I have been a part of a Hermeneutical Bible Study for many years now. When I first started, I was overwhelmed by the work required. I felt that I had no business breaking down the Word, seeing what was there and creating a cohesive theme for the passage. I'm sure there were many tiimes the leader wondered just what I was thinking.

There are many times that I can not complete the work. Circumstances, my own procrastination and life's junk gets in the way sometimes. I have never felt that I completed the work for a passage. How deeply can we plumb the depth's of God's Word? There have been many times that I have been frustrated by my own seeming inability to apply learned truths.

As I finished preaching yesterday, I felt the familiar feeling of ... oh man, that could have been so much better. I am currently taking our church through a series on the book of Romans. Yesterday's text was Romans 1:16-17, the theme of the whole epistle, and possibly one of the most potent sections of the whole New Testament. Of all the places to do a weak job, why here? I was talking with Janet my wife in the afternoon, she was honest and encouragening, brining me back to reality a bit. The sum and substance of our conversation ended up being this. Even if I felt like it could have gone a lot better (and honestly it probably could have) I rest in the reality that His Word does not return void. As Isaiah 55:10-11 says..

Apparently, in Colorodo it is unlawful for a jury member to reference God's law in coming to a verdict.

During oral arguments before the Supreme Court last month, defense attorney Kathleen Lord said the jurors had gone outside the law. "They went to the Bible to find out God's position on capital punishment," she said.

On a spiritual level, the source of law is God Himself. Our framers attributed our very rights as "endowed by our Creator". As a Constitutional matter, this is quite scary, even if you don't believe in the Bible. I don't know much about jury rules (maybe [Matt] can help with this one), but it seems to me that in a free society, part of the beauty is that citizens bring with them their beliefs and who they are to the jury room. They are expected to objectivly deliberate about what they believe is true or not true about the case, however the sentence under the law can not be separated from their personal view of justice. For government to separate a persons beliefs and opinions from their actions is, according to James Madison (Federalist Paper #10), is to remove liberty itself. Faireness does not come from government stepping in, it comes from competing factions within the jury room. It is in by encouraging free and competing thoughts that freedom is ensured, not by mandating one faction (in this case Atheism).

This morning's message, God's Care for the Discouraged, at Hope Bible Church, greatly encouraged me. In 1 Kings 19:1-21, the great prophet Elijah, after demonstrating great faith in God by calling down fire to discredit the false god Baal on Mt. Carmel (listen to Elijah's contest on Mt. Carmel), is quickly overwhelmed by the the threat of Jezebel; discouraged to the point of asking God to take his life. The Lord comforts Elijah, and gives him a new perspective. I wanted to quickly write down the lessons shared from this passage, so I don't forget them.

3 Causes of Discouragement

1. Failed Anticipations - dissappointment
2. Let Down After Victory - we tend to be more open to discouragement after a period of blessing or spiritual "success"
3. Distored Perspectives Regarding:
   • The timeline of God's purpose
   • The real significance of current circumstances
   • The false perception of being alone

4 Antidotes for Discouragement

1. God's Compassionate Care
   • His patience - (1 Kings 19:5,7,9,11,13)
   • His nurturing provision (vv. 5-8)
   • His patient and tender teaching (vv. 9-14)
   • Application
     • Are we tender toward others? (1 Thess 5:14)
     • Do we expect more from ourselves than God does? (Psalm 103:6-14) - He knows that we are but dust, and that is why He is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness.
2. God's Plan - "My plan is bigger than you, Elijah" (vv.15-18)
3. God's Design of Discipleship - God intended Elijah to pass the mantel to Elisha. (v.16)
4. God's Preservation - God always keeps a faithful remnant. "Your not the only one Elijah, there are 7000". (v.18)

When we are discouraged, we need to pray for eyes to see God's perspectives regarding His compassionate care, sovereign plan, design through others, and the way He preserves His people.

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might. -- Eph 1:18-19 (NASB)

His might, not ours.

Following the recent death of Jacques Derrida, JamesJ asked me this question: How does deconstruction relate to postmodernism?

This is a complicated question, mostly because most critics (literary critics, who don’t really criticize, but that's semantics) can’t talked about deconstruction without talking about postmodernism; understandably so, because deconstruction by its own definition cannot be defined.

Let’s understand what the two have in common. Boiled down to their basics, both methodologies question the relationship between the signifier and the signified. The basic argument is, meaning cannot be known because language is a collection of symbols, that are not always agreed upon; that is, the aporia of our language ( or any language for that matter) makes it impossible to determine absolute meaning. This function of language is responsible for puns, political humor, actually all sorts of humor, and questioning previously established truths.