#Rooted in Jesus

[tristansherwin]

CHRIST | WHO ARE YOU? (Col. 2:6—15)

CHRIST | WHO ARE YOU? (Col. 2:6-15) 'In a way, we are all like carrots. Like orange carrots selectively bred by Dutch farmers, we all, in some way, select what is important in defining who we are and how we express who we are.'

Here’s my longer sermon notes from this morning’s Metro Christian Centre service (dated 18th June 2023), continuing our series in the letter Colossians. You can also catch up with this via MCC’s YouTube channel (just give us time to get the video uploaded). ‘We are proud individuals, living for the city | but the flames couldn’t go much higher | We find gods and religions to paint us with…

[madewithonerib]

Prayer Leads to Maturity P1,2,3,4,5,6 | Tim Mackie [Psalm 1:1-5]

Prayer, as outlined in Psalm 1, is deliberate meditation that occurs thru-out the day; and will eventually result in loving desire for GOD, only to please HIM [obey] & nothing to grieve HIM [hating evil].

In a fallen world full of distractions & temptations, it's a constant struggle to prioritize GOD—we must ruthlessly eliminate hurry and distractions to quiet the mind—so it can fully focus & absorb what GOD has in store for our communion/oneness with HIM.

In so doing, we learn to value hearing from GOD —and grow to enjoy HIS presence above all else.

The invitations & calls for attention will feel like an impossible sacrifice, but weening away from things that are of no lasting value will also cause us to pray for GOD's wisdom & strength.

This is like someone who is receiving this source of life from outside themselves & it yields fruit.

……………………………………………………………………..…….. It actually matures into, the poetry interprets it as fruit: whatever you want, these actions are things that this person is regularly producing in their life because of this source that they are connected to & whose leaf doesn't wither. [3] ……………………………………………………………………..……..

The Fruit of Righteousness

Philippians 1:11 | ¹¹ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through JESUS CHRIST, to the glory & praise of GOD.

Goal of the fruit of righteousness is “praise and glory to GOD”

[5] The point is not learning.

The point is to re-read this text slowly & aloud to yourself & then to engage in the 2nd step that is called meditation, which the point isn't to get far

………………………………………………………….……………. the point is to focus in on some key words key ideas/themes in this particular passage ………………………………………………………….…………….

The intimate moments filled with insight & wonderment will build up our understanding & faith in the supremacy of JESUS' love and immense sacrifice HE made for us.

[pipers-pixels-and-papers]

Warning: Entering ecological dead zone. Adding report to databank.

The brainrot is returning so here's a Ryley

[inamindfarfaraway]

The Exorcists’ Masks of Virtue

The vast majority of Exorcists in Hazbin Hotel have a notable design element that other angels don’t: their masks are missing an eye. Specifically, the right eye.

I believe this is a reference to the Bible, Matthew 5:29. Jesus says, “If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.”

He’s being hyperbolic. Mr Free Healthcare was not pro-mutilation. What he means is that you have to be willing to make sacrifices to prevent sin. The context of the eye metaphor is him condemning adultery and warning that even something as easy, casual and small as a look full of lustful intent can lead to further, worse sin if you don’t notice your sin, hold yourself accountable for it and do the work to not let it influence your decisions. This will probably be hard. It could be very, very painful. Changing your perspective can feel as horrible as plucking out your eye, so many people can’t bring themselves to do it. But although it won’t feel that way in the moment, it’s healthier for our general wellbeing in the long run to abandon traits and behaviours that damage ourselves and/or others.

(You may notice that Jesus’s teaching that you can have sinned, redeem yourself by giving up sin and thus escape damnation is the founding principle of the Hazbin Hotel. You may also notice that it contradicts everything the Exorcists believe.)

The Exorcists seem to follow this idea of painfully excising badness for the sake of the greater good devoutly to the point of placing it above teachings like ‘Thou shalt not kill’, with their job being to remove sin, in the form of sinners, to protect Heaven. Hence the missing right eyes. They’re a declaration of moral righteousness and inability to stumble.

But the truth is that the Exorcists all have their right eyes. Their flawlessness is a facade. Underneath, they are untouched, think themselves morally untouchable and, as shown by their horror and outrage when even one of them is killed, would much rather be physically untouchable too. This perfectly represents their complete unwillingness to acknowledge their own faults, let alone improve. They are never the ones who sacrifice. They force the sinners to sacrifice and don’t compensate it with any salvation. They metaphorically rip out the sinners’ eyes, but still condemn their entire bodies as inherently, permanently sinful. So they’ll just have to do another Extermination to get the other eyes! And another one to cut off their right hands! And so on until there’s nothing left.

The only exception to the rule is Vaggie, both in appearance and character. Her mask has the left eye crossed out instead. Even before her expulsion, she’s set apart to the audience as an Exorcist who has the capacity to, shall we say, see a different side of things. Her mask having its ‘sinful’ right eye reflects her understanding that the Exorcist worldview is wrong.

When she almost kills a demon child, her hateful vision clears. She discards the part of herself that’s an unquestioning, merciless agent of death, terror and grief… and as punishment for what Lute perceives as treacherous weakness, gets her eye plucked out.

Of course Lute leaves her with only the ‘sinful’ eye. It brands Vaggie forever as the inversion, a perversion, of what the Exorcists are meant to be.

You know, all this talk of eye removal in the Bible reminds me of another line - ‘an eye for an eye’. Adam directly quotes it in “Hell is Forever”. He uses it to frame the Exterminations as Old Testament-style punitive justice; the sinners did harm and so they receive it. But putting aside the debate about how ethical the concept of revenge is, the entire point of taking an eye for an eye is that it’s proportional. The punishment fits the crime. If someone cuts your eye out, you shouldn’t murder their whole family in front of them and then slowly disembowel them to death. That would be the sin of wrath. You should just make them pay without excessive pain or collateral damage. This is the fairest form of revenge.

The Exorcists don’t do that! The Exterminations aren’t proportional to the wrongs of all they hurt, nor was Vaggie’s brutal punishment equivalent to her extremely mild insubordination. Lute literally takes Vaggie’s eye, and more, after Vaggie does nothing to her! That’s the opposite of the phrase! Adam and his soldiers are wrathful and cruel, deriving satisfaction from others’ suffering. But they just can’t stop going on and on about how disgustingly evil the sinners are, in total hypocrisy… despite some of the sinners being far better people than the genocidal Exorcists are… it’s like they’re obsessed with specks of dust in the sinners’ eyes when they have massive logs stuck in their own. Oh hey, that’s in the Bible too!

[memobread]

his norman reedus era😩😩😩😫😫

[things-methinks]

Can McLaren shut the fuck up for 2 minutes, my god get a grip on running a team

[vinsportgar]

nagachiken studies

[artaintfartwarriors]

[wiirocku]

Revelation 22:16 (KJV) - I Jesus have sent Mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the Bright and Morning Star.

[ferdieinceladoncity]

I find it incredibly fucking hilarious that in 'the rain king' in the ending scene where all the couples at the high school reunion are slow dancing and kissing, the camera zooms in on a woman with the exact same haircut as scully, leading you to believe for exactly one second that it IS scully, making out on the dance floor, before pulling back and revealing mulder and scully standing amongst all the couples side-to-side. These overtly shippy episodes make me feel like im being toyed with, but I'm not complaining.

[mossyappendix]

just girly dream awakening Vanilla 🌞🌞🌞🫨

[oofuri2003]

aaaand we’re back

[the0garden0of0eyes]

[falllpoutboy]

my moms no longer a sydcarmy truther and thinks its sad carmy broke up with the “doctor girl”

[so-very-small]

look at him. the world’s only borrower with catholic guilt

[eldritchqueerture]

arthur morgan got me feelin unwise. and by that i mean bawlin my fuckin eyes out