So yes, it has been a long time. For those who didn't know, which I assume is most of you, I just got a job as a theological writer for the Moody Bible Institute. My job is to answer questions that people write in with. I have to answer it from a Moody standpoint, which means that some of my convictions I have to step over and answer from strictly Moody's. Anyways, I think I'll post some of my answers here, and then add a little response from me.

Dear Diane,
Thank you for submitting your question during the 2010 Founder’s Week conference! We appreciate your dedication to the Scriptures and your attention to detail while listening to the Founder’s Week sessions.

In the Greek New Testament, “to beget” someone is to become their father. Like in Matthew 1:2, “Abraham begat (or “was the father of,” depending on translation) Isaac.” When it is used concerning Jesus, it is describing the relationship between Jesus the Son and God the Father.

The word became a very technical term in the Nicene Creed (one of the earliest statements about what a Christian must believe). The Creed says, “[We believe in] one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten from the Father before all the ages, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made…” This term is talking about Jesus’ relationship as the Son to the Father. “Begotten” is not referring to a single point in time when Jesus was conceived or made, but that, for all eternity, Jesus has been the Son of God.

“Begotten” also has the implication that the Son “comes from” the Father. Like Isaac “comes from” Abraham, or you “come from” your father, the Son “comes from” the Father. However, in Jesus’ relationship with the Father, there is no beginning to the relationship. Maybe an analogy will help you understand. Think of a star. A star is always generating light. As long as the star exists, light is proceeding from it. The same thing is true with the Son and the Father. The Son is always “coming from” the Father. The Father has eternally begotten the Son.

This term does not have to refer to physical birth. To help you understand the relationship implied in “begotten,” look at Philemon 1:10. The ESV reads, “I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment.” The same Greek word for begotten is used here when Paul says, “whose father I became.” It’s obvious that this is not talking about Paul’s physical child. Instead, he’s talking about a relationship. It’s a relationship where the father has authority and the son submits to his will. This is the same relationship that Jesus has with God the Father. The Father has authority and the Son submits to His will.

We want to make it very clear that this relationship between the Father and the Son is eternal. Jesus has always existed as the Son of God. The eternal nature of Jesus is a hill upon which many Christians have died, and you are right in defending it. We urge you to continue in your study of theology, and we pray that God, “may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know the hope to which he has called you” (Ephesians 1:17-18).


JEREMY'S THOUGHTS
I had forgotten how confusing this might be for people, but this is truly a hill that Christians die upon. The "begetting" of Jesus Christ is what sets Christians apart from Jehovah's Witnesses, it's the battle that was fought in the early church with Arius. Jesus is the eternal Son of God, not referring to a physical birth, like God had relations with a woman, but strictly relational. The Father is the head of the Son, and the Son submits to the Father's authority. It's a beautiful thing, and one that shows us the value of submission. Jesus Christ submitted to the Father, it's not a menial or belittling task. We think of submission as being weak, but it's actually being like Jesus.

Hello everyone!

I made it back from Israel just fine..had a lovely trip (I slept most of the way). And now I am in Mississippi with the lovely Julianna for the next two weeks! I am so excited! I love being here. I don't have a whole lto of time to write now, but I hope to be able to write some final thoughts on Israel in the next couple of days. Sound good? Thanks for all the prayers! God bless!

-Jeremy

Hello everyone!

Can't write much now, but I'm going to be on a plane home in 24 hours! I should be able to write some more when I get there. This week has been SO good. Humbling and encouraging, it was everything all wrapped into 7 days. I'll tell you all about it when I get back. God bless ya. Don't die from the swine flu. (America drives me NUTS! SERIOUSLY. One person dies and we FREAK OUT. My word. I read that some people wear MASKS around. Unbelievable. I apologize for the rant.)

-Jeremy

The stories just get more intense. Saturday was one of the best days of my life. Seriously, it was incredible. Where to start...

Woke up late (it was great). Then Ragy took us out to a professional soccer game. Security was so tight, we got frisked 6 times going in! After the game, Ragy took us to his home and his mother cooked for us. It's safe to say that his mom is an amazing cook. It was touching to be invited to his home. It really meant a lot to us.

But the amazing part came right after. We went to the Coptic Church for the Easter service...and after walking around for awhile, guess who shows up? Ole Sammr. It is perfectly fitting with all the other times that I met Sammr. He just shows up in random places. But I talked with him, realizing that God had crossed our paths miraculously for a reason. God helped me to lay out the gospel for him one more time, telling him that he HAD to make a decision, he couldn't wait because Satan would snatch the gospel from his heart if he waited. We talked, we prayed. The spiritual war inside of Sammr was visible on his face. I could see the fight inside of him, whether to give up his sinful nature and become a slave of Christ or whether he wanted to revel in his sin. And he made his choice, he decided to follow Jesus for the rest of his life! (HALLELUJAH!). We prayed together, I gave him a big hug and was able to point him to other Christians in the area that would help him in his walk. It was so humbling! I DID NOTHING. God worked in everything, hunting Sammr down, not letting him escape. He pulled Sammr in. It was a beautiful thing to watch. Sammr saw in me what he needed, peace and hope in Christ. God brought me to Alexandria for this reason, to show a broken man that a life lived for Jesus is worthwhile and possible. He'd been jaded by the hypocrisy of Christians, but God was breaking him down. It was an amazing thing to watch. I love how Jesus works!


Then Ragy took us back to our room to say goodbye...and it was touching to see how we had touched him. We had bonded with a brother in the Lord, a man who was from a different language and culture, but we bonded as brothers pursuing the same goal, the advancement of his kingdom upon this earth.

I love being a slave of Jesus. There is no better way to live this life. Every day I am surprised by new blessings from Him. Why would I live ANY OTHER WAY!? Praise God!



Dabumba

A couple of days ago the three of us here in Egypt got to play soccer all day with kids our age. It was amazing. They were all Christians, and we just had a good time playing. After playing, I was the one to give the message. I'll post it for those of you who want to read it :).
Hello, my name is Jeremy Slager and I want to tell you today why I am here. I am a student in America and I love to play football. But the reason I am with you today is not because I love football. The reason I am here is because I love Jesus. I am here today because I have given everything I have to follow Jesus and Jesus brought me to Alexandria to share the love of Jesus with you.

To begin I will read from Colossians 1:21-23. As I read, think about what your life was like before Jesus rescued you. “And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I Paul, became a minister.” We were alienated from God, with no hope of coming to him. Think of it like this. Before Jesus saved you, you were on the bad team. God was on one team and you were on the other. Our sin made us the enemy of God. And because we were on the other team, God would have sent us to Hell. But when Jesus died on the cross, he ended sins and brought us over to his team. Being a follower of Christ means that you are joining his team. There is something special about joining Christ’s team. You will never play alone. There are brothers and sisters in Alexandria and around the world who are pursuing the same goal. And Jesus is playing with you. He has given you his Holy Spirit to help you. You will never be alone on Christ’s team.

What does it mean to join Christ’s team? It means that you give your life for the team. In Colossians 3:5, Paul tells us what it means to join Christ’s team. “Put to death therefore, what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” When we join Christ’s team, we have to put to death all that is not from Christ. Kill it. Destroy it. You are fighting in a cage with sin and only one will leave, you or the sin. You are on the football field and only one can win, you or the sin. Many times we forget that we’re actually in the match. We think we can have a little sin and a little Jesus at the same time. This is a great problem with followers of Christ today. They go to church, they worship God, they pray, and they tell everyone how much they love Jesus. But then after church, they have sex with their girlfriends, they lust after girls, they covet the famousness and money of others, they do the exact opposite of what Jesus did. Think of it like this. You play for Egypt in the World Cup. And Egypt makes it to the final match against Brazil. And when the match starts, you play for Egypt. But then after 10 minutes you play for Brazil. You go back and forth, I play for Egypt! Then, I play for Brazil! Would you be a good teammate? No! It would be stupid, no one would do that. But Christians do it all the time. When they are around Christians, they act like they are on the Christian team. But when they leave the Church, they act like they are on Satan’s team. How can this be!? We all have to make a decision who we will play for, and once we have made that decision, we have to act like it!

The next passage in Colossians tells us how we must act to be on Jesus’ team. “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.” We put sin to death, but we put on these qualities to be like Jesus. Every team has a jersey, and in these verses we find out the jersey of Jesus’ team looks like. “bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” Do you remember how much you were forgiven? Being on Jesus’ team demands that you forgive like he forgave you. People will do some very bad things to you, but you must forgive. “And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” Before a footballer plays for a team, he puts on their uniform. The uniform of Jesus’ team is love. This love is deep, it comes from the heart. The love of Jesus is when you care more about everyone else than yourself. This is what makes those who follow Christ different from the rest of the world. Your friends should look at you and see a love, a genuine caring about them, that they see from no one else. Love is the uniform of a Christian. “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” To be on Jesus’ team, everything you do is for him. When you are at church, every word and action is done for Jesus. When you are at school, every word and action is done for Jesus. When you are playing football, every word and action is done for Jesus. When you are at home, every word and action is done for Jesus. This is what it means to be on Jesus’ team. Are you willing to join his team? It is hard work, trust me. But also trust me when I say it is worth it. Joining the Lord’s team is the only way to live this life. Will you join his team?

Bahibokum, Shokran.


We've had an amazing time here. God has blessed us in great ways. Keep praying for Sammr. He needs to get connected to believers here. That's the most important thing for him now (aside from believing in Jesus).

Talk to you all soon. Heading back to the States in 2 weeks!

-Jeremy

Still here. I'm actually in the Alexandrian Library right now, which is awesome. I'ts the coolest library I've ever been in (yes, much cooler than even Moody's).

Keep praying for Sammer. God is doing a lot in his life right now, and he's on the edge of committing his life to Christ. God brought us together last night (he was driving past in a taxi while I was walking down the road...so we spent the next 5 hours together) and we got to talk more about his life and what he's going through. It's a long road of sanctification, but all things are possible!

Tomorrow I'm speaking after a soccer camp...so pray that what I say will get through to the kids. The problems here are very similar to in America, they live one way in the church and another way outside the church.

Gotta run...have a wonderful day! Blessings from Egypt.

-Dabumba

e

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Wow. That's all I've got to say about the last couple of days. Wow.

I made it to Cairo Egypt just fine, it was a LONG journey though. 12 hours in a stinky van in the middle of NOWHERE. We wondered why anyone would have ever crossed that barren land...I don't understand. But God led the Hebrews out right there. Cairo is INTENSE. Cars flying everywhere. People flying inbetween the cars. Food is dirt cheap (probably because it's covered in dirt). And it's a blast. It's so African. It reminds me of Niger a lot. I love it. After our stay at a hotel that night, the next morning the real fun began. PYRAMIDS. We got an amazing deal (10 dollars for the whole day of driving) and our guide took us around. The first place was the oldest stone building in the world...about 5500 years old. It's not in the picture, but htis picture was more interesting anyways. I'm trying tob e the headless statue.
And here's the coolest part of the day...we rented horses and camels to go around the pyramids! Me and my horse had a great time...we got a full gallop several times while we're going around the pyramids...which was quite startling because I've never ridden a horse before. I felt like I was always about to fall off the thing. At the end I got the hang of it...and one of the group said I looked like Aragorn (thank you very much).
Then we cruise over to the Sphinx...which is pretty ridiculous as well. FYI--the Great Pyramid was the tallest structure in the world until the Eiffel Tower in 1894 (give or take twenty years). That means for over 4000 years it was the tallest building in the world. THAT IS A RECORD.


And now the exciting part, Alexandria. I made it here just fine, and we're staying at an Anglican church with an amazing Church. The people are great. I don't undrestand a word of Arabic, but it's exciting just to play ping pong and soccer and laugh. I was amazed at how they have arranged everything for us. There is a guy here named Ragi who is a sports ministry director in Alexandria, and he set up a 3 day camp around us! So there are three of us (the great pyramid picture is us three) who are going to play soccer with the Egyptians and then share the gospel afterward! There is such an opening with this ministry, because the people will play soccer but will never go inside the church. Ragi has quite the ministry going, God is providing for him in amazing ways. And we get to be a small part of it. We'll use our "status" as Americans however the Lord wants to use it. (When the Egyptians here Americans are playing soccer, they come running).
And pray for a guy named Sammer. I met him this afternoon and the Lord is really working on his heart. I coudl see it in his eyes, he needs Jesus. I just need to get into contact with him again, and hopefully we'lll be able to talk more.

Thanks for all the prayer! Love you all. Hope you have a wonderful night. Blessings from Egypt.

-Jeremy