a little tidbit

Mid-day in the second day of this women's conference I finally am taking some time to sit a minute. Phew. I'm skipping 3 sets of workshops to 'come away' with my Jesus and it's nice. My workshop yesterday went fine. I didn't feel as though my communication skills were as refined as when I preached at our church -my husband says that's because we have an open heaven there :o). But I just pray that people were blessed, challenged and encouraged and that God was able to take my weak attempt at words and speak His life into the heart of the women here.

Brian Zahnd had an incredible blog post about a week ago, that I just found time to read today. I encourage you to go read the whole thing HERE but if you can't here's a little tidbit of what he said.


As the Jews waited for the Kingdom to come, they belonged basically to four persuasions.

1. The Moralists -- the Pharisees and their "take back Israel for God" movement.

2. The Zealots -- who wanted to take up the sword and violently overthrow the Romans.

3. The Compromisers -- The Sadducees and Herodians who collaborated with and adopted the values of the Gentiles.

4. The Separatists -- Like the Essenes who escaped into the wilderness in order to create the Kingdom of God separate from the wider world.

But when Jesus came on the scene, He defied all of these Messianic expectations.


* Jesus was not a moralist. He ate and drank with sinners.

* Jesus was not a zealot. He taught His disciples to turn the other cheek.

* Jesus was not a compromiser. He called people to repent of their sins.

* Jesus was not a separatist. He was fully engaged with the surrounding culture.