A deep and moving cinema experience

Hillsong united i-heart movie: A deep and moving cinema experience

So I went to, rushed to the theatre tonight to buy my twelve-dollar ticket to see the movie that hillsong united put together. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had seen the trailer and they questions that they were raising about their purpose in ministry with all of the suffering that is going on in the world.

As I watched the movie I started thinking that these individual scenes would each separately be used well as discussion starters when the video came out on DVD. But I didn’t get how they were going to come around to have any reason for them to all be put together in one movie.

By the middle of the movie I was overwhelmed with the problems of injustice and poverty in the world as were the band members and the makers of the film. It was the kind of feeling that makes you cry out in your heart, “Oh, my God! What are we going to do about this, what can we do about this, there is just so much.” I didn’t know where they were going to go with this except a massive fundraiser to compassion international and such organizations.

But then they turned the corner. And even if you read this before seeing the movie I don’t think it will spoil it for you because there is no way to fully get it unless you experience the full sites and sounds of the production. The answer given seemed to be too simple and too cliché. Jesus? How can Jesus be the answer to all of this? Love? How can all we offer be Jesus and Love? Are we simply justifying our own actions so that we can keep doing what we have been doing and simply evangelize?

And while I began to see this reassuring presence of Christ as the only thing that could really bring great comfort to the massive suffering in the world simply because there is no way I can do it, that wasn’t the end. Jesus and his love are expressed through his body, through his followers, through the church. They showed the shortcomings of the church and didn’t pretend they were not there. And then came to humble owner ship that they are the church, we are the church. When we reach out to this world the church is reaching out into this world. Where we go the church is, and because the church is the body of Christ, where we go Jesus is, wherever we go Jesus is. I would go so far as to say he was there even before we came.

What a powerful night at the movies. This is not a movie to keep you on the edge of your seat at a pace that makes you think time flew by as you watched. It is a deep life changing experience, it moves your compassion, it brings you to despair, and then of all the crazy things, Jesus is there as your hope, your salvation, and your purpose. The Good News really is Jesus Christ bringing love to the world through you and I. Unbelievable!

Unfortunately this was a one-night one show only film. So find it however you can as soon as you can and take the time to sit, watch, think, experience, and be changed.

www.i-heart.org

Response to Ordination

So I'm official now. I was ordained as a minister of the gospel a couple weeks ago. So I thought I might just share my response to ordination with those who might be interested. I know the style is a little unorthodox for blogging, at least in my perspective anyway. But this is how I wrote it for my sharing so I thought I would give you the real thing.

Thoughts on Ordination

· Tobin’s ordination

o It was a nice service

o And it was cool to see it

o At the end of the service similar to this one

§ There was a welcome to ministry

§ The conference president got up

§ And welcomd Tobin into ministry

o I felt a little jaded about this

o What do you mean welcome to ministry

o Tobin has been in ministry for years

o I have worked with him

o We are all in ministry

o How arrogant to say welcome to ministry

o Just because he was not ordained

· When I was on YouthNet eXteme

o I was interviewing for a magazine article

o They asked us who we would like to be

o I answered with the only thing that I could think to say

§ I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up

§ “I want to be a humble man of God”

§ It turns how that is a dangerous thing to

· Humbling experiences

o YouthNet extreme – Just the muscle

o Denver First

§ I was so clueless what to do

§ Funeral on my first day

§ I have been humbled

o Marriage

§ Do I need to say much more

§ It’s a joy and is won day by day, moment by moment

§ And It only works when you are humble

§ The more rights that you think you have

§ The worse it gets

§ Ministry is the same

§ I have been humbled

o Five church district

§ Let me saw this again – Five church district

§ 150 miles from one end to another

§ Walking the street wondering what to do

§ Driving wondering what to do

§ A church with 4 members having a fight over who will be head elder…really???

§ A youth guy running 5 board meetings

§ I have been humbled

o Becoming a father

§ And just when you think you have the church all figured out

§ Then you have a child

§ I remember telling Laura when we were only thinking of having a child

· I think having a child would be good for us

· It would help us be less selfish

· I had nooooooo idea

§ I have been humbled

· So now I come to my own ordination

o I pursued my call to ministry

o I did the steps that needed to be done

o As I preached my series – I was humbled

o As I shared my theology with administration – I was humbled

o As I went through my administrative review – I was humbled

§ By the appreciation – and the affirmation

o And here I stand today – I am humbled

o To we welcomed into ministry is a humbling thing

o To be humble I once heard from Michael Card

§ Humilty is simply and honest view of who you are

§ No more that who you are

§ No less than who you are

o So here I am, just me – that’s all no more no less

o And I am welcomed into ministry today

§ Just as I am

§ To serve my God

§ To serve my Church

§ And I am humbled!!!

Still waiting...praise God

Hebrews 9:28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

 

This is the text that began my thought process and questions recently on our status in salvation and the true significance of the Second Advent. He will come the second time NOT TO BEAR SIN but TO BRING SALVATION to those who are waiting for him. He came the first time to deal with the sin problem. He came the first time to die, to provide the blood for the covenant to be fulfilled. The second time he comes he will bring salvation to those who are waiting. Wait a minute…does that mean we aren’t saved yet?

This is the question that resonated in my mind when I recently reread this passage of scripture. The strange thing was I was not worried by this question or given to fear because of this question. I was relieved by it. I know it sounds strange, how can I be relieved by the thought that I have not yet been saved. The relief comes from the fact that this statement, salvation has not yet come, and my feelings match up. I don’t feel saved. There is still too much suffering in my life for salvation to have come.

The last two and a half years have been some of the most trying and beautiful of my life. Beautiful because my little girl Lorelai was born on April 18, 2006; trying because my wife Laura has followed that birth with a post partum depression that has almost undone us. She has gone through thoughts of suicide and ending not only her life but also the life of our child so that the burden or her mental instability would come to an end. There was even a time in the midst of camp meeting 2007 when I thought, “it would be so much easier for it all to be over.” With this kind of suffering going on around us how can we really be saved?

But I thought that scripture said today is the day of salvation, and today salvation has come to this house (Zacheus), and salvation is here. Don’t we proclaim in a loud voice we have been saved by grace through faith alone? So how does this match up? We are saved but Jesus is still bringing salvation with him? Some passages refer to salvation as if it has already happened, others in a present tense, and still others in a future tense; believe with your heart confess with your lips and you WILL be saved, he is coming the second time to bring salvation to those who are waiting. These questions brought me to recall something that I heard back in undergrad theology classes about the three phases of Salvation.

Justification is the salvation of the past, it’s the first phase of salvation and it came with the first advent. Jesus dies on the cross and through his shed blood we are pronounced not guilty before the throne of God. Jesus’ blood covers us takes away our sins. Sanctification is the salvation of the present; work out your salvation with fear and trembling…its not you who does it but God’s spirit within you. Finally glorification is the salvation of the future at the Second Advent; this mortal puts on immortality, we are changed in the twinkling of an eye.

I knew all of this in my mind; I understood all of it from a different perspective though. I understood it from the perfection side of things. Justification makes you not guilty so that begins your perfection, Sanctification makes you step by step more perfect as we learn and grow in our relationship with God. Glorification finishes is off, we aren’t really perfect until we are changed at the second coming, until the old sinful nature is removed from us and our bent is no longer towards sin. This is a good thing, coming to a place were we have no more tendency towards sin and we can stand perfect in the presence of the Father is a good thing. But this leaves salvation in the land of the mind. It doesn’t enter real life and the grit of what we go through on a day-to-day basis. It leaves the second coming in the same place. The second coming will be good, we will be made perfect and we will get to be with Jesus. We are saved from the theological concept of sin. Great…so what!

What I have come to understand now is that salvation, all three phases, is from suffering. This is where the rubber meets the road. Justification saves us from the suffering of guilt and shame. We no longer have to suffer with those feelings because Jesus has died for us. Sanctification progressively lessens the suffering in our lives. We are saved from our addictions and the poor ways in which we treat others around us thus saving them from the suffering that we can cause. But the fullness of salvation from suffering doesn’t come until the second coming. When we are glorified when sin is done and all of creation is set free. All creation groans for the adoption of mankind as the sons of God.

This is where the significance of the second coming hits me full on. There is a day coming when we will be changed. There is a day coming when as Laura, Lorelai, and I are lifted up to meet Jesus in the air Laura will be healed. It is interesting that the Greek words for save and heal in the New Testament are the same. We have prayed so many times for Laura’s healing, for her salvation not only from post partum but also from the bi-polar that complicates it all the more. There is a day that is coming when she will finally be saved, when the suffering will end, when there will be no more sorrow, nor death. I rest in the assurance of Justification, I surrender daily to the process of Sanctification, and I long for the day of Glorification.

There is a reason I felt the relief when I discovered salvation is still to come, because in my life there is still saving I am longing for. Come Lord Jesus, Come.