What can you do?

Greetings Warriors and Scholars!

Happy summer! This summer is going by really fast.

Earlier this week my Mom and I continued our viewing of Stargate SG-1. One of the episodes we watched that night was "Maternal Instinct" from season 3. In this episode, they find out that Apophis is back with the army formerly committed to Sokar. He had attacked Chulack in his search for his child, a "harsesis" who has been hidden from him so he does not use the child as a new host and then gain all the knowledge of the Goa'uld. In their search for the child, the team goes to Keb, a spiritual destination for older Jaffa who are done fighting.

Here, they meet a monk and Daniel goes into a long discussion with him about many things. The monk, who never gives us a name, tries to get Daniel to use his mind to do things but is also talking about a "Oma Desala". At first Daniel thinks this is just a phrase for mother nature, but we later find that she is what would later be described as an "ascended being". Daniel realizes that his tricks of controlling small flames and moving things with his mind were not him at all. It was all Oma's doing. She then fights the army for them and takes the child away to safety.

Although there are obvious Buddhist parallels in this story as they use a similar setting and phrases by the monk are similar, there are some significant parallels for us as followers of Jesus as well. Jesus told us about a "Counselor" he would send us. This Counselor is known more commonly as the Holy Spirit. During the Old Testament He often came upon men and women God had called out for very special works but after a day we call Pentecost the Holy Spirit came upon all who follow Jesus.

In 1 Corinthians 12 we find a description of what we often call the Gifts of the Spirit. These are abilities God chooses to dispense to us through the Holy Spirit and yes I do think they can be called super powers. We learn a few things here:

• The Holy Spirit gives gifts as he chooses to all who believe.
• The gifts include "miraculous" things such as healing and "mundane" things such as administration.
• All gifts are given for the common good, not for show-boating.
• There is no formula to what gift(s) you get. 

Most importantly, we understand that these gifts all come from the Holy Spirit. If you are unsure about your gifts, I recommend 2 things. First, pray about it. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you your gifts and to empower you to serve. Second, ask other believers who know you what they think your gifts are. There are some online spiritual gifts surveys out there that can be uses as tools to help you discover it, but that is not the first place I would start. 

Daniel did not light a candle with his mind or have any super powers. It was Oma Desala doing that. But in real life the Holy Spirit does make Himself and some gifts available to us as we serve Jesus. What can you do?

The Network

Tek Ma Te Warriors and Scholars!

Well, have you seen Ant Man yet? I did! I laughed several times and really enjoyed the relationship between Scott Lang and Hank Pym. I thought that they kept the montra "It's all connected." quite well.

One of those little connections was pretty big news. During the second montage of Luis explaining a complicated story of how he got some information, we heard this: "We got one who jumps, one who swings, one who crawls up walls." The first MCU reference to our friendly neighborhood Spiderman!

Now, this is really exciting, but most of the blogs and articles I've seen about this have not talked about something. There is a network. This scene showed us that as various small time heroes have stepped out to fight crime something else is happening. A network of people has been built that is providing routes of communication and support and networking. Presumably, the network has reached from NYC where a conversation between one of it's members and an Avenger all the way to San Francisco where our man Luis is telling Scott Lang about the conversation. I am unsure of the location of the club where this conversation happened, but I'm guessing it was in New York.

Now why is this important? Well, because we find at least some people who do not have cool tech suits or super powers joining in a huge work that is all about fighting evil and crime. Not everyone making a difference in the MCU is a spy or a great engineer or a super soldier. Some are just normal people who want to help out.

In the church we tend to take certain gifts and abilities and treat them as some sort of ultimate achievement. Some do this with the gifts of teaching and preaching. There are churches out there where it is all about the preaching pastor and that is it. Some do it with speaking in tongues. They claim you must do this to show evidence of being truly saved. But what does scripture say?

"There are different kinds of gifts but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work." 1 Cor. 12:4-6

Paul later goes on to describe the church as a body. This is where we get the phrase "the Body of Christ". He comments "how can you see without an eye?" and "how can you hear without an ear?" Some people have a gift for helps. They just come in and help around the church by cleaning or setting up tables. My brother, Dad and I are on the tech team. My Dad runs a video camera multiple times a month and I run lights and my brother runs sound. Some have an amazing heart and ability for prayer. They never really "teach" or set chairs up or stuff like that but they will pray for hours every week for people in the church and within their influence.

EVERYONE is important. I remember that line from the 11th Doctor, "In 900 years I have never met anyone who wasn't important." God feels the same way and he has given you a gift to serve with. You might have to do some exploring to find it, but it is there. There are a lot of online spiritual gift surveys to take to find it, but in the end you will need to step out and try something. Your gift might be really helpful in areas of your church that you have never thought about.

With Great Power...

Found at www.unleashthefanboy.com.

Hey guys.

Tonight the growth group I lead for my church was discussing spiritual gifts. Interestingly, this discussion took place as part of an 8 week series on surrendering to God. I know this seems like a strange context for talking about spiritual gifts, but it really isn't. It was exciting to see how we were all exploring out gifts and where we might fit in.

Often times when we discuss spiritual gifts we don't look at the larger picture. Like a certain web-head, we focus on our own, individual situation. We look at our gifts without considering where we fit in the full plan of what God is doing currently or His great plan for all time.

Have you recently read any of the passages that discuss these gifts? The Apostle Paul often discusses them during the same time as he discusses unity in the Church.

Read 1 Corinthians 12-14 or Romans 12. God gives us these super powers but He has certain expectations. Both of these passages discuss spiritual gifts, church unity, and love. These 3 things are fully inter-connected.

If we think our gifts are useless, we fail to serve. If we think our gifts are the most important, we disrespect other members of God's people.

Think about Spiderman:he is a solo hero. He is not a team player but yet he has joined with the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and the Avengers. His uncle told him that (you know this line so say it with me) "WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY." We often think of that responsibility as it stands in relation to him and the citizens of NYC. But what about the responsibility of it in regards to the other heroes? What about his place in the scheme of the Marvel Universe? We found out how hard that is in the Civil War storyline, right? [spoilers] He joined one side, disagreed with them, got in a sticky situation, got rescued, and joined the other side.

We don't always agree in life. The Avengers movie showed how easy it is to showboat and how difficult to come to a place of cooperation. But what happens when that cooperation does come to it's prime? When we trust God and use our gifts as directed by Him instead of insisting that some gifts are better or more necessary. 6 Heroes defeated a full army led by an Asgardian, despite the huge size of the army.

Do you know your spiritual gifts? If not, get on the training ground and play around. Start serving and you will find your gifts over time. You might want to take a spiritual gifts assessment. Talk with your pastor. Find out how your gifts fit into what your church is doing. I would also remind you that these gifts tend to be useful outside the church as well.

With great redemption comes great mission. Get out there and serve!

M.A.S.K. and the Body of Christ

Hey guys. Welcome to the Nerd Chapel.

Do you remember M.A.S.K.? It was a great cartoon and line of action toys I loved growing up. They actually had a base in a Volcano! You have Matt Tracker, a man with an organization (M.A.S.K.) bent on helping people and fighting a criminal organization called V.E.N.O.M. The cartoon featured a kid with a robot that could turn into a scooter for him to ride. Each member of the M.A.S.K. team was connected with a particular vehicle that would change for battle. For instance there was a Semi that acted as a mobile HQ and also could launch large missiles. There also was a race car that could turn into a jet plane and two little cars. They also had "masks" which were really helmets that had different abilities/powers. Yes this show is ripe for a movie! If so, I hope they base it on the original and not the "re-imagined" comics from 2011 (Admittedly I have not read those comics but I just like the original idea a lot more than what I know of them).

I had this one!

Every episode featured a situation of someone needing help, always because V.E.N.O.M. was up to no good. For each mission, Matt Tracker would gather intelligence on the situation with his huge super computer and then have the computer build the correct team for the operation. Each member had a different area of knowledge needed and a different vehicle that had gadgets. They also all came from different backgrounds and jobs. One was in a rock n roll band, one owned a pet shop, etc.

The Body of Christ is very similar to M.A.S.K. 

• We are called to "do good" and help those who need it.
• "He has shown you, O mortal what is goood. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8
• Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27
•  We have the Holy Spirit that gives us all different abilities and knowledge for situations. 
•   "There are different kinds of gifts but, but the same Spirit distributes them. Different kinds of service, but the same Lord." 1 Corinthians 12:4
• We all come from different backgrounds.
• "Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body. So it is with Christ." 1 Corinthians 12:12

What are some ways you use your gifts? I often serve on the tech team for my church and sometimes I help at other events, such as the food truck where we provide food for needy families. If you don't know what your gifts are, ask your friends and family and talk with a pastor at your church about how you can help out.