Jesus is Joshua Bringing Us Into Rest

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Bullfrog117

The following commentary really touched me and I wanted to share it. It was especially interesting because of Jesus’ final words (Father forgive them, they know not what they do). I’m not sure which translation, but I’ve heard Father translated as Elohim as well as Abba and this just made the whole thing that much more interesting to me.

As a brief bit of background, Living Stream Ministry was something I was involved with when I went to UC Irvine and while I feel they may miss the mark sometimes, I stay subscribed to their daily devotional and am occasionally rewarded with gems like this.

Continue reading →

The Rock Church Worship Service

Posted on January 29, 2012 by Bullfrog117

Paul

Great And Glorious (My soul sings, my soul sings..God great and glorious You are)
Rocks (Rocks are gonna cry out if we don't..Fall in love all over again, I wanna fall in love all over again, I wanna fall in love, fall in love with You)
Cannons (It's falling from the clouds..All glory honor power are Yours amen)

Kevin

Good evening
If your new, we’re so glad to have you here
After the service if you want more info, talk to me or Pastor Jon
After the service in the nursery, there will be an information meeting for Solace For The Children
Kids from Afghanistan being hosted while getting medical services unavailable in Afghanistan
Prayer for the offering

Paul

Take Heart (There is a light..So take heart)
Everything Is In Your Hands (Your perfect love is casting out..when the wind and the waves crash everywhere..Everything is in Your hands, it's in Your hands)
I Need Thee Every Hour (I need Thee every hour most gracious Lord)

Jon

Grace and peace be with you (and also with you)
Open your Bibles to Philippians 1
Alex is painting a picture of our cabin in Idyllwild
This message was written in community because I’m not that good (hah!)
Prayer (not dwell with what happened yesterday?!?!?!)
Going to deal with a bunch of verses tonight
Use the handout to jot down notes on what God says to your heart related to grace and peace
In Philippians, Paul and Timothy write to the citizens of Philippi
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:2 ESV)
Romans 1:1-7
To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 1:7 ESV)
1 Corinthians 1:1-3
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 1:3 ESV)

χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη ἀπὸ θεοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν καὶ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. (ΠΡΟΣ ΦΙΛΙΠΠΗΣΙΟΥΣ 1:2 SBLG) Greek

ععلَيكُمُ النّعمَةُ والسّلامُ مِنَ الله ِ أبـينا ومِنْ رَبّنا يَسوعَ المَسيحِ. (رسالة فيلبــي 1:2 GNA93) Arabic

願恩惠平安從我們的父　神和主耶穌基督臨到你們。

為信徒祈禱 (腓立比書 1:2 CNV) Chinese

Que a graça e a paz de Deus nosso Pai e do Senhor Jesus Cristo estejam com vocês. (Filipenses 1:2 WBPT) Brazilian Portuguese

Grazia a voi e pace da Dio nostro Padre e dal Signor Gesù Cristo. (Filippesi 1:2 ITRIV) Italiano

Que la grâce et la paix vous soient données de par Dieu, notre Père, et de par le Seigneur Jésus-Christ. (Philippiens 1:2 FMAR) Français

Gracia y paz a vosotros, de Dios nuestro Padre y del Señor Jesucristo. (Filipenses 1:2 RVR60) Español

Gnade euch und Friede von Gott, unserem Vater, und dem Herrn Jesu Christo! (Philipper 1:2 ELB71) Deutsch

Genade zij u en vrede van God, onzen Vader, en den Heere Jezus Christus. (Filippenzen 1:2 SV1750) Nederlands

Everything Paul says begins with grace and peace and has to do with grace and peace
My friend stated that I was grace to him
There are few people that I’ve said it to
You have shown me the grade of god through your words and your life
It caused me to step back and ask, what does grace and peace mean???
…
Not to worry about the past or the future, but worrying about what God has to say to us right here and right now
The word grace and the word peace
To listen to our heartbeat
To hear our breathe
I want to be completely aware for your grace and your peace
This word that Paul keeps using
It comes from the Greek word: Caris

Unmerited acceptance
Given to you without expectation
Joy, pleasure, gratitude, favor, compete and utter acceptance to you

God is extending that to you with no expectation of ANYTHING in return
Usually when we give to humanity, we expect something back
We’re always suspicious of other peoples motives
What do they want in return
Maybe that hasn’t been our experience with relationships
God has extended his complete acceptance and race to us coveted freely with no expectation of anything in turn
What if everything we did was completely saturated in the grace of
God
I want to live in that world
A great definition from The Caris Foundation
“A favor done with expectation in return, the absolutely free expression of the loving kindness of God to men finding its only motive in the bounty and benevolence of the Giver, unearned and unmerited favor.”
…
Going to show a video for Westside Pregnancy Clinic
A bunch of Christian women in south central LA who want to give young girls who find themselves pregnant a real choice instead of condemnation

Vimeo.com/WPCVideos

Rafaela’s Story on Vimeo. Check out Vimeo.com/WPCVideos for more videos and their website WPClinic.org for more info.

Jon

The Bredows are deeply committed to WPC
Talk to them if you want to get involved
This is what grad end peace looks like
I want you to receive acceptance
For that to be embodied in this ministry
We’re going to give you back your respect and dignity
We want to speak grace and peace to you
It’s the greatest gift in the world
What would it be like if we covered everything we did in grace and peace?
I want to live in that world
Peace comes from shalom which means every kind of good
When grace and peace are spoken about, it’s about RIGHT NOW
Not the distant or near future, but this time
To fully understand joy and harmony
Where did Paul write most of his letters? PRISON
How else can this mean anything else?
Paul’s life is horrible and he writes about grace and peace
What would the world like if we spoke grace and peace to our friends? Our wives? Our children?
I need you to speak grace and peace to me as I speak grace and peace to you
I need that constant reminder
In Acts chapter 20
And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. (Acts 20:22-24 ESV)
Prison awaits me, I gotta get going there!
At one point they drop Paul off a cliff and start throwing rocks at him as he lies in the gully, and he’s spouting the grace and peace of Jesus Christ to his punishers!!!
Luke 23:33-38, Jesus on the cross
And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
And they cast lots to divide his garments. And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.” (Luke 23:33-38 ESV)
Forgive THEM
To be able to look at your ENEMIES
One author says to know everything is to forgive everything
Have you been lied to? Cheated on? Betrayed?
What would it be like to say “grace and peace to you”?
What would it be like to be so alive in grace?
That might actually change the world
…
Followers of Jesus Christ who say grace and peace to everyone
You’re going to be so sick of it you’re going to die and be reborn
Romans 8:1-2
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1, 2 ESV)
Let me stop you in the middle of your self-deprecating moment and say grace and peace to you
Can we just stop for a moment and
No condemnation, not even self-condemnation
Let me interrupt you with grace and peace, broadcast live
…
Have you ever noticed how our theology gets warped?
When things go right we say it was God, when things go bad we say it was us
In Acts 14, the early church had this amazing thing they did
They went out and preached the Word to others
They would testify the grace of God to others
…
Can we try to outdo each other with “grace and peace to you”
Before we sing, I want you to turn to a nearby neighbor and say “grace and peace to you”

Paul

Gonna teach you guys a song to go along with this
Like Jesus Loves (I wanna love like Jesus loves..If I speak give me words)

Alex’s Painting

Built by Shannon's great-grandfather.

The Rock Church Worship Service

Posted on January 22, 2012 by Bullfrog117

Paul

I Receive
Beautiful Savior (How awesome how great is your love)

Stephen

Tonight we are bringing awareness to West Side Pregnancy Center
Bredows and Milewskis have more info
Interested in bonding with people over food?
Dinners for 6-8
Mix names in a bowl of hats and get together
Business meeting tonight after the service
Child care services are available
We have pictures from our involvement with the organization Solace For The Children
Schmidts and the Parsons hosted kids this summer
Life changing event hosting the child
After church meeting for that next week

Paul

Faithfulness (Like the sparrows flying freely)
Forever Reign (You are good, you are good)
Beautiful Things (All this pain)

Jon

Luke 19:1-10
Going to review the story of Zaccheus
….
And how it comes to an individual
Jesus not only comes to Zaccheus, but to an entire community
Gives the community an opportunity to restore a person
A community of grace goes even deeper
little bit of background
During this time in history Rome is ruling all
Jericho included
Under the kingdom of Rome
They would enforce taxes
It was very difficult for a roman official to find where all the money was
In order to track the money in the black market, they would hire a local
It was always easy to find someone willing to trade money for relationships
…
We will also give you a company of soldiers to protect you and project strength
If you want to collect money for yourself, go right ahead, we’ll look the other way
This puts the tax collector on the outside of the community right away
When Jesus came into a city He would declare that the kingdom of God has arrived
Always resistance to what Rome is experiencing
Zacchaeus
Jewish mishna, earliest rabbinic traditions
This is how the Torah was interpreted
This is what it said about tax collectors
Tax collectors should not even be considered people
Lying to animals is acceptable
People were dehumanized
Jesus knew exactly what Jericho needed
Here’s my opportunity to show Jericho what grace looks like
Judaism of that era needed a revival
God is extending grace and acceptance to the outsider
Let’s look at verse 5
Middle Eastern meals are more than just fast food
They are a statement to the community
Jesus is shifting paradigms
Jesus restores and humanizes Zacchaeus
I want to have a covenant relationship with this person
I want to be his friend, to connect with him
Jesus is the one who chose Zacchaeus, not the other way round
That’s how grace works
God is about the restore Jericho
Jesus didn’t demand change before choosing Zacchaeus
A lot of people approach God this way
2. When meal is prepared for a significant/special guest it’s a communal event
The community around Zacchaeus is being asked to participate in this event
Do you want to restore this man? I want to
The grace of God is bigger and greater than you can imagine
I’m asking the community to help restore this man because they’re almost as broken as Zacchaeus
We don’t know the details of the meal or if somebody’s didn’t grumble and helped with the meal or what was talked about
The text just says people stood outside and grumbled
…
God came to you first and cracked open your heart
If you think for a moment that any one person can’t be restored you’re trampling all over the grace of God
…
Salvation came not just for the individual but to the community
The community experienced revival
They start to give, to take care of those who have been overlooked
When God comes in, things change
God: Who were you if not a lost cause?
When you stop resisting His grace and stop trying to control who should get it, it flows freely
Jesus changed the world WITHOUT violence
The rule and the reign of God arrived and radical forgiveness happened
Even a man who was considered an animal was revived
Community was revived with fourfold compensation
10: The son of man came to seek and save the lost
I leave the 99 and go after the one lost
Paul come on up and I’m going to close with is thought
Some of us have made really big mistakes
When God comes to you, it blows your mind because he continues to extend grace to you and is compassionate with you
When the community of grace comes to you, it goes deeper
Its great to experience Gods grace individually, but to be then embraced by a community
Not just the acceptance of Jesus but the acceptance of people who claim to love Jesus and follow His teachings
It came to you first and THEN change happened
Gods love and acceptance leads us to obedience
Don’t get it backwards

Paul

Jesus You're More Than A Friend (In the quiet of my soul)

Jon

I have a long distance relationship with a friend
Last year I saw them and they said, “you are grace to me”
And I can’t think of a higher compliment
Next week we’re going to talk about grace and peace
He received grace joyfully
Be grace to others as you walk through this week

Wait A Second….Which Belief Do You Like Better?

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Bullfrog117

This is from a book called Wisdom from the Bible: Daily Thoughts from the Proverbs [Leather Bound] by Dan and Nancy Dick.

January 17

He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk upright (2:7).

A teenage girl found herself continually tempted by her friends to do things she knew she shouldn’t. Once she was offered drugs, occasionally she was offered alcohol, often she was approached by boys who tried to take advantage of her. Her constant reply was that she was a Christian. Usually she was made fun of for her faith. One time, however, a friend asked her why her faith made such a difference. the girl replied, “I really want to do what God asks me to. When I d what He wants, I feel better about myself. When I do wrong, I feel terrible. I’d rather feel good inside and have people make fun of me, than feel lousy and give in to temptation.”

Faith like that is hard to have. It is easy to give into temptation when it constantly attacks you. But it’s good to know that when we resist the temptations that God makes it all worth wile. He makes us feel good about ourselves and gives us even more power to resist in the future.

PRAYER: Dear Father, I am faced by so many temptations. Help me to resist them. Grant that I might rely on your will and power. Be with me in every situation. Amen.

This is from a daily devotional subscription I have that mails verses from the King James version of the Bible. Emailed from subscriptions@bibleverses.com

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.

1 Peter 4:12-16

The Rock Church Worship Service

Posted on January 15, 2012 by Bullfrog117

Paul

Facedown (Who is like You in the heavens?)
The Father's Love
Faithfulness (Like the sparrows flying freely)

…

Heather

Nobody liked Zaccheus very much
He was a tax collector who made a profit by telling his customers that the tax was double the actual tax
One day he’s doing his thing
All of a sudden way down in the distance he sees a commotion
Someone stands up and yells “It’s Jesus!”
Everybody knows who Jesus was (Justin Beiber had nothing on him)
I need my two tall people
No, not you Cas (but I’ll need you later)
Tons of people blocking the path
Come up here Zaccheus
He was a little man
I’ve never been sick or blind, but I’m a bad person
Maybe Jesus can do something to fix me
So he tried standing on his tiptoes
Tried jumping up and down
Nothing really helped
He was a little man
He tried bouncing from side to side
So this really tall tree (told you I’d need you Cas)
So Zaccheus climbed up the really crazy tall tree
Finally he saw Jesus
Jesus is going through this infinity-minus-1 crowd
Says come down Zaccheus, I want a play date with you
And so everybody around is a little ticked
Nobody likes Zaccheus very much so they grumbled
Listen, he takes money from us, what the heck?
Zaccheus was so amazed
He overheard the grumbling but he believed that Jesus could fix him
So he told the crowd:
I’m going to take half of my toys and give them to others
For every dollar I took, I’m gonna give back four because that’s how grateful I am that Jesus noticed me
…
When there’s desire, He pushes through the crowd to get to you
The reason he pushed the others aside?
I don’t have enough time to go to every door
If I pick him, its not that I don’t love you, I do!
They were grumbling because they wanted to feel special too
The reason He left to heaven was to send back His spirit
As a man, He had limited time
So He sent His spirit to live in everyone’s heart all the time
There’s lots of things you can’t see that you know that you know that you know
Like your Parent’s love for you
1. Jesus wants to tell you how great heaven is
2. He wants to share our emotions, the tears and the joys. He wants to know absolutely everything

1. He wants us to say Jesus will you be my playmate forever
2. If you already think Jesus is TheBomb.com, He wants you to say how can I be more like Cas (the crazy tall tree) and help others see Jesus

When Zaccheus said the things he said
You were lost but now you’re saved
God doesn’t think anybody is too far gone…He’s just waiting for someone to help them see Him

Prayer

Paul

Things happen and we change the order of songs
Let’s stand together and sing
How the grace and mercy of God is there for the weak
Your grace is enough
Gonna do a couple of songs
You know, body language
Bear with us, we’re just playing by ear now
Your Grace Is Enough (Great is your faithfulness oh God)
Rescuer (You are mighty and strong to save)
Feel like I need a mulligan on this one
Our God who is faithful and gracious and loving
Faithfulness (Like the sparrows flying freely)

The Rock Church Worship Service

Posted on January 8, 2012 by Bullfrog117

Paul

Come Thou Font Of Every Blessing
The Father's Love

Stephen Keating

Second week of twenty dozen
Agora Jan 19
3rd Thursday
Prayer for the offering

Paul

Anthem To The King (Glory to the king)
One Thing Remains
Who You Are

Jon

Genesis 1:1-2

The spirit of God is above the waters
Water presents chaos
We see God above chaos
He begins to speak into this formless void
He begins to create order out of chaos

So again the spirit of God is bringing light out of the darkness
The author of genesis is giving us this picture of how God creates order

John 1:1-5

Darkness cannot overcome light
Jesus is there at the beginning and separates light from darkness
He brings detail and order where there is a formless void
We see God creating order from chaos

Genesis 1:9

So we have light and then we have these pictures of light, sky, earth, rock, dirt
More process going on, it’s getting more complex
Genesis 1:11
Life begins to spring forth
Detailed
God is creating things
Keeps adding detail and order to a more precise level each time
Maybe when we look at a passage like this we can ask God to bring light into the darkness of our hearts that we’re not even aware of
Genesis 1:20
Things are getting more advanced
Gets to the pinnacle of his creation
Absolute best part
Genesis 1:27
I’ve read through the various creation accounts multiple times, but each time I get to one basic truth: we matter to somebody
Never forget that we matter to God because we are made in His image
But there is a problem that occurs in the story of humanity
Something got bent in the story
Within the story we’re told that humanity makes a conscious choice to find an identity, a purpose in someone or something else
God can’t be the only true source of life
In the midst of God creating order and detail out of chaos
It means that our very identity is rooted in the image of God
When we read the creation accounts we can turn it into a debate
Was it allegory, etc
Never miss the point that we matter to God
Adam and Eve made a decision, we want to find love and acceptance somewhere else
A lot of people think, “That’s something that happened a long time ago and doesn’t apply now”
We’ve got people experiencing identity crisis’
Trying to find worth and purpose
Who wants to go back to junior high?
I went in 1982
My daughter is going now
Not a lot has changed in junior high
A lot of the same identity rooted questions are still, being asked
What are you good at? Sports? Music? Grades? Who do you hang out with?
It never changes, comes down to the one question: where do you fit
What is your tribe?
We’re teaching our kids that they have to fit somewhere
You have to fit in a pigeon hole or target group
Simply by walking away from their creator, Adam and Eve were doing the same thing
What do you do? I’m a knife thrower
Same thing, same questions in the sophisticated adult world
The human soul is bent
Major identity crisis going on because we are still searching for an identity apart from our creator
The beauty identity: if people tell me I’m pretty, everything is ok
Get older and can’t hide it
Success identity
What happens is that at a certain point there’s somebody younger/smarter/faster/quicker and you have to move on
We have all decided that I can find an identity other than God in whose image I was created
Who is the word
Who creates order out of chaos
A bent soul will very often ask the question am I thin enough?
Do women and/or men still find us attractive?
I don’t want everybody to look the same, that’s boring
It’s like tract housing
I drove right by the target house the other day and my son pointed it out
We’re not satisfied or comfortable in our own skin
Adam and Eve had a distorted view of God
We still do today
It also distorts your view of yourself
If I’m thinking I can’t find my identity somewhere else, that someone or something else can fill every need inside my heart….they can’t do it
This then extends into a distorted view of others
We end up squashing others because we can’t get what we need so we pull it out of them
I see this a lot in marriages
Some of you are missing out in really great friendships because you have a distorted view of friendships
The person to your left, right, behind and in front of you are the most important people in the room
There are friendships waiting to blossom in this room
How we look at others affects how we look at God
The question we have to ask ourselves as a Christian community is : where do we go from here? Where do we get healing?
Memorizing the word of God, his truth and power
Colossians 3
Subversive poem written to a community subverted by empire
Not that different from living and working in the shadow of Los Angeles

Who is your life?
Paul says Christ is your life
In genesis after Adams and Eve walked away, there was a trauma to their hearts
They became aware of their nakedness and knew it wasn’t good enough now
…
Adam hides himself and makes his owns covering
That story happened and guess what? It’s still happening today
…
Your life is now hidden in Jesus Christ
Interesting word hidden in light of Genesis 1
And the author of Genesis is saying we need a covering of some kind
Ad Paul carries that through to say we need to hide in the proper covering of Jesus Christ
The story continues on today
Not any covering will do
We need something to cover us from God
This raises a huge question for us tonight
What am I hiding behind??????
Some people hide behind religion
That’s just covering yourself
When I read this, I hear Paul saying “You are hiding behind the real deal.”
I’m bringing you above the chaos
When God comes looking for me, he sees Jesus and his redemptive work
My life is now completely covered
When God comes looking for me, he’ll say all I see is Jesus
Good! I don’t want you to see me! I’m a mess!
I’m a new creation in Christ
To live in that constant awareness that nothing is mine, but Jesus’
What happens when we say yes to Jesus what happens is we start to become more and more the person that God created us to be
Those actions and motives are the most beautiful to God because they flow out of Jesus
He completely loves me, mess and all
I have to constantly tell myself, if I have the approval of my father, why do I need the approval of anyone else?
The one that truly matters
“Great job” or “I love you” from a human is great, but I’d rather hear it from our father
My soul resets in that reality
Collisions 3:9

Interesting choice of words
What happens when you’re hidden in Christ is you begin to grow more and more into that person God meant you to be
It’s a lot like a return to Genesis
It’s almost like we get born again
Back to the original design
God is taking this mess of our lives and creating order and detail in it
In Genesis there is more and more detail and then he create the best part and suddenly it breaks itself
And instead of throwing up his hands and saying, “Dang it! They broke it! Now I can’t do anything to help them”
He gives us his most precious gift….his only son Jesus Christ
Don’t busy yourself, hide in Christ
…
He’s not done with us yet
By a show of hands who’s got an ugly past?
Who wants to share?
A bent soul doesn’t allow us to…
The ugly past likes to push us from behind
Guilt and disappointment that make the promise of love seem impossible
God made a promise that said I have begun a work in you and I’m going to complete it
He’s not done with you
He’s creating detail and order out of chaos
He’s able to take the mistakes we have made and work within them
I can still do great things if you’ll allow me
In Jesus Christ, there’s a real you in there
I just want you to come out
His hands aren’t tied when we screw up, he doesn’t say “Aw shoot! Now I can’t help them!”
God’s promises of the future should pull us into the future rather than letting our past propel us forward
Quit allowing it to push you around
God has committed himself to me
Spiritual growth is allowing God to pull you into the future
In Christ there’s a real me that exists
His promise is that he will complete what he has started
Yes there are things that need to be worked through
I will not allow those things to dictate who I am
Now that I’m hidden in Jesus
Paul where are you? (He’s hiding in Jesus!)

Paul

None But Jesus (In the quiet, in the stillness I know that you are God)

The Rock Church Worship Service

Posted on January 1, 2012 by Bullfrog117

Paul

How Wonderful
We'll See The Goodness (Of The Lord)
Jesus Lord Of Heaven
Nothing But The Blood
Take Heart

Communion

How He Loves / Be Thou My Vision / Majesty

Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows – AMC 12 at Downtown Disney, Anaheim, CA

Posted on January 1, 2012 by Bullfrog117

Absolutely beautiful. I wish I could talk more about how beautiful this film was, but I have to be really careful and not spoil anything for anyone who hasn’t seen the movie(s). Sufficeth to say, if you’ve been waiting for somebody to encourage you to go see it, this is that moment (or it would be if you respected my opinions at all).

The film picks up about 6 months or so after the first one ended and it does so perfectly. It immediately finds it’s groove again and just runs with it. It’s so beautiful to see Holmes face off against his greatest opponent yet!

The acting is top notch! So great to see Stephen Fry as Holmes’ brother, Mycroft (unparalleled brilliance).

Hans Zimmer delivers another amazing score. While listening, I at first made the mistake of trying to compare his work for this one with his work on Pirates 4 (on the premise that they were composed in a similar time frame), but Laura helped me quickly realize that I really needed to compare the music for this film with Dead Man’s Chest because they’re both first sequels and both contain a pot-load more new, original, fun, and exciting themes.

Pretty much everything else I want to say about this amazing film is going to be in the following censored area to preserve the film’s beauty for everyone else. Sorry!

Spoiler Alert! (place and hold your mouse over the bar to see)

It was so absolutely fascinating to watch Holmes’ further descent towards madness – especially when I was reminded of the article I posted with my first review that talked about Holmes’ Cocaine Habit. The seeds are there in the first film (“You do know what you’re drinking is meant for eye surgery”, “There’s enough of that poison in his system already”, and “My mind rebels at stagnation), but his manic tendencies are that much more highlighted in this film. Note how his slow-mo action sequences are more … shall we say, nutty and amusing and how his inventions and commentary are that much more “out there” then previously. The adrenaline injections and whatever he was drinking this time around are all just icing on the already delicious cake as Robert Downey, Jr. knocks another performance out of the park! I’m so happy he turned his life around and got off drugs.
Yay for respecting the books! Or at least as far as I’m concerned. But then again, I’ve only read a portion of “The Complete Adventures” and am here referring to the “Great Illustrated Classics” version. They were really cool in that they gave you a page of text on the left and a picture/subtitle on the right. When I think of Sherlock Holmes, my memories are directly tied to Moriarty and Holmes’ plunge down the waterfall. As soon as we cut to the exterior shot showing us the villa or whatever where Moriarty’s grand scheme would bear fruit and there was the waterfall, I could barely contain myself with hope that the film would pay homage to the books – and it did!
Questions in view of the first film:
- Was the wireless transmitter from the first film at all used here in the fruition of Moriarty’s grander machinations?
- Yay cameo’s! Clarkie, Inspector Lestrade, Mrs. Mary Watson, and more!
- “My brother has an estate near Chichester…” – Mycroft’s first mention in the original.

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Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows – AMC 12 at Downtown Disney, Anaheim, CA

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