Wednesday, June 2, 2010
"For roughly the first thirty years of his life, Jesus lived in relative obscurity, swinging a hammer with his dad. Then Jesus spent about three years doing public ministry that included healing the sick, feeding the hungry, training his disciples, evangelizing the lost, befriending the outcast, and scrapping with the ...stuffed-shirt religious types who had taken all the fun out of fundamentalism." - Mark Driscoll
Thursday, June 25, 2009
The King of Pop is Dead!
Michael Jackson died at age 50 today. This is the man who basically gained the whole world! He is one of the only truly world-wide icons of our day. Justin Taylor wrote this concerning MJ
"I remember once looking at the liner notes from an album of his, and he quoted the final lines from William Ernest Henley's famous poem, Invictus:
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
Those are not the words you want written on your tombstone."
It is truly sad to say that this man really did gain the whole world and lost his own soul. May we use this as an opportunity to spread a passion for the gospel of God to all people. May we learn from Michael that gaining the world does not give true identity and does not provide true happiness. This man completely struggled with the core of his identity. We all saw how this effected everything about him. Let's pray that his children and family will see the futility of his pursuit and find that true identity is in the God who created them.
"I remember once looking at the liner notes from an album of his, and he quoted the final lines from William Ernest Henley's famous poem, Invictus:
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
Those are not the words you want written on your tombstone."
It is truly sad to say that this man really did gain the whole world and lost his own soul. May we use this as an opportunity to spread a passion for the gospel of God to all people. May we learn from Michael that gaining the world does not give true identity and does not provide true happiness. This man completely struggled with the core of his identity. We all saw how this effected everything about him. Let's pray that his children and family will see the futility of his pursuit and find that true identity is in the God who created them.
I am gospelist
I am a gospelist there is no other way to put it. The gospel is the power of God for salvation to all who believe. This is the same power God used to create the universe and everything in it. The power to create life. This same power is used to create spiritual life within us. He uses the gospel to make us alive.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
On Spiritual Discernment
"You may spoil the Gospel by substitution. You have only to withdraw from the eyes of the sinner the grand object with the Bible proposes to faith, -- Jesus Christ; and to substitute another object in His place . . . and the mischief is done. Substitute anything for Christ, and the Gospel is totally spoiled.
You may spoil the Gospel by addition. You have only to add to Christ, the grand object of faith, some other objects as equally worthy of honour, and the mischief is done. Add anything to Christ,and the Gospel ceases to be the pure Gospel!
You may spoil the Gospel by interposition. You have only to push something between Christ and the eye of the soul, to draw away the sinner's attention from the Saviour, and the mischief is done....
You may spoil the Gospel by disproportion. You have only to attach an exaggerated importance to the secondary things of Christianity, and a diminished importance to the first things, and the mischief is done. Once alter the proportion of the parts of truth, and truth soon becomes downright error!
You may completely spoil the Gospel by confused and contradictory directions. Complicated and obscure statements about faith, baptism, Church privileges, and the benefits of the Lord's Supper . . . are almost as bad as no statement at all!"
~ J.C. Ryle, Evangelical Religion
You may spoil the Gospel by addition. You have only to add to Christ, the grand object of faith, some other objects as equally worthy of honour, and the mischief is done. Add anything to Christ,and the Gospel ceases to be the pure Gospel!
You may spoil the Gospel by interposition. You have only to push something between Christ and the eye of the soul, to draw away the sinner's attention from the Saviour, and the mischief is done....
You may spoil the Gospel by disproportion. You have only to attach an exaggerated importance to the secondary things of Christianity, and a diminished importance to the first things, and the mischief is done. Once alter the proportion of the parts of truth, and truth soon becomes downright error!
You may completely spoil the Gospel by confused and contradictory directions. Complicated and obscure statements about faith, baptism, Church privileges, and the benefits of the Lord's Supper . . . are almost as bad as no statement at all!"
~ J.C. Ryle, Evangelical Religion
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Why a Recession O God?
As you already know and possibly feel, the United States is going through a financial recession. President Obama says it's only going to get worse. 10's of thousands of people are losing their jobs,people are losing their houses, mortgages are becoming overwhelming, banks are drying up! It seems that there is little to no hope for immediate relief. Welcome to the rest of the world. Most of the world are always going through an economic recession at best. But why is God allowing us as a nation to go through this? Is this His judgment for our nation's sins and abandoning His ways? Why is God allowing this to happen.
In Hebrews 13:3 we read: Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.
Perhaps we need the recession in America so the scales of prosperity might be stripped from our eyes that we might see the impoverished reality of the rest of the world! That we might be able to truly live out this command in Scripture; to remember those who " are in prison'.
The people he is talking about are suffering and the people he is writing to are not much better off save that they are not in prison.
What is the writer of Hebrews trying to convey here? Well he goes on further to explain what he means by remembering. First of all we notice the writer says to remember them as though we were with them. Is this very typical of us?
When was the last time that you ever sat around remembering the Christians in Orissa India who are being driven from their homes, beaten and sometimes killed? Do we remember as if we were suffering with them?
We are a part of the same body, the body of Christ! When your foot is injured the rest of your body is going to be effected. When you lose your eyesight the rest of your senses are going to work harder.
O God grant to us the grace we need to be able to remember those who are in the prisons in North Korea and other nations, may we suffer with those believers in Orissa India.
Lord, please do not let us waste this recession. May this be a time marked by the American Church awaking to how blinded we have been in our prosperity and how much of your glory we are missing out on. O Lord, tear the scales from our eyes and take our wealth away.
Also listen to 2 Corinthians 1:1-11
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. 8 For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. 10 He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. 11 You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.
Comments are welcome.
In Hebrews 13:3 we read: Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.
Perhaps we need the recession in America so the scales of prosperity might be stripped from our eyes that we might see the impoverished reality of the rest of the world! That we might be able to truly live out this command in Scripture; to remember those who " are in prison'.
The people he is talking about are suffering and the people he is writing to are not much better off save that they are not in prison.
What is the writer of Hebrews trying to convey here? Well he goes on further to explain what he means by remembering. First of all we notice the writer says to remember them as though we were with them. Is this very typical of us?
When was the last time that you ever sat around remembering the Christians in Orissa India who are being driven from their homes, beaten and sometimes killed? Do we remember as if we were suffering with them?
We are a part of the same body, the body of Christ! When your foot is injured the rest of your body is going to be effected. When you lose your eyesight the rest of your senses are going to work harder.
O God grant to us the grace we need to be able to remember those who are in the prisons in North Korea and other nations, may we suffer with those believers in Orissa India.
Lord, please do not let us waste this recession. May this be a time marked by the American Church awaking to how blinded we have been in our prosperity and how much of your glory we are missing out on. O Lord, tear the scales from our eyes and take our wealth away.
Also listen to 2 Corinthians 1:1-11
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. 8 For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. 10 He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. 11 You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.
Comments are welcome.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Answers to Grace Walk Ch. 2
1. Absolute surrender to God is when you realize that you are nothing and that God is everything so you give all of who you are to God. When a person absolutely surrenders to God they will be at peace, find joy in God, patience, fruit of the Spirit Gal. 5:22-23.
2. Walking after the flesh is not always repulsive to the believer. At times it might even seem more pleasing to the Christian because the flesh makes much of us.. Paul equates waling afer the flesh with looking at his own righteous track record. Before Paul was saved he did many good and religious things for himself.
3. Sad but true a person’s ability often times becomes a liability to them spiritually because he/she is relying on his/her ability to make the righteous. We as Christians can sometimes encourage this behavior in other people by making much of their skills rather than making much of God in them.
4. I agree with Steve that trying to do something for God has bad consequences. When one does something for God, he/she is most likely motivated by a self-glorification rather than God-glorification. Therefore, God will not bless those efforts.
5. Major Sin! Sarah had Abram commit adultery with he maid! The consequences were atrocious. The maid did not really give up rights to her son. Sarah became jealous and the son was torn up because of the dysfunction of the family. History even says that Islam came from His lineage.
6. Brokenness: when a person comes to the place where they realize and feel there is nothing righteous in them and that they are totally wicked and cannot produce godliness without God saving them. I do agree with Steve because God will not give us anything that He cannot do through us.
7. God brings a person to brokenness so that that person might make much of God’s glory and share in its blessings. God allows His children to experience pain so that they can glorify Him in the midst of pain. He refines us in those times.
8. Serving God might be a distraction today because we can easily get enamored with the gifts rather than the giver.
2. Walking after the flesh is not always repulsive to the believer. At times it might even seem more pleasing to the Christian because the flesh makes much of us.. Paul equates waling afer the flesh with looking at his own righteous track record. Before Paul was saved he did many good and religious things for himself.
3. Sad but true a person’s ability often times becomes a liability to them spiritually because he/she is relying on his/her ability to make the righteous. We as Christians can sometimes encourage this behavior in other people by making much of their skills rather than making much of God in them.
4. I agree with Steve that trying to do something for God has bad consequences. When one does something for God, he/she is most likely motivated by a self-glorification rather than God-glorification. Therefore, God will not bless those efforts.
5. Major Sin! Sarah had Abram commit adultery with he maid! The consequences were atrocious. The maid did not really give up rights to her son. Sarah became jealous and the son was torn up because of the dysfunction of the family. History even says that Islam came from His lineage.
6. Brokenness: when a person comes to the place where they realize and feel there is nothing righteous in them and that they are totally wicked and cannot produce godliness without God saving them. I do agree with Steve because God will not give us anything that He cannot do through us.
7. God brings a person to brokenness so that that person might make much of God’s glory and share in its blessings. God allows His children to experience pain so that they can glorify Him in the midst of pain. He refines us in those times.
8. Serving God might be a distraction today because we can easily get enamored with the gifts rather than the giver.
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