weeklyred

w ou

texturized worship

every saturday at 1:30 p.m.

club fathom

412 market street

chattanooga, tn

10.16.04

Is everything that is "black and white" really
"black and white"?

Can everything is reduced to right or wrong,
true or false,
proper or improper?

Is it really that simple?

Really?

try these
BLACK and WHITE
p u z z l e s

Which of the two lines are perpendicular to
the vertical line?

The top one of the bottom one?

Answer: it's the top one--block out the cube and it's easy to see

Do you see white circles?

But the lines of are solid!!!

Are the lines wavy or straight?

Answer: they are straight

Are the horizontal lines crooked or straight?

Answer: they are crooked!!

What did you see first?

Black kitchen tools or white kitchen tools?

Spiral or concentric circles?

Answer: concentric circles, yes! Look at it again :)

Is our faith a matter of the head?

the head that analyizes and categorizes and judges things?

Or is our faith a matter of the heart?

the heart that understands why Jesus wept,
because it has experienced,
the joy of love
and the sadness of condemnation?

The Pharisees are called hypocrites by Jesus, not just because they are trying to trap him, and thus show that they are unloving and uncaring, they are called hypocrites by Jesus, because they refuse to go beyond what they already know of God.

You can not really know God if you refuse to move beyond
what you already know about him.

What do we know about God?

Some of us know God hates sin -
and so we feel very bad all the time because we know we are sinners and do not believe that God, or anyone else for that matter, can or should love us.

Others of us know that God loves and forgives sinners,
and so we feel confident and never really question our actions because we believe that God will overlook any so-called "small" mistakes we make now that we are his followers.

The first group traps God in a box of judgement,

the second traps God in a box of forgiveness,

and neither, unless their minds and hearts open,
can let the real God both judge and forgive them.

Neither group really experiences the fullness of God.

They trap God by their own understandings and thus end up
with only a shadow of what they should have.
Sadly, they play a spiritual role, rather than live a spiritual life.

So many of us, in fact all of us,
want to divide God and the world God has made
into easy-to-grasp categories.

We want a simple God.

Doom to you who call evil good and good evil,
Who put darkness in place of light
and light in place of darkness,
Who substitute bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter!

Doom to you who think you're so smart,
who hold such a high opinion of yourselves!

All you're good at is drinking--champion boozers
who collect trophies from drinking bouts
And then line your pockets with bribes from the guilty
while you violate the rights of the innocent.

But they won't get by with it. As fire eats stubble
and dry grass goes up in smoke,
Their souls will atrophy,
their achievements crumble into dust,
Because they said no to the revelation
of GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies,

Isaiah 5:20-24

God is not simple.

So that from the rising of the sun
to the place of its setting
men may know there is none besides me.

I am the LORD , and there is no other.

I form the light and create darkness,
I bring prosperity and create disaster;

I, the LORD , do all these things.

Isaiah 45:6-7

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said,
"I am the light of the world.
Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness,
but will have the light of life."

John 8:12

BLACK and WHITE

the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

--black and white--
is judging

and that's God's job!

Do not judge, and you will not be judged.
Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven

Luke 6:37

Seek God
He will guide you

I guide you in the way of wisdom
and lead you along straight paths.

Proverbs 4:11

Like the BLACK and WHITE illusions above,
everything is not always what it may seem.
TRUST GOD
and move beyond what you know of Him.
GROW!

Grow in grace and understanding of our Master and Savior, Jesus Christ. Glory to the Master, now and forever! Yes!