New Wine Uncorked: Trinitarian Soundings - God is Here…And?

#love #trinity #jesus #holyspirit #father #newwine #nwnws #trinitarian #faith #church

How does a Trinitarian, Christ-centered theology play out in how we see the “other”? Does it matter if one has a Trinitarian theology, and if so, why does this matter?

First things first. In my work as well as my writings, you will find me saying and promoting that theology not only matters, but each of us are theologians. And at New Wine, New Wineskins we believe that the call placed on the Christian is to participate with the Christian Godhead theologically, Biblicially, and Socially. Theology is faith seeking understanding and this is meant to be done both individually and communally.

Trinitarian theology recognizes God’s relational disclosure and seeks to frame our understanding of divine and human being in interpersonal and communal terms. Truth is, the Trinity is the paradigm by which we are to live. It is dynamic in relation; thus, God's being is His eternal, intrinsic communion. So what then of today? 

Recorded live on Fridays at 10am (pst) New Wine UnCorked seeks to step into culture with a heart bent towards engagement, reconciliation, and relationship.

New Wine Uncorked: Epiphany: God is with us! Entering the New Year throu...

The discussion this morning flows from the newness of the year while continuing in the goodness of our Christmas celebrations. Truth is, Christmas lasts forty days – from Christmas eve to the presentation of the Christ child in the temple (Feb 2), according to the traditional liturgical calendar. And the 12 days of Christmas run from the 25th of Dec through Jan 6th which is known as Epiphany. 

Epiphany is the entrance – the presentation of hope, peace, joy to all of humanity– the reality of love with us. After all, God is “with us”—Emmanuel. Jesus manifests the divine presence in his entire incarnate state.

So where do we find ourselves this week? A couple days before the Biblical manifestation/presentation of Jesus for the world’s sake? Is the inn of our heart open for guests, or have we already closed off to all that stands before us? 

You can join the New Wine Uncorked crew every Friday on Facebook… 

https://www.facebook.com/newwinenewwineskins

New Wine Uncorked: Christmas Cheer: Truth of Christmas Present or Christ...

#love #trinity #jesus #holyspirit #father #newwine #nwnws 

As Christians, when regarding Christmas, are we honest with ourselves before looking at the words and deeds of our neighbors and their Christmas celebrations? And what then of our engagement of “the world?” How are we, as Christians, today bringing joy to the world; or, is the Christmas song we often sing one of judgment?

In this episode of New Wine Uncorked, Matt, Phil, Kayla, and Jim walk into the winter wonderland of Christmas. Is the Christian church today ushering in celebrations of joy because of the birth of their King or is the 21st century Christian nothing more than the great judger—forgetting the joy that was birthed some 2000 years ago? Are we today bringing judgement to one another as well as the world rather than joy?

Recorded live on Fridays at 10am (pst) New Wine UnCorked seeks to step into culture with a heart bent towards engagement, reconciliation, and relationship. Dialogue is the truth of participation as dia via Latin from Greek dia-logos invokes a participatory conversation. It is interactive. From dia "through" + legein "speak." Going through the Word so to engage through our word, New Wine seeks to uncork the impossible possibility of the human and our pursuit of this Uncommon God so to realize our common good. Where to find New Wine: 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/newwinenewwineskins 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/nwnws 

Instagram: https://instagram.com/newwine_newwineskins 

Podcast: https://anchor.fm/newwinenewwineskins 

Clubhouse: https://www.clubhouse.com/club/new-wine-new-wineskins 

Web: http://www.new-wineskins.org/

NWUncorked ConsumeChristorOther

#love #trinity #jesus #newwine #nwnws 

Followers of Jesus are called to consume Christ. And yet this world would have it that we consume it and its products. 

In this episode of New Wine Uncorked, Kayla, and Matt are joined by Matt’s mom and Kayla’s Granny, Beth Farlow and Sarah Gonzales, Kayla’s sister-n-law, and together they step into the lush fields of consumption. What do consumerism and the Church have to do with one another? In a world of consumption, what is the Jesus follower to do? Is all consumption wrong? 

Recorded live on Fridays at 10am (pst) New Wine UnCorked seeks to step into culture with a heart bent towards engagement, reconciliation, and relationship.

Dialogue is the truth of participation as dia via Latin from Greek dia-logos invokes a participatory conversation. It is interactive. From dia "through" + legein "speak." Going through the Word so to engage through our word, New Wine seeks to uncork the impossible possibility of the human and our pursuit of this Uncommon God so to realize our common good.

 

Where to find New Wine: 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/newwinenewwineskins 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/nwnws 

Instagram: https://instagram.com/newwine_newwineskins 

Podcast: https://anchor.fm/newwinenewwineskins 

Clubhouse: https://www.clubhouse.com/club/new-wine-new-wineskins 

Web: http://www.new-wineskins.org/

New Wine Uncorked: Jesus & Thanksgiving - Is anything or anyone worthy o...

The goodness of dialogue is made even sweeter by the company one keeps. In this episode of New Wine Uncorked, Phil, Kayla, and I are joined by the one and only Granny! Yes, my mom and Kayla’s Granny, Lisbeth Farlow joins the New Wine dialogue that takes us into the lush fields of thanks and giving. What does the Jesus follower have to be thankful for? Is it the message? Is it the person?

New Wine Uncorked- The Truth of Love: You, Me and being the Be-loved

Am I loveable? Are you loveable? According to the Christian Scripture, the answer is a resounding YES! But is it so inside of me? Do I believe that I am the beloved of the Creator of all things? More than this, do I believe you are His beloved? 

In this episode of New Wine UnCorked, Jim, Kayla, and Matt step into the dialogue of faith and life by examining the truth of divine love. What does it mean to be unconditionally loved, and how should this impact my life and the way and the who I love? Does the love of Christ compel me at all? Or have I become numb to heaven’s embrace of love?

Identity of this moment

Identity... we easily lose sight of who we are as we get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the holidays. Truth is, the holiday season can be something spectacular... if we do not get swallowed up by the rush of society and allow the consumption of stuff to define us. And this only happens when we push pause so that we might recognize the truth of identity...

Who we are is found only in God. Our creation comes from the One who is - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He created us. He sustains us. He is the ground of our life, our relationality, our meaning, our joy, our hope. 

During the times of rampant running to acquire stuff, what we need most is to pause so that we might return to God.

“Return to your God,” Amos tells the Israelites, and he is telling this to us as well. Like the Israelites, we too turn to the idols of this world to fill the voids we have created through our rampant running around. We consume the goods of society in such a frantic manner that who we are is not only lost in the shuffle, but subtly re-defined by this world.

The words of Amos are meant to shake our perspective so much so that we might return back to our King. So that we return back to the cradle in the cave in order to fall down and worship the baby who will eventually hang on a cross for our sake...

Might today be the time to pause and reflect on the truth and identity of this moment... of this season... so as to realize the truth and identity of you?

The truth of your identity is this... You are loved... You are God's beloved and He wants nothing more than to dote on you this day and every day after. Question is, will you allow Him? 

Will you pause this moment so as to be embraced by eternity? Will you pause this moment and look into the loving eyes of that baby in the manger and see the truth of identity... the truth of love... the truth of you?

Is there light?

In light of devastation - emotional, physical, spiritual, what is life? In light of pain, turmoil, trouble, what is life? In this life is there light?

Devastation all around seems to dampen the delight of divine beauty.

How it is that we can move into the holidays with hearts filled with good tidings and cheer? Where is our hope?

The complexity of the answer as to where is our hope, is found in the simplicity of what was done some 2000 years ago for the whole of humanity. Birth...death…hope.

Yes, a baby was born so that as a man He might hang on a tree.

One birth. One death. One tree. Three nails. Eternal hope.

Hope is wrapped in the truth of Immanuel - God with us. The only way to engage the happenings of today while seeking to celebrate the truth of life is found in the One who is life.

Jesus came to reign down hope. He came to shower us in joy. And with His entrance on the world stage He gave us the way to respond to the darkness that suffocates life.

Yes, Jesus came to suffocate us in His all-consuming love...

It is in His breath-taking performance that we are given the oxygen needed to ignite this world with His crazy insane love. A love that gives us the power to step directly into the devastation by giving ourselves over to the truth of Christmas... I mean really giving ourselves over.

When we give into the Christmas truth we find the truth of Mas Christ is what suffocates my darkness with the light of His eternal flame. And in the burning truth of His eternal love we come to witness the glory of heaven as it erupted through the birth of a baby. A birth that fills our hearts and lungs with the air of truth behind (and within) Christmas.

Let us this day prayerfully embrace the Holy Spirit so that we might exhale the grime of life. Let us this day ask the Spirit to fill us with His strength so that we might inhale the unrelenting Christmas hope that erupts in the birth of divine love. Amen Jesus.

Heaven's passion

No matter what may come your way, when we are in Christ through the Spirit, nothing in this world can separate us from His love. All we need is to find our place in prayer so as to realize our place in His heart.

God’s great desire for His people is that we feel secure in His love and in His power. Everything else in life may be unstable—our health, our family, our job, our education, our society, our world. At any given time and within any given moment you may feel as if you are out on a ledge forty stories up in an unpredictable wind. You feel yourself losing balance and falling, and every brick you grab pulls out of its mortar. When we walk according to "ourself" the ground beneath and the pillars all around us will only crumble.

Stability only comes from the One born in the stable.

Paradox of life is that being in Christ is the riskiest decision you can make…according to the world.

And yet saying "yes" to Jesus is the greatest decision you can take security in. Saying yes to Christ is saying yes to the crazy of life so as to find the stability of heaven's passion. As Paul writes, life in Christ is: tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword—we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered (Romans 8:35–36).

Paul knew the craziness of a life of a disciple but he knew that the love of Christ was even crazier in its power, presence and passion.

“In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us…for nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (vs 37-39).

Paul’s life of faith was much like ours, one many questioned as to why do it? Why live such a life? Why give sacrificially when you are beaten, ostracized, criticized, while being opposed from every side?

But for Paul, as is for us today, the stability and power needed comes from the truth of being in Christ. For in Christ and through the Spirit we encounter the heart of God so as to find security in His love and strength in His power, even if everything else in the world is uncertain.

We have to be willing to fall to our knees and thank the One who became sin so as to seal us with His eternal love. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection far surpass all understanding and knowledge and yet they are so simple that a child can understand that Jesus loves them. This is why Christ’s incarnational performance is to be the foundation of who we are if we are to be the foundation of love this world so desperately needs.

Jesus wants to be our security. Question is, “How will you respond to the life Jesus is calling you into? Resting in His security or trying to secure your own rest?”

Father Almighty, in Christ and through the Spirit, we are covered in Your eternal security and presence so that we might be the covering of Your love for all the world to experience. Amen Jesus!

Love Beyond

When is there a time that we don't need love?

Holiday seasons only illuminate and exaggerate the truth of our need for love. And here is the absolute of love's truth: In Christ we encounter the fullness of love. Yes, in Jesus we meet the "realness" of love because when we encounter Jesus we encounter love.

It is a love that is beyond... It is a love that is here... Now

A love that is crazy, insane, inviting, intoxicating, scandalous, scrumptious, fiery, fierce, radical, relentless, real... 

It is a love that has come to saturate our hearts, our souls, our minds and our bodies so that we might fall deep... oh so deep, into the heart of God. 

But please be mindful of one thing... It is a love that will mess you up... It will rock your world... 

Problem for so many of us is that we are afraid of love. We are afraid of entertaining the idea that we are lovable.

And so we close ourselves off. To each other. To ourselves. To Jesus.

What is holding you back from opening up? The greatest gift you could give yourself this Christmas season is the gift of love. 

He is here. He is waiting. He is love...

Fall into His heart

Read James 1.2-25

Ever have those times when you feel like doing nothing but crying? Times when you hardly want to get out of bed and have no energy to do anything, let alone prayer or reading the Bible. You know those times when every door seems to close, every way seems to be darkened and everybody seems to have turned their back to you?

Times when even God seems distant and unloving and you actually wonder if He even sees you…

Strange truth of faith is that through our trials we find growth, because we find Him… 

“Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (vs. 2-4).

Joy? How so? Because such trials have a way of pressing us to go deeper with God. When we are brought to our knees we see fresh truths about God intersecting with our lives in the hardest of times. When we fall to our knees so as to cry out to His heart we realize what David did: “He sent from on high, He took me…He rescued me,” –and here is the best part—“because He delighted in me” (Psalm 18.6-19).

How many of us, when we cry out to Jesus, realize that He has entered into our suffering with us, broken down the barriers of sin and eradicated death so as to reach out and rescue us because He delights in us?

In our trials we are not expected to fall back on our own power, control or resources. No, Jesus wants us to embrace the Spirit so as to “rely not on (myself) but on God who raises the dead” (2 Cor 1.9).

All Jesus wants is for us to fall into His heart so that He can take care of us.

There in our suffering and through our trials Jesus says to us, “I want you to have peace. I want you to be deeply joyful. I want you to believe in what I say and what I do — to have unshakable faith. I want you to have the kind of peace that I give, not the world. The kind of joy that I give, not the world. The kind of faith, I give, not the world. I want you to have the truth of love and the truth of faith—I want you to have Me.”

Do you want Jesus? Then go to Him, embrace Him and receive His love…Amen Jesus!

The heart of Jesus

Read John 17

Every moment I spend with Jesus is yet another moment I am filled with wonder. Every minute I spend in prayer is time I spend taking in the beauty of eternity. In Christ and through the Spirit, I have come to know this—Love.

When we come before His throne of grace we find the peace, the hope, the joy of heaven. We find that in Christ we are not alone.

We are not alone because He is our strength, our defender, our refuge in the storm. When we embrace the Spirit so as to step into the heart of Christ we come to find that through all the trials He has always been faithful, bringing healing to our soul.

Let Jesus be your everything. Today, become engulfed in the prayer of Christ—His prayer to the Father for the protection, the blessing and the glory of His beloved.

“I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours” (v8-9).

For the truth of His love is the truth of our eternal joy. He came to wrap us up in His arms so that we might have peace, so that we might know that we are His own. Jesus’ prayer for us should bring our hearts to such a place of worship that we can do nothing but proclaim:

“You amaze me, Redeem me, You call me as Your own.”

If we say we love Jesus, our lives must show we love Jesus and the greatest way to do this is to jump into the “heart of Jesus.” Take a moment and listen to I am not alone by Kari Jobe and let the truth of this song invigorate the glory of your day. Amen Jesus!

Do you believe?

Read Mark 9:14-29

We need to quit trying to figure out the impossible things that the Lord wants us to accept by faith. One of the greatest problems we face today is perspective. That is, we tend to focus on the situations of life instead of looking at the One who is in control of our situations.

How many of us can relate to the man in Mark 9? He is a man experiencing the troubles of life, a man who is need of a deliverer. And so what does he do? He turns to Jesus. Here standing in front of the Son of God the man begs Him, “If you can do anything, please help me.”

If You can do anything…Seems like a silly thing to say to Jesus, but how often do we say this very thing. It is like we are pleading to God in hopes that He is who He says He is. It is like we pray without really believing in the words we are praying. And how does Jesus respond…

“If you can!” The question is not “if Jesus can,” of course He can. The question is, do we actually believe He can?

Like the dad, Jesus turns to each of us and tells us that, “All things are possible for one who believes” (v 23). We have only to believe but if you are like me, when you hear these words, “all things are possible for one who believes” I have to admit that sometimes I struggle to believe.

I mean how many of us are willing to respond with the honesty of the dad? He said these words, which have been the encouragement of many since: “I do believe; help my unbelief!” 

Out of the honesty of his weakness, he cast himself on the Lord. “Yes, Lord, I do believe; but I feel my unbelief and I don't know how to handle it. Fill me with Your Spirit and make me believe.”

The moment he said those words, the moment he cast himself in his weakness back on the Lord was the very thing that Jesus wanted. Our Lord spoke the words, and his son was delivered. Jesus wants us to give everything to Him—to believe in nothing else before Him.

He wants us to risk stepping fully into His presence so that He might increase our faith.

Question is, do you believe?