Testimony

Last night was awesome. Me and two of the coolest guys and one nifty gal lead worship for almost two hours and watched as the Holy Spirit moved through out the room. I was reminded, yet again, that God is bigger, stronger and way smarter than I am and I was also reminded of just how good that is. God also understands our need for stories and testimony that can give us peace in our hard times and is good and faithful to allow those stories and testimonies to be poured into our lives.

Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. (Revelation 19:10 ESV)

Testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. What God has done before he can and will do again. Seriously, think about that. As we start our week here is some Testimony of Jesus that I hope speaks prophetically to you, whatever season you are in. Mountain high or mountain low, God please remind our souls of who you are.

Control of Nature

1. Calming the storm – Matthew 8:23-27; Mark 4:37-41; Luke 8:22-25

2. Feeding 5,000 – Matthew 14:14-21; Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-14

3. Walking on water – Matthew 14:22-32; Mark 6:47-52; John 6:16-21

4. Feeding 4,000 – Matthew 15:32-39; Mark 8:1-9

5. Fish with coin – Matthew 17:24-27

6. Fig tree withers – Matthew 21:18-22; Mark 11:12-14, 20-25

7. Huge catch of fish – Luke 5:4-11; John 21:1-11

8. Water into wine – John 2:1-11

Healing of Individuals

1. Man with leprosy – Matthew 8:1-4; Mark 1:40-44; Luke 5:12-14

2. Roman centurion’s servant – Matthew 8:5-13; Luke 7:1-10

3. Peter’s mother-in-law – Matthew 8:14-15; Mark 1:30-31; Luke 4:38-39

4. Two men possessed with devils – Matthew 8:28-34; Mark 5:1-15; Luke 8:27-39

5. Man with palsy – Matthew 9:2-7; Mark 2:3-12; Luke 5:18-26

6. Woman with bleeding – Matthew 9:20-22; Mark 5:25-34; Luke 8:43-48

7. Two blind men – Matthew 9:27-31

8. Dumb, devil-possessed man – Matthew 9:32-33

9. Canaanite woman’s daughter – Matthew 15:21-28; Mark 7:24-30

10. Boy with devil – Matthew 17:14-21; Mark 9:17-29; Luke 9:38-43

11. Two blind men – including Bartimaeus – Matthew 20:29-34; Mark 10:46-52; Luke 18:35-43

12. Demon-possessed man in synagogue – Mark 1:21-28; Luke 4:31-37

13. Blind man at Bethsaida – Mark 8:22-26

14. Crippled woman – Luke 13:10-17

15. Man with dropsy – Luke 14:1-4

16. Ten men with leprosy – Luke 17:11-19

17. The high priest’s servant – Luke 22:50-51

18. Nobleman’s son at Capernaum – John 4:46-54

9. Sick man at the pool of Bethsaida – John 5:1-15

20. Man born blind – John 9:1-41

Raising the Dead

1. Jairus’ daughter – Matthew 9:18-26; Mark 5:21-43; Luke 8:40-56

2. Widow’s son at Nain – Luke 7:11-17

3. Lazarus – John 11:1-44

Amen,
Josh.

Famous Amos

“I hate, I despise your feasts,

and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.

Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,

I will not accept them;

and the peace offerings of your fattened animals,

I will not look upon them.

Take away from me the noise of your songs;

to the melody of your harps I will not listen.

But let justice roll down like waters,

and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. (Amos 5:21-24 ESV)

If you spend some time in the old testament there are more than a few sections like this one that don’t exactly leave you with the warm and fuzzies. As much I think it would be cool to have been an old testament prophet the truth is no one likes bad news and they like the bringer of that news even less. This section of scripture gets used a lot these days by churches looking to justify the way they do what they do. Some use it to bash other churches or simple to explain why they keep things humble and down key. Problem, this isn’t for the church (building) of modern times but rather the temple that Paul spoke of, you in community with others. You, alone, are not the temple. You, in community with other believers though, that’s the temple where Christ takes up his thrown and as much as we may be bothered by others services or style that is of the least importance. What matters is the worship and sacrifice we, as a community, bring the lord. If we act one way in a building on Sunday and than turn ad act completely different with those same people outside of church the rest of the week we fall into the place Amos describes and that is not the place we should ever want to be in.

But let justice roll down like waters,

and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

This is the call of our lives. It’s more than lip service, it’s his service. Christ has never asked anything of us he didn’t model first. Christ didn’t spend hours talking about how great he was. He could have, instead he let justice flow from his hands and mouth. Love is justice. Pride is a show. Sadly, we have more shows than Justice.

Josh

Complaint free

It is only natural to complain. Daily so many things happen that we can’t control and most often these things seem to be somehow directed against us. The last year of my life has been nothing short of awful and yet I am reminded that life is a gift and at the end of the day I didn’t ask for my lot in life. None of us did. We literally have no control about when or where we entered this life and that literally means none of us have the right to complain about it. Sure, we have the ability to work our tails off to get to the places we feel we belong. We have dreams for a reason. Dreams are there to empower us and stretch us. Complaints however have no right to take up as much time in our day to day life like they do. Complaints signal weakness. Complaints invite anxiety and stress. Thanksgiving on the other hand destroys all that and allows us to live in a place that allows us to face all circumstances. Counting your blessings may seems like a waste of time but when I really sit down and count them I quickly learn how short my math skills fall as the number of blessings always outnumbers the things I can really complain about. Be blessed today.

Josh

God & Science are friends.

Recently comedian Ricky Gervais found himself in the middle of a twitter war after responding to a comment made by someone who, in my opinion, has never truly found the love of God. Gervais is a atheist and as much as I disagree with that stance I believe that it demonstrates a lot of faith as life is short and if this is it…. Well, that is a very dark idea. I have no problem with Gervais tweet in response to the initial tweeter as I couldn’t disagree more with what was posted. Gervais is a very funny guy and his roll in the original version of “The Office” is one of the funniest things ever. His show “Extras” is also pure gold comedy at its finest. The thing that got me about this so called twitter battle was the stance some of my atheist friends took on twitter proposing that Christianity was for the weak minded as we choose to turn a blind eye to science. I disagree. Science is obvious and there are certain scientific laws that don’t hurt the case for God but instead make me stand more in awe of him. The idea of divine creation doesn’t leave things to happenstance regardless of what some “Christians” choose to tell you. As I prepared for bed this evening I came across an article about God and science that I found very interesting. Before I share the link with you though I want to make something clear. I am not about pointing a finger at atheists and saying “what now”, but rather about having open dialogues that don’t hide behind the idea of someone being less intelligent than you because they don’t believe what you believe. God is love and he loves you no matter where you are, that doesn’t mean he wants to leave you there though. Also, your disbelief in God doesn’t lessen his belief in you. With that said, enjoy this little article and be blessed.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/scott/proving-atheists-wrong-with-science-1

Josh

’twas the day before…

Christmas Eve and it is short weather in Southern California. Sorry, had to run that in for my east coast readers. Tonight we begin to celebrate the birth of a savior. My savior. My church is putting on a candlelight service like many churches and like many churches it will be decked to the nines. Thats the beauty of being sure of things like dates on a calendar. We ways know when Christmas is coming and have lots of time to prepare. The funny thing though is the birth of the savior came in the form of the worlds best known unplanned pregnancy. It was unplanned and was given to a people who lived in a time in their lives that can only be described as uncertain. When John the Baptists parents were informed of his coming his dad argued with the Angel like many of us do with God, we try to fill God in on what is happening like he doesn’t already know. Mary also asked how this could be happening to her, since, well, she was a virgin. Again, God knew this but it’s what any of us would have done and said. God is funny. He likes popping in when we give him zero chance or opportunity to work and that my friends is beautiful. As we as a people, nation and world press into some of the most uncertain times ever seen its good to know that God is always certain and certain to do what e does best, surprise.

Merry Christmas!

Josh

Judas is my homeboy

Yup. I owned a “Jesus is my Homeboy” shirt. I bought on a corner of China Town in New York City and wore it until it had holes in it. Few five dollar investments have turned out as good as that one. As we inch ever closer to Christmas morning most believers spend some time in the Gospels and we tend to reflect on the life of Christ. Christ’s arrival was more than a 33 year life but the rather the hope of 500 years of silence following the Old Testament. Think about it, the Jewish people are living under Roman rule waiting for the savior to come and rescue them. It’s not hard to see how one might and most likely should conceive this as being a military action led by a warrior king. When Jesus really starts getting into the swing of his ministry and as the rumors of the Messiah finally being on the scene circulate around I can only imagine how many different types of people took interest. When we think about the 12 that Jesus took in as his inner circle we tend to pass them off as dummies who could never really figure it out and we pay a little extra attention to the one that sold out Jesus, Judas. Judas fascinates me. Judas was a zealot. He was most likely part of a group known as the “sicarii” and well, those guys had a vision of God showing up and literally beating up the Romans. They lived with knives strapped to their inner thighs waiting for the war to begin. I don’t think Judas had any sort of “box” for a God who healed the sick, raised the dead and walked on water. He wanted a warrior. He wanted a general and why he got was far from what he expected. Let me propose something to you. Maybe Judas wasn’t just a jackass who betrayed his king. Maybe when the bible says that “Satan entered him” it wasn’t some sort of signing over of his soul but pride instead. Pride in the form of thinking that he could speed up the process and force the warrior king out of Jesus if he put him in a place where he would have to respond. Judas was right, Jesus was and is a conqueror, what he was wrong about was what the enemy really was. Yes, the Romans sucked. Sin sucks more though. Funny, I’m a lot more like Judas than I am Christ. I get an idea of how things should be and I try to convince God of how he is getting it wrong. Think about that and be honest, you do it too. We betray God all the time. It’s sad how often I find myself talking at rather than listening to God. What has to be seen here is that Judas is not a villain but rather a lesson. He shows what happens when we refuse to listen and learn and he showed it on a stage more extreme than any I hope we ever see. I’m not trying to make a hero out of Judas. It doesn’t make me get the warm and fuzzies when I think about how much I have in common with that man. It does remind though of how big God is though. He is always in control and regardless of how big and awesome my plans and ideas are his are always bigger and awesomer (<- yay to fake words!).

Josh

Dirty, awkward and beautiful.

I love a good cliff hangar. Suspense is invigorating and when done right never fails. Lately I have been reading a lot of Brad Meltzer and the guy knows how to leave you hanging, wanting more, from
chapter to chapter. Believe it or not the bible has much of the same. Much like the end of “The Empire Strikes Back” the old testament ends with a lot of tension and suspense hinging on waiting for promises to come to fruition. At the end of the old testament we know something big is coming but when the last prophetic words are spoken about the coming John the Baptist we don’t get a three break to build hype for “Return of the Jedi” but rather silence. Five hundred years worth to be exact. That’s a lot of silence and if you have ever waited for extreme news, be it good or bad, you know how suspenseful that can be. Here’s the thing though, that suspense wasn’t broken with a bang, an explosion or some earth shaking event but rather the birth of a baby. To be honest, I wish it was broken with a lights saber bearing Jedi or the Dark Knight rising from the ashes sometimes but that’s for show, not for impact. As we celebrate Christmas we have to remember that it’s a beginning. It’s a start. Salvation was won on Easter morning. True victory will come when lion of Judah comes back to claim what’s his. What we celebrate is a start. I often wonder if baby Jesus knew he would be my savior the first time he opened his eyes or if he new his first breath would change the world forever. It’s crazy to see a baby being born. It’s gross, awkward and yet beautiful and that’s what this season brings. We shouldn’t need an excuse to start over but we do. Be it personal or relational we sometimes need a dirty, awkward and yet beautiful refresh. Life is short and fragile and also full of infinite possibility, make sure you are getting that today.

Josh

Priorities

Another year is close to shutting itself down and I am left in that most interesting of places known as reflection. The last year sure has been something and if a year like it never comes around it will be too soon. The one nice thing you learn from being at the bottom, and trust me I have seen the bottom, is you really get a grasp of how awesome the middle and top really are. As a Christian this leaves me wondering what I can do better as well. Yes, I need to spend more time praying. Yes, I need to spend more time in the word. Yes, I am far away from “being Jesus”. And finally, yes, this is okay. I don’t want to settle for okay but it is something to work with. The world doesn’t need more “Super Christians”. It is desperate for real Christians. The kind who struggle, fail, get up and never stop worshiping God in the progress. That’s testimony at its finest and the book of Revelation tells us that testimony is the spirit of prophecy. That prophecy is Christ himself. Christ, not the baby in a manger we remember this Sunday nor the broken man on the cross but rather the king of glory in his glory. As we look towards Christmas I hope that’s it’s not for show but rather a expression of our daily lives. God doesn’t want a good show but rather justice and we are all able to let justice flow.

“I hate, I despise your feasts,

and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.

Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,

I will not accept them;

and the peace offerings of your fattened animals,

I will not look upon them.

Take away from me the noise of your songs;

to the melody of your harps I will not listen.

But let justice roll down like waters,

and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. (Amos 5:21-24 ESV)

Da Numbas

It all comes down to tomorrow. Nothing is ever promised so you have to hustle and put up the best showing you can. As of my last check my hiring page has 217 comments, 144 Facebook likes, 18 +1′s, & 108 tweets. My actual hiring video has 469 views and my follow up video for Shopify has 90 views in less than a week. I can feel good about that showing and if any of those numbers were you, I love you. A lot.

Thank you.

A New Hope

Well kids, it’s all coming to an end. No, I am not talking end times like you might assume, rather I am talking 2011. This has been one of, if not thee, worst year of my life but even with that said there is very little I would change about it. New Years gives a new hope, a new chance to do the things we wish we would have and also to try somethings that we may have never considered. I am going to keep this short and sweet so I can get back to trying to hustle my way into a job wearing shirts with the http://iwearyourshirt.com crew next year. Enjoy life, you only get one and always remember, be it a new day or a new year, it always give you a chance to be new.

Josh

P.S. it’s the last day to comment on my video, please drop a comment on this beast! http://www.iwearyourshirt.com/hiring/joshua-arnao/