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.