It’s Tough

Noeo Commentary for Matthew 12.

Jesus is so often portrayed as a nice guy in white robes with a sweet beard who came to heal people and be an all-around nice guy. This section of Matthew shows us a quite different side of Jesus, a is not often seen. The religious guys are calling Jesus a demon. What does Jesus say? You brood of vipers! You big group of snakes! You’re a wolf in sheep’s clothing! You’re telling these people that you’re the good guys, but you’re evil. You’re going to hell.

It’s tough. It’s true.

Jesus is a nice guy. But he’s also a just guy. And when somebody’s doing something evil, he’s going to tell them. Plain and simple. Are we a brood of vipers? I don’t mean to be a bearer of bad news, but we’re all kind of in the same boat. Jesus is just, if we’re evil, he’s going to tell us. And decide our fate accordingly. It’s tough. It’s true.

More Than Fine

I did today’s NOEO reading, but I don’t really feel like commenting on it. So I’m writing a short analysis on something completely different. Here are part of the lyrics to Switchfoot’s great song ‘More Than Fine.’

When I wake in the morning,
I want to blow into pieces.
I want more than just ok, more than just ok.
When I’m up with the sunrise
I want more than just blue skies.
I want more than just ok, more than just OK.

I’m not giving up, giving up, not giving up now.
I’m not giving up, giving up, not backing down.

More than fine, more than bent on getting by.
More than fine, more than just ok.

If someone were to ask me how I was right now, I could give a variety of responses. A sample would include fine, OK, tired, bored and alright. Are we taking life for granted? When I’m up with the sunrise, I do want to blow into peices. It’s something to think about.

Noeo Commentary ~ This is Urgent

I’ve decided to start titling my posts with an actual title. It’s more fun, and they’re all dated if I need to look back. OK, so Matthew 11…

This passage talks about different cites, and speaks of their unrepentance. Jesus came into these cities, preformed miricles, spoke, taught, and healed. And still, these cities are not repenting. When I first read this, I saw more cities I didn’t know, and started to skim over it. But there’s a powerful meaning here.
Jesus taught in these cities, and yet they didn’t turn from thier evil ways. Because of that, they’re going to hell. Plain and simple. It’s going to be the same with people. People that hear the good news of Jesus but still don’t choose to repent are going to hell. Plain and simple. Repetition is used for emphasis.

That’s bad. We don’t want people to go to hell, remember. That’s a bad thing.
We’ve discussed that we need to be out cutting grain, and that it’s going to be very hard to do. But we’ve forgot an important part of the equation. It’s not enough to just cut the grain and put it in the bag. There’s lots more to the process. We’ve got to bring it back to the building, and get it ready to sell. “I’m being metaphorical, Bob” (Anybody who tells me what movie that’s from gets a Ham Sandwich). Stay with me.

If people are told the good news but don’t repent, they’re going to Hell. So we’ve got to not only tell the people… but make sure they repent. We have to go all the way… or else they “will be brought down to Hades.” Yes, it’s rough. The last 2 posts have been the same way. But… it’s true. We’ve got to tell the people, or they’ll end up just like the mentioned cities.

Today’s Song: Any Colour You Like – Pink Floyd

Noeo Commentary ~ Matthew 10

We’re called to be out there sowing the fields. We’re called to harvest that grain for all we’re worth. But, like all work, it’s not easy. We all know that. Persecution Will Come.

We’re screwed. The Gospel is sending us out ‘as sheep in the midst of wolves,’ to a place where we are definitely not wanted and most likely not safe. It’s rough. People are going to hate us. Perhaps we’ll lose friends. Perhaps we’ll lose jobs. Heck, there are people in the world today who are losing lives because of the Gospel. But this is what we’re called to do. Yes, it kind of sucks. This is the hardest part of the job description. I love talking about God at SI. But at school? People may make fun of me. I love writing about this kind of stuff for you guys to read. But if brandonhorst.wordpress.com was read over the announcements… what would I do then? Yes, this really sucks. We’re being called to do something that’s going to hurt us. But we’re called to do it nonetheless.

Have no fear. How can Jesus say this? A couple verses before he stated that we’re going to get flogged and killed for this! But this is a very, very great verse. “And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” I’ve said this before – I don’t fear death… I fear dying. Dying generally involves physical pain, but what does death give us? Eternal life! Death rocks! This doesn’t mean I’m suicidal – it means that I believe in Heaven. We get to go to a place with no pain and no sickness forever, to be with God. So what can people really do to us? Obviously all of us want to stick around here as long as we can, but is there really anything to fear in death? Nope, not really, no.

It’s a great passage. He tells us that we’re going to be persecuted, but he says that it’s alright. It’s not meant to be morbid at all – it’s supposed to be awesome! Lets get out there and harvest that wheat!

Well, finals tomorrow. Good luck to all taking them. To those who aren’t… screw you ;p.

No-eo Commentary

I read the passage today, but nothing truely stuck out to me. I’m not going to try to force myself to write about nothing. I am continuting to read and enjoy the passages.

Noeo Commentary ~ Matthew 9

The Harvest is Plentiful, the Laborers Few
Laborers work in the fields, picking the harvest. Grain that is harvested is put to good use – sold to further the purposes of the laborers. Grain that is not harvested is quickly stolen, eaten, or simply dies and rots. That does no good, and results in losses for the planter of the grain.
This analogy excellently explains both the past and current situation.The harvest is plentiful. Billions of unsaved shafts, sitting in the fields, with nobody to pick them. It’s a horrible thought, in reality. They’re going to rot. In fact, they’re rotting as you read this. Odds are, hundreds will rot as I’m writing out this post. It’s terrible! The landowner is losing everything he’s planted. And in reality, who’s fault is this? Not the landowner – it’s the fault of the workers.
Yep, that’s us. The workers. The laborers in the fields. You may think that laborer is an unflattering analogy, but it beats being called grain. Some of us (1) are out working our tails of in the fields, sickle in hand, collecting as many shafts as we possibly can. Some of us (2) are walking around, just cutting the shafts when they’re right in our path. And then some of us (3) are in some dark corner playing cards.
Did I just use an metaphor to explain a metaphor? The point is, each of us is hired to get that grain. It’s our job, we’re getting paid with eternal life. Where do I fall? Somewhere between 2 and 3. Where was Jesus? In a catagory of his own. We’re called to be the 1s, and quite frankly, the vast majority of us suck at it. Myself entirely included. We’re called to be out saving the lost… perhaps all of us could try a little harder.

Today’s Song: Free Bird – Lynyrd Skynyrd. Because I nailed it on Guitar Hero.

Noeo Commentary ~ Genesis 24

The Lord works in Miraculous ways. I don’t have long to discuss it, but I’ll take a stab at this great passage.

Isaac was in need of a wife. God provided. All that Abraham and his servant did was obey and trust God. My last passage talked about how we shouldn’t use God as our personal computer program, but we need to understand that God also wants to help us. He’s willing, and obviously he has the power, to help us out of tough situations. We need to trust him. I’m pretty sure that all of us are in a pretty tight spot now, with finals approaching. I’m not saying that Jesus is going to come down and quiz you on Trigonometric Functions, or that the Holy Spirit will write you an essay… but I believe that God wants to help you if you let him. Perhaps with nothing more than a good night’s sleep, but he’s on our side. Along with your worship and adoration, “with prayer and petition, and with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Genesis shows that God provides for those who love him. Perhaps all of us could take a lesson in trusting that God knows what’s best for our lives.

Today’s Song: I’m So Glad – Cream

The What Can Jesus Do For Me Syndrome

I’ve gotta get to bed tonite, but I’d like to make a small post on what Matt spoke on tonite. Our society is obsessed with… our society. We’re obsessed with ourselves, that’s not a great position to be in. Just look at UPS. What can Brown do for you? But is that how it works with God?

This is a deadly trap to fall into. There was a time (not to say that I’ve entirely grown out of it…) when the only time I would pray was when I needed help. Oops, I’m in a bit of a mess, time to go to God. It’s easy to treat God as a computer program – you open it when you need it, use it, and hit the little X at the top of the screen. That’s not how God works. In a clumsy analogy, God isn’t a program – he’s the operating system. He controls everything. Sometimes we forget that. The bible tells us to present our requests to God (with prayer and petition). But that should never be the extent of our relationship. That’s only a small part of ACTS. The formula for prayer is not S.

I know that this isn’t the thing that any of you want to hear the week before finals… but shouldn’t the question be What Can I Do For Jesus?

Noeo Commentary ~ Genesis 22

This is truely an amazing section of scripture. God asks Abraham to sacrifice his only son on the alter, the son that God promised to make Abraham into a great nation. Lets put this into perspective, although I’m pretty sure you could imagine it already. Most of you don’t have sons, but I believe it would be pretty easy to imagine the enormous request that this is. You’ve waited 100 years to have a son to carry on your name. You tough it out and your son finally comes, and he turns out good. You’ve been promised that he’s going to make a great nation… and then God asks you to kill him. I can’t even imagine what I would do in that situation. I mean, if he asked me to destory my iPod, I don’t know what I’d do. I’d come up with a million excuses how that couldn’t possibly be God talking to me, and I’d procrastinate to no end. But what does Abraham say? Here I Am. Here I Am, Lord. Can you imagine? Abraham’s faith is absolutly astounding.

I’m here, God. I can hear you. I understand what you are saying and I understand the consequences of my actions. I don’t know why I have to do it, I don’t know why this is happening to me, but I’m going with it.

That’s astounding. And it’s something that every one of us is bad at. And this isn’t just with God! It’s with our teachers, with our parents, with our friends. What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you get assigned homework.

This sucks. I’ve already got lots going on tonite, and I’ve got an essay due on friday. Why is she assigning this stupid busy work? Why do we have to do this? It’s a stupid assignment, it’s only a few points, ad I’m not doing it.

You laugh because it’s true. We don’t even do things for our teachers, things that only require a few minutes. How are we expected to do stuff for God? It’s a topic that everyone needs help with, especially with finals coming up. We all need to have more faith in God, in our teachers, in everybody. It’ll be alright. He’ll provide the ram caught in the thicket. All we need to do is build the alter. After all, God created biology… can’t we study it?

Hope you guys all have a great time tonite at SI or whatever else you’ve got going on tonite (here’s lookin’ at you, Aurora kids). It’s the best night of your week. I’m out.

Noeo Commentary ~ Psalms 7

The Lord judges the peoples;
judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness
and according to the integrity that is in me.
Oh, let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
and may you establish the righteous—
you who test the minds and hearts,
O righteous God!
My shield is with God,
who saves the upright in heart.
God is a righteous judge,
and a God who feels indignation every day.
If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword;
he has bent and readied his bow;
he has prepared for him his deadly weapons,
making his arrows fiery shafts.

That’s a scary section. The creator of the universe going to be a judge at a trial that you know you are guilty for. Ouch. And if you’re found guilty, you’re going to be killed with bows, swords, fire arrows, and other deadly weapons. Doesn’t sound like a very good situation to be in. In fact, I think I could think of about a million that are better. But it is a situation that every single person on this planet faces. Because we’re all guilty. Guilty of sinning against our creator.

Aren’t you glad there’s a way out?
That’s the amazing part of this whole story! We deserve everything on that list. We deserve to be beaten and mauled, tortured and flogged, killed and thrown into hell. But the beauty of this story is that it’s not depressing. It’s not even sad. It’s the greatest story ever told! Why? Because of Jesus. Jesus saved us from the bent and readied bow. From the deadly weapons and the fiery shafts. We’ve been given the greatest gift of all time. Forget whatever you got for Christmas, we’ve been given life. We don’t have to deal with the judgment, we’re exempt. We win. We take that for granted so, so much. Jesus gave us the greatest gift ever, and it cost him everything. We need to be thankful.

Alright, lots of homework and a meeting of sorts at my place tonite, I’m out.

Apple Announces iPhone

Meet the iPhone. Rumors had been floating around (lol, listen to me), that Apple was going to release a touch-screen, widescreen iPod. Also that they were going to release a phone. Looks like they’re combined. With some great new features.

I’m selling my Nano. I’m getting one of these when they come out. I’m long overdue for a new phone…
I’m such a geek, I’m so excited for this thing, and I don’t even know the specs yet.

Noeo Commentary ~ Matthew 7

Yes, I’m talking Matthew again today. This time it’s not because I really wanted to talk about Matthew… it’s because I honestly couldn’t make sense of what went on in Genesis. If someone could make a post/comment on their impressions, I’d be happy. Anyway, Matthew 7.

Judging Others
We love to judge. It’s one of our favorite pastimes – to compare ourselves to others, to compare others to others. That guy has the nicer shirt – that team is faster – that solo was better – that car is nicer. All those *er* words, they’re words of comparison, and thusly, judgment. Jesus says that it’s wrong to judge. It’s easy to say that someone is a worse sinner than us. But does that matter? We’re all sinners. Every single one of us is a dirty rotten scoundrel. So who are we to judge if someone’s a sinner? Do murderers judge murder cases? It’s a great lesson that we all need to learn – step back and let God do the judging.

ASK
Ask, Seek, Knock. When we’ve got a problem, we’ve got one guy to go to. If you’re doing a project that you don’t understand, don’t you ask the teacher for help. That good, they know everything about the project. Isn’t that what should be done with life? We’ve got a problem with life… shouldn’t we ask the guy who created it? Who knows everything about it? I’ve always found that when I have problems, God is always the last person I go to. After everything else I know, when even Wikipedia doesn’t know the answer, only then do I go to God. What a waste of energy! We’ve got the ruler of the universe on our side! That final analogy is so good, so I’m going to post it here.

Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

The Golden Rule
Do unto others as you want them to do unto you. An incredibly simple concept that every single one of us has trouble with. I don’t even need to go into detail on this one, everybody’s heard this before. We just need to work hard to actually follow it, not just know it.

Kinda pressed for time today guys, but I wish you all good luck with your continuing Noeo study.

Noeo Commentary ~ Matthew 6

OK. I told myself I would talk about Genesis or the Psalms this time, I’ve been focused too much in Matthew. But I changed my mind. Jesus just has so many good things to say in the first part of Matthew!
Also, I’m typing this on my mom’s laptop (yay for Wireless), which means I’m running IE5… so excuse the typos. I’m far too lazy to open up Word. OK, here we go.

Fasting
This section goes hand-in-hand with the section in the last reading about giving to the needy. We don’t exactly fast today, but this idea can be applied to lots of stuff in our lives. There’s no need to show off when you’re making a sacrifice. Say you’re doing community service – there’s no need to brag to your friends about how great of a job you’re doing, or of what a huge ammount if time this is taking out of your life. If you’re doing something to make others think you’re cool… you’re doing it for the wrong reasons. In that case, you’ve recieved you reward. That means that you’ve gotten praise from the people you’ve been trying to impress, but you’re sure not going to get any rewards for it in heaven. Which, actually, is a great segway into the next point…

Laying Up Treasures in Heaven
We are but mist. I’ve gone over this topic before, you can check it out at This is Your Life. In saying that, what exactly is the point of getting lots of stuff in this world. Stuff here rusts, it becomes broken or stolen, it (oh-so-quickly) becomes outdated and obsolete. And even if you’ve got a stainless, unbreakable, theft-deterrant, futuristic megathing, you’re going to die. And then what good will it do you? I recall when I was young I had a certian stash of things that I kept up in my room. I remember thinking that if Jesus came back, I’d need to grab those things and take them up to heaven when I went. I’m sure my parents got a laugh out of that. The point here is – put your treasures in heaven. Put them somewhere where they’ll last eternally. That’s a pretty good shelf-life. I’m not entirely sure of the passage where it talks about treasures in heaven, but I’m sure we’ll get to it eventually. I once read a very good book on the topic, and now that I think of it, I really should read it again. I’m sure it’s up in my room, perhaps I’ll post on it sometime…

The Eye is the Lamp of the Body
They say you are what you eat. Jesus says you are what you see. It’s true. Your eyes control gets into your body. You control what gets into your eyes. To be quite frank, what you see in on a computer screen or on a centerfold or whatever is of much more importance than just you and the screen. You let bad stuff in – you’re body’s going to get contaminated. Plain and simple.

No One Can Serve Two Masters
You can only serve one thing. It’s up to you what you choose to make that. It could be Jesus. It could be money. It could be school, a relationship, or a job. It could be a TV, or an iPod, or a MacBook. It could be food or lust. That’s up to you. I’m going to link to my very first bible-based topic at Living for Jesus. I love linking to myself.

Do Not Be Anxious
Being Anxious sucks. It makes you not eat when you’re hungry. It makes you not play good, preform good, think good. It prevents sleep and encourages stress and depression. It’s a proven fact, you’re going to get more done better when you’re calm and collected. But does it do anything good? Nope, not really. It’s a biological function to keep us from doing stupid stuff, but it doesn’t really help us at all. Jesus says, “Which of you, by worring, can add a single hour to his life?” The anwser: none. It’s proven that stress makes you age, get sick, get depressed, all that jazz. Not a good thing.
So why worry about life? Quite often life isn’t as bad as you make it out to be. We’ve got food, clothes, a good schooling, a great church, and generally a good family. Is God not going to provide for us? Then what’s there to worry about?
I recently was pretty anxious about a certian topic that I’m not going to discuss here. But after it all got sorted out, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. What was the point of being worried? The person involved was very amiable, and even if I was making a mistake, it’s not like I’d have been killed for it. I wouldn’t have even lost a friend for it. So why be nervous about things? They usually turn out all right. And to tell the truth, I wasn’t even corageous enough… well, enough of that. I think that’s normal. Our foresight is generally very depressing. But things usually don’t turn out too bad. God’s on our side, what’s there to be worried about? I’m going to try to be less anxious about things and just give them a shot. What’s the worst that could happen?

That’s it for today. Wow, that was pretty long. I’m off to watch the game. Actually, to tell the truth, I’m afraid I’d fall asleep during the game, so I’ll probably just pretend to watch the game and chat on this thing. I’ll be on Meebo, so my AIMSN is BrandonHorst if anyone wants to chat. Football bores me. I’ll watch the replays. Anyway (haha), peace out.

Noeo Commentary ~ Matthew 5-6

I’ve been focused in Matthew for a while now, Jesus just has so many good things to say.

Love Your Enemies
Jesus makes a great point here. It’s very easy to love people that love us. To stick in our little group of friends and rarely branch out. It’s very easy to hang with our small groups from church, but what good does that do? Fellowship is definitely a good thing, God wants us to have many Christian friends – it’s good so we can do stuff like what we’re doing now. However, that should by no means be the extent of your friendships. We’re called to teach to the unbelievers. Jesus hung out with sinners – tax collectors, murderers, all that jazz. How much effect would Jesus have had if he would have just taught his disciples?
This is something that I’m especially bad at. I enjoy talking about God around my Christian friends, but when I get out in the world (school), I find it very hard to talk to people about that kind of thing. It’s something that’s very important for us to do, though. We’ve got to love those who hate us, so we can help their lives.

Giving to the Needy
This is a deadly trap to fall into. It’s very easy to help people in order to make ourselves look like good guys. It’s very easy to impress people by putting a nice bill into the offering. But if that’s what you’re after, then you might as well give them nothing. If you’re going to give anything, service, money, time, attention, whatever, you’ve got to do it for the right reasons. Giving is good, as long as you give because you want to give. It’s not an easy thing to do, to give our hard-earned stuff and ask for nothing in return. But after all, Jesus gave us his life.

Short post today guys, hope you had a good weekend.

Pressing On

I think we’re going somewhere
We’re onto something good here
Out of mind, out of state
Trying to keep my head on straight
I think we’re going somewhere
We’re onto something good here
There’s only one thing left to do
Drop all I have and go with You

Somewhere back there, I left my worries all behind
My problems fell out of the back of my mind
We’re going and I’m never knowing
Never knowing where we’re going
To go back to where I was would just be wrong
I’m pressing on

Pressing on
All my distress is going, going, gone
Pressing on, pressing on
And I won’t sit back, and take this anymore
Cause I’m done with that, I’ve got one foot out the door
And to go back where I was would just be wrong
I’m pressing on
~Relient K