I often am amazed how many people do not know what the Bible actually states about obedience. People are taught that they must be obedient to serve Jesus. I get pastors (and others) who argue with me when I state we cannot be obedient as we have no obedience. These people tell me that Jesus enables us, or as Chuck Smith taught in a book I read, Jesus and you are lifting the table together… I see it as you look like you are lifting your end, but Jesus is lifting both ends. If not, then it is our works and not his work in and through us.
The issue is the understanding of obedience. If we are to be obedient, (which we can’t) it becomes works. If we trust in the One Who was obedient even unto death, then we are in His Obedience and not our own. We walk in the obedience of Christ and not our own. The Bible seems rather clear on this matter in this simple statement:
Romans 5:19. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
Which Jesus do you follow? I ask this question to help you think. Do you follow the Jesus who was a baby? He is not as intimidating as the babe in the manger; in fact He is mysterious and approachable. Do you follow the Jesus who walked and chose disciples? Do you follow the Jesus, who taught the multitude, fed the hungry, healed the lame and ill, drove out demons? Do you follow the Jesus who stood up against the religious leaders and made subversive political statements? Do follow the Jesus who was betrayed and then crucified? Do you follow the Jesus who died for three days? Do you follow the Jesus who rose from the dead? Do you follow the Jesus who ascended into the heavens? Do you follow the Jesus who poured out His Spirit, His Life, His Rightness, His all to you, so He can live in and through you? The Jesus who will return and bring His righteousness of the Kingdom of Heaven fully to the restored earth? The Jesus who showed us The Father and how to be loved so we can love others?
Sometimes people want to separate Jesus from all He did, and when they ask, “What Jesus do you follow?”
I say, “I follow that Jesus, come with me were I’m going.”
Liberalism should not be a catch all any more than conservatism… it causes unnecessary division and confusion instead of Christ-like unity and reconciliation. It is like having two monkeys fighting over a banana only to mush it before it can be used. In Christ there is no liberal or conservative, no Jew or Gentile, no male or female, no slave or master… the wall of division came down with the Cross… the empowerment to give justice, mercy, life, freedom, forgiveness came at the Resurrection through the Life of Christ who lives in and through those who believe. To make such nonsense over who is right and who is wrong only proves the bible when it states “no one is right… not one” (paraphrased on purpose) and that all our rightness comes only through Jesus. If we believe this, compassion and love will never be confused as liberalism, but be seen as Christ in us our only hope.
I have been a little silent on my blog. However, been hard at work in other areas… that as it may be, partly that I am looking for a job. Meanwhile, I am selling books on Amazon.com under the name Saving Faith Books (Yeah there are some books I would not rather sell) as well as changing the name of my radio station to Saving Faith Radio(which includes changing over the blog for the station.) I have been selling books pretty well.
The idea behind the station name change was this: I decided that iggyROCKS! sounded a bit amateur. I hope to move on and grow the station in a bit of a different direction and thought the name change to Saving Faith Radio might make it sound more interesting. My thinking is that 1. There is a saving faith that leads us to Jesus. 2. There are many out there who are hurting and their faith is fading, and they need a place to help save their faith. 3. It sounded a bit like saving face… Other than that, it just seemed a time for change. I did notice my numbers have changed dramatically as I was in the top 50 in my genre and now popped into the top 100. Mostly I believe is that no one can find me under the new name. It may take a while for the name to register with live365.com so for at time if you are still looking for my station, you can find it under iggyrocks. Also, I have started more live shows, and have figured out a way to take live calls. Believe me it is all very low-tech.
I also plan to add more shows and have been talking to JR Harrison, who is one of the Out Law Preachers to do an audio version of his blog sermons. I hope this will add a bit more spice to the mix.
While I am writing I might as well point to a few things around the blogosphere. JR Harrison’s blog as he has many great thoughts there… also Brandon Mouser calls out Ken Silva on his version of a picture (Brandon was present for the picture while Ken was sitting in his evil lair thinking of new things to make up.) It is funny reading good ole Ken as he has not changed and begins to sound more and more like Pee Wee Herman “I know you are, but what am I?”
I have fallen in love with the Out Law Preachers. While some are more radical about Grace than I am, I see God is doing something great with these radicals. So if you are on Twitter as well as on Facebook check them out.
I had a run in with an old friend. I still consider him a friend though since he has turned agnostic or atheist or whatever, he seems to be angered when I even try to interact with him. In fact his story is that he was a Fundamentalist Baptist, who slowly became a Christian Universalist, then read a book debunking the inerrancy and infallibility of the bible and so, lost his faith in God all together. I mentioned that these terms are not even taught in the bible (yes it is “God breathed” and “inspired” but I see those word often packed with meaning not found in the text itself… so when you find an original text we can talk further on infallibility, you might then have a strong case). He then went into strange rants about what I believe (though he was not even close) as well as telling me I must believe the bible is all Truth! Ummm… I pointed out that Satan is quoted in the Bible and his words are lies, not truth… yet sadly it just turned uglier and uglier… to the point he told me to “F*** off”. Well, I hope he is content… still sad to lose a friend I respected and loved over the years. It seemed that he went full circle in his fundamentalism mindset though. I know that Atheists bristle at the idea of being called a fundy, but you are… you have a belief system which is a “religion” of sorts… Believe me I knew guys whose religion is Harley Davidson so don’t tell me atheism is not a religion. You worship science, and your own knowledge… you worship self ego etc… etc… etc… If I turned atheist I would worship peanut butter and fishing… A friend pointed out this site I think expresses my thoughts in a humorous way about atheistic fundamentalist… check it out. Personally, the one big reason (besides not being able to deny that Jesus entered my life as He did) that I would never become an atheist or agnostic, is the ones I run into are just plain mean people. (Just watch the comments over that one!) BTW, I believe that this person worshiped the bible and Jesus wanted to break him of his idolatry… of course if he ever reads this he will blow a gasket (though he is never angry… haha!)
I also have been doing fund raising for different ministries in Africa and soon India… you have read a few past posts on this so I will not say much more other than I hope to move forward to start a non-profit organization soon that helps out small ministries that God seems to be bringing to me.
Well, that is about it for now. I hope to get back teaching on my blog soon… so beware!
emerging thought in Montana 
