Learning the Voice of God

When God first called the great Prophet Samuel, Samuel did not immediately recognize the voice of God! Samuel had to get advice from his mentor, the priest Eli, on what do when he heard God's voice calling to him. Only after the third calling from God did Samuel answer. Why didn't Samuel recognize God's voice? Maybe it was because he was not actively searching for God and listening for His voice? Once Samuel did learn the voice of God, Samuel followed God the rest of his life.

Even the best of us Christians who are seeking God probably could not recognize the voice of God if He did speak to us. Why? It it because the noise of the world drowns out the quite still voice of God? It is because we don't have a relationship with God and therefore treat His voice as if it were the voice of a stranger?

Sheep have to learn the voice of their specific shepherd over all the other voices in the fields. Once they do, they will only respond to THEIR Shepherd, and them alone. Maybe as Christians we should do a better job of learning the voice of our Shepherd, Jesus the Christ? There are many voices in our world who claim to be shepherds or just voices who want to distract us from hearing the voice of God. We need to learn the voice of God, because His is the only voice that will lead us to safety, among a world full of wolves!

Movie Review -- The Last Sin Eater

I just finished watching my latest DVD from Netflix. It was a great film called The Last Sin Eater, Directed by Michael Landon, Jr. The movie centers around a groups of Celtic immigrants to the U.S. who live in the Appalachian Mts. These God fearing immigrants brought with them an ancient Celtic belief that they have incorporated into their religion. Much like the ancient Jews had the "scapegoat" in the Bible to carry away their sins, the Celts in the movie have what they call a "Sin Eater." The Sin Eater is a person chosen by lot, to take on the all the sins of the dead upon himself, so that the dead can go to heaven with a clean soul.

Without trying to spoil the movie, I will skip many of the movie's details. What I most liked about the movie was the way a "Holy Man of God" describes Jesus as the true "Sin Eater" who is able to not only take the sins of the dead upon Himself, but he can also forgive and cast away the sins of the living; Thus making all people new and clean from their sins.

I am glad we as Christians don't have to worry about having our sins taken on by another person or having to become the person to take on the sins of others. Sadly this is a burden that many Christians voluntary take on for ourselves. We do not need a Sin Eater in our lives today, we have a Sin Forgiver in the shape of our Savior, Jesus!

This is great family film and I highly recommend it for the entire family.

At What Point Did Jesus Realize He Was the Son of God?

While on Spring Break my wife had us listen to a sermon that a friend of hers had recorded onto a CD. During this wonderful lesson, the speaker brought up the point that Jesus did not always know that he was the Son of God, thus He did not fully realize His mission on Earth until He learned about it later. Hmmmmm?

I was always under the impression that Jesus, from birth, knew who He was and why He was here. The speaker pointed out that if Jesus was truly a man like the rest of us, then when He was born He couldn't have possibly understood who He really was and what His mission was. He correctly stated that Jesus gave up all the "trappings" of being part of the God-Head to become a man, thus His human brain had to develop just like yours and mine did. Wow!!

The speaker said that Jesus' was probably told who He was by His mother Mary. She probably told Him the circumstances of His birth and what the angel Gabriel had told her about Him. Later when the wise men came to visit Him, He was probably introduced to a little more about His true nature. The speaker said, Jesus did not fully realize who He really was and His true mission until he was about 13 years of age, when he went to Jerusalem with his parents for the Passover. It was while He at Jerusalem that Jesus spent some time in the Temple studying with and asking questions with the religious leaders. It was here that Jesus started to research the prophecies regarding who He really was. Being divinely inspired He quickly put together the pieces and discovered the truth about His true Mission in life.

The speaker also pointed out that it wasn't until later that Jesus actually started to perform miracles. The speaker said, that God used this time to mold Jesus' earthly character to best perform what God expected Him to do. After Jesus was prepared and accepted His mission, then the His true power finally came upon Him.

Interesting points. Can you imagine having to try to explain to your child, that you were miraculously conceived, and that you are the Son of God? I'm sure Mary didn't quite understand everything regarding the full nature of Jesus and here she was trying to explain it to Him the best she could. Also can you imagine, from a normal man's point of view, discovering that you were supposed to die for the sins of all mankind? Try to wrap your normal man brain around that one? But if Jesus really was a man like us, He had to have struggled ever so briefly with the reality of what God expected of Him. Even in the Garden before he was crucified, Jesus was still asking God, "Is there another way?" At least Jesus was resolute in doing what God's will for Him was. I on the other hand am still trying to get, 'My own way,' more often that not.

When do you think Jesus realized he was fully God in nature?