A brief update

It’s so cool to see how throughout the Bible Jesus uses parables to explain the hidden things. In Matthew 13:34-35 it says, “Jesus always used stories and illustrations like these when speaking to the crowds. In fact, he never spoke to them without using such parables. This fulfilled what God had spoken through the prophet: ‘I will speak to you in parables. I will explain things hidden since the creation of the world.’”

When the disciples asked why Jesus used parables he said, “You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. That is why I use these parables, ‘For they look, but they don’t really see. They hear, but they don’t really listen or understand.” (Matt 13:11-13)

There is something about story-telling that is powerful. For those who pay attention and hear, they will hear the deep secrets and lessons that were meant to be heard. For those who are just going through the motions, the story may sound good, but it will go right over their heads. The same thing goes for us when we read through Scripture. We cannot merely just read with our mind. We must ask that God daily reveal himself to us through His Word. Jesus builds us up through the revelation of who He is in the Scripture.

Lately, God has been revealing that truth to me once again. I have been going through one of the most difficult times of my life in terms of experiencing so much attack on my personal identity and validity as a person. My mind has been a constant battlefield in which doubt, lust, and evil imaginations have been warring. It’s been hard. It’s been painful. It definitely has not been fun. But yet, in the midst of all that God has been reminding me that my identity is found him. My validity cannot be shaken. And my destiny is secured.

In the past couple of weeks, I have gone back to the place of understanding once again that it all begins and ends with intimacy with our Savior. Evangelism is overflow. Pray and missions are intimately married. But without knowing the goodness of Jesus, we have no place to begin. In the next post, I want to talk about God’s heart towards us. I want to talk about what Evangelism really means, and where it all begins. It has been a rough season, but I am daily being renewed and reminded how deep, wide, and high the love of Christ has been.

God has really been speaking to me through his parable of the Fishing Net in Matthew 13:47, and through the idea of just fishing in general. So I want to share a little about that journey. So be looking for that.

On a side note, I wanted to give a brief update on how things have been the past week. This past weekend, I was able to go to FRESH – it was a conference at USC. I got to hear Jaeson Ma perform is single “Love.” As usual, it was way powerful and the presence of God was there. Francis Chan gave a message on the need for anguish – the idea of what it really means to have a heart that breaks for the things that are on God’s heart. Then, we rocked out do David Crowder* Band after that. It was a super encouraging time for me because I got to see a lot of my homeys from my Epic Japan trip. It was so good to see them again. After the show, I got to hang out and meet a lot of people that are a part of the Passion Churches that started out in UCLA. It was so sweet to hang out with some of the first people who followed God in planting student churches. All together, it was a definitely a good time!