever the cost.
Lord, teach me, Oh teach this secret,
I’m hungry this lesson to learn,
This passionate passion for others,
For this, blessed Jesus, I yearn.
Father, this lesson I long for from Thee-
Oh, let Thy Spirit reveal this to me.
-Mary Warburton Booth
I hope my other posts aren’t this long.

Broken with Hope,
Sos

Dust of the Rabbi

I would like to take a moment to explain the title of our blog: "Covered in the Dust of the Rabbi." Because Sos lacks the creative gene which God has so graciously bestowed upon me, I was assigned the monumental task of naming our blog, while my friend handled all the lesser tasks (formatting, editing, putting up pictures, etc). Right away, I had about eight or nine great ideas, but eventually I settled on our current title.

During the time of Christ, most Jewish boys would go to the local synagogue around the age of 6 to learn the Torah (the first five books of the OT). Being taught by a Rabbi, most kids would have the entire Torah memorized by age 10. After this, the majority of the kids would be released from the synagogue to learn the trade of their father; only the best students would continue learning the Scriptures in the synagogue. These students would continue until around age 15, during that time they would memorize the rest of the Hebrew Scriptures (the entire OT... Genesis through Malachi). Again, the majority of these students would be released to learn their fathers trade, and only the best of the best would continue on. At this point, the student would apply to a Rabbi in hopes of being one of his disciples and continue his ministry. If the Rabbi accepted, the student would leave everything behind and follow the Rabbi for the rest of his life. A disciple didn't want to simply learn the Rabbi's teaching, he literally wanted to be like the Rabbi. So wherever the Rabbi went, whatever the Rabbi did, his disciples would follow him around and do what the Rabbi does. Traveling the dusty, dirt roads while trying to keep up with their teacher, it wasn't long before the disciples were literally covered in the dust of the Rabbi. So the saying developed among the people, "blessed is he who is covered in the dust of the Rabbi."

This has huge implications in the ministry of Christ, who called fishermen to be his disciples (Mark 1:14-20). If these boys are fishermen, they have already been released from their education in the synagogue, which means they are not the best of the best. It is no wonder these fishermen drop their nets and follow Jesus without hesitation; this was every Jewish boys dream! Jesus was telling these boys, "I think you are good enough, I think you can do what I do; so come, follow me." And it was these uneducated fishermen that took the gospel of Jesus Christ and changed the course of human history.

My hope this semester is that Sos and I will be covered in the dust of our Rabbi, Jesus Christ.

Danny

First One...

Well, I promised myself I’d never do this, but I’ve entered a new level of nerdom: the blog-o-sphere. This will serve as a sort of growth-tracking/update of Danny Thompson and myself on our journey in Israel. We’ll each post on our posts and perspectives of our time on the same blog. In this first post, I just want to reflect on my past year looking forward to the hope of Israel.
This past year has been… odd for me. While having an extreme passion to grow and experience more of God and prepare for ministry, I’ve been plagued with reoccurring, plaguing sin- not light, little sinful tendencies- but deep, penetrating, dehabilitating sin. But I’ve found hope in this from two sources. The Puritan pastor Richard Baxter says God tests a minister in one of two ways: by some sort of great external suffering, or some sort of great sin. I wish I could have been worthy enough to suffer well by circumstances, but I suffered through my own chosen circumstances. Tim Keller also has quoted somebody saying every great minister must walk with a limp. (This referring to Jacob’s wrestle with God in Genesis 32.) I’m not walking with swag, but I am aware of my God-dependence and own sinfulness. God just blew me up this year. He laid my sinful heart bare before me. And in that I mourn with hope. I can rejoice now that by God’s grace alone, He’s taken that from me temporarily.

With that background, my prayer requests in Israel:
1. That God would use this time of refreshing and renewing in the Lord. I want to spend a lot of time just alone with the Lord, reflecting on the past and looking forward to my future ministry and work.
2. To do this, I need to be in the Word and have a much better prayer life. I limited the books I took (kinda) so I hope and pray (and work for) set time apart to be away with the Lord and meditate.
3. To engage when I read the Bible and don’t just read to like a newspaper or to check it off. To spend deep time in God’s word.
4. For my baptism on April 15- that the Spirit would move powerfully
5. College Decisions (Gordon, Asuza, SES)
6. I really just want to be a more Godly man. I don't care to be nicer, or kinder, or friendlier, I want to know God better and more fully. I want to drink more deeply out of His fountain of grace. I wish to grow in Godliness and pursue the Lord with my whole being.
7. With the previous prayer request, I've really been convicted of my sinfulness: cowardness, self-righteousness, and pride. I know the first one doesn't fit in with the other two, but that's how sin works I suppose. I want to be bold and powerful and not simply appeasing like is my default response.
These are my hopes and prayers for the next 4 months, and whole life.
I will add some sporadically throughout the semester, but these are the main things on my mind.

P.S. I’ll hopefully post at least once a week on Wednesdays.

Love you guys,
Sos