I am happy to say that I have been busy at work mapping out the book of Genesis for the coming year…unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your mindset) it isn’t going to make it the year; it is going to be a year and a half.

We never want to sell a book of the bible short and it seems that this is the length it simply needs to be. It is what it is, and it is oh so good. The actual length, when all is said and done, is 73 weeks (plus the very few special one off weeks in the midst of it, like Easter).

I am through writing 34 weeks of Genesis now (so almost half way).

One of my friends asked me if we were covering every verse, and my answer was “of course.” I mean, what else would a people as neurotic as Element do?

Genesis will be fun, informative, and give all of us a better picture of what God has been doing all along: saving, redeeming, restoring, and making His name great.

So, in 2013 when the website STILL says “Current Sermon Series: Genesis” you can be excited all over again because every week will be something new, something old, and something amazing.

I hope you are ready for the ride.
Aaron

Ok, seriously, will everyone stop trying to tell me the latest bit of information on every new movie that is coming out? Does every movie trailer have to show me the ending before I even see the movie?

I love all things Christopher Nolan and I am totally excited about 2012’s The Dark Night Rises, but I feel as though I can’t go anywhere without someone trying to spoil it for me. Why can’t we just wait until it comes out and watch it? Why do people have to sneak onto a movie a set to and try to steal the script to post to everyone to read? Is our need to be in control and have information so overwhelming that we can’t enjoy a story without having control of the end?

This has been a problem since the mankind was first made. “Don‘t eat this fruit, trust me,” is what God says to man…But what does man do? Eats the fruit and doesn’t trust. It seems, for us, letting go of our lives and trusting Jesus is something we all refuse to do. Can we really trust him for the remainder of our lives? Has He really filtered all things through His hands before they come to us?

The answer is: yes.

I know a stupid little blog isn’t going to change you much, but at this time of the year if I could get you to start thinking about God’s promise of hope and redemption more, it could actually help. We know the end, it is Jesus; all things begin and continue in Him. Truly “the end” is not the end in Him.

When life is overwhelming, it will not overwhelm Him. Take comfort in the fact that our Great God loves you, has laid a course for your life, and though we don’t know where it is going, He does…He has always been there.

Oh, ya…and if you haven’t see the Sixth Sense, Bruce Willis is DEAD.

I am part of the 99%...but what do I mean by that? I mean I have a Christmas Tree: it is plastic, came in a box, had lights already hung on it, and doesn't smell like anything except dog slobber (after years of use). I also have some presents under my tree, Christmas lights on my house, Christmas music on my Ipod, a big red bag that I haul presents around in on Christmas (seriously), and a joyful expectancy of what the season brings.

I am part of the 99% who love Christmas.

But who are the haters, the naysayers, with no sort of holiday cheer? I can only find scattered reports of various news stories.

• Like the guy who complained that a Christmas billboard was left up too long and wrote an editorial about how it was stirring "inappropriate emotion" about making him feel guilty for not spending time with his loved ones.
• The campaign that encourages people who walk into stores that are NOT playing Christmas music to find the managers and thank them.
• A proposed extra tax on Christmas Trees.
• Even Twisted Sister (the band) who came out with a Christmas album. I mean seriously, they must really hate Christmas.

We must Occupy Christmas. If you are part of the 99% who love Christmas, stop treating it like a holiday and live your life as if every day is Christmas Eve. Stop buying into bogus statistics that tell you that suicide rates go up at Christmas, it's a lie, they actually go down. Don't be another person who makes the season too long, too false, too commercialized and just simply too much. Make it about hope and life and truth and mercy and grace that came into the world to save us from our sin.

Bring the 1% to our side…the side that says, "yeah Christmas." Remember what the Dr said (that's Suess), "And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store? What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?"

So go buy your fake trees and cover your house in lights. It's Christmas for Pete's (I mean Jesus') sake.

Last week we looked at the question: Could Jesus have sinned? (give in to temptations). The long winded discussions that actually wrestle with this question of "was Jesus able to sin?" is called, "peccability" (or impeccability), from the Latin meaning "sin."

The conclusion was: could Jesus be tempted? yes. Could Jesus sin? no. In this blog I wanted to look at the ramification of what this truth means for us.

What are the practical ramifications that flow from this understanding of Jesus relationship to sin and temptation?

• Because Jesus faced real temptations and successfully endured those temptations as a real man not yet glorified He was and is “the author of eternal salvation.” We are told that Jesus had to be “made perfect,” and in order to be “made perfect,” Jesus had to “learn obedience by the things which he suffered” (Heb. 5:8-9). Jesus became like Adam (except that where Adam failed, Jesus triumphed). (Rom. 5:19).
• Because Jesus faced real temptations and successfully resisted those temptations as a real man not yet glorified He can be our example and pattern for resisting the temptations we face. Sometimes it is difficult for us to view Christ as an example. We think of Him in His majestic divinity. Consequently, we view Him as a kind of superman—impervious to the kind of temptations we face. But the Scripture does not place Christ in a totally different category than us. Instead, the writer to the Hebrews encourages believers to look to Jesus, "the founder and perfecter of our faith " (Heb. 12:3). True, Jesus was not plagued with the remnants of a sinful nature as we are. Nevertheless, we should not view our Savior as some kind of super-human being whose experience was totally foreign to ours.
• Because Jesus faced real temptations and successfully resisted those temptations as a real man not yet glorified He can fully sympathize with us in our struggle against sin (Heb. 2:18; 4:15).

J.C. Ryle said: “The sympathy of Jesus is a truth which ought to be peculiarly dear to all believers. They will find in it a mine of strong consolation. They should never forget, that they have a mighty Friend in heaven, who feels for them in all their temptations, and can enter into all their spiritual anxieties. Are they ever tempted by Satan to distrust God 's care and goodness ? So was Jesus. Are they ever tempted to presume upon God 's mercy, and run into danger without warrant? So also was Jesus. Are they ever tempted to commit some one great private sin for the sake of some great seeming advantage ? So also was Jesus. He is just the Savior that a tempted people require. Let them flee to Him for help, and spread before Him all their troubles. They will find His ear ever ready to hear, and His heart ever ready to feel.”

Most good Bible teachers believe that the Bible teaches that Christ, as God, could not even potentially sin. His human nature was always in submission to his divine nature. Therefore the possibility of sin must be ruled out; but that does not mean that he only overcame temptation by relying on that nature. We believe he overcame sin IN HIS HUMANITY as well.

Leon Morris states, "The main point is that, though Jesus did not sin, we must not infer that life was easy for him. His sinlessness was, at least in part, an earned sinlessness as he gained victory after victory in the constant battle with temptation that life in this world entails."

We have a Great God who understands all we go through.