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reulaux · 1 year ago

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To Ascend Part 5

The next morning, Shen Qingqiu comes to Yue Qingyuan’s house.

“Qi ge, can you grant me the permission to enter seclusion for infinite time without interruption no matter what?"

"Xiao Jiu, but the demons are approaching?"

"Don't our shidi and shimei always scorn my weak cultivation? I’ll only get in their way once the demons reach Cang Qiong. I'd better improve my strength. And I feel like I'm on the verge of breaking through."

"But you're the sect strategist..."

Shen Qingqiu smiles. "Qi ge, under an overwhelming force, there is no scheme that can withstand it. This is my strategy: to increase my cultivation. Only then might we have a chance."

"Is that so?"Yue Qingyuan contemplates. "Alright, Xaio Jiu may do as he wishes. I'll inform the other Peak Lords."

"Can I trust Zhangmen shixiong won’t break the promise this time?"

Yue Qinguan looks down guiltily. "I swear this time I won't."

"Thank you." Shen Qingqiu turns away to leave.

"Xiao Jiu, wait." Shen Qingqiu turns back. "Please don't rush. You're prone to qi deviations."

"Rushing? Me?" Shen Qingqiu snorts. "I'm not a fool. My qi deviations are from.. A different cause." Shen Qingqiu looks at Yue Qingyuan intently, "On the other hand, you have to stay alive until I come back. I may have the knowledge to severe the bond between a life force and a spiritual sword, but I don't have a means to resurrect a human."

"You have the knowledge...?" Yue Qingyuan looks surprised. "Xiao Jiu, I promise!"

Shen Qingqiu gives a small smile and walks away.

---

The Qing Jing Peak Lord meditates alone in the Ling Xi Cave.

He knows he has been dismissed all his life that his opportunity to cultivate was too long passed, that his foundation was too weak, that his cultivation was too ruined to reach any higher. He knows his life has been harder than many. It has given him too many scars and their consequences shape him into what he was never able to shake off. He knew his abandonment issue and inferiority complex were going to turn into heart demons that got in his way in every step forward, so his choices were to either ignore them and run as far away from them as possible forever, or face them head on.

If he was going to toil his life in cultivation and live with it to eternity, he might as well treat taking down heart demons as his life goal. Therefore, when he started cultivating the Core Formation, he chose the Path of Absolution.

Even though he succeeded some and became calmer, his martial siblings' impressions of him during the discipleship are not so easily erased. Despite all his efforts, he could only carve a position for himself only in name. There is no acceptance of his standing among his peers.

Shen Qingqiu reminisces his past. He remembers his mouth turning downwards as soon as his newest disciple, Luo Binghe, mentioned his mother. He remembers taking deep breaths to calm himself and downed the tea in one gulp, standing up abruptly, hiding his slightly shaken hands under his long, wide sleeves, and briskly walked out off the Bamboo House, while ordering Ming Fan to give the new disciple a room in the dorm, uniforms, and a cultivation manual. He knew if he stayed there any longer, he was going to act out from jealousy, then qi deviate, and destroy his hard-earned cultivation progresses.

Shen Qingqiu might not see the new disciple’s facial expression, but the child sitting there sported one of the brightest smiles in his life.

It took several days for Shen Qingqiu to solidify his self control to face Luo Binghe again. He briefly gave few necessary pointers in studies, grudgingly noticed how quickly and easily the boy learned, and had to leave before his composure cracked.

---

Luo Binghe stands on the demolished battlefield. He looks around, noting he has not seen shizun for a long time.

In the past, Luo Binghe has seen his shizun looking at him unreadably, neutrally, and many times unhappily, but Luo Binghe also saw his shizun quietly frowned at most things.

Shizun often checked progresses of each disciple.

He called each disciple to play weiqi with him, and held weiqi competitions for all disciples to play against themselves.

He started a stanza and had each disciple continued the next.

He infused qi into his paintings and calligraphy and made them look ethereal.

He taught disciples to make all kinds of spiritual musical instruments, then composed music sheet for each instrument and arranged them to play together in concerts that rang across the peaks. The intertwining sounds and harmony that came out captivated any cultivators that passed by. The collective qi produced swirled strongly throughout the sect, soothing, clear, and calm.

Then it changed when Shen Qingqiu announced he was going into seclusion and exited months later in a battered appearance, his robe flayed and splotched with blood, his expression disappointed? Frustrated? Self loathing?

To Ascend Part 1

I've had this idea for months but I can't figure the details near the end, and the scale of the fic seems too large for my experience so here is the snippet? to read.

The summary might be:

'Shen Qingqiu did not pour tea on Luo Binghe, did not give him a faulty cultivation manual, did not lock him in the woodshed, nor did he punish him unjustly.

Nevertheless, Shen Qingqiu is a cold and bitter man.

The Endless Abyss still opens in the Immortal Alliance Conference. Luo Binghe's seal still breaks.

And there stands Shen Qingqiu who is intensely staring at the pleading and crying disciple.'

===

When original Shen Qingqiu is standing in front of the Endless Abyss as Binghe's seal breaks, the first person who comes to looks for him is Yue Qingyuan.

Yue Qingyuan, seeing the glowing Heavenly Demon mark no difference from on Tianlang jun on Binghe's forehead, shouts to Shen Qingqiu to step back, and immediately unsheathes Xuan Su for the first time in 17 years to blast at Binghe to save his Xiao Jiu.

Shen Qingqiu, however, doesn't step back as he's told. He inscrutably watches Binghe's lying sprawl on the ground, whose wounds are slowly mending together.

Mobei jun attacks Yue Qingyuan. Yue Qingyuan tells Shen Qingqiu to call for help but Shen Qingqiu remains inaction until other cultivators come due to the intense qi clashing.

They fight. Weapons clang, talismans fly, seals glow, demonic energy lashes, but Shen Qingqiu never participates.

Yue Qingyuan finally blasts Binghe into the Endless Abyss.

Unbeknownst to everyone except Shen Qingqiu, Mobei jun simultaneously opens a portal just inside the Endless Abyss to catch Luo Binghe and another portal for himself to teleports to the Demon Realm.

Yue Qingyuan runs to check on Shen Qingqiu, "Qingqiu shidi, are you alright?"

Shen Qingqiu remains silent then tilts his head up and asks, "Are you, Zhangmen shixiong? Why did your sword siphon power from your life force?"

Yue Qingyuan pauses.

It was the first time since Shen Qingqiu stepped into Cang Qiong that he saw Yue Qingyuan drew Xuan Su. Who would have thought that his only opportunity was on the day his disciple turned out to inherit a demon lineage?

"Shidi, that... Isn't important right now. Are you injured anywhere?"

Shen Qingiu clicks his tongue at the blatant evasion and snaps open his fan to hide his face.

"Then this shidi's injuries aren't important right now either." Shen Qingqiu turns his face to stare at the broken Zheng Yang.

"Xiao Jiu..." Yue Qingyuan frets and reaches out to check for Shen Qingqiu's injuries, noting the unusual absence of the aversion to skin contacts or the angry retort for calling the old nickname.

"Your disciple... Did you know he's a Heavenly Demon?"

"A half Heavenly Demon," Shen Qingqiu corrects. "And no, I didn't."

Shen Qingqiu ignores Yue Qingyuan’s fussing, and bends down to pick up Zheng Yang shards one by one into his qiankun pouch.

Other cultivators around them fight the remaining demons, rescue the injured, and retreat.

At the now abandoned battling site, a small green snake slithers through, sticks its tongue out to lick the demon blood that soaks the ground, and transforms.

#svsss #original shen qingqiu #luo binghe #snippet #yue qingyuan

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zee-has-commitment-issues · 3 years ago

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Hello, my loves. This is so off topic for my blog, so like I apologize for that.

I got really really bored. If y'all don't know, I left the Christian faith after spending literally my entire life there (like I was a youth leader and the music worship leader at my church for years). These years have provided me with a knowledge about the Bible I will simply never forget because wow. I have read the Bible 12 times. The Bible is full of ridiculous stories. So I have complied a list:

The Most Batshit Ridiculous Stories in the Bible (off the top of my head):

Matthew 21:18-22

TLDR: So, essentially, Jesus just fucking kills a tree because it's not in harvest season. Like walked up to a tree and was like "gimme the fruit" and the tree was like "bruh it's December, I don't have fruit" so Jesus was like "then perish" and it did.

Full Verse is:

18 Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. 19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered. 20 When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked. 21 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. 22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

1 Samuel 18:27

TLDR: Daniel wants to get married, but the bride's father doesn't want that. So he sends Daniel on a quest to collect the foreskins of his 100 enemies. He 100% thinks Daniel will die on this quest because who the fuck goes around collecting the foreskins of enemies? But Daniel not only succeeds, but comes back with double the foreskins he was required to retrieve.

Full Verse is:

27 Wherefore David arose and went, he and his men, and slew of the Philistines two hundred men; and David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full tale to the king, that he might be the king's son-in-law. And Saul gave him Michal his daughter to wife.

Judges 14:6

TLDR: Samson was strolling with his parents, saw a lion, and for some reason decided to just rip it in half? Like figured that was the only way to keep the lion from interrupting his family time. The lion didn't even fucking attack.

Full Verse is:

6 The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done.

Luke 14:25-26

TLDR: Jesus just fucking straight up tells his friends that they have to hate their parents and themselves if they want to continue being friends with him. That is real. This actually happens in the Bible. This is often referred to as the "Cost of Discipleship."

Full Verse is:

25 Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

There are others. Like the fact that Jonah was swallowed by a fish. Or there was one guy whose donkey straight up called him a bitch. Or the fact that one other guy put tree bark in front of his goats and that somehow created zebras. I literally could go on for hours. These are the ridiculous stories of the bible.

#zee got bored #the bible is ridiculous sometimes

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eleanorfenyxwrites · 3 years ago

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After Each Midnight Begins A New Day

Extra #13c - Technically A Cutsleeve? (Mo Xuanyu and Lan Jingyi)

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3]

[Masterpost] [AO3]

Instead of a snippet for WIP Wednesday this week how about an entire chapter? I'd like to say it's one of the ones I've been working on here and there but....I wrote all of this a WHILE ago and thought I wanted to add more then decided I didn't so. OH WELL here it is anyway, new chapter of 'Technically A Cutsleeve?'

-/-

“Mo-gongzi, are you sure you’re ah…ready?” Zizhen asks, and though Jingyi heartily seconds that question he’s glad that someone else has asked it.

“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?” Mo Xuanyu asks breezily, like he isn’t standing across from Jingyi in the Jins’ training yard with a borrowed practice blade in his hand still dressed like he’s ready to go hold court with Jin-zongzhu at any moment. The multiple layers of his full skirts flutter ever so slightly in the breeze and the jewels in his hair and dangling from his ears catch the afternoon sunlight with little winks when he turns his head to smile at Jin Ling, Sizhui, and Zizhen standing far enough away to not be in danger.

“Well, it’s just -”

“Just let him do it,” Jin Ling interrupts to grumble. “He’s got robes to train in if he wants, but if he doesn’t want to then he doesn’t have to.”

“Aw, thanks A-Ling! So considerate of your shushu,” Mo Xuanyu teases, and Jingyi doesn’t bother hiding his smirk when Jin Ling visibly flinches at the not-so-subtle reminder that he hasn’t been considerate so far. “He used to tell that to the rest of the disciples too, when we were kids.”

“If you’re sure then I’m ready to start when you are,” Jingyi says mostly so that Mo Xuanyu can’t say anything else to make him inclined to forgive Jin Ling any faster.

Sparring with Mo Xuanyu is, unsurprisingly, fun. Jingyi starts their first round with the easiest forms he knows, the ones he helps teach to the youngest of the juniors when they’re ready to graduate from working on their forms alone to sparring each other in preparation to start night hunts in a few years. He isn’t sure how far Mo Xuanyu got in his sword training before he’d decided not to pursue martial discipleship, but it’s clear very quickly that he at least knows how to do that much and so Jingyi ups the difficulty as they go.

Mo Xuanyu is by no means a natural swordsman – but Jingyi doesn’t think that he would ever claim to be one in the first place, and so their match becomes more of an exhibition than an outright match like he might be inclined to do with his friends. He looks gorgeous anyway, practically glowing in the afternoon light and ever so slightly disheveled around the edges, stray hairs sticking to his temples and at the nape of his neck by the time Jingyi whirls to a stop with him to a round of clapping from the other three off to the side.

The smile Mo Xuanyu gives him likely wouldn’t be considered blinding by anyone else - it’s small and maybe a little shy around the edges, rouged lips just barely tipped up at the corners until the little yedian marks at the corners of his mouth dip into proper dimples - but Jingyi feels like he shouldn’t be allowed to witness such a stunning thing at all. “Thank you, Lan-gongzi,” Mo Xuanyu says, his tone somehow even gentler than Sizhui’s. “That was fun.”

Jingyi feels as winded as if the relatively gentle bout had ended with him slammed flat down on his back. “No need,” he responds without thinking. “I’m happy to do it again anytime.”

“I’ll hold you to that. Who’s next?” That last is thankfully directed to the others and Jingyi exhales as quietly as he can manage to hide how much it shivers in his chest. The look Sizhui gives him as Jingyi trades places with Zizhen is far more knowing than he’d prefer, but with Jin Ling right there there’s no way for his friend to ask him about it discreetly, and so he’s mercifully safe for a little while longer at least.

His luck continues to hold, surprisingly enough, and he has to wonder after a couple of days if it isn’t actually luck but instead Sizhui respecting the fact that he clearly doesn’t feel ready to talk about it, which is actually sweet enough that he almost considers telling him. Almost. Honestly if he were to choose any of his friends to discuss romance with it would probably be Zizhen first, but even then the thought of saying anything about it out loud, the thought of bringing anybody else into something so personal like that makes him a bit…squirmy. Especially considering it’s not just some vague idea of romance but that it actively involves someone else. And not just any someone else, but the last single son of the wealthiest great cultivation family, who oh yes, that’s right, is also their best friend’s uncle.

Gods this is awkward!

Still. If he doesn’t say it out loud to anybody else then it’s only awkward to him, and he can take that no problem. He’s been awkward in one way or another for his entire life after all, whether that be in the way he hadn’t been able to effectively control himself at all as a child and had therefore wound up punished more often than any other disciple in his generation, or the way he fumbles through social situations that he very rarely has the ‘proper’ responses to as expected by the rest of the world when they catch sight of his obviously Lan robes and headband. He can be awkward about this too, a little awkwardness hasn’t killed him yet.

It’s a fact he has to remind himself of every single time he sees Mo Xuanyu going about his daily life in Jinlintai, looking absolutely devastating without even seeming to try. After the eighth time he stumbles over nothing because he caught a glimpse of rouged lips and fluttering skirts he has to accept the fact that he’s been similarly cursed with the Lan heart and resign himself to his pining fate.

A week after all of these revelations upended his entire life and understanding of himself, Jingyi is distinctly relieved to leave Jinlintai for a couple days on a nighthunt with his friends and Jin Fei, who’s apparently old enough now to be leading his own nighthunts if he wants and so is perfectly fine to tag along with the four of them. He’s good company, so much like Jin Ling but more relaxed than his brother in the way that Jingyi sort of thinks all second-born kids are allowed to be. After all, Jin Ling is the Sect Heir, it stands to reason that his younger brother would be more relaxed about life in general considering he probably isn’t being raised with so many expectations as a Sect Leader has. (Though, he supposes, the same absolutely can’t be said for Lan-xiansheng as the second brother, so maybe in the end it really does still come down to personality.)

They spend the first night tracking their prey through the forest surrounding a small farming village near the Lanling border, the next day preparing their tools for the hunt, and that night bagging their prey rather neatly, all things considered. Not that the yaoguai went down easily, of course, but there are five of them to one of it, and there hasn’t been anything particularly vicious even in border towns without large sects nearby since Lianfang-zun’s watchtower idea was implemented as a joint effort by the great sects some years back. Still, a hunt is a hunt and outside of his occasional bouts of restlessness he is still a Lan, and therefore accustomed to going to bed at hai shi if at all possible – by the time they’re finished and bedding down for what few hours of the night are left, Lan Jingyi is utterly exhausted, hollowed out in the way he knows means he’s pushed himself (and his golden core) just a bit too far to be safe.

He’s lying on his back in his little one-man tent a safe distance away from the fire when the sound of talking rouses him from the doze he’d just barely slipped into, the others not used to sleeping as early as him even after a tiring hunt.

“Xiao-shushu told me you came and apologized about asking him to hide,” Jin Fei murmurs after some quiet jostling for position, barely audible over the crackling fire even with Jingyi’s qi-enhanced hearing.

“Yeah. So what? You think I shouldn’t have?”

“I think you shouldn’t have done anything that needed apologizing for in the first place,” Jin Fei’s response is outwardly lazy but the barb hidden in it is unmistakable. “You know dad came and told the rest of us we had to make sure to be extra nice to him for a while to make sure he knows we respect him? You really messed with his head this time, ge.”

Jin Ling sighs heavily and Jingyi uses the noise of it to cover the sound of him shifting enough to sit up and peek through the opening of his tent to where the pair of them are sitting in front of the fire, nothing more than nearly identical orange-limned silhouettes against the flames.

“Alright, fine! So I’m the worst behaved out of all of us, is that it then?”

“You said it, not me.”

“A-Fei!”

“Don’t pinch me A-Ling, how old are we?” Jin Fei snaps and Jingyi rolls his eyes as the pair of them wrestle for a second, shoving and pinching until they’re both apparently satisfied with the amount of roughhousing and settle again. At least that explains why Jin Ling shows his affection with shouting most of the time, he supposes.

“What did the others think about..what dad said?” Jin Ling asks once they’ve settled again, and Jingyi finds himself holding his breath as he waits for the answer. The only thing that would hurt Mo Xuanyu worse than Jin Ling being embarrassed of him, he thinks, is if the rest of Jin Ling’s siblings are too. He’s seen firsthand now how much Mo Xuanyu treasures every single member of his family – and he knows exactly what it’s like to face criticisms and uncertainty about where he belongs amongst the people that are supposed to be the closest to him. He hopes that Mo Xuanyu won’t have to be subjected to the same sort of pain.

“About what you’d expect, I guess. Lulu said she’d ask him to sit with her for her next three etiquette lessons with mom so she can make extra sure to ask him for help since mom taught him the same things before. A-Zhuang didn’t say anything but he nodded a lot with that look on his face that he gets when Great-uncle Lan brings him a new score to learn. A-Yu and A-Yan wanted to come after you with their knives but dad said no.”

Jin Ling sighs long and slow and Jingyi gets the sense that he’s scrubbing at his face judging by the way his silhouette shifts.

“I really fucked up this time, didn’t I?”

“Yeah. Think so.”

“Do you think mom’s going to tell anybody else?”

“Like who?”

Jin Ling huffs a sigh again and gestures expansively with a hand, sleeve trailing dramatically in the wake of it with a quiet swish.

“Oh I don’t know - any of the rest of our army of uncles, all of whom love jumping on any chance to scold me??”

“Ah come on, A-Ling, they’re not that bad! They’re hard on you because you’re the Heir, that’s all, and so many of them are Sect Leaders too. They can’t help it. But now that I’m old enough to go out hunting and everything they’re hard on me too, it isn’t just you. I swear I couldn’t shake da-jiu off the entire time I was in Cloud Recesses last summer, he wouldn’t quit pestering me to make sure I was working hard and getting along with all the other disciples…or fighting with the ones I didn’t and winning, even though I was getting along with everyone just fine. I didn’t mind too much though. They only want us to grow up well, you know? Xiao-shushu included.”

“I bet Uncle Nie wouldn’t scold me,” Jin Ling mutters as if he hadn’t heard a word his brother said.

“Which one? Pretty sure Uncle Jue would string you up by your toes.”

“I know that! Obviously I meant Uncle Sang. He never scolds anybody.”

“Mhm. Except he also acts just like da-jiu and xiao-shushu, so he’d probably be offended that you were embarrassed enough to ask xiao-shushu to hide like that and then scold you anyway. Or else er-jiu would do it on Uncle Sang’s behalf, and he’s great at scolding.”

Jingyi can’t tell if his head hurts from the sheer volume of uncles these two have to keep straight or if it’s from exerting too much spiritual energy on the nighthunt, but either way his temples are starting to feel tight.

“A-Fei…be honest with me.”

“About what?”

“You made friends at Cloud Recesses. You know how other people talk about people like xiao-shushu. Would you be eager for him to meet your friends, especially if they’ve never met someone like him before?”

Jin Fei is quiet for long enough that Jingyi wonders if he’s going to answer at all, that carefree attitude he typically sports apparently giving way for serious contemplation when needed. More surprising than that is that Jin Ling doesn’t rush him through the answer with his usual impatience, instead just letting him sit and think it through at his own pace.

“I think…people meet new types of people they’ve never seen before almost every day, especially as young as us, so it’s useless to worry about how they’ll react since it won’t change anything. If they meet him now or someone else like him later, it doesn’t really make much of a difference does it? I know that there are plenty of people who have said cruel things about xiao-shushu, especially when he first came to Jinlintai, and then again after he quit his cultivation training to start learning etiquette from mom and Su-gugu. Why should we add to it, or our friends? And if you’ve made friends with the kinds of people who would say those things about someone who’s just a little different than them then…maybe they aren’t the type of people you should be friends with in the first place. And yours have all accepted him anyway, haven’t they?”

“Yeah. They have.”

“So what’s the problem?”

“I guess there isn’t one,” Jin Ling huffs, sounding very much like the admission pains him. Jingyi, rather uncharitably, hopes that it does (and promises the frowning Lan Qiren who lives in his head that he’ll assign himself lines for it when they get back to Jinlintai tomorrow).

“How much longer are your friends here for?”

“Another week.”

“Oh good - do you think Ouyang-gongzi has any more romance novels he can lend me? I’ve read through the ones he gave me last week-”

“Are you serious? That’s it?” Jin Ling demands.

“What?! I thought you said there isn’t a problem! What else is there to talk about??”

Jingyi rolls his eyes as the brothers go in for another scuffle. He’s too tired to care about sibling bonding or whatever now that they’ve finished talking about Mo Xuanyu, so he lays down as quietly as he can and settles in to try to go to sleep, his heart a little lighter than before to hear Jin Fei defending his uncle so…simply. And in doing so defending them too; honestly the thought of Jin Ling doubting their ability to be kind to someone who’s eccentric but ultimately harmless is a little insulting, though he’s going to be oh-so-kind and not force his friend to apologize for that on top of everything else he needs to make right.

The next morning when they wake and begin preparing to return to Jinlintai, Jin Ling seems a bit subdued but Jingyi doesn’t bother offering him comfort. He’s had to apologize to plenty of people in his life for thoughtless words and actions that hurt them, and he knows well that the only times it really stuck was when he was pushed to sit and deal with his guilt on his own.

Instead, he spends the morning anxiously (but happily) thinking ahead to returning to Jinlintai. They’ll only be staying in Lanling for another week or so before their duties will pull them apart again, and though he knows he should probably be dreading separating from his friends (which he is!) he finds that what he’s dreading more is losing Mo Xuanyu’s company. It’s perfectly logical that it seems worse, really, since Jingyi isn’t sure when he’ll next make it to Jinlintai, but he could always arrange to meet up with the others anywhere their nighthunting may take them. Mo Xuanyu doesn’t ever really leave Lanling, but unless Jin Ling invites him to visit again Jingyi won’t have any solid excuses to see the Jin family in their home. He’ll just have to content himself with what he can manage this last week, and make the most of it.

They arrive back in Jinlintai a shichen or so after midday, the flight having taken a little longer than at the outset thanks to the extra energy they’d expended hunting down the yaoguai. By the time they’re landing in the front courtyard at the top of the steps Mo Xuanyu and Jin Zixuan are both waiting for them, Jin Lu on her father’s hip though none of the rest of Jin Ling’s siblings in sight.

“Dad,” Jin Ling greets as they touch down. “Yu-shushu.”

“Boys. Welcome back,” Jin Zixuan replies, warm and pleased. He jostles Jin Lu in his arms slightly and whispers something in her ear that makes her lift her head to glare at all five of them hard enough that they all raise their hands in immediate surrender.

“You’re late!! You better not be hurt!”

Jingyi just barely manages not to laugh at her vehemence and turns his attention to Mo Xuanyu as the others all rush forward to reassure her in a jostling pack, all of them clearly aiming to make her laugh. At his glance, Mo Xuanyu steps forward with something teasing in his posture, hands clasped behind his back and his steps long and lilting to match the smirk on his lips.

“Xuanyu,” Jingyi greets (quietly) when he’s close enough, through a genuine smile and around the desire to clear his throat of the attraction that threatens to choke him.

“Jingyi.” Mo Xuanyu’s voice is honey sweet, pitched low and soothing — masculine. Confident. Jingyi’s knees nearly buckle. Two and a half days’ reprieve from Mo Xuanyu’s charms has apparently only made him weaker to them, rather than making him more immune as he’d foolishly hoped. “It’s good to see you back in one piece.”

“It was an easy hunt with the others there,” Jingyi deflects with practiced ease. “I barely even did anything-”

“Somehow I find that hard to believe,” Mo Xuanyu teases, eyes glittering. He brings his hands out from behind his back to reach out for Jingyi’s arm, a gesture that sets his heart racing even before Mo Xuanyu’s cool fingers wrap around his wrist and press in gently to check his pulse. “Mhm, just like I thought! Your qi is low, and your pulse is unsteady. Were you injured?”

“No, honestly, I’m fine-”

“You should still come see the healers with me,” Mo Xuanyu interrupts him again, still smiling slyly up at him. His fingers tighten ever so slightly around Jingyi’s wrist, no longer reading his pulse but just..holding onto him. Shameless. Jingyi’s neck burns under his high collar and he hopes it isn’t obvious how flustered just that single innocent touch is making him.

“Ge, I’m going to take Lan-gongzi to the infirmary,” Mo Xuanyu calls over his shoulder, their locked hands hidden from the others between their chests. “A-Ling, can you make sure the kitchens send over something nourishing for him to eat?”

“The infirmary?” Jin Ling barks over the sound of Jin Lu laughter for the others’ exuberant fussing. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I’m-”

“Just a check-up, A-Ling, don’t worry!”

“I’m just a bit too tired after the hunt and the flight back,” Jingyi relents, because in the end he’s pretty sure Mo Xuanyu will get his way no matter what anyone else has to say about it. Jingyi wonders for a moment if it should bother him that he’s apparently so easy to boss around like that. But then Mo Xuanyu is smiling up at him sweetly enough to wipe his mind completely clean as meditation has never been able to accomplish, and suddenly he finds he doesn’t particularly care anymore.

“Be more careful then, idiot!” Jin Ling huffs at him, so Jingyi sticks his tongue out at his friend over Mo Xuanyu’s head — because even though Jin Ling is probably right and he should be more careful it’s the principle of the thing — but allows himself to be led away before Jin Ling has finished his grumbling.

“Your qi really does feel pretty low, Jingyi, and I know you’ve usually got plenty of it to spare,” Mo Xuanyu tells him once they’re out of earshot of everyone else, heading deeper into the confusing maze of Jinlintai in the direction he assumes leads to the doctors. “What happened?”

“Overextended myself a bit, I suppose,” he shrugs. “It’s probably nothing worth bothering the healers about, you know. I’ll meditate and recover it this afternoon, it’s really fine -“

“Jingyi,” Mo Xuanyu interrupts him, low and serious. He lets the smaller man tug him to a halt to peer up at him again and Jingyi’s face immediately flushes warmer under such focused attention. “I know you’re right, and you could fix it on your own, I trust you. But is it alright if I worry about you and try to help?”

Jingyi manages to bite down on the tip of his tongue to keep from asking the first question that springs to his mind which is, of course, ‘why?’ With his tongue thus trapped, though, all he can do is nod (it doesn’t even cross his mind to deny Mo Xuanyu what he wants) and the smile he gets in return makes his heart thud hard enough in his chest that maybe, he thinks, he should go see the healers. Mo Xuanyu takes him by the arm, hand tucked neatly into his elbow like he’d done that very first night they’d met, and Jingyi lets himself be towed along more than happily, still flushed and off-kilter enough that he can’t stop smiling as they go.

#the untamed fanfic #Technically A Cutsleeve?#Lan Jingyi #Mo Xuanyu #Lan Jingyi/Mo Xuanyu #Nonbinary Mo Xuanyu #Junior Quartet #Jingyi like all Good Lan Boys falls hard and fast with all the subtlety of a freight train #bless his heart #also this fought me on the formatting so fuckin hard so sorry if it looks weird I had to copy it from google docs #paste it into AO3 then copy it from AO3 into word to get rid of the weird spaces between paragraphs #and then paste it all into here again so. hope it was worth it for y'all lol

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mybeautifulchristianjourney · 4 years ago

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Devotional Hours Within the Bible

by J.R. Miller

The Appointing of the Twelve Apostles (Mark 3:7-19)

"Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus. Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed." - Mark 3:6-7

We can hardly realize how wide the influence of Jesus was at this time. The multitude that followed Him, came not only from Galilee - but also from Judea, from beyond the Jordan, and even from the Gentile cities of Tyre and Sidon, and the countries surrounding them. The throng was so great, that Jesus and His disciples withdrew to the sea. He wished to do His work without interruption. Thus we have our Lord's example for sometimes withdrawing from opposition. It was not lack of courage that led Him to do this. He knew that he conspiracy of His enemies would in the end be successful, yet He would not throw His life away. Nothing could be gained by His staying in their midst at this time. There was no testimony to be borne. Besides, His work was not yet finished. When, at last, His work was all done, the plots had all ripened, and He knew that the rulers were about to kill Him - He did not withdraw, nor did He show any fear or lack of bravery.

There are times when duty requires us to flee from danger and thus save our lives for further service. We are certainly never to court danger, nor to be reckless in our courage. On another occasion Jesus said to His disciples, "When they persecute you in this city - flee into the next." Christian prudence is an important element in Christian courage. It often requires a higher courage to avoid danger - than to rush into it; to flee away from angry enemies - than to answer back and incite them to further wrath.

The great report of our Lord's works of mercy and kindness, went out everywhere, and multitudes were drawn to Him. One who does good to others - will always have followers. The world is full of sorrow and suffering, and hearts hunger for sympathy. When one who has a gentle spirit and a hand whose touch gives blessing comes among men - people welcome him. Love always finds its mission. We are apt to criticize the motive in such following. "For the loaves and fish!" we say. But people know a friend when he comes among them; and when one suffers and has been helped - it is no wonder that other like sufferers come with their needs. Jesus loved the people - that was His secret! He loved them - and they knew it. People always know when a man truly and sincerely loves them.

The kindness of Jesus was not discouraged by the ingratitude and enmity of men. Though the evil plots of His enemies drove Him out of the city - they did not stop His doing good. Though some rejected His love - His heart was not closed. Capernaum lost much - when He went out of its gates; but on the throngs which followed Him - the gracious blessings fell. Persecution scatters the seed which it means to destroy. When the first Christians were driven from Jerusalem, it was only to carry the gospel into all the countries round about to which they fled. They "went about, preaching" (Matthew 4:23). Opposition must never silence the lips that carry the words of life. If one rejects and scorns you - take your gospel message to another. You will always find some ready to receive the blessing you have to give. Especially are the people, who have "plagues," who are in any misfortune or distress - ready to press upon him who comes to them with a heart of love and with desire to do them good.

The people pressed up close to Him, that they might touch Him. A touch was enough. All who touched Him - were made whole. Life flowed from Him - to them. Health went from His rich, wholesome life - and expelled their sickness. So a touch is always enough. Anyone who really touches Christ is healed. But we must be sure to touch Him. It is not enough to be in the crowd that gathers around Him. Only those are healed - who touch Him by faith. It is not enough to be in the congregation that worships. One sitting or bowing next to us may receive a great blessing, while we receive none at all. It is because he reaches out his hand of faith and touches Christ; while we, physically as close to Christ as he is - do not put out our hand to touch Him; and therefore, receive no blessing.

We ought, as Christ's disciples, to be so full of life and love - that anyone who touches us, shall get a blessing from us. Just to have their handshake is a blessing. Their mere presence in a sick room gives comfort. It is worth while to be such a person. Do you want to know the secret ? It is LOVE. Love people really, truly, genuinely - and there will flow from you always, to every life that touches yours - an influence of healing.

Jesus stood in the throng and called certain men to come to Him. He singled out the people and called them individually. That is the way He is doing continually - standing and calling men to come to Him. He does not call a crowd - He calls people by name, calls them one by one. Everyone who hears His voice should answer - leave the world's company, step boldly out, cross over the line, and take his place by the side of Jesus!

There are several things to be said about the way these men responded to Christ's call to discipleship.

They responded freely. Although He had chosen them out of a whole nation, and called them, there was no compulsion laid upon them to go with Him. They could have refused if they had chosen; Christ never chooses His disciples by force .

Then, they responded promptly. There was no hesitation. They said nothing about considering the matter for awhile. They did not talk about being unfit or unworthy; they did not tell Him that they were afraid they could not keep their word if they promised to be Christians. They did not say, "Tomorrow we will go." The moment they heard their names called - they answered.

Then, they responded resolutely. Whenever they heard the call - they stepped out with firm tread, and, crossing over the space between the crowd and the Master, they joined themselves to Him. It was not done secretly. They did not wait until they were alone with Him, and then tell Him quietly and timidly that they had made up their minds to accept His invitation. They did not propose to be His disciples - and yet stay among their old friends and keep on at the old business. They immediately separated themselves from the people about them, and went over to Him, putting themselves absolutely into His hands, to be His and do His bidding - so long as they lived.

This is the way these men started in their apostleship - and the way everyone should start whom Jesus calls to be His disciple .

He chose the Twelve - that they might be with Him. That is the first thing always - before preaching or teaching or working for Christ. We must be disciples ourselves, before He will use us to make disciples of others, or to carry His messages and blessings to others. He employs none as His servants - who are not His followers. One reason why we must first be with Him - is that we may be taught by Him. The apostles learned from their Master - the things they themselves afterward taught to others. We cannot do any good work for Christ - until He teaches us how to do it.

He teaches us by His Word, by His Spirit, through the impact of His own life, through our experiences. This is one reason we should study the Bible so carefully, that we may be able to teach others by our example and by our words - only the things Jesus would have us teach them. Another reason why we need to be with Him before we go out to testify for Him - is that we may be actual witnesses for Him. We never can impress the world by giving second - hand information about Christ, by repeating things we have heard others say, or have read in books, about Him. We must be able to tell what we have seen and learned for ourselves, from personal fellowship with Him.

These men were chosen not merely to official office - but for service, "to preach, and to have authority to heal sicknesses." This authority to heal, was given to validate their commission. When Moses went to the people and to Pharaoh as God's messenger, and when they demanded evidence that God had sent him - then he was to work certain miraculous signs in their presence, to prove his claim. So the apostles had power given to them to perform works of wonder - as their credentials.

Besides, those works of mercy which they wrought were examples of what the gospel should do wherever it goes. We say there are no miracles now. Is this true? Are no sick people healed now? Are no evil spirits cast out? Are no blind eyes opened, no deaf ears unstopped, no lame made to walk, no dead raised? If miracles are not produced in the physical realm, they surely are in the spiritual. Eyes are opened to see God and heavenly things. Ears are opened to hear the voice of the Spirit. Fevers of passion are cured. Sicknesses of soul are healed. The evil spirits of greed, lust, and selfishness are cast out. These are the validations of all teaching and preaching. Power is given yet to Christ's ministers and to all His disciples - power to heal the sick and cast out demons!

One of the men chosen was known as Simon - but Jesus gave him a surname of Peter. These two names are suggestive. "Simon" shows the crude fisherman of Galilee, with all his rashness, his ignorance, his imperfection. "Peter" shows the apostle of the Acts and the Epistles; the rock firm and secure; the man of great power, before whose Spirit-filled eloquence, thousands of proud hearts bowed, swayed like the trees of the forest before the tempest; the gentle, tender soul whose words fall like a blessing; the noble martyr witnessing to the death for his Lord. Study the two names together - to see what grace can do for a man.

It is not hard to take roses, lilies, fuchsias, and all the rarest flowers, and with them make forms of exquisite beauty; but to take weeds, dead grasses, dried leaves trampled and torn, and faded flowers - and make lovely things out of such materials, is the most severe test of skill. It would not be hard to take an angel and train him into a glorious messenger; but to take such a man as Simon, or Saul, or as John Newton, or as John Bunyan - and make out of him a holy saint and a mighty apostle - that is the test of power. Yet that is what Christ did, and has been doing ever since. He takes the poorest stuff, despised and worthless, outcast of men oftentimes; and when He has finished His gracious work - we behold a saint whiter than snow.

The sculptor saw an angel in the rough, blackened stone which was rejected and thrown away; and when men beheld the stone again, behold - there was the angel, cut from the block! In one of the English cathedrals is a window, the admiration of all beholders, made by a workman, from the bits of glass thrown away by the master. So heaven is filling with glorified souls, gathered from the despised and rejected of earth. We should never be discouraged by our unworthiness, or our many faults. Christ can take us as we are, and in His hands - our life shall grow into purity and loveliness until He presents us at last before His eternal throne - faultless and perfect. There is only one thing that needs to concern us - we must make sure that we are in Christ's school, that we really put ourselves into His hands.

#Devotional Hours Within the Bible #J.R. Miller #The Appointing of the Twelve Apostles #Mark 3:7-19 #June 4 #2021

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azspot · 6 years ago

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Essentially, capitalism is the process of securing evanescent material advantages through the permanent destruction of its own material basis. It is a system of total consumption, not simply in the commercial sense, but in the sense also that its necessary logic is the purest nihilism, a commitment to the transformation of concrete material plenitude into immaterial absolute value. I expect, therefore, that – barring the appearance, at an oblique angle, of some adventitious, countervailing agency – capitalism will not have exhausted its intrinsic energies until it has exhausted the world itself. That would, in fact, mark its final triumph: the total rendition of the last intractable residues of the merely intrinsically good into the impalpable Pythagorean eternity of market value. And any force capable of interrupting this process would have to come from beyond.

David Bentley Hart

#capitalism

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itsyourchoicedevotionals · 5 years ago

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Teenaged

“Christian brothers, I could not speak to you as to full-grown Christians. I spoke to you as men who have not obeyed the things you have been taught....as if you were baby Christians. My teaching was as if I were giving you milk to drink. I could not give you meat because you were not ready for it.....” 1 Cor. 3:1-2NLV

Raising children especially those thirteen and up isn’t easy. I used to have a sign in my kitchen— “Teenagers are the reasons some animals eat their young.” They no longer walked on our feet. Thinking they were wise enough to do all, they tested the limits of stupidity, got into trouble, no, they walked instead on our hearts.

Paul was addressing a church full of teenaged Christians. These people knew how to serve God, and were zealous to do it — but like my teens— ‘their way.’ They knew what they were supposed to do, but were filled with reasons why they couldn’t do it. The ‘religiously correct’ thing to do was pat them on the back, even promote them. Wisely, he demoted them back to babyhood.

Many of the Corinthian church suffered from a disease called ‘sexual depravity.’ Their church services were more like a melee than worship of God, with everyone interrupting, whenever they wanted to take over— a teenaged selfishness clearly seen in their activities.

Replicating these Corinthians is easily done by we believers. Too lazy for Bible study— switch on a Bible reading app. Listen to ‘praise’ music riding to work. Saying a quick, ‘God bless everyone’ prayer, rushing in work, thirty-seconds before the whistle blows. In the evening, we’re caught by life again. Ending all of our days with ‘I’m too tired to get up or even get my Bible out.’

Believe me, I get caught up in this scenerio myself. Lou being really sick and needing babying, traveling, visiting loved ones, and cooking— consumed my time. Everything and everyone screams for time detracting time spent with Jesus.

The goal, Paul had in mind, was raising up little “Christs.” People to lead the lost, broken, sick, impoverished masses into new life. He knew the church had a huge job to do. This work required hours of discipleship— absorbing God’s Word and replicating the ways of Jesus. Their faith had to stand the test of speaking wholeness to the maimed, healing to the sick, love and joy to the downtrodden, restoration of life to the dead, wealth to the impoverished and loving everyone— including the ugliest of characters.

Our job hasn’t changed from the days of the early church. We’re to walk in the fullness of Mark 16:15-18NASB “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. These signs will accompany those who have believed: in My name they will cast out demons, they will speak with new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

The book of Acts wasn’t ever concluded. We’re still supposed to be writing this book of Acts in our churches— power manifesting in our lives continuing the early church’s acts. Instead, our churches are shrinking at an alarming rate. Is it because we’ve become teenaged like the Corinthian church? Or worse? Why are we walking without God’s power? His Word? Without life in our spirit man.

If our Word level— our prayer level— our power level isn’t greatly enhanced soon, will we be as good as the baby Christians or teenaged Christians Paul was writing to? How grown up do we want to be? We set the limits. It’s your choice. You choose.

PRAYER: Abba God we desire to grow up in You. Help us do so, in Jesus’ name I pray.

#Jesus Christ #lord of lords #Word of God #Holy Spirit #God #it's your choice #devotional #teenage #power #manifesting #replicating #fiath #discipleship #love #hope

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joshmorse · 6 years ago

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When You Don’t Listen

The weather was bleak on this cold Chicago day and the slushy rain froze the moment it hit the ground. I had just finished my Bible classes and set out to explore the city for a bit before finally making my way back to campus. That is when this story unfolded. I saw a poor old man wheeling himself through the snowy sidewalk, all alone, one inch at a time. The moment I saw him my heart sank. I was filled with so much empathy for this stranger. There he sat in his wheelchair soaked to the bone, courtesy of the freezing rain, fighting through the stiffness to press on one inch at a time. What led him to this? What is he doing out in the cold? What is his story? I began asking myself these questions all the while transfixed on him. That’s when I was moved, rather, I felt led by the Lord to stop thinking and do something.

Earlier in the day, while in my Discipleship class we discussed the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:16-20:

“Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’”

We discussed the fundamental focus of the text, and how we ought to apply this to our lives. In the Greek we’re not simply told to go make disciples, baptize, and teach, we’re told that as we go about we are to make disciples of Christ. That means wherever we are, in whatever we are doing, we are to do as Christ said early in His ministry, to “love God, and love people.” We are to show the love of Christ because He loved us, and we are to teach others of His love through our lives, wherever we go, and in all we do.

With this portion of scripture fresh in my mind and the Spirit pressing upon me to act, I saw the Lord set forth the perfect situation to both be and bring the Gospel of Christ. I would introduce myself and offer assistance to a man who obviously could use it (though didn’t need it per say), and explain when asked why I would offer to help a stranger. It was all because of Jesus.

It was all right there before me, the golden scenario. What I knew to do however remained lodged in my mind and never sprung action. I walked on. As I walked I knew it was as a child pretending not to listen to his parent, all the while feeling the guilt in his heart. I knew what I had been told to do and didn’t do it, and I counted it as sin in my own mind. I thought to myself that it wasn’t to late, which was right, I still had time to go back and help this man yet did nothing.

You may be reading this thinking, “Hey, you’re fine, don’t beat yourself up, it’s no big deal!” which may be true in part, however, the Lord tells us through the epistle of James to:

“…be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

To walk the talk, to pour out the love that has been poured into us, thus pouring out good works that have come through the good work of Christ. That is our lot. To hear and to do. James later writes that:

“…whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”

This is where I found myself, in the freezing rain, knowing God called me to act and help this man, and still literally turning my back to him. We do this every day, though maybe not as obviously. We know through His Word what we ought to do, yet we often don’t listen. We disobey and think nothing of it. Hopefully though, we find ourselves feeling convicted. Conviction is good, although many of us find ourselves in the shadowy version of conviction called shame.

Shame is where I ended up. I was beating myself up on that cold sidewalk while, every so often, looking back to see the man inching his way to his destination, soaked to the bone, freezing in the cold. Every time I looked, I would walk faster till he was finally clear from view.

As I walked my focus shifted from my lowly feelings to the things I knew to be true. I knew my shame died with Christ, and that what I was truly feeling was conviction. I believe conviction to be proof of the Lord moving in one’s life, proof the Spirit is indeed at work and leading us into repentance. I was reminded that we can’t change the past, nor should that be our focus, and we can’t control the future either. All we can do is act upon the time we have right now. Will we choose Jesus or not? When you succeed, will you glorify the Lord or not? When you fall short, will you choose to bring it to the Lord and glorify Him, or will you not? In the marathon of life we can only focus on the next step as we move closer to God’s plan for us all, one inch at a time.

It’s that simple, we’re either glorifying Him or we’re not. We’re even told how to live, to be Jesus as we go about our lives, to bring the gospel of Christ through all our interactions whether in word or deed. When we don’t listen, when we cover our ears to the “scary” biblical truth or walk away from the opportunities we often pray to be given, we’re to come right back to the Lord, confess ours sins, and do them no more.

As I continued to walk, I leaned into that very thing. I remembered that there would be more opportunities to display the love of Christ and that my failure to listen and act was known about and forgiven before I even left the womb.

Before I could conclude my thoughts, I was interrupted by a voice. No, it was not a heavenly voice from above, rather a meek voice from an older woman asking for food. As it turned out, I had food! I never have food on me, but this very day I had a bag of untouched, controversially delicious sea salt and vinegar potato chips. I dug through my bag till I found them, handed them over to the woman, whose name I discovered to be Kiara, wished her a blessed day and moved on.

As I walked away I couldn’t help but laugh. Yes, moments before, I was lamenting, but now I couldn’t help but laugh joyfully at God’s timing. The Lord is so faithful to us. I had failed to listen just minutes prior and vowed not to walk away from an opportunity like that again. So, He tested me with yet another opportunity to act. He knew I needed it, He knew I needed to not just be a hearer of His words, but a doer. That’s what we’re called to do. We’re called to listen and obey, bringing Christ as we go about being Christ in all things.

Remember to keep it simple. Study God’s word, then do it. Once you’ve done it, teach others how to do it. That’s disciple-making.

We will always fall short, yet God remain’s faithfully with us to the end.

#christianlifestyle #christianblogger #godisgood #god #faith #jesuschrist #christianlife #jesus #lifestyleblogger #christianliving #savedbygrace #lchristianblog #faithblogger #biblegram #blessed

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studythewordatalltimes · 6 years ago

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After Pentecost: The Apostles Deployed

Recognizing God Ordained Interruptions

Peter and John were busy men in the days immediately following Pentecost. They had 3,000 new believers to organize, teach, and take care of, and they had to do so in a way that wouldn’t discredit the Gospel they proclaimed. They were not too busy, though, to recognize a divine appointment and take advantage of it.

One day, as they went about their duties, a lame man called out to them. Why this lame man, who spent every day by the gate called Beautiful where Peter and John passed by, chose to call out to them on this particular day, we don’t know, but he did. Always mindful of their mission to make disciples, Peter and John took a moment to discern how God would have them interact with the man before engaging. Peter and John ended up giving the man even more than he asked for, and the grace they demonstrated toward this outsider drew a crowd.

Had Peter and John not been interruptible, they would have missed the opportunity to change a man’s life and get the attention of an unbelieving crowd that had shown little interest in them or their message up until that point. Had they ignored the man to keep their appointment with members of the Church, they would have missed an opportunity to advance the Kingdom by advancing truth, but they did not. Instead of forfeiting evangelism for the sake of discipleship, Peter and John accomplished both, setting an example for the early Church to follow.

Jesus, too, had been interruptible. Upon the disciples’ return from their first ‘independent’ missionary experience (Jesus hadn’t accompanied them in the flesh, but He’d sent the Holy Spirit with them) Jesus listened to the disciples and then took them somewhere to discuss their tour of duty. The crowd, however, had other plans and pressed in to see and hear Jesus. Instead of putting the crowd off to disciple the apostles right then as He planned, Jesus welcomed the crowd and saw to their needs, turning what the apostles considered an interruption, of sorts, into a learning experience for them—the famed feeding of the five thousand.

What about you? Are you interruptible? Are you mindful of your mission at all times? Do you recognize divine appointments when they happen? Do you keep them? Do you set an example of evangelism for those you disciple?

“Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭2:41-47‬ ‭KJV‬‬

“Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God: And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭3:1-10‬ ‭KJV‬‬

“And the apostles, when they were returned, told him all that they had done. And he took them, and went aside privately into a desert place belonging to the city called Bethsaida. And the people, when they knew it, followed him: and he received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing.”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭9:10-11‬ ‭KJV‬‬

#After Pentecost #The Apostles Deployed #Day 1 #bible study

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pastorhogg · 2 years ago

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Would Be Followers

Easter not only gives a new purpose, but it also charts a course for a new way forward—especially with regard to forgiveness of sins. Matthew clustered together several stories of miracles in Matthew 8–9 (three sets of three miracles each). But interrupting those miracle stories are two sections dealing with discipleship. The interruption in Matthew 8 concerned the “would-be” followers (8:18-22).…

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walkthroughtheword · 3 years ago

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Reading for December 12th Ecclesiastes 5 As you read Ecclesiastes, you don’t get the idea that the builder of the Temple has spent much time in the Temple in recent decades. Once inside, Solomon had to note that the space, lines, architecture, silver, gold and grandness were stunning! Yet Solomon is repulsed by what he sees beyond the architecture. The people don’t get it! In our reading today, Solomon offers seven pieces of advice for when we enter the house of the Lord: 1) Enter the House of God. Corporate worship is a primary function of the church. I believe that no act of personal piety or good works replaces the central role of church attendance in the life of the Christians. “Do Christians HAVE to go to church?” Absolutely not! Christians WANT to go to church! 2) Keep your ears open. We have taken a couple of hours out of our busy weeks to attend church today in hopes of hearing from God; why would we possibly come to church and not be listening? 3) And your mouth shut! The main problem with talking all the time is that you don’t learn anything! Church is where God talks; we do well not to interrupt. 4) Don’t just go through the motions. One of the real dangers of religion is that faith came become rote and passionless. 5) Don’t make promises you don’t intend to keep. Long-term commitments to Christian life and discipleship seldom emerge from emotional decisions. 6) Keep the promises you do make. 7) Stay blessable. Solomon’s ultimate fear is offending God and being forgotten. Biblically speaking, the greatest punishment of God is not fire and brimstone; it is the removal of God’s presence from our lives. What is the key to living a profitable life? A life of true substance that matters? Humility before God. Solomon exalted himself, did as he pleased and lived as if there were no God but when he ran the ledger of his life, it was found lacking anything of eternal substance. He proactively exalted himself and was reactively humbled by the Lord but we don’t have to suffer Solomon’s fate.

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globalworship · 7 years ago

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Eugene Peterson on Worship

Eugene Peterson (RIP) on worship:

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“The act of worship rehearses in the present the end that lies ahead.” -- in Reversed Thunder

“It is not easy to convey a sense of wonder, let alone resurrection wonder, to another. It’s the very nature of wonder to catch us off guard, to circumvent expectations and assumptions. Wonder can’t be packaged, and it can’t be worked up. It requires some sense of being there and some sense of engagement.”

“Worship is an act that develops feelings for God, not a feeling for God that is expressed in an act of worship.” ― Eugene H. Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society

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The collection of quotes below was collated by David W. Manner and published online at http://kncsb.org/blogs/dmanner/eugene-peterson-on-worship/

Worship is the strategy by which we interrupt our preoccupation with ourselves and attend to the presence of God.

Christians don’t simply learn or study or use Scripture; we assimilate it, take it into our lives in such a way that it gets metabolized into acts of love, cups of cold water, missions into all the world, healing and evangelism and justice in Jesus’ name, hands raised in adoration of the Father, feet washed in company with the Son.

Worship does not satisfy our hunger for God; it whets our appetite.

Feelings are great liars. If Christians worshiped only when they felt like it, there would be precious little worship. We think that if we don’t feel something there can be no authenticity in doing it. But the wisdom of God says something different: that we can act ourselves into a new way of feeling much quicker than we can feel ourselves into a new way of acting.

Every call to worship is a call into the real world.

The most important thing a pastor does is stand in a pulpit every Sunday and say, “Let us worship God.” If that ceases to be the primary thing I do in terms of my energy, my imagination, and the way I structure my life, then I no longer function as a pastor.

I cannot fail to call the congregation to worship God, to listen to his Word, to offer themselves to God.

It’s essential for us to develop an imagination that is participatory. Art is the primary way in which this happens. It’s the primary way in which we become what we see or hear.

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.

A Christian congregation is a company of praying men and women who gather, usually on Sundays, for worship, who then go into the world as salt and light. God’s Holy Spirit calls and forms this people. God means to do something with us, and he means to do it in community. We are in on what God is doing, and we are in on it together.

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A few of the many articles in honor of Eugene Peterson:

Eugene Peterson on What It Means to Be a Christian https://relevantmagazine.com/feature/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-christian/

The Bible, Poetry, and Active Imagination by Eugene Peterson https://onbeing.org/programs/eugene-peterson-the-bible-poetry-and-active-imagination-aug2018/

Ministry Lessons from the Life of Eugene Peterson https://www.christianitytoday.com/pastors/2018/october-web-exclusives/ministry-lessons-from-life-of-eugene-peterson.html

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eleanorfenyxwrites · 3 years ago

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WIP Wednesday

[Lol guess who's swamped at school and totally forgot about WIP Wednesday agaiiinnnn. It always hits me when I'm on my way to my Thursday morning class cuz it's the only day of the week I leave the house at a different time and I'll be like halfway across the bridge into town bopping along like 'It's Thursday doo-do-doo-doo-doo...FUCK'. Anyway have some of the next chapter of 'Technically A Cutsleeve?' (my Mo Xuanyu/Lan Jingyi fic set in the 3zun fix-it universe)]

“Mo-gongzi, are you sure you’re ah…ready?” Zizhen asks, and though Jingyi heartily seconds that question he’s glad that someone else has asked it.

“Well, it’s just -”

“Just let him do it,” Jin Ling interrupts to grumble. “He’s got robes to train in if he wants, but if he doesn’t want to then he doesn’t have to.”

“If you’re sure then I’m ready to start when you are,” Jingyi says mostly so that Mo Xuanyu can’t say anything else to make him inclined to forgive Jin Ling any faster.

Mo Xuanyu is by no means a swordsman, but Jingyi doesn’t think that he would ever claim to be one in the first place, and so their match becomes more of an exhibition than an outright match like he might be inclined to do with his friends. He looks gorgeous anyway, practically glowing in the afternoon light and ever so slightly disheveled around the edges, stray hairs sticking to his temples and at the nape of his neck by the time Jingyi whirls to a stop with him to a round of clapping from the other three off to the side.

The smile Mo Xuanyu gives him likely wouldn’t be considered blinding by anyone else - it’s small and maybe a little shy around the edges, rouged lips just barely tipped up at the corners until the little yedian marks at the corners of his mouth dip into proper dimples - but Jingyi feels like he shouldn’t be witnessing such a thing at all. “Thank you, Lan-gongzi,” Mo Xuanyu says, his tone somehow even gentler than Sizhui’s. “That was fun.”

Jingyi feels as winded as if the relatively gentle bout had ended with him slammed flat down on his back. “No need,” he responds without thinking. “I’m happy to do it again anytime.”

#the untamed fanfic #WIP Wednesday #Mo Xuanyu #Lan Jingyi #Junior Quartet #Technically a Cutsleeve?

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plileadership · 3 years ago

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7 SIMPLE STEPS TO BETTER FOCUS AS A LEADER

FOCUS. Most leadership doesn’t focus well

Life just happens. They don’t prioritize. Next year will look a lot like last year. A little better…a little worse. There’s something inherently evil in most leaders’ minds about being FOCUSED. FOCUS implies…

Accountability to themselves.

Accountability to others.

An expectation that something will actually result. That something should result.

Church leadership finds it doubly hard to focus.

Incessant demands

Awkward schedules

Unplanned interruptions

They all scream against…

Taking control of priorities,

Giving direction to life, and

Allocating attention and energy.

My guess? You’re in the overwhelming majority of leaders that fight against focus.

My second guess? If you’ve been knocked down in the pit (like Elijah) and lost confidence or clarity or your own sense of calling as a Christian leader, you need someone who can regularly share the burden, speak a word of grace, and spot the hand of God at work.

My third guess? The life that you lead and the church community that you lead is paying a heavy price because you resist biting the bullet and getting FOCUSED. You, personally, as a leader…getting FOCUSED.

When leadership gets better, everyone benefits.

Leadership too frequently refuses to take responsibility for leading God-inspired things forward.

Strong words! What do I know?

Well, I know I don’t like the personal discipline or the accountability of FOCUS. I want “everything” to be a focus, until I experience its results.

So, here’s my challenge for you… You’re going to keep doing much of what you’re already doing. Right? But what about a FOCUS on one thing, big or small…let’s do small…for the next 45 days. Don’t aim at urgent. Go for important. Something important to your well being, to vibrancy of the believers you lead, to wider influence in your church and local community.

My fourth and final guess? Many of the leaders who enroll in PLI (3 new learning communities start this fall) have decided that it’s time (usually together with their spouse) to FOCUS on some serious capacity building in the area of Christian leadership or discipleship or mission.

So, here’s a Simple Way for Church Leadership to FOCUS! Don’t make this difficult!

1. Write a quick FOCUS list. You probably already know…

A God prompting.

A “need to grow” area.

An “improve your game” for your church community, your soul, your family.

2. Have a conversation and make a choice.

3. Write it down. Seriously. Just write it down.

4. Describe the benefit.

5. Tell someone and tell them you want to report progress to them.

6. Measure it for the next 45 days.

7. And if you want, promise yourself a reward, a payoff, when you finish.

And, if back at my second guess is you? The “no confidence, no clarity, no calling” pit? Your focus needs to be a person or place that regularly listens and invests and speaks boldly into your life��until you’re out of the pit! Period. Too much is at stake to do anything else.

Lots of what’s going right in our lives and ministries today is a result of a past focus. Right?

I did this a month or so ago. I chose a simple tweak. To journal the front portion of my praying. (I used to do this.) A small addition. Slow me down. Review the events of my life better with God. Thanksgiving… Petition… Intervention… 7 days a week. I’ve been hitting about 5 days a week. My soul is healthier.

So, why not…

1. Hit the share button below and invite a couple of friends or leaders or peers to join you if you’re not already doing FOCUS well.

2. Start together. Stay together.

3. Contact Raechel if it’s time to “bite the bullet” for some serious discipleship, leadership or mission FOCUS.

4. And if you want, let me know your FOCUS and how it’s going.

#church leadership #learning communities #christian leadership #church community

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pamphletstoinspire · 7 years ago

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Understanding The Bible - A Practical Guide To Each Book In The Bible - Part 25

Written by: PETER KREEFT

TWO

________

The Gospel of the Kingdom: Matthew’s Gospel

Matthew’s Gospel is the first book of the New Testament, not because it was written first—some of Paul’s epistles take that honor—but because it is the bridge between the Old and New Testaments.

Matthew’s main point and purpose in writing, the conclusion of his whole twenty-eight-chapter argument, the verdict that all 1,071 verses of evidence point to, is this: to prove to his fellow Jews that Jesus is the One to whom all the Jewish prophets point: the Messiah, the Christ, the King of the Jews, the founder of the Kingdom of God. Matthew’s Gospel is written by a Jew to Jews about the Jew who was crucified for claiming to be the King of the Jews.

Because Matthew was concerned about convincing the Jews, he uses far more Old Testament quotations and references than any other Gospel writer: forty direct quotations from the Old Testament and sixty other references to Jewish prophecies. Often these have the connecting phrase, “As it is written in the prophet . . .”, or, “This was done to fulfill what was spoken by the prophets . . .”

That’s also why Matthew refers nine times to Jesus as the “son of David”. The Messiah was to be the literal descendent of David.

That’s also why Matthew begins with Jesus’ genealogy, tracing Him back to David and then to Abraham, the first Jew, through His foster-father Joseph rather than through His only biological parent, Mary. In accordance with the rules of Jewish genealogy, it was the father’s lineage, not the mother’s, that counted legally for royalty.

That’s also why Matthew introduces Jesus’ public ministry with John the Baptist, who pointed to Jesus, thus fulfilling the essential task of all the prophets. John is the last and greatest prophet of the old kingdom, the Old Covenant. Yet the least member of the new Kingdom is to be greater than John, the greatest of the old; of that we are assured by the King Himself (Mt 11:11).

John was the first prophet Scripture mentions in more than four centuries. The Word prepared His public ministry with silence—not just thirty years of silence, but over four centuries of it. Then He broke the silence and spoke the Word—Himself.

John sums up the teaching of all the prophets in two words: “repent” and “believe”. Jesus repeats this two-word message many times. They are the two things we need to do to be saved, to enter God’s Kingdom, to be justified and accepted by God, to go to Heaven, to be freed from sin, to live God’s own life on earth, to be born again, to have the Holy Spirit live in us, to be in the state of grace, to become members of Christ’s Mystical Body. All ten of these expressions refer to the same thing, the unum necessarium, the “one thing needful” (Lk 10:42).

Matthew had been a tax collector for the Roman rulers. To approximate the way the Jews felt about tax collectors (publicans), imagine all the nasty lawyer jokes you have ever heard. Then add the way people feel about IRS auditors, politicians, dentists, umpires, and Mafia hit men. Tax collectors could set their own rates over and above what their Roman masters required. Most of them lined their own pockets with extra money extorted from their own people. Thus they were regarded as both thieves and traitors. No one could have been a more unlikely convert, certainly no one a more unlikely saint. Yet when Jesus called Matthew to follow Him, he immediately left his office and his job (Mt 9:9). He had probably already heard Jesus’ preaching and been moved by it. Jesus’ timing was perfect, as usual. So was His choice of men. Many of the greatest saints were made out of the greatest sinners.

The fact that Matthew was one of the inner circle of twelve apostles means that Matthew’s Gospel was written by a direct eyewitness to the events it describes (except for the narratives of Jesus’ birth).

Matthew’s Gospel has been called “the Gospel of the Kingdom”. He emphasizes the kingly aspects of Jesus, as Luke emphasizes His priestly ministry and John His prophetic wisdom. The term Kingdom appears fifty times, and Kingdom of heaven thirty-two times. What is this Kingdom?

It is His Church, the new Israel, where God is known and worshipped, where sins are not only forgiven but removed, where eternal life is poured out for all her citizens. This is not a political kingdom, but a spiritual one. But Matthew also clearly presents Jesus as establishing a visible institution, headed by visible men. Though the Church is spiritual, not political, she is also visible—just as you are spiritual (you have a soul), yet visible.

Christ made Peter the “Rock”, the foundation and ruler of His Church on earth (Mt 16:13-19) after Peter confessed the reality the Church has always most centrally confessed and taught: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus replied, “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” For nearly twenty centuries the Church has always claimed that her message is from God, not from man, and therefore has divine authority. This claim is the fundamental scandal in the eyes of the world—the rock-hard offense that cannot be compromised. There is nothing she can do about it, for she is not the author of her message and has no authority to change it, only to deliver it, to announce it, to proclaim the good news, the “deposit of faith”. She interprets this data, but she does not edit it.

Jesus then changed Simon’s name to Peter (“Rock,” or “Rocky”). In Judaism, only God can change your name, for only God designed your identity and your name in the first place. (Your name is not just a label but signifies your real identity.) Thus God changed Abram’s name to Abraham and Jacob’s name to Israel. But if an Orthodox Jew legally changed his own name, he would be excommunicated. Jesus’ giving Simon a new name, then, was a claim to divinity.

After singling out Peter as the rock on which He would build His Church, He gave an incredible authority to this Church: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind (prohibit) on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose (permit) on earth will be loosed in heaven.” The actions of “binding” and “loosing” in Heaven are verbs in the perfect tense, meaning that when Peter binds or looses, it will already have been accomplished in Heaven—that is, Peter follows the will of God in Heaven and not the reverse.

Jesus’ last words in Matthew’s Gospel also speak of this kingly authority. It is called the “great commission”: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Mt 28:18-19 NKJV, emphasis mine). Please note the four “alls”.

Matthew shows Jesus’ authority over death by His Resurrection.

Matthew shows Jesus’ authority over sin by His forgiving sins. Those who heard Him claim this authority immediately perceived it as a claim to divinity. They protested, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mk 2:7).

Matthew shows Jesus’ authority over nature by His miracles, especially the series often miracles he includes in chapters 8 and 9. These show His power over not only nature but disease and death as well, and even their ultimate source, the devil.

Chapter 12 is the turning point in Christ’s ministry. There the Pharisees reject Jesus as Messiah and even claim His power comes from the devil. After this, Christ begins to teach in parables, which His enemies do not understand; He begins to teach more to His own disciples and less in public; and He begins to emphasize His impending death.

Matthew interrupts his fast-moving narrative five times by long discourses, each ending with the set phrase “Jesus finished” (7:28; 13:53; 19:1; 26:1). These five discourses are: (1) the “Sermon on the Mount” (chaps. 5-7), (2) missionary instructions to the disciples (chap. 10), (3) parables of the Kingdom (chap. 13), (4) on the cost of discipleship (chap. 18), and (5) the Olivet discourse on the end of the world (chaps. 24-25).

This last discourse shows that the Gospel was written prior to A.D. 70 when Jerusalem was destroyed—an event Jesus

predicts in this discourse. The event is often used by modernist Scripture scholars to “prove” that Matthew was written after A.D. 70. The presupposition is that miracles such as predictive prophecy are impossible. But in that case Jesus’ prophecies have been faked, and Matthew is a liar. (The scholars are seldom forthright enough to say that!)

The Greatest Sermon Ever Preached

The most famous part of Matthew is surely the “Sermon on the Mount”. It can be printed on a single page and read in fifteen minutes. Yet its influence on the world has been greater than that of any other sermon ever preached.

The high moral standards of this sermon have often been thought to be so impractical and impossible that it has been interpreted as a morality only for an elite circle of saints and mystics. Or it has been thought to describe how we will live in Heaven, but not on earth. Finally, some consider this teaching an “interim ethic” (Albert Schweitzer’s term), which could be lived only for a short time before Christ’s Second Coming. In this scenario, only if we shared Christ’s belief that the end was near could we live in such a detached and unselfish way. This idea that true morality must be based on a false conception of history is self-refuting.

But what is the right answer? The problem is the extreme difficulty of “turning the other cheek” and “going the extra mile” and avoiding hate and lust as well as murder and adultery. There are two possible solutions.

The first solution is suggested by the incident with the rich young ruler in 19:16-22. The solution is that the law is deliberately too difficult for us. Jesus is not giving us a morality He thinks we can practice, but a morality He knows we can’t. For morality is not salvation. The moral law is not the good news, the operation; it is the bad news, the diagnosis, the X-ray. It is law, not grace; law correctly and purely interpreted.

The Pharisees had misinterpreted obedience to the moral law as a performance, as external behavior. And they obeyed it to the letter. But Jesus says that God demands more, not less, than the strict observances of the Pharisees; He demands a pure heart. For God is a lover, not a machine. He wants not just behavior of a certain kind, but persons of a certain kind, persons who are “perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect” (5:48). The law shows us what we must do and can’t do. Then and only then are we in the market for grace and salvation.

The second answer is that although we cannot, God can accomplish this transformation in us. Matthew 5 to 7, like 1 Corinthians 13, describes the love-life that is natural to God, not to us. It is supernatural to us. But it is what starts to happen in us when Christ gets inside.

Many modern readers dislike Matthew’s Gospel because of its hard sayings, its warnings against riches and worldliness, its announcement of divine justice and judgment, and its demand for good works. If we dislike this book, then this is precisely the book we need most. For we need to know the whole Gospel. It is precisely those aspects of it that we still find repellent and try to avoid that we need most—not those we already understand and love.

Perhaps the most challenging passage in the whole Bible for the Christian is one of Jesus’ last sayings before His trial and death, taken from the parable of the Last Judgment (25:31-46). It ends with these thought-provoking words: “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (v. 40). If a thousand Christians really believed that and lived accordingly, the next century would be shaped by a thousand saints.

#understanding the bible

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