Called to be human

In my last blog, I talked about Jesus being called out of Egpyt to be what Abraham's famliy was unable to be and also what the world was unable to be. The result of Jesus life, death, and resurrection is that we can be called out of our situation to be truly human. I have been challenged by this. Is my life reflecting the reality of the work of Jesus our Messiah? This isn't a yet to come thing but a to be realized now thing.
So, I want my experience at Fuller Seminary to be an experience that helps me to reflect this reality more and more. If I am not reflecting the image of God, than something is wrong. This goes for us all. When we truly calculate what Jesus has done, it doesn't add up if we aren't truly being human. So be challenged that when we look at our life, it should add up to what our Messiah has done for us.
So far my Fuller experience has been great. Greek class has been going well. It has helped that I have already taken Greek at Life Pacific College. This class is an intensive so it is a lot of info. I couldn't imagine taking this class with no language experience. I applaud those who are taking it with no language experience. My life right now consists of Greek, work, Disneyland, and Church. There is more to my life like family and friends but I think you get the picture. I am a bit busy. But as I have said before, I pray that this season in my life would only help me reflect God's image more and more.
Thanks for reading,
Marcelino

Out of Eygpt I've called my son

So I've almost completed my first week of Fuller Seminary and it has been great so far. The more I'm here the more I realize that everyone here desires the same thing. They all want to find their role in God's redemptive plan. Some, including me, aren't sure what that looks like, but they are in search for that role. It truly is an honor and a previlege to realize that God wants us all, not just Fuller students, to be apart of His redeeming plan.
God has always wanted His people to undo the sin of adam and the decay of creation. But all have failed at this task. Look at the call of Abraham. Yahweh told Him that he would multiply greatly and that His family would be a blessing to all nations. God made a similar covenant with Adam but Adam fell. Even with Abraham, God had begun his plan to undo the sin of Adam. Yahweh's solution to the problem begun but the people he choose became part of the problem. Even when Yahweh brought Abraham's family out of Eygpt, they rebelled. They were unable to help in the problem. They just intensified it. But God had in mind the whole time to allow sin to be intensified so that it can be delt with properly in the death of the Messiah Jesus. The Messiah became what Abraham's family was unable to be. He was their representative. That is why I have said previously that what is true of the Messiah is true of His people.
So the prophet Hosea says, "Out of Eygpt I've called my son." What was Matthew thinking when quoting this in his gospel? Is he just grabbing scripture out of context and proving that Jesus is fufilling scripture in some wierd way? No. Yahweh called Abraham's family out of Eygpt but they failed in their task to be a light and a blessing. So their Representative became what they were unable to be, that is, Yahweh's son! He now is the one to deal with the sin of Adam! Jesus was called out of Eygpt to be God's son. He was to be a true Israelite. I hope you are seeing how truly amazing this is! So now, that evil has been delt with in our Representative, we can finally be free to find our role in God's redemptive plan!
So as I search to find my role in God's plan, I am reminded that I am free to do just that! We all are!
Thanks for reading,
Marcelino

I start my seminary journey

I start Fuller Seminary tomoroow. I have been meaning to blog about this for quite some time. I am very excited for the this next phase in my life. I feel like my knowledge of God and his plans for us (me) are only getting bigger. It's like hiking up a mountain only to see, as you go up, the world around you getting bigger and bigger. The plans of God are far bigger than we can imagine. At times I even think that we get in the way of those plans or make them smaller. We need to allow God to be the big God that he is. He is the creater of the universe. He is our redeemer. He will restore humanity and creation. He will make things right. He will bring things back into order. The list goes on and on. He is amazing.
I spent a lot of last week attending orentation meetings at Fuller and in one of the meetings there was a panel of professors of the seminary. One of them said that a lot of the students there come to seminary to become a better leader in the Church, which is true. When going on to further education we can only hope that we are better at our profession because of it. His point was that we shouldn't forget that we are coming to study "God". Who is God? What is He like? These are the questions that we must forget to ask. Those of us there are going to a "theological" seminary. It made me think of why I am going to Fuller. I am going to study God. And as I study Him, I will see just how big his plan is for his creation, which includes us.
I will keep you all posted on how the quarter goes.
Thanks for reading,
Marcelino

New life together

Ok, so I was going to blog about starting Fuller Seminary but I went to a wedding of some good friends of mine. It was a great wedding and reception. Seeing two people and really two families, who love the Lord, come together in this way is truly amazing. I'm in awe of witnessing a moment like this one.
In my blogs I have always wanted to stay with the theme of learning to be truly human. Being truly human means being a person who truly reflects God's image. People were always meant to reflect God's image but some where along the way they started to dehumanize themselves. But Thank God for send his son and our Messiah, Jesus our Lord! He was the one who became the human that we were unable to be. Now what is true of him is true of us. We too can be truly human. Jesus promised new life in this age and the age to come. What I love about living in this unique time is that we receive glimpses of God's restored humanity and creation. They are sign posts pointing to the age to come, when heaven and earth become interlocked and God makes all things new. Marriage is just that a glimpse and a sign post pointing to God's restored humanity. It points to new life, which is beginning to be realized now! I wittnessed new life today! Two humans becoming one and now on a journey together to learn what it means to be truly human.
Thanks for reading,
Marcelino

A new life now

"Present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life."

The Apostle Paul

Who is your God? What is he like? Is he up in the sky some where not really paying much attention? Is he a God that only gets involved in your lives every once in a great while? Or is he a God that is close? Is He so close that you that you feel heaven and earth interlock at times? I would answer yes to the last two questions. God has been active in my life. I also believe that he has been active through out history. God has done something extraordinary he has brought us all, who confess Jesus as Lord, from death to life.

"We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life." What is this newness of life? Is it the resurrection of the dead? Is it a new life here on earth? The answer is yes to both! Whether you believe this happens at baptism or at conversion doesn't change the point that this usually happens early in the newly converted believer. Something has broken in this present evil age we live in. What is it? The death and resurrection of Jesus. I've said it before and I will say it again, "what is true of Jesus is true of those who follow him." God's new age has broken in so that we get the privilege to live in God's new age and creation!

So what does this all mean? God is active. He is close. He sent his son so that what is true of him is true of us! God's new age is breaking in now. It isn't merely that we will be fully restored humans when Jesus appears again but that this is to begin to be realized now. So when Paul says, "Present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life," this is what he means. We have been brought from death to life so then lets present ourselves that way.

This is where I fear some have shruken the gospel message, and have shrucken God's redemptive plan for humanity. We aren't people merely imputed by God's righteousness and still sinners. Some may say that they are the righteousness of God in Christ but I am still a sinner and evil. There is some truth to this. I believe that evil runs through each of us. This is why Jesus came to deal witht the probelm of evil in creation. I believe that something happens to a Christian that brings them from death to life. This has already happened. Otherwise, why would Paul ask us to present ourselves to God in this way? Paul also says in Romans 6 that we are no longer enslaved to sin. God doesn't merely inpute righteousness, he rescues us! Does this effect every area of our life? You bet! God has rescued us and he is restoring us. When we see people presenting themselves in this way it is a sign post pointing to the resurrection. It is pointing to the time when God ultimately makes all things new. So what we do today matters. Our lives are either pointing to a fully restored humanity or a fallen one. So let us present ourselves to God as those alive from the dead! Don't forget what is true of Jesus is true of us all who follow the Lord!

Thanks for reading,

Marcelino

Christianity is bigger than we have made it.

Forgive me for not writing a blog in awhile. I hope though that reading these blogs have showed us all just how big God's plan is and just how big Christianity is. It is far bigger than I have ever imagined and I have just realized this in the past 3 months. We (me included) have shruken God's plan for his creation and for his people. I hope that we continue to expand the reality of God's plan. Listen to this post from Tom Wright. He talks about this among other things.
Thanks for reading,
Marcelino

Dare to love like Jesus part 2

"The result is this: since we have been declared 'in the right' on the basis of faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus the Messiah. Through Him we have been allowed to approach, by faith, into this grace in which we stand, and we celebrate the hope of the glory of God." The Apostle Paul

How far we have come in Paul's letter to the Roman churches. In my previous blog I discussed how we have fallen short of the glory of God but God has redeemed us and brought us into His family. We have peace with God. We can approach God. This language is used of God's people approaching the temple of God in Jerusalem. The high priest could only approach the place where Yahweh's presence was once a year. Now because of the work of our Messiah we can approach our God. We are now in a state of grace. We can celebrate the hope of the glory of God, when we once had fallen short of this glory.
"'in a state of grace,' a status, a position where we are surrounded by God's love and generosity, invited to breathe it in as our native air. As we do so, we realize that this is what we are made for; that this is what truly human existence ought to be like; and that is the beginning of something so big, so massive, so unimaginably beautiful and powerful, that we almost burst as we think of it." N.T. Wright
No wonder Paul can speak of celebrating in the midst of suffering! This is truly remarkable. Our suffering in this present world is suppose to make us more truly human, that is restored humans bearing God's image.
So what does this have to do with loving like Jesus? Everything! Being in this state of grace, where we can approach God intimately should enable and compell us to show this love to others. "We almost burst as we think of it," so burst and show others! But first we should take some time and just breathe it in. Breath in what it means to be in this state of grace! Breathe in what it means that we have access to God's presence! Then lets go and be what God has made us! Let us be his restored family showing love to the world!
Thanks for reading,
Marcelino

Dare to love like Jesus

I went to visit my old church, where a good friend of mine dared us to love like Christ. It was a great message. Some how we are to encounter people with God's love.
I'm challenged by this. I feel like I fall very short on this one. To love like Jesus is to be truly human. But we have fallen short and humanity has fallen. Love isn't what it should be. This is true even of some who follow Jesus. Our relationship with God and each other appear broken at times. How can we truly be humans who bear God's image and who show God's love?
For the answer to this question I turn to the apostle Paul. It's clear that we have fallen short of God's glory. Just read Romans 1-3 and it's summed up in 3:23. Thank God for verse 24, which says, "and by God's grace they are freely declared to be 'in the right,' to be memebers of the covenant, through the redemption which is found in the Messiah, Jesus."
Though we have fallen, and we have dehumanized ourselves, God by His grace has brought us into His covenant family. What does this have to do with loving like Jesus? Everything! We can only begin to love and truly be human unless God has rescued us and brought us into His family, because in this and through this we learn what it means to love like Jesus. Or to put it another way, because of the redemption that Jesus has brought us , we can now truly love. This I fear is missed. Conversion to faith in Jesus has been minimized for other experiences subsequent to conversion.When we are converted Jesus brings us out of sin and gives us new life, which is suppose to begin to be realized now. "But if we died with the Messiah, we believe that we shall live with Him." (Read Romans 6 for more details) This will be fully realized when the dead in Christ (the Messiah) will rise to new life but this new life begins now, because Jesus has already risen from the dead. So many times Paul speaks of believers being "in the Messiah" or "with the Messiah," which means that what is true of the Messiah is true of His people. If He died and rose to new life so will we. This happens at conversion and we are to identify (or we are suppose to) with this through baptism. This new life in God's redeemed famliy should be a life of love. We no longer identify with our old way of living life. We firmly belong to and are identified with Jesus and His redeemed family. I hope you can grasp how truly big this is. God has enabled us to live a life of love when we died and rose again to new life. This has already happened. We are free to love!
Lord, how can we love like you? Help us by Your Spirit to do this. Help us to BE Your restored humanity. We have died to sin and are alive in the Messiah! We are fully alive and ready to live a life of love. Thank you for the work you have done in Your people. You enable us to love! You are amazing!
In my next blog I will further discuss what it means to love like Jesus and how God's love for us should lead us to love others.

Who is Jesus?

This video is from the words of C.S. Lewis. It is coupled together with some clips of the Passion of the Christ. I enjoyed it and I hope you do as well. As we look to be humans who bear the image of God, we look to Jesus who is Lord and God.

looking at life

"There is a way of looking at life, and those who discover it are able to live from the heart no matter what." John Eldredge

How true this is. This goes along perfectly well with learning to be human. How can we be human no matter what? How can we be a restored human among a fall humanity? How can we live from the heart? This is part of what John Eldredge discusses in his book Walking the Dead. I am by no means attemping to cover all of what John Eldredge wrote but I just want to begin this discussion.
When we work for the Lord it is not in vain. Our walk with Him isn't in vain. Our journey with God to be the person He wants us to be is not in vain. The struggles and trials we face on the journey isn't in vain. I hope you are getting the point. I also hope that you get how big this is. Everything we do will be affirmed. It isn't useless. It is for a purpose. Maybe the Apostle Paul could shed some light on the subject for us.

"Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain... But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep....then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death." (1 Corinthians 15:13,14,20,24-26)

There is so much in this passage some of which I have already blogged about but I wish to point out a few other things here. Our faith, our walk, our preaching, and our living from the heart, would all be in vain, if there was no resurrection of the dead. Jesus who was the first fruits and then we are to follow.
So what? What's the point? Allow the apostle to explain himself.

"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord."

Yes! This is what we have been waiting to hear, "Our toil is not in vain." Everything we do is in preperation for the day when God restores all things including our physcial bodies. The way of looking at life is looking to the resurrection of Jesus and our own. Look and see what Christ has down for us. He died and rose again. We have died and and have been raised to new life. But this isn't just something that happens in the future. It has already begun for those of us who confess Jesus as Lord. What a glorious time when our bodies our transformed and we live in a transformed world. Lets prepare for that, remembering that our toil is not in vain.

Evil and the Justice of God

I hope you have been enjoying these blogs. It has been fun to write them. It has helped me tremendously to process what God is doing in me. I wanted to write a quick blog and post this video. One of my faviorite books is Evil and the Justice of God by N.T. Wright. This book I highly recommend. Wright has helped me to see evil for what it is and how Jesus has dealt with it in His death and resurrection. Check this video out.

What about heaven?

I gave my testimony at a small group this afternoon. One of the things I shared was how the more were walk with God, the more our knowledge of how big He is grows. Getting to know God is like hiking up a mountain. Our view of the world around us only gets bigger and bigger until we reach the top. God's plans and His ways are like that as well. God and His way only get bigger and bigger.
I have been reading a book called "Suprised by Hope" by N.T. Wright. I am sure your not "suprised" that I am reading a book by N.T. Wright. God's plans really are bigger than we can imagine. This book has been a breath of fresh air for me. Things that I didn't think possible are now possible. I have posted a video that I strongly encourage you to watch. It helps to understand this blog a lot better. I also want to say that I am by know means trying to give a full and complete teaching on this subject. My hope is that this would be a jump start into a direction that I believe God has us all going.
God will restore all things. I am sure you have heard me say that a few times, while I have been blogging. God will fully restore humanity, when he raises the dead in Christ. The apostle Paul says, "For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in His own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ." (1 Corinthians 15:20-23) In Romans 8 we also read how the creation longs for the redemption of the childern of God. Creation as well is waiting to be redeemed and restored. Right now we live in a time between the resurrection and the coming of Christ. It is a time where God has begun his new age and creation but it is yet to reach it's completion until his coming. Revelation 3:12;21:2 talks about God completing his work of restoration. The new Jerusalem will come down from out of heaven forever bringing heaven and earth together. The old age and the old earth will pass away in that since.
So what does this all mean? Heaven is not our final destination. God will restore all of us by transforming our bodies through our resurrection and God will restore His longing creation as well. Then we wont go up to heaven but heaven will come down to us. The new Jerusalem will come down and the one who sits on the throne will say, "Behold, I make all things new." Wow! A restored people on a restored earth! What I thought impossible is possible. Even now! If God was going to "rapture" all Christians and then destory the earth along with all the rest of evil humanity, then what would be the point of caring for the earth now. I am not saying that people will not be judged but that according to the Bible, God has wanted to restore His people and His creation. There is very little evidence for God wiping out His creation and rapturing His people from that.
I know this is a lot to swallow. Search the scripture and study for yourself and watch the video. I am continuing to study and read the scripture to understand this more fully. It is clear that God is in the business of restoring and remaking. How can we do that even now?
Thanks for reading,
Marcelino

Learning to be human in worship and art

I am constantly blown away by God's new creation. God will renew all things. What does this look like for the church today? Because God will raise us from the dead and because God will restore His creation, we are compelled to live in that reality today. N.T. Wright discusses how this plays out in art and music. Amazing stuff! God says welcome to my new creation. Now go and do it! Go and be human!

Learning to be truly human in worship

N.T. Wright is an amazing man of God, who has along with a few others inspired me to truly be human. One thing is clear is that, we were meant to worship the Lord. Believe it or not, when we worship, this is where heaven and earth meet! More on that in a later blog. This video briefly discusses the need and hungry for worship and how to enter into it.

One God, One People, A Reflection of Family Camp Last Summer

I was at a small group tonight and the topic came up about what we should look for in a church. This has inspired me to blog about what is really essential in finding a church but also more importantly what the Church is suppose to be.
I have blogged about about my family camp experience in the past on myspace but I want to bring up some things that I believe I learned about God and His people through this experience.
I have been "Pentecostal" for almost all of my Christian life but going to this family camp opened my eyes and showed me what God was doing, which was far bigger than anything I could imagine. I saw Christians from all denominations wanting the same thing, that is, wanting to be God's restored family. When God's people are truly desiring to be restored, it really doesn't matter what your denominational background is.
God is the one who will restore us into a truly united people. So why not start now? Hasn't the new age begun already? The Apostle Paul dealt with a situation in the 1st century, where the Jews used cirumcision to identify the people of God. The Apostle Paul said that now becuase of the death and resurrection of Jesus, the people of God will be identified by faith. "Or is God the God of the Jews only? Is He not the God of the Gentiles also? Yes, of the Gentiles also, since God is one. He will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith" (Romans 3:30-31). I feel like even today Christians have put boundary markers or have made badges as a way to identify Christians. God clearly states through the Apostle Paul that the people of God are now to be identified by faith.
So what does all this mean? How does this apply? God wants us to be a restored people. We need to go to a church that above all desires for it's people to become truly human. Nothing else matters. This has completely blown away everything that I use to think. But what about if I don't like the worship that much? What If the teaching isn't that great? What if the service is too long or too short? The question we should ask is, "Does the pastor along with the church truly desire to be God's restored family?" Do you see fruit from this desire?
Another thing I wanted to bring up is the "life after life after death" theme I discussed in my previous blog. We will be fully restored, when this time comes. God, who is one, will have a people who is restored and one. We will be unitied and restored. Do you think that our badges or boundary markers that we make to identify God's people will matter much, when this occurs?? Probably not. So since the new age has already begun in the death and resurrection of Jesus, why not begin now?
This has been a great challenge for me. God has broken down walls in my life that I didn't know needed to be broken down. For me now, when I look for a church, I am looking for a church that truly desired to be human. I am completely open to any church of Jesus Christ that desires this. God will use and equip any Christian, who desires for humanity to be truly human.
Thanks for reading,
Marc

A New Creation?? Our Eternal Purpose

How many times have you heard that you are a new creation in Christ? This is straight from 2 Corinthians 5:17. Or How many times have you heard that God will make a new heaven and a new earth? This is straight from Revelation 21. Or have we heard that the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God.. that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay?(Romans 8) Then of course there is the famous John 3:16 passage. We have eternal life in Jesus. This is what I am talking about when I say God's plans are far bigger than we can even imagine. This goes far beyond what Christians at times make Christianity, that is merely a personal religious experience. The question that I am attempting to ask is what happens when we die? Or what is our eternal purpose?
I am by now means trying to fully answer this question and I am only scratching the surface of this misunderstood topic. But I hope that it at least gets all of us thinking far bigger than we ever have. For along time I thought that eternal life meant being with Jesus forever and worshipping Him forever. There will be a period where we will be with the Lord Jesus in heaven but as N.T. Wright says our emphasis should be on "life after life after death." This I am afraid is missing for our message to a world that disperately needs it. Will we just be sitting on a cloud playing our harps to Jesus? Or is there something bigger? Something so amazing that God has planned from the beginning of time?
The answer is yes! God will not obliterate his creation. He is going to remake and restore it! Creation along with humanity will be set free! God will make all things new (Revelation 21:9). It is in scripture in Isaiah 65, Revelation 21, Romans 8, and so on. God will make renew all things. The "life after life after death" is the life we live when we are raised from the dead and Jesus reigns and restores creation. This is our message to a world that is hurting and decaying. God has not only begun this in Jesus' death and resurrection but He will bring all these things to fruition at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is in the process of ridding the world of evil and death. Our "life after life after death" is a world where Jesus fully reigns and where evil and death no longer reign. And in this world we can truly be what God has always intended us to be, that is truly human.

What Does It Mean To Be Human? Another Glimpse posted on myspace 7/20/2008

This morning at Christian Assembly in Eagle Rock, they had a service where they had numerous people come up toward the end of the service. They were carrying pieces of cardboard. On the front of the pieces of cardboard it said things like, "Suicide or God, Alcohol, addiction, cancer, tumor, lonliness, ashamed, sexual identity, and HIV positive since birth." Then each person turned to the back of the cardboard and it said things like, " God, set freed, healed, being healed by faith, my identity is in Christ, accepted by God, living by grace, and God's purpose in my life. It was a very moving moment to see God active in these people's lives.
This is where I felt God say that, "This is only the beginning for those who love me. This is a glimpse of what I'm going to do for my people." (those who confess Jesus as Lord) I am in complete awe of what the Lord will do when He restores all things. Our dreams can be a bit limited compared to what the Lord will do for us and the plans He has for us. God's plans for His people are bigger than anything we can dream or imagine!
So seeing people (fallen humanity) freed, healed, and forgiven is a glimpse of the humanity (true humanity) that we are to become! It is a glimpse of what we along with creation await, that is God restoring all things! I will finish with what the apostle Paul says, "For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God... the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God... And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good! (See Romans 8)

A New Blog For A New Time

I've been blogging on myspace about what it means to be human. This theme I believe will be the dominate theme for the rest of my life. Being truly human is what God has called all of us to be. Humanity has truly fallen. God is calling us all to be truly His restored people. Evil and sin is in the world. God has dealt with evil and sin in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. So we can now be a restored people. We can learn what it is to live in an era where God is restoring all things.

I hope in this very short blog you can somewhat grasp how big this is. Can you imagine a world with people restored? Can you imagine a place where God's creation is fully restored? Can you imagine a place where people are reflecting God's glory? This is what God has begun through the death and resurrection of Jesus, who is Lord over all. Confessing Jesus as Lord and being a Christian isn't merely a personal religous experience. Jesus as Lord will restore all of creation. This is bigger than a personal religous experience. This will transform the whole universe.

When I first became Christian my faith was very personal. I didn't understand how big God's plans for His creation were. I think part of our message to people is that God is restoring all things. Being Christian isn't merely a personal experience not that it isn't that. It is so much more. God has dealt with evil once and for all on the cross! In a world with so much evil in it, this message needs to be heard. The world is fallen and is in desperate need of the One who restores.

So the purpose of this blog is to talk about what it means to be God's restored people. I will also more specifically discuss how this is played out in my life. I hope you enjoy and feel free to comment.

God Bless