the Grapevine 5/22/09

[Mark Jackson]

the Grapevine

the e-newsletter of NewLife Community Church

May 22, 2009

 

Boomerang: Follow Me

 

The current message series at NewLife is based on the Vacation Bible School curriculum, Boomerang Express: It All Comes Back To Jesus. In just a few weeks, nearly 100 kids will be studying about the basics of what it means to have a relationship with Jesus. It just doesn't seem like a bad idea that we adults do the same thing.

 

So, last Sunday I began the series with a message entitled "Follow Me." My main points were that:

• following Jesus starts now
• following Jesus happens regardless of who else is doing it
• following Jesus means not following someone or something else

But just in case you missed it, I wanted to come back and hit one of the most common verses on "followship" a second time:

 

If anyone intends to come after Me, let him deny himself [forget, ignore, disown, & lose sight of himself and his own interests] and take up his cross, and [joining Me as a disciple & siding with My party] follow with Me [continually, cleaving steadfastly to Me]. (Mark 8:34, AMP)

 

Breaking that down into bite-sized pieces, that means that following Jesus is:

• joining Jesus as a disciple - a fancy way of saying that you've become a devoted student of not only His teachings but an imitator of His way of life
• siding with My party - that you choose WWJD over WDIW (what do I want?)
• continually - following Jesus is not a one-time, walk-the-aisle decision... it is a 24/7 lifetime commitment
• cleaving steadfastly to Me - we use the word "cleave" when we talk about the intimate bonding of a married couple... following Jesus is not ambling along through life keeping Jesus in view but instead is a way of drawing so close to Him that we "cleave" to Him

Boomerang: Follow Me Some More

 

I was reading Luke 5 in the new "The Voice" translation (find out more at The Voice Project website) and was struck by one of the devotional notes. Jesus heals the paralyzed man with the friends who lower him through a hole in the roof (great story, btw!)... then the next verses tell the story of Him calling Matthew (Levi) the tax collector to "Follow Me."

 

What the note emphasized is that Jesus doesn't leave either one of these guys paralyzed - in one case, He forgives sin & gives a guy back the ability to walk; in the other case, He calls a man to let go of a life of greed that paralyzes him & gives him the ability to walk with integrity.

 

Pretty cool, huh?

 

What's All This "The Blankity-Blank" Bible Stuff?

 

There's a lot of debating & pontificating about some of the newer versions of the Bible. For the last few years, it's been Eugene Peterson's The Message that's received a lot of attention, both good & bad. More recently, it's been The Voice (created by The Voice Project) that's been the target.

 

Let me suggest something to you as people who want to know Jesus better... use these newer versions in partnership with established scholarly translations. Both The Message & The Voice are "dynamic translations", which means they do a good job of getting the general idea across in contemporary language but are not word-for-word translations of the original manuscripts. So, compare & contrast verses (yes, I was an English major & that instruction sounds like your high school lit teacher phoned it in) in order to better discover what God is saying to you.

 

The two translations I use most often for more serious study are the New International Version and the English Standard Version. I also use the Holman Christian Standard Bible & the New American Standard Version.

 

One of the best places to compare most of these translations is the online resource, biblegateway.com. It's one of the best study tools I know of... and it's available free of charge from any computer connected to the Web. You can search by verse, by keyword & by topic... and you can so for multiple versions at the same time.

 

If you have questions about Bibles, just ask! Drop me a line at ma...@newlifeeaston.com.

 

This Week @ NewLife

 

Sunday the 24th

• 9:45 am - Bible Study/Sunday School
• 11:00 am - Worship

Monday the 25th

• 7:00 pm - Men's Basketball

Tuesday the 26th

• 11:00 am - AM Adults
• 5:15 pm - Weight Watchers
• 6:30 pm - Fresno Gamers

Wednesday the 27th

• 5:30 pm - Prayer Gathering
• 7:00 pm - Men's Basketball

Thursday the 28th

• 6:00 am - Band of Brothers
• 5:30 pm - Junior High Youth
• 7:00 pm - Senior High Youth

Sunday the 31st

• 9:45 am - Bible Study/Sunday School
• 11:00 am - Worship
• 12:15 pm - Financial Peace University
• 6:00 pm - Cool Summer Nights