vlog #02 + holiday shenanigans.
hope all of you survived the winter storm.
all things considered, it wasn’t as bad as i thought it would be (shout out to ken + abby for helping me shovel my driveway).
on top of the storm, this past week was an eventful week. noblemen taste + see. a2f tgif (my own name for their friday home hangout) at brandon + lilly’s (flip 7 is becoming our game of the semester. so much so that we’re going to have a flip 7 tournament at intersect winter camp). and then wrapping up the weekend with a2f sunday in the midst of a winter storm.
as promised, here’s the vlog for this week.
also, got out first submission for our q + a with dj. question about the imprecatory psalms (the psalms wishing death + suffering for my enemies) and how to make sense of and apply those psalms. responded to it on our substack. link here.
this upcoming week, we have a couple things lined up.
noblemen launch trip.
it’s still not too late to join. 530p at krach.
and finally - this sunday, we’re starting a new message series.
the virtues. we’re going to cover the three christian virtues - faith + hope + love. we’re going to deep-dive on what each means, what it looks like to live it out, and how it can transform our walk with god. we’re going to start with faith, a word that is often misdefined, misapplied, and misunderstood. come join us. and, of course, lunch together afterwards.
again, if you have any questions, go ahead and use this form - q + a with dj form
and if you would like a coffee chat with either me or tabby, we created this standing google calendar link - schedule a coffee chat with dj or tabby
dj.
what’s upcoming.
weekly a2f prayer meeting
every tuesday. 8p - 9p. lawson 1142.
we kick started our weekly prayer meeting this past tuesday. come join us. it’s that “sweet hour of prayer” - a time to worship + pray for things going on in our personal lives as well as interceding for friends, for our larger network and even globally for missions across the world.
intersect winter camp
feb 6-8. camp tecumseh, in.
come join us for an incredible weekend. fun. meeting new friends from iu and uiuc and madison. time in god’s word. worship. bible reading through the book of jonah. and of course a lot of food and late night shenanigans. if you are interested, please sign up today! we’re in the process of finalizing headcount to give to camp tecumseh.
formation of belief.
11 He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.” 12 They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”…
17 So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”…
31 “We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. 32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing”…
“Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.
how do we form beliefs? how do we become men and women of conviction? how much belief is enough belief in order for me to act on it?
these are questions i've had to personally wrestle with as a non-christian trying to come to grips with the strong probability that the claims of christianity are true. but it didn’t stop there. the struggle of belief and action comes up every time there’s some friction, fear or uncertainty i feel about god’s call + promise… make time to spend time in my word (but god what about… i have so much going on). go and try to love that person and try and share that gospel (but what if they don’t respond well… what if…). take that step of faith and make the decision to make jesus lord and savior of your life (but i don’t have certainty… there’s too many “what ifs”).
certainty - i think that’s what it comes down to. we want certainty and especially when it comes to responding more concretely to god. and, of course, i get it, it’s because the implications seem huge.
but i was convicted by today’s dt text. jesus heals a blind man and, in the beginning, he doesn’t know much. who healed you? where is he? i don’t know… he didn’t know everything. he didn’t have certainty. but what did he do nonetheless? he acted and moved forward with what he did know.
25 He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”
and i think this is an important wisdom + spiritual truth that our text gives us. go back to what you know. what do you know when it comes to god + christianity? that science + evidence seems to back up the claim that god is real. that the resurrection is most probably a historical event. that if all of this is true then god is not only our creator but a loving heavenly father. if he created us and loves us, then it would be in our best interest to obey because he knows what’s best for us and wants what’s best for us. and probably so much more as we look back on our own stories + testimonies + experiences of god.
we know a lot. we don’t know everything but we know a lot. it’s not certainty but it’s enough to move forward in action. and i wonder what that next action step would be for you? to invest more in your relationship with other brothers + sisters. noblemen + new eve is a wonderful opportunity. to take time away to spend in god’s word. to go out and try and love people + share the gospel with the people god has placed in your life. to trust god with a major life decision and to prioritize your relationship with him and the church above the most maximally profitable job opportunity.
and i know as you take those steps - that’s the only way belief + conviction can grow. to go from “i don’t know” to finally confessing that jesus is the son of man. the messiah. what did it take? scary moments of professing his story that resulted in backlash + getting kicked out of the temple. but, in the end, it was worth it because he saw jesus and he believed.
that’s the very same thing we can experience in our lives when we act based on what we know though that doesn’t mean certainty - some costs but what we gain? for outweighs whatever cost we incur. as missionary jim elliot famously put it,
“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose”
until next time.
dj.