Whats up, guys?
I just wanted to thank everyone for their kindness in just taking the time to tell me happy birthday on their blogs. That was very special to me and meant so much. Thank you!!!
Right now I am just listening to Paul Anderson-Walsh's new sermon "Jesus Receives Sinners and Eats With Them". I don't recommend it yet, I'm only a few minutes into it. Paul has the tendency to go off in on his own understanding. He seems to be coming back around to the truth though. Not sure yet. I hope so. We all know how I feel about universalism and new age trash. If I offended you by calling it trash, I can't allow myself to apologize.
Anyway...I went to the Renaissance Festival the other day and wanted to mention a cool moment of freedom in Christ I experienced through trusting in His grace. Under the law, I never would have done this, but there is this trampoline thing with bungee cords strapped to you to make you go really high in the air. At first I immediately declined the invitation from my little brother to join him, fearing it would draw a lot of attention to myself from everyone at the festival because of my prosthetic and I was wearing shorts. I didn't want anyone to say, "Aw, look at him, the cute little disabled guy not letting his disability keep him from having fun." Please. Just leave me alone. Just let me bungee jump in peace. lol
Anyway, all the usual fears and worries started hitting me. What if I fall? What if I can't jump properly and look like an idiot all strapped into the bungee cords and not going anywhere. Things like that...but then the thought dawned on me. Jesus loves me! He is my glory! To hell with what people think! And I gave my grandma my cell phone and wallet and got my freakin' ticket to jump!! LOL
I was nervous but was able to say, by the grace of God that I don't care what people say or think and have fun.
Though one of my fears came true, but the grace of God came as well. At the end, I was standing there waiting for the guy to unhook me from the bungee cords and he said, "Now don't fall down". And I thought to myself, "Why would I fall down?" About that time, he loosened the cords that I was attached to and *plop* I went down lol. It was hilarious. And God's grace spoke to me again saying, "Who cares? I love you".
This may seem trivial, but again, it was a big step for me. Under law and before I was a believer, I would never have been able to do it because my need of acceptance from man so that I could feel righteous and loved. But not anymore.
"If God is for us, who can be against us?"
It was a great adventure into God's grace that day. :)
23 comments:
I'm sorry but if you ever *plop* in front of me, I'm gonna laugh my butt off!!! And you will laugh, too! You know you will! :)
You are my hero; I would NEVER do THAT in public! Would the Queen do that? NO? Then I cannot.
You were jumping into Grace; felt good, didn't it?
Oh, that is so cool, Matthew!!
What a fantastic lesson, and it IS HUGE! That is the very thing most everybody struggles with (prosthetic or none), we don't want to look like idiots. That very lie, that image is so important, is probably the biggest that we all combat!
Cheers to you, for havin' a blast, and choosing to put aside that fear!! What a great victory.
Matthew, this is great! You did something I would want to do but I probably would let fear stop me. I'm glad you did it and who cares how it ended up. You're free, man!!
Matt,
This is so cool!!! Congradulations!!! So awesome the fear you overcame and how the grace and love of Papa just spilled in and through you and was expressed through the courage it took you AND laughing at yourself in just the little flop! I'm proud of you! Whoo hoo!! Go Matt and Papa!
Blessings,
~Amy :)
Wheeeee!!! Sounds like our Dad is a fun guy!!! I think if I were with you, you'd have inspired me to do it!!!
Now you know if He says jump, you'll say "How High" and go for it!!!
Grace and peace to ya!
Matt, "Paul Anderson Walsh"
Just curious to get your take on something, I liked his earlier pod cast because you could hear bits and pieces of the back and forth, ie, conversation, but now when I listen to it, even though they've done something to improve the sound quality, the conversation has been replaced by a sermon, and at the end they insert the proper mood music, artificial, for the, Closing prayer, You pick up on that ??? , Not making judgements here just observations, if you get a minute Matt, I'd like your take on the matter, if you have one.
Best and Grace always.
Leonard
Awesome, dude!
Look at you; you're getting quite the reputation as a wild and crazy guy!
Where is timid Matthew? Are you a pod person? Oh, this is Matt realizing who he has been in Christ ALL ALONG!!! ;)
You is BEE-U-TEE-FUL!!!
The crazier the better. Better to be crazy and free than sane and bound.
Wowee! Cool, you did it!
DUDE! I've TOTALLY done that! They brought one of those things to my college during orientation and all the freshman were jumping around like grasshoppers. I really wanted to do it too since I've always wanted to fly (yeah, weird dream since I was a child. Whatever! :) )
So, anyway, NONE of my friends would go with me. Scardy cats. So I stood there for about 5 mins, debating on doing it on my own. It's so much easier when you have a blanket (like Linas in Charlie Brown) isn't it? In that situation, my group of friends would have been my blankie. I mean, seriously, who wants to see this 20 yr old jumping like a kid on a trampoline, hair everywhere and let's not talk about my body image problems...
BUT I DID IT! And it was SO worth it, wasn't it? That weightlessness...kinda like how you feel when you realize Gods grace, huh? :)
Like you, when it was over with, the guy said, "Be careful!" I almost fell! I was so used to the weightless feeling that I had almost forgotten how to walk and what gravity felt like (the weight of the law on our hearts??). You def aren't alone! Thanks for sharing
Devon!! Hey!!
Yeah, my cousin, whom I grew up with wouldn't go with me, but my little brother, Josh did. He's always been extroverted, but I didn't get to jump with him at the same time so that made me a little nervous. :)
EXACTLY right! That's exactly how you feel in God's grace. You don't necessarily FEEL safe, but it's EXHILARATING when you finally let go and jump into His arms.
AWESOME analogy! Yeah, that's exactly how it is! But I would prefer to stay harnessed in His grace and love and jump as high as I want!! Grace doesn't feel safe though. When I started jumping really high, I lost my stomach. I'm VERY sensitive to losing my stomach on rollercoasters and such. My mom and her friend though I was having a seizure on one once because I got so ticklish. lol
BTW...You're talking to THE king of daydreamers when it comes to flying. That's all I ever think about sometimes. I'm hoping the Scripture in 1st or 2nd Thessalonians, when it talks about us being caught up in the air with the Lord is referring to us FLYING. After all, it wouldn't be fair if angels got to fly and we didn't. Although I don't want wings. I'd rather fly without 'em.
Hi Matthew,
First up, what a cool site!
I hope you don’t mind me posting a note but I came across your mention of “Jesus: He receives sinners and even dines with them” comments. Hope that the talk worked out well for you.
The reason for the note is just to clarify something. The English bible teacher, Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones always used to say ‘if you preach grace and you’re not accused of preaching license then you’re probably not preaching grace.
Over the years I have really come to lean on that truth. A few years ago when I was preparing to write “Until Christ is Formed” The Lord really challenged me: I felt that he was saying “Ok son, you’ve done a good job on teaching people about who they are in Christ. Now I want you to teach about who I am!!” Well I know who he is – God is love. But here’s what I’ve also discovered: ‘if you preach love and you’re not accused of preaching universalism then you’re probably not preaching unconditional love.
So for the record I am not a universalist. There is a heaven to accept by grace through faith wholly apart from works. But, and I know you’ll have no problem with this, the thing that those who are in hell have in common with those who are in heaven is that they are both forgiven.
Oh yes, just another thing. I noted your other contributor’s comment on the “mood music” (fair comment) but what he might not realise is that Grace London (the new church) differs from Grace West (where the previous recordings where made) because the two works have very different focuses. Once again I love what you’re doing and am really honoured that you’ve taken the time to give my audios a hearing. PS I am just off to speak on Jesus: The Fatted Calf. I eagerly await your opinion.
Grace and love to you
Paul
Hey Paul,
Good to hear from you! Funny you should happen to find my blog! If you didn't know, this is the same Matthew that visits so much on your website. :)
It's so good to hear you aren't universalist! I think some people can get so into grace that they forget that grace is only through faith in Jesus' work for us. I'm glad you're grounded in the truth, brother. Thanks for clarifying!! :)
I hope to visit your Church someday maybe. I have a huge love for England and I've always wanted to visit and I've recently gotten into soccer. I have to say soccer around Americans because we think football is that ridiculous game we play that has nothing to do with feet. ;)
Paul Walsh, If you get a minute maybe sometime you could expound on that for me, follow the Lion, dear or here's an address for me liondeer1@hotmail.com , If its really you, I think its pretty cool you paying Matt a visit here.
Best and All Grace
Leonard
Took a look at Matts feedjit gizmo and do see England, you posted as anonymous so hope you'll understand my reservations, the thing about the newer pod casts that strike me as a listener, is that the conversation element has gone and that's the thing I found most appealing on the older ones.
Best
Leonard
ps. mood music: a whole other story.
Hi Matt, oh how cool is that, I didn’t realise that it was you!
Well you can rest safe in cyber-space knowing that I am not a Universalist; LOL.
Well as and when you’re ready to come to England be sure and let me know. I am a football nut. (well actually I am a mad keen Tottenham Hotspurs supporter, which is not a good thing right now, because we’re really in the drink. It’s a disaster we’re bottom of the Premiership and the butt of everybody’s jokes.) We’d love to have you visit with us here in London.
Leonard was asking me to expound a bit on the conclusion that people that preach agape get mistaken for universalists. Well, Leonard it’s a big subject, and one that I don’t have the time to do justice to right now. (We’re heading off this evening to the WI’s will be back beginning of November). Anyway the thing is this: The reason why people might conclude that I am a universalist is because I push the agape envelope.
Agape is unconditional. Agape never fails etc. Have a listen to the teaching series that I did on Agape http://www.thegraceproject.com/content/category/7/46/100/ or read the chapter ‘You Know the Father’ in my book Until Christ is Formed. It’s a treatment on 1 Cor 13. I am telling you when you examine the nature of God’s love, you’ll see it’s radical. And make no bones about it, it’s seriously open to being over-realized. But it’s breadth-taking.
But here’s why I am not a universalist: I believe that God loves us (all) unconditionally He doesn’t love us “if” or “providing” there is no qualification. However, and I think that this is the point; he loves me too much to condemn me to HEAVEN . You see if the Unversalist is right and everyone’s going to heave whether they like it or not then for those who don’t want to go there heaven would be hell.
Speak to you guys soon –
Grace and peace
Paul
He's leavin' on a jet plane, don't know when he'll be back again, and I want to go...
Better get your toothbrush packed, Boo. ;)
I will definitely let you know. Your sermons played a major part in establishing me in grace last year when I put full faith in Jesus' work on the Cross. It was such an exciting, comforting time. It still is. I apologize if I offended you, Paul. But I wasn't sure where you stood. I am highly opposed to things like universalism and new age crap.
We have a channel here in the states called Fox Soccer Network and I am able to get all the English premier games. I still don't understand all the rules, but I love watching the game. The footwork and talent it takes is amazing. I've heard you say that you were a soccer-dad from hell in one of your sermons, so I figured you loved the game. ;)
Jamie,
Ya'll love me too much. I don't know how to handle it! :) You're gonna end up squeezing Jesus out of me. But I think I would do well in England. I am very good at the accent. Although sometimes the accent gets too thick and I sound a bit Australian lol.
I love your love. It's unprocessed and raw, straight from the Tree of Life Himself. It's Jesus loving me through you. Teach me how to do that!!
Hi Paul, No that's not what I said, also I never mistook you for a universalists. Top of the day to ya.
Grace
Leonard
Sorry for not getting back to you, Leonard.
I actually enjoy the sermons more than I do the conversations. But that is my opinion. It was hard for me to hear the conversations at times. It took me a minute to understand what you meant. Have you listened to his sermon 'Get a Life'? I always recommend that one first to everyone. It's my favorite.
Matt, thanks I'm not sure if I heard that one, I've listened to quiet a few, my favorite and I don't know the title is the one that he's talking about projecting cows on a screen in inkblot form, in an experiment with an audience and when they took the cow away from the projection, the people would still see the cow, even though it wasn't there anymore, then he likened it to the sacred cows we all have, and how when they are destroyed by truth, we still see them.
This has been a good lesson for me, put no one on a pedestal, only The Master. Ya know my Master would never put words in my mouth that weren't there in the first place.This is precisely the reason we all need Grace.
Grace
Leonard
ps Thanks again Matt, your exchange forced me to reconsider something.
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