A LETTER FROM GAME CHURCH FOUNDER MIKEE BRIDGES

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Eleanor Stokes
5 years ago
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5 A LETTER FROM GAME CHURCH FOUNDER MIKEE BRIDGES

7 COMMENTARY

16 JFTW The Book of John 16

17 Chapter One JFTW 5 AND THE LIGHT SHINES ON IN THE DARKNESS, BUT THE DARKNESS HAS NOT MASTERED IT. 17

18 JFTW The Book of John 18

19 Chapter One JFTW 23 John said, I am the voice of one shouting in the wilderness, Make straight the way for the Lord, as Isaiah the prophet said. 19

20 JFTW The Book of John 39 Jesus answered, come and YOU WILL SEE. 20

21 Chapter One JFTW 21

24 JFTW The Book of John 24

25 Chapter Two JFTW DO NOT MAKE MY FATHER S HOUSE A MARKETPLACE! 25

26 JFTW The Book of John 26

27 Chapter Three JFTW 27

28 JFTW The Book of John HE GAVE HIS ONE AND ONLY SON, 28

29 Chapter Three JFTW 29

30 JFTW The Book of John THE ONE WHO COMES FROM HEAVEN IS SUPERIOR TO ALL. 30

32 JFTW The Book of John 32

33 Chapter Four JFTW WHERE THEN DO YOU GET THIS LIVING WATER? 33

34 JFTW The Book of John 34

35 Chapter Four JFTW 35

36 JFTW The Book of John 36

40 JFTW The Book of John Healing a Paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda 1 After this there was a Jewish feast, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool called Bethzatha in Aramaic, which has five covered walkways. 3 A great number of sick, blind, lame, and paralyzed people were lying in these walkways. 5 Now a man was there who had been disabled for thirtyeight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and when He realized that the man had been disabled a long time already, He said to him, Do you want to become well? 7 The sick man answered Him, Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. While I am trying to get into the water, someone else goes down there before me. 8 Jesus said to him, Stand up! Pick up your mat and walk. 9 Immediately the man was healed, and he picked up his mat and started walking. (Now that day was a Sabbath.) 10 So the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, It is the Sabbath, and you are not permitted to carry your mat. 11 But he answered them, The man who made me well said to me, Pick up your mat and walk

41 Chapter Five JFTW 41

42 JFTW The Book of John WHEN THE DEAD WILL HEAR THE VOICE OF THE SON OF GOD, and those who hear WILL LIVE. 42

43 Chapter Five JFTW 43

44 JFTW The Book of John 44

45 Chapter Six JFTW 45

46 JFTW The Book of John 46

47 Chapter Six JFTW TO BELIEVE IN THE ONE WHOM HE SENT. 47

48 JFTW The Book of John THE ONE WHO COMES TO ME WILL NEVER GO HUNGRY, AND THE ONE WHO BELIEVES IN ME WILL NEVER GO THIRSTY. 48

49 Chapter Six JFTW 49

50 JFTW The Book of John 50

51 Chapter Six JFTW 51

52 JFTW The Book of John 52

53 Chapter Seven JFTW 53

54 JFTW The Book of John 29 BUT I KNOW HIM, because i have COME FROM HIM AND HE SENT ME. 54

55 Chapter Seven JFTW 55

56 JFTW The Book of John 56

57 Chapter Eight JFTW WHOEVER AMONG YOU IS GUILTLESS MAY HE BE THE FIRST TO THROW A STONE AT HER. 57

58 SEX & LUST Sex is good. Not just in the physical pleasure, but also in itself, it is something good that God created for our enjoyment. However, our sexuality in modern culture has been warped and distorted. For some, sex has been reduced to a triviality--it s nothing more than a means to an end. Other people worship it, and will jump through hoops of fire just to attain it (think about the movie Superbad). For them, sex has become their god. Our society has found a way to capitalize on it, turning your sexual desires into cold hard cash. More often than not, the Church defaults to scare-tactics when talking about sex (usually with young people), and that s simply the wrong approach. Scaring people into avoiding sex is just as bad as manipulating it to sell a product. Grasping the truth about sex means understanding its power and beauty, and not settling for a cheapened or lessened version of it.

59 Chapter Eight JFTW 59

60 JFTW The Book of John 60

61 JFTW The Book of John 32 AND YOU WILL KNOW THE TRUTH, AND THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE. 61

62 JFTW The Book of John 62

63 Chapter Eight JFTW 63

It was just me and my dad for a long time, Cory said, So at home I played a lot of games.

64 CORY THE GAMER TELLS IT LIKE IT IS Cory s life growing up was like a lot of others. He was raised by his father in the suburbs of Chicago and, as an only child, spent a lot of time home alone, glued to whatever gaming system he had at the moment. It was just me and my dad for a long time, Cory said, So at home I played a lot of games. Zombies Ate My Neighbors, was probably my favorite but I also liked Super Mario World, and Super Mario RPG and the Final Fantasys. Cory s dad worked for the Navy and worked all the time, so Cory learned to fill his day gaming and RPGs would eat up big chunks of that time. I just like the stories and getting my character all strong, Cory said. In shooters, you re not really getting anywhere, but in an RPG, you re trying to get to the end. In high school, Cory s dad met a woman and moved to California, where Cory finished school and saw less of his dad with work and his relationship taking up more of his time. To get his gaming fix, Cory started hanging out at the Armory, the gaming center that is the home of the first Game Church.

66 JFTW The Book of John 66

67 Chapter Nine JFTW 67

68 JFTW The Book of John 68

69 Chapter Nine JFTW 69

70 JFTW The Book of John 9 I AM THE DOOR. IF ANYONE enters through me, HE WILL BE SAVED, AND WILL COME IN AND GO OUT, AND FIND PASTURE. 70

71 Chapter Ten JFTW 71

72 JFTW The Book of John 72

73 Chapter Ten JFTW 73

74 JFTW The Book of John 74

75 Chapter Eleven JFTW 75

76 JFTW The Book of John 35 JESUS WEPT. 76

77 Chapter Eleven JFTW 77

78 JFTW The Book of John 78

JAZ THE GIRL FINDS A NEW GUILD I ve been playing games as long as I can remember. Swamp Thing, on the NES, Super Mario Bros. 2, Tetris, on the old school Game Boy.

But in November 2004, I started playing WOW (World of Warcraft), right when it was released.

80 JAZ THE GIRL FINDS A NEW GUILD I ve been playing games as long as I can remember. Swamp Thing, on the NES, Super Mario Bros. 2, Tetris, on the old school Game Boy. I don t know why I played Swamp Thing, so much, but I did. It was just a platformer with some puzzles thrown in. It was kinda lame. But it was reliable at a time in my life when most things weren t. But in November 2004, I started playing WOW (World of Warcraft), right when it was released. I had a friend who was part of the Open Beta and he gave me an old account and I ve been playing ever since. After more than five years of playing WOW, I realize it s the people that keep me coming back. For two years I was in a guild with a bunch of New Zealanders. You just end up making friends and end up looking forward to seeing people. And with the voice chat, you can really hear what they re feeling. When none of my friends are on, it s boring. You can get really close to people on the game, but, really, I wouldn t ever tell them truly personal things. Your WOW friends care about you, but they won t press in. There s a lot missing when you aren t face-toface with someone. When you re online, you can be a totally different person, even with people you know in real life. I can be more confident or mean and it doesn t have the

82 JFTW The Book of John 82

83 Chapter Twelve JFTW 83

84 JFTW The Book of John 84

85 Chapter Twelve JFTW 85

86 JFTW The Book of John FOR I HAVE NOT COME TO JUDGE THE WORLD, BUT TO SAVE THE WORLD. 86

87 Chapter Thirteen JFTW 87

88 JFTW The Book of John DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT I HAVE DONE FOR YOU? 88

89 Chapter Thirteen JFTW 89

90 JFTW The Book of John JUST AS I HAVE LOVED YOU, YOU ALSO ARE TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER. 90

91 Chapter Fourteen JFTW 91

92 JFTW The Book of John 18 I WILL NOT ABANDON YOU AS ORPHANS, I WILL COME TO YOU. 92

93 Chapter Fourteen JFTW 93

94 JFTW The Book of John 5 I am the vine, and you are THE BRANCHES. 94

95 Chapter Fifteen JFTW 95

96 JFTW The Book of John 96

97 MEDIA Movies, TV, video games, magazines our lives are saturated with media, a constant stream of images and sounds trying to influence how we act, what we buy, what we like. So much of it, though, is chock full of images of men and women who are fit and attractive, subtly telling us that we should be like them. But this isn t what God wants for us. All of the images used in modern media use makeup, fancy lighting and a lot of touch-up on the computer to present us with their idea of the perfect human. But in reality, no one really looks like these people. The Bible tells us in the book of Romans that we are to not be conformed to this present world, but [to be] transformed by the renewing of your mind... That means we need to be careful of what media we allow ourselves to take in. Even if we can t tell right away, it has a subconscious effect on us. Let us renew our minds by replacing what the world gives us with what God gives us. The rest of the verse tells us that if we do that, we will be able to test and approve what is the will of God what is good and wellpleasing and perfect.

98 JFTW The Book of John 98

99 Chapter Sixteen JFTW 99

100 JFTW The Book of John 100

101 Chapter Sixteen JFTW I HAVE CONQUERED THE WORLD. 101

102 WINNING BY DYING I know what you re saying, So, this Jesus guy dies, but we all win? I don t get it. To begin, God s plan for defeating Satan was more subtle than anyone expected. For sure, God could ve stopped the stream of failure and come down like a Level 70 Prestige in Modern Warfare, dropped a tactical nuke and been done with the whole thing. But God isn t like that. He could ve sent down legions of His angels to tear the place apart and defeat Satan. But He didn t. Instead, He sends His Son. A smallish Jewish carpenter. No armor, no weapons, no nuke. And Satan took the bait. It was sort of like sending a Level 20 Rogue into an Alliance camp. It was completely nuts. But that s God. He likes to use the weak, the underdogs, the failures. By Jesus dying on the cross God defeats both death and Satan by the smallest means possible: a single man. Three days after He died, Jesus was resurrected. He d beaten death, the big boss. Nothing could contain Him, not even death, and God could claim the victory. But why? Why go through all the trouble of even

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104 JFTW The Book of John THAT THEY KNOW YOU, THE ONLY TRUE GOD, AND JESUS CHRIST, WHOM YOU SENT. 104

105 Chapter Seventeen JFTW 105

106 JFTW The Book of John AND YOU HAVE LOVED THEM JUST AS YOU HAVE LOVED ME. 106

107 Chapter Eighteen JFTW 107

108 JFTW The Book of John PUT YOUR SWORD BACK INTO ITS SHEATH! AM I NOT TO DRINK THE CUP THAT THE FATHER HAS GIVEN ME? 108

109 Chapter Eighteen JFTW 109

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111 JONAH THE FAIL: God asked Jonah to deliver a message to a hostile nation, and he literally ran the other way. Talk about complete disobedience. THE WIN: As the famous story goes, Jonah is swallowed up by a huge whale, and after three days, of disgusting contemplation inside the whale, was spit back up on the beach. Fortunately for Jonah, he only needed one second chance to get it right. He delivered the message and as a result, an entire city turned from its evil ways. PETER THE FAIL: Peter abandoned his way of life to follow and learn from Jesus only to deny Him three times after Jesus was arrested. He feared that he would receive punishment for following Jesus, even though at an earlier time he swore he would never do such a thing. What does he do next? He goes fishing with his buddies. THE WIN: On the fishing trip, Jesus reveals Himself to Peter, and essentially forgives him for his denial. Peter goes on to become one of the pillars of the Church, and is instrumental in spreading the story of Christ to many of the surrounding nations in his time. PAUL (SAUL) THE FAIL: Paul literally killed Christians. A Jewish scholar

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113 Chapter Eighteen JFTW 113

114 JFTW The Book of John EVERYONE WHO BELONGS TO THE TRUTH LISTENS TO MY VOICE. 114

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116 that. That s what I want you to take a couple minutes to digest, to picture in your head everything He went through. First, He gets knocked around a bit by Roman soldiers as He s arrested. This is a group of men, trained to fight and kill, beating the tar out of a single carpenter. Jesus leaves this group much worse for the wear. Then Pilate, the governor of the region, orders that Jesus be whipped and crucified. The whipping wasn t done with an Indiana Jones-style bull whip, this thing had many strands and at every end slivers of metal or lead balls were tied so that the person s back was shredded with every crack. The skin, torn from the back, would literally hang there like ribbons. They would stop this only when the guy in charge felt that the condemned was nearly dead. So, after turning Jesus back into ground meat and thinking it was a good joke, the soldiers made Jesus, the King of the Jews, a crown. It was a crown made of thorny branches that pierced into the skin of His head as they placed it on Him mocked His reputed position. With the crown they also draped a purple robe over His bloodied back as well, only to let the fabric meld with His wounds so they could rip it off later, skin and all.

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119 Chapter Nineteen JFTW CRUCIFY HIM! CRUCIFY HIM! 119

120 Chapter Nineteen JFTW 120

121 Chapter Nineteen JFTW 121

122 JFTW The Book of John IT IS COMPLETED! 122

123 Chapter Nineteen JFTW 123

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126 JFTW The Book of John 126

127 Chapter Twenty JFTW 127

128 JFTW The Book of John PEACE BE WITH YOU. JUST AS THE FATHER HAS SENT ME, I ALSO SEND YOU. 128

129 Chapter Twenty JFTW BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO HAVE NOT SEEN AND YET HAVE BELIEVED 129

130 JFTW The Book of John 130

131 Chapter Twenty-One JFTW 131

132 JFTW The Book of John 132

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142 WANT TO LEARN MORE? Gamechurch isn t just about you reading this book. Seriously, it s not. It s about getting connected, making friends, having discussions, and sharing your passion for gaming. No judgement, no fire and brimstone--just gaming awesomeness, pure and simple!

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DO YOU KNOW WHAT REALLY HAPPENED?

DO YOU KNOW WHAT REALLY HAPPENED? Two other men were crucified with Jesus that day. They were thieves. One of them asked Jesus to save him. Jesus promised that they would be in heaven together that same day. Three hours later Jesus died.