In His Image

Love

2011-05-08T17:39:00.000-07:00

Here's a loaded question. What is love? What is your definition of love? That is a question that has gotten quite a few strange looks and answers when I have asked it. Christians will say, well God is love. We know God is love, but that is a definition that defines an attribute of God rather than a definition of the word. I have been looking into scripture and listening to sermons on love, and I have come across an interesting little fact, the Bible never defines the word love. Amazing isn't it? The Bible never defines love, rather it describes it.

We all know or have heard the love chapter found in 1 Corinthians chapter thirteen. Movies have this in them, weddings, and many people quote parts of it all the time.

1 Corinthians 13 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

I made verses four to seven bold in this chapter because that is the biblical description of love. Now, as we read these verses we see that love is described by adjectives here, as in all our English translations (the translation I used here is the NASB). An interesting fact though, is if you study the Greek version of this, the language they penned it in biblical times, you will see that all these words were used in verb form. What is a verb? Well it's a word that shows an action. This is the description of love, these things in action.

Something we always miss in the definition of love is we say it's a feeling, or abstract, or an attitude. Well according to this I would have to disagree. Love is not an attitude, for attitudes are not reliable. Love is also not a feeling, though that's how our society defines it this day. Lets be honest, how reliable are our feelings? One day we feel one thing and the next it's different and so it goes. If we rely on feelings we are in essence relying on our own wisdom (man's wisdom is foolishness to God).

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

John 15:13 Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends

I could give many more examples of God's love, for His love is always in action. Read the scriptures and make note of every time God shows His love in an action, your page will fill up with verses rather quickly.

Many people these days are all about God's love, and that's good in a sense, however it is more times than not turned into a mushy crazed feeling that totally misses the true aspect of what His love is. Another thing (and this drives me crazy) is that so many progressives, liberals, and emergents are overemphasizing God's love, to the point of turning God into something He is not. A type of love that goes contrary to what scripture teaches, to the extent of turning God into a universalist, or a pacifist "sissy". Don't fall for these foolish teachings, for they are heresy and contradict God's word over and over. God is love, and thankfully so. Lets just be discerning and know the true essence of that love. May god's peace and blessings be with you.

This is a portion of a sermon by John MacArthur, (the best modern day preacher since Spurgeon) who inspires me to write these blogs and who fills my head with much of the information I use, and it is a story that shows the true demonstration of love (in action):

Abraham Lincoln made a lot of friends, made some enemies. One man who became a... rather outspoken enemy was named Stanton, some of you historians remember him. Stanton just despised Lincoln. In fact, in print he called him "a low, cunning clown." And on one occasion he nicknamed him "The original Gorilla." And he said that: "It was ridiculous for people to go to Africa wandering around trying to find a gorilla when they could find one easily in Springfield, Illinois." Very bitter toward Lincoln and Lincoln never ever replied to him, never said a word to him.

It came time to choose war minister for the United States government and Lincoln chose Stanton. Somebody said, "Why?" He said, "Because he's the best man."

The years wore on an the biographer said this, "The night when the assassin's bullet tore at Lincoln's life, in the little room to which the President's body was taken there stood that same Stanton, looking down into the silent face of Lincoln in all its ruggedness and speaking through his tears these words, quote: 'There lies the greatest ruler of men the world has ever seen,' end quote."

He never accepted Lincoln's politics but he couldn't resist his patience. He couldn't resist the non-retaliating spirit of the man.

Perserverance of the Saints

2011-05-04T17:51:00.000-07:00

Perseverance of the saints is also the doctrine referred to as once saved always saved, also called eternal security.

So is this doctrine right? Is it biblical? If you are into modern day evangelical Christianity, you are on one of two sides. Either you believe we can gain salvation and lose it at a later date due to rebellion, disobedience, or whatnot (Arianism). This one sounds logical, and is what many in a great majority of modern Christianity believe today. The doctrine of perseverance of the saints (eternal security which is how I will refer to it from now on) states the belief that a believer (a true believer) on the day of their new life in Christ will persevere until the end because of God's sanctifying work in them. In other words, they cannot lose their salvation because God will not allow them to fall away to that extent because of the work He started in them.

I want to be up front before I get started in this that I used to be an Armenian in the sense that I thought a person could indeed lose their salvation. However, upon studying the scriptures and leaving all preconceived notions behind and taking the Bible for what it says, I have found that scripture teaches undeniably that God's children can not and will not ever lose the gift of salvation God has granted them. There are far too many verses that support eternal security, and only a handful of verses (taken out of context) that support one can lose their salvation.

The first argument people use to argue against eternal security is the misconception that it teaches a Christian can live a lazy rebellious life that gives a person a license to sin. However this is not at all what it teaches, rather I am aware that Jesus said in John 14:15 "If you love Me you will keep my commandments" When a person is truly saved, they are born again by the Holy Spirit and by nature desire to keep our Lord's commandments and to walk in a manner worthy of the calling from God we have received. (Colossians 1:10, Ephesians 4:1)

Where a lot of people misunderstand this doctrine, is they fall into the modern "easy believeism" where they think that if a person merely recites a prayer, walks down an aisle, or signs a card they are justified and saved. These things are good, but the true point of salvation and the genuine faith that saves is when God's Spirit comes upon you through His calling us, causing a death to our old lives and rebirth into new life unto Him. Many people have walked an aisle or said a prayer, yet in truth they were wrapped up in a moment and truth be told, their voices confessed Him yet their hearts were far from Him. (Matthew 15:8) They are also the rocky soil in the parable of the sower that heard the truth, got excited but when trials and life came they had no root.(Matthew 13) So these people look like they believed and lost there salvation later on. My question is, were they ever even saved? That is the to the heart question of this doctrine, do people lose their salvation or did they never have it to begin with? I am gonna use a phrase from another blog I read that made me laugh: but with all the progressive liberal theology crap out there, God is not their Sovereign Almighty God the Bible makes Him out to be, rather He is their bearded girlfriend the way they make Him out to be. It's actually ridiculous.

God will not give a person a gift of salvation and at a later date take it back because of something you did or didn't do. That is preaching a gospel of works, which as we know the Bible does not teach.(Ephesians 2:8-9) People have told me, well you can give back the gift, God doesn't take it away. Ok. Let me ask you, is God up in Heaven, oblivious to who His children are? Last time I checked He was omnipotent, omnipresence, and sovereign, therefore you can't trick Him, you can't surprise Him by saying, I know you gave me this salvation gift thingy, but I'm good, I don't want it. Sounds ridiculous doesn't it? It's because it is. Picture this, you are a father with a four year old. You are walking across a busy four lane highway at rush hour, your child is holding your hand, as well as you holding his. If your child lets go of your hand, will he be able to run out into harms way without you? Not if you have a good grip, as any loving father would, on his hand. Just because the child let go doesn't mean that you will. You will keep your child in the right path and direction, and that is exactly what God does for those who are His.

John 10:27-30 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand."I and the Father are one."

Romans 8:31-39 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies;who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?Just as it is written, "FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED. "But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

This blog has got too long, so leave me a comment for more passages on eternal security if you want to delve into it deeper. This is an important doctrine, and please, I beg of you, don't think it is one that says it gives the believer a license to sin as so many opponents to the doctrine teach. People that do indeed use it as a doctrine to sin, well Jesus said you will know them by their fruits. Just because a cow dresses up like a chicken, it's still a cow. Just because a person claims to be a Christian, if there has not been a transformed life from old to new, a born again experience if you will, then their fruits will not be that of the righteousness of God. Be careful of this, for there are many teachers out there that are not even saved, for they are the ones talked about throughout the entire New Testament, the false teachers/apostates. Remember this, those who He calls He justifies(salvation), He then sanctifies(sets aside as holy), then glorifies(our glorified state in heaven). That is a promise I thank God He gave us, because lets be honest, if it were up us to keep our salvation, no one would ever be saved. Praise God for His power and promises.
May Gods peace and blessings be with you.

Lordship Salvation

2011-05-02T17:56:00.001-07:00

Lordship salvation is the belief that a person has to accept the "whole package of Jesus Christ" Not just an easy believism and that's all. It's the belief that Jesus is not just a Savior that came into the world, but that He is also Lord. There's much more to it in a sense, but this is the overview of it.

Knowledge of the Facts—Faith must be based on the content of the Word of God.

Assent to this Knowledge—A person must agree that the facts of Scripture are true.

Repentance—There must be a turning from sin and turning towards God.

Submission to Christ—There must be a subjection to the person and will of Christ with a desire and willingness to obey.

There has been some controversy over the topic of lordship salvation for a while now and my question is: Why? Really, why is there so much controversy over this topic? There are arguments to both sides of this debate which sound biblical, but which one is correct? Well I can think of many scripture verses that support lordship salvation, but to make this blog not to drawn out lets look at this fact.

In the book of Acts alone, which is the starting point of the early church, the apostles preached Christ as Lord. So much so that Jesus is called Savior two times in the book of Acts, and He is called Lord ninety two times. If you were to do the math in the entire New Testament you would find that Jesus is called Savior less then ten times and is called Lord more then seven hundred times. Can we ignore such facts?

The gospel message calls us to confess that Jesus is Lord to be saved. Romans 10:9-10 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

Jesus is Lord, and if a person reads the New Testament and does not see that, they are blind. I don't say that to be rude or offensive, but rather to be truthful. Jesus Christ's Lordship is painted everywhere on the canvas of the New Testament. We are to put our faith in Him and confess that He is Lord, who He said He was over and over and over again.

Why confess His Lordship? Because confessing is owning up to what is true. Yes He is Savior too, but lets not forget that He would have to be Lord to be able to take the role as Savior. For men, and that goes for all men, are defiled and impure in the eyes of Our Heavenly Father. (Romans 3: 10 and 23) So man couldn't have died to save humanity from their sins and wickedness, unless He was the One True Son of God in human flesh.

I am not sure why people feel lordship salvation is wrong and unbiblical. The facts are there, in the scriptures. To preach Jesus as Savior alone takes away so much from the gospel message and allows people to think they may live carnal lives and still be a child of the One True God. This is something that should not and can not be done. I urge you to look into this topic more, for there is so much to it and this blog alone did not do it the justice it deserves. It's an important matter, so read your scriptures and get some good commentaries from Bible preaching men of God (none of that liberal progressive emergent garbage) and dig in. May God's peace and blessings be with you.

Women are preserved through child bearing?

2011-04-29T17:57:00.000-07:00

1 Timothy 2:15 But women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint.

I have read this verse many times before and never honestly knew how to take it or what it meant. Upon hearing a good sermon on the matter I have finally heard it explained in context to what the epistle of Timothy is about. Now, get your tomatoes out cause you're gonna want to throw them at me in this next statement. Women, according to the structure of the church and of the family play certain roles, and one of those roles is not as a pastor/teacher/elder of the church over men. I am not saying women can't teach, our church has women's groups for women taught by women and I think that is great. However, you will not find a class in our church that has women teaching men spiritually nor ever behind the pulpit. You may call me a sexist or what not, but remember I am merely a messenger so to speak, the fact that women are not to be heads over men does not originate with me, but throughout the pastoral epistles.(1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus) So to see the role of men and women I recommend reading and studying them, for I and you don't have enough time in this short blog to emphasize and show that thoroughly right now (though that may make a blog of mine in the future).

I mainly wanna look at the first verse I wrote (1 Timothy 2:15). What does it mean that women will be preserved through child bearing? There are many opinions out there, but the one that best fits the context of the chapter is, who has the most influence over a child their first several, or even majority of the years of their lives? The mom. She is the one who has the intimate bond through breastfeeding, and she is the one (especially stay at home moms) that God called to be faithful, raising her children to know and love God from an early age. Now I am not saying this is her sole responsibility, dad helps, but while dad is at work during the day mom has a lot of time with the child to rear them to be faithful and knowledgeable of Christ.

People, definitely women of course and the whole feminist movement, get mad at and feel oppressed by people that hold this view. Lets remember, it is clear in the Bible that women have a certain role as do men, so we are merely submitting to that role and the Headship/ Lordship of Jesus Christ. I think it is a great honor women are the ones with the role they have, and couldn't imagine the blessing of being able to carry a child in the womb, breastfeed that child, and train that child to know the Lord. I thank God always that I have a wife who is a perfect example of how a women is to be before God, that she submits in this way for the sake of God, me and our kids. I love the role I have of leading the house, of helping our children know the Lord, and submitting to Christ in all things. If you think that is sexist, remember us men have a responsibility to Christ, to love our wives as Christ loved the church. How much did Christ love the church? He laid down His life for her.

Childbearing will not save a woman, for that would be works salvation (which goes completely against the scriptures) and some women are unable to have children. For the Christian woman, childbearing can preserve her in that she has a duty to Christ to raise up a generation that know and serve Him. Be well and may Gods peace and blessings be with you always.

Ephesians 5:24-25 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,

Footnote: This topic goes deep with many scriptural references to prove this point. I like blogging and want to do it more often, but haven't because so much researching goes into my longer blogs. So I try to pick passages or ideas lately that I can point out in not so long blogs. I will have longer blogs here and there, but I merely share my thoughts on what I am reading and being taught. If you ever doubt or think I am wrong, be like a Berean in Acts 17:11 Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.

Quick Blog on John

2011-04-28T17:49:00.000-07:00

Whenever I read the Gospel of John I am amazed at how great it is. John, after reading his gospel seems like a sincere and kind old man, someone full of Gods love. Maybe a fellow who was soft spoken and a pacifist of sorts. Well the truth is, most of this is true, and some of it is not. John was the "beloved" disciple, in the inner circle of Jesus with Peter and James. He saw things the others didn't (such as the transfiguration and raising of synagogue officials daughter etc...). He was full of the Spirit of God in love and truth. It is this that made his old characteristic of being bold that made him not the pacifist and fragile old man we picture.

Lets look at some scripture that shows this. Mark 3:16-17 And He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom He gave the name Peter),and James, the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James (to them He gave the name Boanerges, which means, "Sons of Thunder")

Sons of thunder? That don't sound like a name given to someone who is "behind the scenes" nor quiet.

Remember in Luke 9:52-55 where: When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem;and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him.But they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem.When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?"But He turned and rebuked them, [and said, "You do not know what kind of spirit you are of;

Wow, these Samaritans would not receive Jesus, so James and John were ready to call down fire from heaven to consume them. That's bold, even Jesus rebuked them here. John is much more bold and "to the point" in his small epistles he wrote. (1 John, 2 John, 3 John)

1 John 2:4 The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in
him;

That's a straight to the point statement. If we say we Love God, yet don't keep His commands we are liars, meaning we don't truly love God. This is directly from Jesus to in:

John 14:15 If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

1 John 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.

I wanted to throw in John 2:19 because it is another bold verse and I am working on another blog looking at the doctrine of perseverance of the saints which this verse fits well into.

Truth is I could go on and on, but it's getting late and I am getting tired. I encourage anyone to study the disciple John, and the others as well to see what kind of men they were and the amazing things God did through them. You won't be disappointed in a study like that. Like John Macarthur says it, they were common men with a uncommon calling.

The disciple John was an amazing man, bold for the truth and the gospel. We would do well to model a life in such a worthy manner for the glory of God. There are way to many teachers and people out there screaming tolerance, but I would urge as I saw on a bumper sticker: Truth not tolerance. Do it in a Christlike way, in love, respect, but don't be afraid to be bold. The disciples weren't and neither was Jesus. May Gods peace and blessings be with you.

Bigger families

2011-04-26T17:20:00.000-07:00

So we are expecting our forth baby this August and we are extremely excited about it. This one we decided not to find out what we are having, unlike the other three. I am amazed at peoples responses though when I tell them we are about to have our forth child. There are alot of people who seem to think this is not a good thing, and that can be very discouraging at times, this baby was indeed planned and we have always wanted to have a bigger family. I could go on and on about how I work hard to provide for my family, but I will spare you and just say that we live happily and take no help from the government, nor do we get help from our parents financially nor even with babysitting and the like. We provide for our kids Gods way, by trusting Him in all things and raising our children to know, love, and serve him.

It's sad, that I get negative feedback that we are having another child, and that we hear such negative remarks about others to, like the Duggars. We all know God told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply and yes, they had to, they were the only humans in existence. We all know this verse, so I would like to draw our attention to another scripture:
Mark 6:1-3 Jesus went out from there and came into His hometown; and His disciples followed Him.When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue; and the many listeners were astonished, saying, "Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands?"Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?" And they took offense at Him.

See that? Jesus had four brothers and it says his sisters (plural) were there in His hometown where He was teaching on this occasion. So I think it's safe to say He had at least two sisters and possibly more though we have no biblical support for it. Therefore the fact that the word sisters is plural, cannot be ignored, and that makes Jesus from a family of nine (at least) if you include Joseph, Mary and Himself. That's a good sized family. I dare ask, if our Heavenly Father thought big families were bad in any way, would He have had His son be a part of one? Just something to ponder. May peace and blessings fill you completely through His love and Grace.
Chris
Psalm 127: 3-5 Behold, children are a gift of the LORD,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one's youth.
How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them;

Who would kill Jesus today?

2011-03-23T18:18:00.000-07:00

So imagine for a minute that Jesus came in this day and age to do what He did two thousand years ago, to die for the sins of the world. In the time Jesus did come, it was the religious leaders of the time who eventually had Him crucified. Why? Because He wasn't religious enough. Not holy enough according (not to scripture mind you) to their own man made traditions and customs of the law. He hung out with the "sinners" of the society, the unclean, the religious leaders thought of as dogs.

So say Jesus came today. Why would religion kill Him today? They would find a way to kill Him because He is too religious. They would kill Him because He is to divisive and not all inclusive like they think He should be. They would condemn Him because He condemns "good people" (according to their secular worldly standards of good).They would kill Him because He claims absolute truth, authority, and being the only way to God rather then the pluralists and universalists they want Him to be.

Just something to think about.

Be well and grow in His holiness
Chris

The Way of the Master Class

2010-10-20T12:57:00.000-07:00

We are taking a class at church called The Way Of The Master. It is a workbook with homework and a half hour of video every week done by Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron (yeah the actor from the old show Growing Pains). I wanted to write a blog about what I am learning and the approach they teach to evangelism. I am half way through the 8 week class so I am sure I will learn more and am very excited about it because I have learned so much so far. If you want to check it out there are some videos on their website here: http://www.wayofthemaster.com/watchwitnessing.shtml

So would you say you're a good person? Yes? Ok. Well lets see how you hold up to God's standard. Have you kept the Ten Commandments? You say for the most part you have? Ok. Well let me ask you, have you ever told a lie? Even if it was just a small one. You have? Well if I told you a lie what would you call me? That's right, a liar. Have you ever stolen anything? Even if it was something small as a kid. You have? Well if I stole something from you what would you call me? Thats right, a thief. Ever look at someone of the other sex lustfully? Because Jesus said to look at someone with lust is to commit adultery. You have done this? Ok, well we have looked at just three of the commandments and you have admitted to me that you are a lying adultering thief. So on the day of judgement when you stand in front of God will you be innocent or guilty. You are guilty. So what will you say? Oh, that God is a forgiving God and will send you to Heaven anyway? Well that's not really fair if you think about it. Lets say you were convicted of robbing a bank and when you went to trial you said to the judge, well I am a good person and I only messed up this one time, and you seem like a forgiving judge so can I just go? Would that work? Of course it wouldn't, you broke the law and have to be punished for it, and if he is an honest, fair, and just judge you're going to be punished. Now with that being said, God is a just, fair and honest judge, so where will you go when you die being guilty of these offenses against God? The truth is, you will go to hell.

But there is good news for you. Imagine you are standing before that judge, your fine for robbing that bank is a million dollars and if you can't pay it you are going to be put in jail for a looooong time. Well you don't have anywhere near a million dollars, so you're in trouble. Well out of nowhere comes someone you don't even know that says judge, you can release this person, I am going to pay the million dollars they could never pay. Just like that you're a free man because someone paid what you could not. That is what God did for you. He sent His Son Jesus Christ to pay a penalty that you could never pay. He paid it with His life, and if He hadn't done this you would be sent to hell where you belong. This is not a universal salvation to all though, if you want this gift then you better repent of the sins you are guilty of, read your Bible regularly (daily) and obey all it says. I tell you this because I may not know you, but I care for you and don't want you to go to hell. You don't have to make a decision, but think about what we talked about.

That is an example of the witnessing they teach in this class, and I love it because it's to the point and biblical. It does something so many people are afraid of doing these days, and that's showing that people are sinners that are in need of a Savior. We don't teach that like we should these days, rather we try to get people to come to church and a relationship with Christ out of the notion of what Jesus can do for them. The benefits He can offer, rather then the fact that they need Him to avoid eternal separation from Him in a place of everlasting darkness and torment. I am sorry for being frank but that is what hell is, and if you don't believe in hell, well that doesn't make it nonexistent. Hell is a literal place that many people are going to according to scripture. Take a guess who talked and preached about hell more then anyone in the bible. It was Jesus. Doesn't really fit the fluffy image that so many want to give Him.

Many people wanna do the building relationship evangelism, and it does work at times, but is flawed just as many times. Let me explain, who are the hardest people to witness to? I would, as would most people, have to say family and close friends. We don't want to bring up the gospel message for fear that we may turn them off, or offend them, or push them away from us. Right? So we get to be friends with someone and get close to them, yeah we may invite them to church casually here and there or mention church every once in a while, but we have a hard time coming out of our box and presenting their need for Jesus and the salvation that only comes from Him. You guys know what I am saying. So if you witness to people on the street, they get offended by the message and leave, what have you lost? The truth is the true gospel message is offensive to many, people don't wanna admit they are sinners and sinful people in need of salvation. Pride runs rampant and humility is rare in these post-modern times.

We also wanna convince people to "come to God" because He will make their lives so much better. Kirk Cameron told a story on this that I just love. It goes like this: There was a person who was gonna take a flight and his stewardess came up to him and said to put on this parachute because it will make the flight much better. So the man does this, but shortly in the flight the parachute is poking him in the back, he is way uncomfortable, and the other passengers are pointing and laughing at him. He puts up with it for a little while but as the uncomfortable seating and ridicule gets worse he finally takes it off and puts it at his feet. That stewardess had told him that wearing that parachute would improve his flight yet it did exactly the opposite as he saw it. So another guy is getting on a flight and his stewardess tells him that he needs to wear this parachute because the engines are weak and they could crash at any time. Well the guy puts on the parachute and even though its a bit uncomfortable and some of the other passengers are mocking him quietly, he endures because he thinks at any time that plane may go down and he wants to be prepared. He doesn't mind the uncomfort or the ridicule, for he knows that parachute is his savior. We need to realize that we are going to die, and that we are either going to go to hell or we are gonna have to put on Christ and enjoy eternity with Him in paradise. It's not about putting Christ on for a better quality of life as we are so often told these days, but about putting Him on so that we may spend eternity with Him. We are gonna have discomfort, be mocked and ridiculed, and have trials in life even though we are Christians. Our pastor once said it's not a matter of if trials are gonna come, it's when are they gonna come.

I have to go now but will try to follow this up in the next few days with a few examples in the gospels of how Jesus evangelized. I hope this made sense and you got out of it what I am in taking this class. Now notice in my mock conversation above that I did not tell them they had to say this sinners prayer and all is well. I told them to think on what we talked about. We have to be the laborers, but it is God who does the work in the hearts of the people. I will address this more later, but understand that all we can do is present the good news and the Word, God is the one who works in people.

I pray we all learned something from this and am thankful for people out there like Ray and Kirk who teach practical and biblical ways to present Your message God. May we go into all the world and spread the Word of You and Your Son as You have commanded us. May we rejoice in Your Sovereign work in peoples hearts who bring them to You for Your glory. We will plant, but ask that You grow God. Let us labor in love for Christs names sake.

God's Perfect Preservation of His Word

2010-10-14T13:43:00.000-07:00

We live in a time that is busy busy busy. Cell phones, laptops, many kids and many activities for each. Anyone agree it's easy for time to get away from us and it's real easy to forget the little things that happen to us each day. Now has anyone else had problems sleeping before because something big, momentous or even stressful happening that day? I know I sure have, laying there pondering the situation, thinking of every what could or should have been.

Every time I reflect on the life of Christ I am amazed at how perfect everything falls into place at every turn. God is amazing as are His ways, just think if Christ had come now instead of two thousand years ago. We do not keep facts straight, we forget so much and never find time to slow down and look at the big picture. Not the case in the time of Christ. He came at the perfect time of course according to prophecy, and as far as the pace of the time. Imagine being called as one of the 12 disciples, being taught in private and public by the Messiah for three and a half years, their seminary time, so to speak, in which the heard saw and did many miraculous things. Imagine laying down at night to sleep in the same place with your teacher Jesus Christ after hearing a great sermon like the sermon on the mount (Matthew chapter 5-7). Was there small talk among you, or was every one exhausted and just laying there pondering the truth and magnitude of what they heard that day from the Teacher, and realizing this is no normal Man, before they fell asleep. Imagine for a minute being one of the disciples and after hearing such great teachings...whats going through your mind? Is it the teachings? The magnitude of realizing this Teacher is the One true Son of God as he claims? Or are you a Judas Iscariot thinking about only yourself? I hope not that one.

God picked a people and time that had ready men, regular ol men too, fishermen and a tax collector, that were not wrapped up in the hustle and bustle life like so many of us do now with the technology and gadgets we have today. All the sports and other eternally useless things we fill our lives with nowadays. Not that these things are bad, don't get me wrong, I personally like being busy, but it can hinder our walks and relationship with God if we concentrate more on them and less on God. I am merely trying to point out how in the time God chose the pace and people were ready. The disciples had time to listen to God. To walk with God. To realize it was God that was teaching and to store away the facts and teachings that God gave them to deliver to the people of their day as well as us and many more. Now they did not do it alone , the word they recorded was written by their hand but God was there. He inspired their thoughts and recollections and He made sure their writings reflected exactly what He wanted it to, for it is His Word. The Bible is full of accurrate history because it is His-story. What a honor to write some parchments that end up being the inspired written word of God (2 Timothy 3:16) Thank you John. Thank you Paul. Thank you James, Peter, Jude, and most importantly, Thank you God.

I have been called a idiotic fundamentalist for this view of scripture. But if the Bible is written by just men, not God, then it's no better then any other religious book out there. If it is in error anywhere then it's not God's word and needs dismissed and thrown away. But the fact is that it is inerrant and perfect. Thank you God for a manual that teaches us how to live and gives us absolute truth in a world of doubt. Thank you for picking the right men for the job and inspiring them to write an account of your Son and early church. May we read it and live it and obey it daily in our walk with You.

Jesus is NOT your homeboy!

2010-10-07T16:32:00.000-07:00

Wow, first I wanna say to my two readers I am sorry for being away from my blog. Kids and work and life in general makes the time just slip away. But I have still been studying God's awesome word and have much I wanna blog on if I can keep finding time. So what do you think of the title of this post? I hope it captured your attention and makes you read on wondering what the heck I mean. This will reflect a little from a sermon John Macarthur did titled "The Forgotten Side Of God" with of course my own opinions and thoughts in it as well.

First I wanna pose a question to you: Where in the Bible does it say or elude to Jesus laughing? The truth of the matter is, it doesn't. Yeah I know, that's pretty amazing. It does say in John 11:35 Jesus wept. (That by the way is the shortest verse in the Bible) But no where in scripture will you find Jesus laughing. Now I will not claim nor want to imply that Jesus never laughed, I merely want to point out that the Holy Spirit never inspired any of the new testament writers to record such an instance. I am sure Jesus laughed with His disciples and followers, but still, we couldn't get just one instance of this recorded in the Holy Scriptures? This is just something I want you to think about as I write the rest of this post.

So when we die, if we are true followers and believers in Christ, are we just gonna roll up into Heaven and high five Jesus, say something like what's up bro, or how's it kickin? I don't think so. Look at John (who happens to be the "beloved disciple" ) in Revelation 1:17-18 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, "Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. Wait, the beloved disciple saw Jesus and fell like a dead man? Do you guys see your friends and homeboys and fall at their feet like you were a dead man? Of course you don't. Society loves to make shirts, hats and whatever else to make Jesus out to be this cool hip pacifist that just wants to be our homies and hang with us. We have lost sight of God's greatest attribute. He is Holy!

Remember back in Exodus where Moses is just walking along and sees a burning bush? Exodus 3:1-6 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, "I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned." When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." Then he said, "Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." And he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. Look at that, God told Moses to remove His sandals because he was standing on Holy ground. Why was the ground Holy? Because God was there. God is Holy. You will see that illustrated constantly throughout the entire Bible. Moses also in this incident hid his face from God. God is so Holy Moses didn't even want to look at Him in the bush.

Revelation 4:8 And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,
"Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!"
Isaiah 6:2 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:
"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!"

Look at these two scriptures and you will notice they are very similar. John had one vision and Isaiah had the other and they are describing the Seraphim angels that circle the throne of God constantly crying out Gods greatest attribute which as I mentioned before is Holiness. Look at Isaiah's vision description though. Notice the similarities to the Exodus passage with Moses we just looked at? The seraphim (which are "high-ranking angels") are covering their feet and faces. Like Moses, they do not want to look upon the Lord and they cover their feet, in my opinion, to show they can't even stand before the Lord. God is so Holy that these angels dare not look at Him but cover their faces, yet we have people running around saying Jesus is their homeboy? How disgraceful! It's like so many people want to make God "cool". God does not need people making Him "cool". Notice what the Seraphim are saying? What is God? Is He mercy mercy mercy? Is He cool cool cool? Is He (as so many want us to think) love love love? No, none of these. He is Holy Holy Holy! The only time God is ever described as something repetitive like this is in regards to His Holiness. The Jews used this when they wanted to make a strong point. Jesus did it in His time when He was about to make a strong statement. You will find 25 times in the book of John where Jesus starts a statement verily verily I say unto you (some versions truly truly). God is Holy above all other things.

Now there are many people out there that just concentrate on God's love. I used to. But there is so much more to God. Yes 1 John 4 says God is love. Because He is. But above all He is Holy. We really need to start pounding that into this day and age in the church. It is because of us losing sight of God's Holiness that so many churches are accepting things like homosexuality and abortion and idolatry. If you don't believe me just look around. the Episcopalians, the ELCA, the Methodist church, PCUSA, The Church of Christ. These are all churches guilty of one or more of the three I listed. All of them are going the way of idolatry. What I mean is, did you know that if you create a God that is not the one described in the Bible you are committing idolatry? Homosexuality is a sin in the bible. It is in black and white in the New testament and Old. But because these churches are trying to make God 'cool" and want the world to think the church is hip to the times they are secularizing the gospel message. I know a pastor from Ecla that when asked how they went when the Ecla split over this not long ago he said "Oh we are liberal, anything goes." Really!? Where is that in the Bible? Please note when I say liberal or conservative I am describing views on scripture and not politics unless otherwise noted. The sad thing is this guy is teaching people this liberal theology garbage which in all honesty is apostasy and idolatry. The same goes for abortion, go to RCRC and look at all the churches on this list who support abortion (I.E. the murdering of innocent babies).

God is Holy and calls us to live Holy lives. Lives that reflect Him, and as we see the Bible clearly shows He is Holy. We will stumble, that is true, but if you just want to claim Christ and no change has happened in your life I question your conversion. You wanna convert a truck into a car, you will see a change in the truck over time. Right? R.C. Sproul had a good quote that went something like this "Any attempt to understand God apart from His holiness is idolatry"

Lets look at another verse. One the "other side" tries to use as an opposition to all the holiness scriptures describing God. John 15 This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. I love this passage and am so humbled that a Holy and awesome God would call me a friend. But I will not distort that and twist it to make God out to be my "homeboy". I would never disgrace my Heavenly Father and Creator. Do you? Folks, God is love, and yes, God does love all of us just as we are, however He loves us so much He won't leave us that way. 1 Corinthians 6:9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. That's a lot of people who won't enter the kingdom of God. But look close at that passage, it says and such were some of you. That's so promising cause God will change us from the sinful lives we live into followers of His holiness. Look within yourselves, are you worshiping and believing in the one true God, or merely one that society accepts? Read your Bibles, and obey what you read.

My prayer for us Father is that we see You for Who You truly are. That we put aside our preconceived notions of You and learn the truth about You from the Holy Scriptures written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. May we not lean on our understanding, rather lean on You and Your word. Thank you for Your word, Your love, and Your holiness. Amen

With love and prayers
Chris

Tattoos

2010-06-28T14:58:00.000-07:00

Alright, I will be the first to admit that I have some tattoo's. But I will also admit how much I hate them and wish I would have listened to all the people in my past that told me not to do it. So what does the bible say about tattoo's? Many of us have heard the familiar verse of Leviticus 19:28 when this topic comes up.
Leviticus 19:28 You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the LORD.

Well the bible couldn't be more clear could it? It says don't get them. Oh but that is not good enough for many people, what the Bible says. So we hear the arguments that this is the old law and no longer valid because we are" free in Christ". Now I will be the first to admit that we are indeed free in Christ, however many people will use the old law when it suits their view and will say we are not under it when it don't suit their view, and that leads to taking scripture out of context and not properly separating the moral law from the ceremonial law. That is the key, the difference between the moral and ceremonial law. Murder, rape, stealing, these were parts of the old law, so are we allowed to do them since we are not under law but under grace? Of course not. These are prime examples of moral law rather then ceremonial law.

Now things like dietary law (no eating pork or unclean animals), the tithe and other theocratic "taxes", and the sacrificing of animals, these are part of the old ceremonial law. Things that were for Israel in the past to keep them clean and free from idolatry and the surronding peoples in their theocratic society (they were not a democracy nor monarchy, but a theocracy). I could go more into that but I pray you understand and get the "jist" of it for I have much I want to cover.

Now the topic comes up that tattoos aren't really illmoral so won't that be void and up to the person to choose? Well lets look at that. For one the majority of the text surrounding our verse 28 has to do with things people did as witchcraft and pagan practices, and I will agree with that. So tell me, are we allowed to worship pagan practices and Wicca gods now that we are believers and followers of Christ? I would hope we would answer no to that. Why? God wants our whole hearted devotion and to love Him and Him alone with all our heart, mind and being. That right there convinces me that the practice of giving or receiving tattoos should not be a practice of true followers of Christ. Well that won't do for some, so lets look at it from another angle.

Deuteronomy 4:16-17 beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air.....

Now this passage talks about not making any carved image for yourselves as it says, thats just straight idoltary, but think about it, that is exactly what you are putting in your skin. And I will be the first to say that all these "Christian" tattoos are no different then the dragons and skulls and snakes that other non-Christians get tattooed on their bodies. Honestly, do you think Jesus would see a picture of a cross (the device that tortued and killed him none the less) tattooed on you and be like sweet ink! No, He wouldn't. Or maybe you got a small angel, or wings on your back, or his name and a verse somewhere on your body. I am sorry but that is not glorifying to God no matter how you try to twist it. Seriously, twist it all you want but what you are doing and saying is God I know you created me in your image (Genesis 1:26), but I think I know how I look best by adding this tattoo on me. I know God that my body is the living temple (1 Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?), but I think i will mark it up as I see fit. It seems ridiculous, to the point that if we are as Paul says the temple of God with the Spirit within us, would that not be the same as going to church and spray painting all over the walls of the church, the front of the building, the sanctuary and windows with graffiti? Its something to ponder.

Now I gotta ask, and all you skeptics that think tattoos are fine and I am making a big deal out of nothing, I ask you this: what is your true motivation for getting a tattoo? Seriously? I got them to be cool, I thought they were cool and I wanted to get one because of it. Plus they carry a certain feel and look of rebellion. Right? These are the reasons most people get them if they were to be honest with themselves. Now look at it through God's eyes, getting a tattoo to feel cool and act cool is wrong. Being cool is a form of self gratification and pride and both are sinful. Being cool and wanting to be cool is also a form of worldliness and do I really have to quote the multiple passages on worldliness and separating ourselves from the world. Here are two of them:

James 1:27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. (emphasis mine)
1 John 2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Some people get their wives/husbands name, or their kids name, or a real common tattoo is of a relative or loved one who passed as a memorial piece. That's noble and what not, but let me ask, are you really gonna forget a person you really loved if you don't get them tattooed on your skin? Does it really bring great honor that they are permanently marked on your body? Lets be honest here. Being "cool' in the eyes of the world is not very 'cool' in Gods eyes. Let us see Him and worship Him as the Great Almighty Creator of the Universe who is Holy Holy Holy. Ever notice how that is the only attribute of God said three times in a row, Holy Holy Holy. Not mercy mercy mercy, even though He is merciful, not love love love, even though He is the God of love. Holy Holy Holy. Should we not fear and reverence Him as such?

I write this blog topic not to degrade or make fun of anyone, merely I want to address an issue that seems to be overlooked nowadays in the "Christian circle". Liberal theology (apostasy) is running rampant more then ever and will continue to attack the absolute truth and inerrancy of scripture. The battle is fought by little issues like this and others such as declassifying homosexuality and abortion as sin, claiming science and evolution over Creation by God in seven days, claiming there is no devil nor hell, and many others. The Bible is clear on all these, we just want our ears itched (2 Timothy 4:3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,) so we will throw out what we don't like and keep what we do. Be alert and on guard against this, for we indeed are in the down grade controversy that Spurgeon talked about in his time.

My prayer is that we show the love of Christ to the world through the Spirit, love and truth. That we never compromise Biblical truth and we never stop loving the people God puts in our lives. That we put aside the practices and 'coolness' of the world to show people there is a higher calling that our awesome Creator calls us to. With love and prayers always.
Chris

Who wrote the Bible?

2010-03-30T17:31:00.000-07:00

I have been going to a new church, a bit bigger then our old one. I visit our old one every now and then because I miss the people and place. It's a good little church, I am just concerned as to the fact that the main Methodist congregation is leaning more and more towards liberal theology which in my opinion is not biblical Christianity. I also would like a church that digs into deep theology and doctrine. The new church we have been visiting is much bigger (I personally prefer the smaller churches) but they seem to stick with sound doctrine and don't waver as to what the world thinks Christianity should be but rather what the Bible says Christianity should be. I admire that for Paul told Titus in his letter to him that: "But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine" [Titus 2:1]

So I took the girls to the old Methodist church this past weekend to visit and to attend services and Sunday school. I even called someone ahead of time in my old Sunday school class to see what they were doing, and found they were in chapter 4 of a book titled "When bad things happen to good people". I went and bought the book at used bookstore downtown and caught up reading it. Quick review on the book: It is written by a Rabbi (who only believes in the old testament) who portrays God as not all powerful and is just a horrible book when run through scripture. What I mean is it does not hold up to what scripture says, which is how I judge all things written on God and theology, like the Bereans in Acts 17:11 Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

There were just a handful of us in the class and I mentioned that this book was crap. I said it does not stand up to Gods word. Well that got (we will call him Thomas) fired up for some reason. I was so flabbergasted by the end of that hour that I forget how it all began exactly, but the next thing I know I am in a debate about the Bible actually being a true historical book written by God. OK, it's coming back to me, I mentioned that this book makes out Job as not actual story but merely poetry, and that the parting of the Red Sea was a story as well as most the miracles of the Old Testament. Praying for rain and it comes, the sun standing still for battle, etc... The biggest was what so many modern age Christians are doing, saying that God did not create everything in 7 days, rather it took millions of years for us to evolve to what we are.

Evolution? Really? Are we at church or the local scientists meeting? Well I am a big mouth and will not stay silent. Don't get me wrong, I was proper, respectful and polite, yet not compromising my beliefs or stance on things. I made my points like, if we don't take the bible serious or as truth from the beginning of the book, where do we start? Is it our job to pick and choose what God inspired?, because if so that's scary considering we are all sinful and far from perfect. Lets say that we aren't gonna believe that God created the earths in 7 days, but that it took millions of years, so what do we make of Jesus being in the grave 3 days? Was it 3? Or 10? Did He even rise from the grave? See what I mean? You can't pick and choose. You either believe the bible or you don't. If you don't, why are you even getting up to come to church when you can sit at home, sleep in and read the Koran, or Tibetan book of dead or whatever? I'm just saying.

Let me share my view, and forgive me if I am blunt. I believe the bible was written by God, Yes though it was penned by mans hand God is responsible for every word on the page. It is not Peter or Paul , or Johns thoughts or insights about God, it is Gods perfect word to us. Since then it is Gods perfect word, that means it is inerrant and it is completely sufficient in all ways. It convicts, it converts, and it sanctifies through its words and the Holy Spirit. God wrote a book to people to reveal Himself and His will to us, and it is the Holy bible. It is complete too. The canon has been revealed and God speaks through it. There are no apostles and prophets today, Gods word is complete, He didn't forget anything and has nothing more to reveal to us, we have His glorious truth that will be with us until Christ returns and after since His word endures forever. [Isaiah 40:8]

I shared my view at the table Sunday with Thomas and he actually told me something along the lines that I was a fundamental idiot. Wow. He said that at this day in age and at his age (hes probably in his 50s or 60s) that he is surprised that he has to still "deal" with fundamentalist people like me. What do you say to that? I was so jaw on the floor. Well R was in the class with me to and he said he worries about the fact that I take scripture to seriously that I may loose faith one day because of something like evolution or I pray for something and it isn't answered. What kind of faith is that? That is not true faith when a person "falls away" considering what God says about His saving power in Romans Chapter 8 [please read it.]

It turns out that most people in that class don't agree with me, and Thomas' wife asked does it matter if it was 7 days or 7 million years? Well like I said, that's the beginning of book, you don't start believing there, then when? Does it matter if the Red sea parted to make a way for the Israelites? Well if it didn't happen, then why are there so many psalms and references to God in the Old testament as the true saving God. How can He be a Savior in the Old Testament if He didn't save His people from anything? What do we believe? If there was no angel that passed over the houses with lamb blood above the door, whats that say about our one and true perfect passover lamb Jesus Christ? When will we be arguing over whether Christ really lived and was slain for the sins of His children? It's a legitimate question.

I am not saying I have all the answers, but I will tell you that there are particulars and principles in the Christian faith. We can agree to disagree on the particulars, but we cannot bend on the principles. I truly believe scripture supports itself as the true word of God, therefore to look at it as anything else is to have the wrong view of God. Jesus was constantly saying believe in me and people profess that by the millions, but I ask, do you believe Him? We don't know God if we don't know His word. Proverbs 111:10 says "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise. How would we know His precepts and laws if we didn't have His word? If we don't believe His word is His word?

Its late and I am getting tired. I could go on and on with this, but let me end with just this thought and just one verse that really touches on this subject. If you don't believe God wrote the bible and that it is complete, sufficient, and mankind's only source of absolute truth, than I strongly ask you to do as Paul told the Corinthians [2 Corinthians 13:5] and examine yourself to see that you are in the faith. How you view the bible is ultimately how you view God. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

My prayer is that we teach all people the completeness and perfection of Gods holy words to us. That we read them often, meditate on them often, and obey them always. That we do what is pleasing in His eyes through that perfect word we are given. We love you and your revelation to us O Father.

With love and prayers always

Chris

What's so wrong with gambling?

2009-11-07T08:14:00.000-08:00

Wouldn't it be nice at times if the Bible would speak straight forward with thou shall or thou shall not on certain issues? Just add a whole new list of commands in Exodus or even at the sermon on the mount in Matthew of thou shalt not gamble, thou shalt not do drugs, thou shalt not get abortions. It sure would make it easier for laymen like me if this were the case. Don't fret though, for that's the beauty of the Bible. It does say all these things, not so bluntly but with careful examination of God's Holy Word we see all that He actually does say on these topics.

Lets look at why gambling is indeed wrong, and it is wrong for so many reasons, I ask you to bear with me for this post may be long. The driving motivation behind gambling is greed. People want the big payout. You don't play the lottery for fun, you play to win the millions. The Bible is extremely clear on the issue of greed and covetousness which is another motivation behind gambling. So is materialism. I will put the extensive list of sins that motivate gambling or a result of gambling at the end of this post, so that now we can examine a little of the history of gambling.

The history of gambling in America is interesting. The American Revolution was funded by the sale of lottery tickets. The lottery was also used by Washington to build federal city, Washington actually bought the first ticket for that project, and we now know federal city as Washington D.C. Many colleges and churches in those times used gambling to build their building, for it was an easy way to raise funds for such projects. However the church started coming to their senses apparently, because they started speaking out against the unbiblical act of gambling, and in 1894 all forms of gambling were outlawed. The state lottery was again enacted in the state of New Hampshire in 1964, and since then it has spread like wildfire to other states and areas such as casinos, dog/horse tracks and more. Saint Augustine said that gambling was invented by the devil. Martin Luther said that money that was won from gambling was won out of self seeking sin. John Calvin outlawed gambling in all of Geneva.

There are studies that show 500 billion dollars a year are wagered legally. That's 500 billion just legally, taking the amount I'm sure much higher if we could tally all the illegal gambling dollars wagered. Just to put that in perspective, that is more then we spend on dentists, or sporting events, or foreign travel, or household appliances, or even health care a year. This is a huge problem, all driven by greed. Studies also indicate that there are approx 10 million compulsive gamblers in America. I think that's more then admitted alcoholics. Twenty percent of compulsive gamblers have admitted to thoughts or even attempts at suicide. The suicide rate of spouses of gambling addicts is 150 percent higher then the national average.

Atlantic City instituted gambling and casinos in 1976 to help revitalize their economy, unemployment and tax revenue. We always hear about the great tax revenue and jobs casinos bring. Now in Atlantic city, the crime rate has risen 380 percent, the police force has been doubled, even though the cities population is down 20 percent. Half of the 2100 small businesses closed, and unemployment is up. The best is, four of their last six mayors have been indicted for corruption, 3 of which are incarcerated. I could give more statistics but that would be moot, I just wanted to make the point that casinos and gambling bring a lot more with them then they promise, and that which they do promise is a lie in the end.

A big sin a person commits by gambling is discontentment. Phillipians 4:11-12 ¹¹Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. ¹²I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.
Paul knew what it was like to have and to need, and either way he was content with what God gave him. Gambling is in a sense saying I need more. What You have provided is not enough. Discontentment is a lack of faith, and it is a sin.

Proverbs 30:7-9
Two things I asked of You,
Do not refuse me before I die:
⁸Keep deception and lies far from me,
Give me neither poverty nor riches;
Feed me with the food that is my portion,
⁹That I not be full and deny You and say, "Who is the LORD?"
Or that I not be in want and steal,
And profane the name of my God.

This is such a remarkable verse. Be happy that you have enough. I know the American dream is the big house with a picket fence in a suburb with new cars. The American dream revolves around greed, so it shouldn't surprise us that the lottery and casinos do so well. The lust and materialism and greed drives us to get that American dream and all the things to "keep up with the Jones". This verse should teach us to be happy, be happy we have enough. Be happy you have a roof over head, no matter where you live. Be happy you have an automobile, no matter if it's a "beater". Be happy you have food in your belly. Many people don't have the luxury of saying those things. Here the Bible pleads for God to provide, not abundant riches, and not extreme poverty. You may not have abundant riches, but if you're on your computer right now reading this, then you also are not living in extreme poverty.

I will not post the entire parable of the talents, for it would make this post even longer, but I do ask you get your Bible out now and read it. It's found in Matthew 25 starting at verse 14 and going clear to 30. Many of us may already be familiar with these words of our Lord. I want you to look at verse 30: "Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

This slave was a bad steward of what he was given. He did not lose his masters money, not a bad steward in that way, but he was a lazy steward. He was irresponsible with what he was given. That is exactly what gambling is! This is also a sin, and look at what Jesus said to do to the person. Outer darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth are always used in reference to hell. I am not saying if you gamble as a Christian you will go to hell, we all are and can be forgiven, but I am saying it is a sin. How does God look at sin? Well, you, me, our kids, and every other human, will die because two people ate fruit they weren't supposed to. It wasn't even the act, but the rebellion against God. That's what sin is, rebellion against God. Gambling is rebellion against
God.

Lets look at sins that motivate and sins that result from gambling:
1)Greed and materialism
2)Covetousness and lusts to have more and more
3)Laziness it undermines Gods standard of working by "trying to get rich quick"
4)Discontentment not happy with what you do have
5)Bad stewardship with what you are given
6)Distrusting God and His providence
7)Irresponsible family leadership it is true men
8)Stealing in order for you to win big someone lost big. So even if you do have a good day you are taking from someone who did not, and most gamblers are the poor
9)Not keeping the great command of loving your neighbor look at 8

I actually think I could keep going and going. Gambling exploits the weak, the poor, the undisciplined, and the gullible. It is the greatest example of taking money from the pockets of a lot of the poor and putting it in the pockets of a few rich. If you have extra money, and you claim Christ, don't gamble with it. It would be much better off to directly give it to someone in need. Or church, or a charity that helps people. Not the casinos. I did this blog because of issue 3 that passed here in Ohio (unfortunately). I was thinking, what is so wrong with gambling, so I listened to a few sermons on it, read my Bible and researched some statistics and was amazed at how much I learned and what a huge problem this is. The true church is busy defending the Bible against homosexuality and abortion, and have let this issue slip through the cracks. I say if you know Christ and have the hope within you, step up and defend God's Word and character when people push these immoral sins upon us. This is one of those sins that is not "good if done in moderation" like so many say. It's a sin, no sin is good in moderation. As far as helping school's and tax revenue, that still does not make it right, but even more wrong. That's just feeding the bigger chain of greed and discontentment. Plus the ends do not justify the means. This has gotten extremely long, and I will put another post about it soon on other parts I wanted to point out.

My prayer is that we learn the higher calling the Lord calls us to as His children. That we live holy lives because He is Holy. That we study His word and learn what is right and wrong according to His standards, which as His children are the only standards that matter. Let us also, with gentleness and love, help those who have fallen into the temptation and addiction of this sin, that they may know Him and be changed from within as we have been. With love and prayers always
Chris

Where two or three gather

2009-09-26T09:05:00.000-07:00

We are all familiar with the saying of where two or three gather in my name I am there. I love this verse, however I am sad how so many people take the bible out of context and make verses mean what there original purpose was not.

Matthew 18:15-20"If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother."But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED."If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector."Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven."Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven."For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst."

What is this passage talking about? It is talking about a brother who is sinning and confronting him on his behavior. The capitalized verse up there is a quote directly from Deuteronomy 19:15, which Jesus uses to show the law of the OT is the same as His message. Should be, they were written by the same author. When one won't repent of there sin you are to go to him with two or three witnesses so that it is not just one mans word against another, rather you have more then one brother to confirm the testimony of the wrong doing. Am I being clear, my mind keeps wandering and I am struggling to find the right words. Look at it like this, I see a fellow believer from church who is married sneaking around and cheating on his wife. I will go go to him and tell him what he is doing is wrong, Christians are not to act like that and Gods holy word backs that up. Well he shrugs me off, don't care and keeps going along with his extramarital activity, then I will take two fellow brothers from church to tell this guy that this is against Gods word and that he must stop. Then as Jesus explains in other places, you would take the matter to the church if the fellow believer does not repent (stop/turn away from) from his immoral activities.

This is what this passage alludes to, church discipline. I love how Jesus said that when we gather in His name for this matter that He is within our mist. That's a comforting thought because seriously, who wants to do this. Right? It is told that we should and I understand why, we have to keep the body of Christ pure and holy. I know we are all sinners, unredeemed flesh, but we cannot claim Christ and not be obedient to His commands. That is illustrated best in Jesus and the relationship with His father, He loved the Father and was obedient, even unto death on a cross.

So should we be obedient? If Christ, The Son of God did, we most definitely should. That is the gospel message, repent and believe. Repent from what? The sins in our lives. The darkness in us that brings dishonor to God rather than glory. We all know we have a dark side in us. It's our nature, we are born sinners. But with faith in Christ and obedience to His word we can overcome those dark areas of our sinful nature. I'm not saying perfection here, we will not obtain that until Christ glorifies us, but that is no excuse to live like our sinful nature desires.

Now lets get back to the topic and scripture I was talking about before I sidestepped a little. People use the verse where two or three gather in my name I am there in there midst way out of context a lot. We see through the scripture itself that it talks of confronting a sinning person and that when we go to confront that brother that God is with us. OK. But a lot of people quote this just when two or three believers come together for prayer or bible study that God is there within their midst. Well this verse is not referring to that. However I do got good news to the people who quote this verse in that way, God is always within our midst if we are true followers and believers in Him. Number one He is Sovereign, so He sees and knows all. So he is near everyone in that sense, but also He has sent His spirit to dwell in the hearts of His faithful followers. So in that sense He is not within our midst, rather He is within us! How glorious a truth is that? When I pray to God, I believe He hears my prayers and is with me as I pray them. And that is not when I'm with people, but alone. I feel God listening and "within my midst" when I am pouring out my heart and praying to Him. I use the word feel hesitantly, for Christianity is not about all feelings, but about learning Gods word and drawing closer to Him through knowing Him by His words. God wrote one book, The bible, and He wrote down everything He wanted to tell His people in it. It is absolute truth and inerrant. It was relevant then just as much so as it is relevant today, for it is the perfect words of God. You want to know God? Read His word, and read it often.

I did not write this blog to mock or make fun of anyone who may use or have used that verse in the way that may take it out of context to the passage. I merely write to share with others the truth that I learn from Gods word. I want all of us to know what God says through the bible and how it impacts our lives. May we grow ever closer to Him through His awesome truths for us. My prayer is for all of us to read His word, read it often, and dig deep into what that word is telling us. I hope we all see and know that God is within us rather just within our midst. He is our shield, our strength, our God. For the more of the Word we know, the more of God we know.

With love and prayers always
Chris

To long FB status update

2009-09-25T18:21:00.000-07:00

Look anywhere in scripture and you will find the Son. He was the ark that carried Noah and family to safety. He is the bronze serpent looked at for healing. He was the manna from heaven that nourishes. He was the staff that brought water from the rock to quench thirsts. He was the ram that was caught in the thorns to sacrifice instead of Isaac. He was the path on the floor of the red sea that lead to safety. He was the the extra person in the fiery furnace saving his faithful servants. He is the one who hung on a cross to forgive mine and your sins if you know Him. That's my God! That's my protector! That's my shield! And even if I am cast into the pits or the furnace, He is with me! Do you know Him readers? Or do you just simply know of Him? There is a difference. Call on Him. Lean on Him. Love Him.

May God bless you all.
Chris

Knowing

2009-09-03T17:55:00.000-07:00

A minister I really enjoy has opened up all his sermons for free on his website, and I like to download them and listen to them at work. Well he mostly does in depth studies of the entire bible, and every once in a while he will tell of a story, sometimes they are true, sometimes they are just made to get you thinking. I would like to share one such story with you, which I know is different for what I usually do here, but I feel this has some relevance. This is not exactly how it was told word for word, for I am just going off of memory of when I heard it about a week ago.

There was a old retired preacher back in the day, that had a good friend who was "out of his league" so to speak in the social sense. One day his friend invited the preacher to a dinner party he was having that was quite an affair. Reluctantly the preacher decided to go. When he got there he was seated beside a very well known actor. The friend ask the actor to do them all a favor and recite something beautiful for them. The actor asked what they would like him to do and the preacher asked him if he knew the 23rd psalm. The actor said that as a matter of fact he did know that psalm. So the actor agreed under one condition, that the ol retired preacher recite it after him. The preacher agreed and the actor went on to recite the psalm in such a beautiful and dramatic way that the crowd at the dinner just applauded his performance of it when he was finished. The room fell quiet and the old preacher got up with his cracking and squeaky voice and humbly recited the 23rd psalm. When he was done there was not one dry eye in the house. The friend was struck, got up and said I think I get it, I get the difference in the reactions. For the actor knows the psalm but my friend here, he knows the Shepard.

I ask you, do you know the psalm that most do, or is it deeper for you? Do you know the Shepard? May He manifest His glory and light into all of your lives today, tomorrow, and for eternity. With love and prayers always.
Chris

The Fall Of Man

2009-08-19T18:48:00.000-07:00

Genesis 3:1-6 "Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field that the lord God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, you shall not eat from any tree of the garden?" The woman said to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die." The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from it's fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate."

This is the verse in theology that describes the fall of man. It is in this chapter that the devil pulls out his craftiness and turns the whole order of things upside down. Now this is not to say that God made it happen, just that he allowed it to happen for it would fulfill His will and mankind's future.

We all know this story from our youth, but let's really look deeper into all the lessons contained in this chapter. First thing we notice is that the devil comes as a serpent, a talking snake. It's funny how the devil never comes as he truly is, instead always disguised as something else. Whether it be a false prophet, false religion, a loved one appearing to you in an occult seance, or in this case a snake. I do find it ironic that a serpent is a very close description of himself considering how the devil is crafty and slithers around the world in search of things to devour. So beware, for the devil can come at you in so many ways, forms, shapes and symbols. The devil and his minions love to present themselves as good and pure. The devil isn't going to get his work done parading around telling everyone to come to a bottomless, painful, wretched burning place with him. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 11:14, 15 No wonder, for even satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, who's end will be according to his deeds."

The next thing to notice is that the devil comes to Eve and addresses her. Where's Adam? What's he doing that the devil comes to the woman? We are not given this info in the text, just that Eve took, ate and gave some to Adam to eat after the serpent deceived her into believing she surely would not die and actually would become like God. One could almost come to believe that Adam was beside her the whole time while the snake was conversing with her and if this is true, why didn't he speak up?

The main point of this blog is to look at how the devil/snake talked her into eating of the fruit. The first thing out of his mouth (verse 1) is said in a way to bring about doubt or distrust. I can almost hear the manipulating tone, "did God reeeeeally say you could not eat of any tree of the garden?" Just how he asks it makes one think that God is this big unfair entity with so many rules, when in reality it's one rule. Don't eat from that one tree. Enjoy this vast garden and all it's riches just don't eat from the one tree.

Look at Eve's response. She states the fact that they can eat of all the trees of the garden except for the one in the middle. But she goes on to say that of the one in the middle, God said do not eat from it or touch it or you will die. Now if you look back at the giving of this command by God in chapter 2 verse 17, you will see that two things stand out. Number 1 is that Eve was not even created at the time of this command. So I'm sure Adam passed it on to her. The second point is that God says not to eat from it, but he never says anything about touching it like she told the serpent. So either Adam told her not to touch it for her protection or she is lying to the devil going along with the doubt and "restrictive character" that the devil is trying to paint in her mind of God. It's something to ponder because this is the only time "not touch it" is mentioned.

Now look at the devil's response. He tells her she most surely will not die. But instead will become like God, knowing good and evil. So Eve saw that it looked good and was desirable to make one wise and ate of it. And gave some to Adam who listening to the woman rather than God's command, ate it. And it should be noted, Adam wasn't tricked or manipulated like Eve. This is the fall of man. The first sin against the only command God gave them, and they couldn't follow it. In the next few verses God comes calling them to find out they have not obeyed his one command. Look what Adam says in verse 12 "The woman who you gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree and I ate." This is just like modern day. He blames her and God! God gave him the gift of a partner and he's blaming God! And Eve was deceived, tricked, manipulated! And even though that's no excuse to break a command of God it's better than just eating when Eve gave him the fruit! Adam is doing exactly what so many of us still do to this day, start playing the blame game. Well I did this because...... Or I didn't stop this for..... Or blah blah blah... It's funny and sad that in the beginning with the first humans Adam didn't take responsibility for his actions like so many of us still don't. This is a big lesson I hope to get across in this post.

However, this is yet another just as important lesson to learn from this story in God's word. The devil told them they would not die. In reality they ate the fruit and they didn't die...right then. Instead they died spiritually in the aspect of being separated from their one on one interaction in the presence of God. Death in the physical sense would come, just not instantly right then. The greatest thing the devil did here and what we need to constantly be on the guard against is he put doubt into Eve's mind about God's word. That goes on so much these days. Just look around. Even religious groups and organizations now a days are stating there is no absolute truth. Well if that's the case, what's the Bible? I always thought it was God's absolute word and truth. Right? Yet so many evangelical Christians will argue with me on that fact.

Sorry this blog got so long. I just wanted to make the few points clearly so we might better understand God's word and how it's truth is so relevant even today. Remember beware for the enemy will come in many forms. Definitely as an angel of light. Never let anyone teach you anything that goes against the word of God. And please, let's take responsibility for our actions when we do sin, making no excuses, rather confessing and repenting to God as the gospel message teaches.

My prayer is that we keep our eyes and ears on the Spirit, that we may discern when trials and temptations from the devil arise. That we take a stand against anyone and everyone who denies Gods word and or character. That we follow Gods law cheerfully and without burden to bring Him the glory and praise that He desires and Deserves.

With love and prayers always

Chris

Motives

2009-08-13T18:32:00.000-07:00

Well if you are a christian you know the teachings of Jesus about not doing your deeds in front of others. This is a true statement. And let's see what God's word says about it. I intend to show that what it comes down to is motives.

Matthew 6:1 "Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven." These words of our Lord go on to say don't sound your trumpet when you give and don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. I want to concentrate on this first verse in chapter 6. Because many say it contradicts a few other verses in the Bible. The Bible when understood as God shows us NEVER contradicts itself. It is inerrant in all it's fullness.

There are several verses that tell us to be lights of the world. Just one chapter before this we see our Lord saying, Matthew 5:16 "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven."

Now wait, Jesus tells us to be lights that shine good works for men to see. And then in the same sermon tells us not to do our works for men to see them. Are you starting to see what the Lord is doing here? In 5:16 at the end of the verse it's saying to do our good works that they may glorify the Father. In chapter 6:1 it says not to do it for men to see. In other words for the glory of how great we are. We are to act like christians to glorify God, not ourselves. It's all about motives and the condition of the heart. We are not called to be monks for our solitude and quietness would not glorify God. Our pure conduct and walk in the true christian life of pureness, righteousness and love is what glorifies God to others around us. I think the Westminster catechism got it right in their first question, Q. What is the chief and highest end of man? A. Man's chief and highest end is to glorify God and fully to enjoy him forever.

Jesus in chapter 6 has seen the pharisees follow the law to the T outwardly. But inwardly, they were full of dead mans bones. We are called to live Godly lives outwardly as well as inwardly. Show people you care, show people you love them, show people you're not afraid to give to those in need, whether it be lending a hand or monetarily. I encourage any and all christians to do that. In Matthew 7:19- 20 Jesus tells us the false prophets will be known by their fruit. Well let us be known by our fruit as well, being good fruit. So that the name of the true God can be glorified.

That's the key though. If you do your works so that so and so sees you doing something good, as Jesus said, you will have no reward with your father in heaven for that. It is merely outwardly and you glorify yourself rather than God. This is a tough topic and I advise we pray for discernment in these matters because there are going to be many times that your doing or giving should be done just for God to see. Notice in 6:1 Jesus said beware. He doesn't say don't, he says beware. Because it is so easy to get caught up in pride and self gratification/glorification. The truth is the treasure in heaven you store up for yourself by doing good deeds and bearing good fruit is so much more grand than gaining the praise of men. Do your deeds to be noticed by God because you love Him and are dedicated to Him. Let's finish with one of my favorite verses, Phillipians 2:14 - 15. "Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights of the world"

Jesus said in Luke 11:33 "No one after lighting a lamp, puts it away in a cellar, nor under a basket, but on a nightstand so that those who enter may see the light."

My prayer for us is that we show the world the light of Christ through us. That we have the right intentions and motives to show the world what makes us Christians, who we are, and most importantly, whom we serve. Let the world draw close to God through our actions and love that the Spirit pours upon us. Let people know what us Christians are not only by what we confess, but by what we do. May the Lord bless you all.

With love and prayers always,

Chris

What Do You Seek?

2009-07-26T15:38:00.000-07:00

John 1: 35-39 "Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and said, behold the Lamb of God! The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. And Jesus turned and saw them following, and said to them, "what do you seek? " They said to Him, Rabbi (which translated means teacher), where are you staying? He said to them, come and you will see. So they came and saw where He was staying; and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour." (NASB)

I want to explain a little about the gospel of John so that it can lead us to a better understanding of what God is saying to us through this passage. The disciple John wrote this gospel and it was written in his latter years, approximately 50 years after his time with Jesus. That's quite a while, and what intrigues me about it is that after all that time, he remembers to the hour what time he met Jesus. (verse 39) What an impact and thing to behold, not meeting Jesus like we do, but literally meeting him in the flesh.

Verse 35 tells us that these two (John and Andrew) were disciples of John the Baptist and when they heard John proclaim that Jesus was the lamb of God they followed Jesus. Not follow as disciples, at least not yet, but they wanted to see where he was staying and I'm sure to know if he really was the Lamb of God as John the Baptist proclaimed. They were seeking the One whom the Jews have always been seeking, the Messiah, the Savior of the world. Now I love how Jesus turned to them and asked, "what do you seek?". Jesus will always turn to those who honestly and faithfully approach him and he will be straight forward. The pharisees and Sadducee's always came after Jesus to "trap him" or get him to "mess up". They were always rebuked and never given the answers they sought, rather they were given the truth of Him and the Kingdom of God. Many others came to Jesus such as the rich young ruler in Luke 18:18. Jesus knew this young man's heart. He loved money and the fact that he was rich and comfortable, and was willing to follow Jesus, but only because he had nothing to worry about. Jesus called this young man, and us, to be willing to give up all we have for him. To sell all, to walk away from family, to pick up our crosses daily and follow him is the kind of following Jesus wants us to be willing to give. John Wesley once said, earn all that you can, save all that you can, so that you can give all that you can. I'm not saying you can't have money or family, just that we have to be willing to give these things up if led in that direction.

Notice he told John and Andrew to come and they did and ended up staying with Jesus. That's the same message for us today. To approach Jesus with the right motives for his glory and not our own. Our benefit through Christ is a mere byproduct of glorifying him.

I am not saying that we are not to confess our sinfulness to God. For we are to. I am not saying we should not claim Christ as Lord for we definitely should. But I do have to point out that Jesus never turned to Andrew nor John nor the rich young ruler and say, pray this little sinners prayer, believe and go on with your life. Jesus never said that to anyone ever. Jesus always said things like I have just discussed. Take up your cross daily or sell all you have, repent and believe , and of course, follow me. Following him is not a one time deal, it's a lifestyle choice. It's a constant walk with Him down a narrow, lightly traveled path that leads to salvation in the kingdom of Heaven where he has gone to prepare a place for us. This path is rocky and it's not always full of riches and healing as many try to claim and on this path we will stumble on the rocks and boulders, but that end prize of being in the presence of Him who created us is worth any pains or troubles we endure.

My prayer is that we turn to Him with honest and true motives. That we seek Him for His glory and not for our own benefit. I pray we act like Andrew, and go and tell our brother, and all of whom we know for that matter, that we have found the Messiah! (verse 40) Let us pick up our crosses and follow Him so that we feel His touch and guidance in our lives every minute of everyday.

With prayers and blessings always
Chris

A Few Sayings I Like

2009-05-28T17:24:00.000-07:00

First: It is none of your business what people think of you. I really like this one and have to often remind myself of it.

Second: Always speak the truth, speak it lovingly and always truthfully. That one can be hard at times.

Third: When one is a Christian and has dedicated his/her life to Christ, they are not perfect. However they can reflect on three things:
1} I am not what I should be.
2} I am not what I could be.
3} But I am not what I used to be.

I heard this on the radio to a pastor I try to catch every now and again when hes on. It's a truth that is both humbling and uplifting. I also heard the always speak the truth from his radio show. His name is Josh McDowell and here is his site if anyone's interested. http://www.josh.org/site/c.ddKDIMNtEqG/b.4023555/k.BE5B/Home.htm

Chros

Giving

2009-05-04T17:14:00.000-07:00

It doesn't take a genius to look around and see that we as a state, country and world have gotten ourselves into some financially trying times. Many people are losing their savings, their retirement, their jobs on a daily basis. It is really sad, yet I am going to look into the topic of giving. Yes I know, what in the world am I doing, bringing up the subject of giving in times like this? Well, you probably think I'm going to break out the old saying, you have to sow seeds to reap a harvest, and I agree this is true, but I don't and won't present it like all the "health and wealth" preaching going on out there.

First off, if you are a tither (give 10% religiously to your church) that's great, but if it offends to hear that I don't believe a tithe is required then I would stop reading now.

I will not go to much into why I feel the Bible does not require a tithe, that is a topic I could spend many words and hours on. A church, as many establishments and organizations, need funds to operate, that's just a fact of life. I am all for a person supporting their church, and feel strongly that members of a church should indeed do all they can to support their church financially.

1 Corinthians 16:1,2 "Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also; On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come."

In this verse Paul is instructing the Corinthians to give, but he is instructing them to give as they prosper. He is not giving them a fixed amount, such as 10%. No required amount or percentage of giving to the Lord's work is specified in the New Testament. All giving to the Lord should be free will giving and discretionary.

Let's touch on free will giving first. Look at Romans 15:26. "For it pleased those from Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem." This was a free will offering given out of the heart and not because it was required or demanded. We love our children and our children love us because we want to, because of the relationship between us. Right? Not because we are required or demanded to love one another. With that being said, I want to make this statement so no one gets the wrong idea when giving. It has to be a sacrifice. True giving from the heart is a sacrifice. For what kind of giving is it if you give out of your abundance?

Mark 12:44 "For they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had, her whole livelihood."

Now lets look at giving in a discretionary way. Jesus says in Matthew 6:3-4. "But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in a secret, and your Father who sees in secret will of himself reward you openly."

How many times have we seen or even have done this? Give for all to see, see how great we are for our big hearts and gracious motives. That's all fine and dandy, the problem is when we do this we are seeking the praise of men rather than the praise of God. We should always keep in our minds that it does not matter what people think of us. For the only opinion that matters is how God sees us. Does he look upon us the wretched sinner we are, full of hypocrisy, or does He see us washed in the blood of His son and as faithful servants? IT IS NOT YOUR BUSINESS WHAT OTHERS THINK OF YOU.

Malachi 3 8-10 "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me! But you say, in what way have we robbed you? In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me. Even this whole nation bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food n my house, and try me now in this, says the Lord of Hosts. If I will not open for you the windows of Heaven, and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it."

I bring this verse into this blog to point out that I did not skim over this part of the Old Testament when reading my Bible. So many people have thrown the "do not rob God" verse in my face every time I bring up that I feel a person should give out of their hearts freely, and not a certain amount under obligation. Many never take into consideration that the Levites were to be servers and priests in the temple full time (doing nothing else) and they completely depended on the ten percent of the crops, animals and money to survive on. When the tithes were unpaid, the priests were deprived and had to give up their ministry to farm for food to eat.

Let me finish with a verse that I believe wraps up giving in a nut shell for Christians today. 2 Corinthians 9:7 "So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity: for God loves a cheerful giver."

I love that verse. God loves a cheerful giver, and I think this goes beyond just momentary and material giving. but also giving of your time and your talents, the ways God has so richly blessed you to help others. The Greek word for "cheerful" is the word from which we get "hilarious" which suggests that God loves a heart that is enthusiastically thrilled with the pleasure of giving. Should we be giving then in such troublesome times, well I believe we should be giving more of all we have now because there are so many more out there in need of help.

My prayer for us all is that we develop a true passion for giving our all in all ways to the kingdom of God. That we build up "treasures in Heaven" as Jesus told us in the sermon on the mount. That we be the cheerful givers God loves and may we go forth in an attitude of cheerfulness in all things.

With love and prayers,

C.

Freedom of choice act Please read it all

2008-12-16T19:08:00.000-08:00

Freedom of Choice Act
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Freedom of Choice Act (H.R. 1964/S. 1173) is a bill in the United States Congress which, if enacted, would abolish all restrictions and limitations on women in the United States to have an abortion prior to fetal viability, whether at the State or Federal level, or after the point of viability when the life of the mother is endangered.

Findings
The bill states in its findings section that Congress has the affirmative power to legislate abortion based, in part, on the crossing of state lines by abortion providers, women seeking abortions, and medical supplies used in abortions.

Sponsorship
The Freedom of Choice Act was sponsored in the House of Representatives by Congressman Jerrold Nadler, and originally co-sponsored by Congressman James Greenwood, Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, and Congresswoman Diana Degette. In the Senate, it was sponsored by Senator Barbara Boxer, and originally co-sponsored by Senators Jon Corzine, Patty Murray, Frank Lautenberg, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Maria Cantwell, Jim Jeffords, Joseph Lieberman, Diane Feinstein, Paul Sarbanes, and Barbara Mikulski. The bill was introduced in the United States House of Representatives on January 21, 2004, and in the United States Senate on January 22, 2004. Barack Obama promises to sign it if it is passed by Congress.

Status
The bills were referred to the Judiciary Committees of their respective Houses. Neither bill received further action in the 108th Congress. The bills were reintroduced in the 110th Congress, but like their predecessors, have been referred to committee without further action.

Description
The bill is described by NARAL Pro-Choice America president Nancy Keenan as a bill to "codify Roe v. Wade" which would "repeal the Bush-backed Federal Abortion Ban," referring to the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, "and other federal restrictions," [1]. Similarly, opponents of the bill assert that[2] it would, if passed, invalidate every restriction on an abortion before the stage of viability, in every state, even those previously found consistent with Roe v. Wade by the United States Supreme Court, such as parental notification laws, waiting periods, requirements of full disclosure of the physical and emotional risks inherent in abortion, and the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. Opponents further assert that it would challenge the right of religiously-based hospitals or clinics to refuse to perform abortions, and that it would force the repeal of the Hyde Amendment, which restricts the use of Federal funding for abortions. Conservative legal scholar Douglas Kmiec disagrees with the latter assertion, noting that the Hyde Amendment is renewed annually by Congress and argues that this legislation would not supersede it [3].

Debate
President-elect Barack Obama became a co-sponsor of the 2007 Senate version of the bill (S. 1173). Responding to a question regarding how he would preserve reproductive rights in a speech given to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund on July 17, 2007, he declared "The first thing I'd do, as president, is sign the Freedom of Choice Act. That's the first thing that I'd do."[4] Although those who oppose the Act have interpreted it as an attempt to obligate religious hospitals to either "do abortions or close"[5], supporters point to conscience clause laws[6] that would protect religious hospitals.[7] Opponents counter that such conscience clauses are weak and easily reinterpreted, and do not explicitly allow religious hospitals to ban the abortion procedure within the hospital.[8]
Some opponents point out that the rationale for legislating abortion on a federal level could logically be extended to every act of commerce that may occur across state lines, and say that such a rationale is likely to be deemed unconstitutional.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has been vehemently opposed to the Freedom of Choice Act. According to the USCCB's Secretariat for Pro-Life Activites, FOCA would not only "codify the Supreme Court's 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade" but "in allowing and promoting abortion, FOCA goes far beyond even Roe."[9] On November 12, 2008, Francis Cardinal George, president of the USCCB, warned that FOCA would limit the right of Catholic hospitals and doctors to not offer abortions adding that, "those who support FOCA must realize that if Catholic hospitals are ever required to perform abortions, the bishops will close every one of them; no one would be hurt more than the poor."[10] Drawing on Pope Paul VI's encyclical Humanae Vitae, the Catholic apologist Frank M. Rega, S.F.O., writes[11]:
The Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) is legislation co-sponsored by Barack Obama which would nullify all state laws that in any way attempt to limit or regulate abortion, including partial-birth abortion. Ironically, it specifies that government will not interfere with a woman’s choice to keep or to kill her unborn child. Nevertheless, FOCA would be a major move towards the dangerous precipice of government-mandated abortion, since it would consolidate all power over birth control into the hands of federal law and authorities. From there it would only be a small step to amend it in the light of overriding national health interests, environmental or population concerns, or any other reason deemed appropriate. Thus the FOCA clause in section 4.b.1.a, stating that a woman has the “right to choose to bear a child” could conveniently and easily be changed to, for example, that a woman has the right to choose to bear up to two children. More ominously, it could be amended to state that a woman has the right to bear a child, except in cases of rape, incest, Down syndrome, etc.

The pro-life organization Americans United for Life (AUL) began a petition called Fight FOCA to collect signatures to oppose FOCA. AUL also wrote an open letter to Senator Barack Obama on FOCA.[12] As of Friday, December 5, 2008, at 22:39:00 UT, the Fight FOCA petition has 311,013 signatures.

C.

Not As Graphic..Abortion Part 2

2008-12-09T17:59:00.000-08:00

Psalm 139; 13,14 "For you formed my inward parts you covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows very well."

In this psalm, David affirms that the work of God in his life extended back to his development in his mother's womb. Who was in the womb? David was. The Bible NEVER uses anything less than human terms to describe the unborn. Science teaches us that an unborn child is just as much an independent human being as you are. The original human cell consists of 46 chromosomes, 23 from each parent. At no point during pregnancy does the mother contribute any new cells to the child. The original cell divides itself and multiplies to provide development and growth for the child. Scientifically speaking, the child is just as independent at six months before birth as they are six months after birth. That means the baby is unique, having half mom and half dad in them at conception. Yes the mother does provide nourishment to the unborn child, but she also provides nourishment with breast milk to a newborn child.

Matthew 7:12 "Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the law of the prophets."

Would you care to be pickled to death with an injection? Or have your life scraped away with a tool that looks like a spoon? Or maybe you desire to have your brain removed? Abortion goes against this golden rule passage that Jesus personally delivered to us. No one desires these things.

Psalm 51:3 "For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me."

David confessed this to God after his sin with Bathsheba. David had a constant conviction and regret for what he did. David committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband murdered on the battlefield. And he regretted this deeply. Most women who have abortions, spend the rest of their lives regretting it. I ask that you visit with some woman who has had an abortion. Ask her if she would do it again, ask her if she has any regrets. Abortion brings shame, heartache and deep deep regret. Why would this be if it wasn't wrong?

Psalm 127:3 "Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward."

Many translations as this translation refers to say children are a gift from God. The fact that one becomes pregnant is a reward from God. Why would you want to terminate that?

2 Kings 8:12 "And Hazael said, “Why is my lord weeping?”
He answered, “Because I know the evil that you will do to the children of Israel: Their strongholds you will set on fire, and their young men you will kill with the sword; and you will dash their children, and rip open their women with child.”

This is a prophecy of the bad things Hazael would bring upon Israel. These are not good things, young men being killed by the sword, children being killed and pregnant women being ripped open. These are bad things according to this passage as they should be.

Matthew 2:16 "Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men."

Luke 2:12 "And this will be the sign to you; you will find a babe in swaddling clothes lying in a manger."

This verse calls newborn children babes. And this is referring to the baby Jesus. But Luke 1:41 uses the same word babes to describe unborn children in the womb. There is no distinction between whether they're born or in the womb, they're both described as human life, as children. In the book of Daniel, Daniel, Meshach ,Abed-nego and Shadrach would not defile themselves with a portion of the king's food nor with the king's wine. They also would not bow down and worship the king. That ended up getting the three in a fiery furnace and landed Daniel in a den of lions. I'm sure many of us know these stories, but I would like to just point out that the Bible calls out many times not to live a compromising life. We are not to compromise our views and our convictions from the Lord and His word. If broken, Keep the faith. If in financial ruins, keep the faith. If in a blazing furnace, KEEP THE FAITH!

Again I will end like my last post. Let us see from God's word that abortion is wrong in many many ways. Let us make it and see it as the big issue that it is. My prayer is that God shows mercy on us, a nation that claims to be founded on Christian beliefs, yet so often overlooks God and His will and ways for "rights", or economy, or just plain greed. Let us wake up and lean on Him, it saved Daniel and his companions, and it can save us too.

With love,

C.

Warning:Graphic Abortion Part 1

2008-12-08T17:12:00.000-08:00

The Bible is quiet about abortions. No where does it say, thou shall not have an abortion. However, the Bible does mention loud and clear respect and love for life and prohibits murder...what I feel abortion is. I know this is a touchy subject for some and I won't deny that I'm probably going to offend some. First we'll start with some general info.

There are five basic types of abortion being performed in America today, while one may be added in the near future due to the election results.

1.) Suction type abortion this is where the unborn child is literally vacuumed from the womb during the early stages of pregnancy.

2.) The currette abortion.....this is where the child is cut from the mother's womb with a spoon like object.

3.) Cesarean operation.......this is where the baby is surgically removed from the mother and allowed to suffocate because the child's lungs are not developed.

4.) The salt brine technique...this is the method where the child is literally "pickled" to death by the injection of a strong salt solution. A few days after the injection, the baby is stillborn.

5.) The RU-486 Abortion pill..This pill works by inhibiting pregnancy hormones and is normally used within 7 weeks from conception. However it sometimes fails and if so, you would need to undergo a surgical abortion.

There is currently much debate over the practice of partial birth abortions which as of now is illegal. This practice will be allowed if the president elect follows through with the "freedom of choice act" as he said he would. Partial birth abortion is where a child is partially delivered (everything but the baby's head) then stabbed in the skull and has his/her brain removed. This technique can be done up to nine months.

I understand a lot of people view abortion as wrong unless it puts the mother or child in grave danger or is a result of incest or rape. Well the facts show that 3% of abortions are done because of the mother's health. Another 3% are because of the baby's health. While 1%, that's right only 1% abortions are done because of rape or incest. That leaves a staggering 93% of abortions done simply because the babies are unwanted. An average of 1,500,000 abortions are done per year. That amounts to 4,000 abortions per day, which comes out to nearly 3 per minute. How many unborn children will die while you read this blog?

Prior to the Roe V Wade decision of 1973 an estimated 500,000 illegal abortions were occurring each year. By 1975, 2 years after abortions became legal, that number doubled to 1 million per year.

I had a fellow from work tell me that back in the 70s, Larry Flint of Hustler magazine did an issue which showed a bunch of women who "bled out" and died while having an illegal "back alley abortion". He said that's why he feels it should be legal, since women will do it anyway and might as well have a safe environment to do it in. I must admit that's a good argument, but if that's the case, should we then legalize heroine since people get AIDs from the needles or get bad drugs and die? Under this way of thinking, we can even have the abusers have doctors in their offices shoot them up. What do you think?

Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations."

Jeremiah was keenly aware that the call of God in his life had been determined by God before his conception. In reference to pregnant women in the Bible, the term "with child" occurs 26 times. The term "with fetus" is nowhere in the Bible. God does not see unborn children as fetuses or merely tissues, but a person, a human life. If God allows a child to be conceived, then he may have plans for that child. Mary's parents didn't know she would give birth to the Savior of the world. On the last post I did, I used Luke 1 to show that John the Baptist, being in the womb, leaped for joy. That's what got me thinking about this abortion issue. And also, K was telling me that last night on the news, it showed people can buy a gift card from Planned Parenthood that can be used for abortions. Tell me how that really sounds? You can buy a gift card for someone to go have an abortion! Does that sound right? I take this issue extremely serious because I believe 100% it is the act of killing innocent life. I found out years ago my mom had an abortion appointment while pregnant with me and my dad turning off the highway is the only reason I'm here. I have not changed the world, but I'm glad I'm here and my kids are here.

Abortion lowers the moral fabric this country is barely hanging onto as is. Many of you will call me extreme, but honestly, if we let doctors in the name of science and rights kill unborn children then what's next? Should we be allowed to kill our grandparents or parents if they end up suffering from senility? Or maybe we should have the right to kill mentally retarded or seriously sick people? Should we maybe kill people like me, who in the name of Christ refused be conformed to this world and its views of right and wrong? This is all a reality that could happen and it starts by giving sin an inch. Sin will end up growing and taking a mile, and much much more. That's it for tonight. I will post part 2 with much more scripture demonstrating the act is wrong. Feel free to leave your opinions and feedback....either way.

I pray we make this issue the size it deserves. These abortions would be healthy human lives made in the image of our Heavenly Father.

With love,
C.

My King

2008-12-08T17:11:00.000-08:00

Advent

2008-12-06T06:48:00.001-08:00

Advent time is here again. This is a time that we observe and contemplate the birth of Christ. It is also a time to remind us (which we should keep ready at all times) that as our Lord came once, he is coming again.

We should take this time to reflect on what really happened that first Christmas. The harsh realities of the dark stank stable, the cold night, and the door to the inn closed. And most importantly we should reflect and rejoice that in that time, God came into our mist. This is something that's not only happened in the past, but is still happening in the lives of repentant believers still today through the work of the Holy Spirit.

Advent is not only a celebration of the anniversary of our Lord who came, but is an opportunity to consider the future, the second advent, the promised coming of God's kingdom on earth. (Revelation 22:20, 2Peter 3:13) We should never forget the grandness of what happened in the small town of Bethlehem. We are all familiar with the nativity scene, a small precious child laying in a manger, shepherds coming to see the king, wise men bringing gifts...this is all relevant and to be recognized. Yet the one thing we should always remember is that baby that laid in that manger is the same man who was crucified on the cross at the hill of Golgotha. The same man who promised to return in all His splendor and glory bringing His kingdom with Him.

They have wreaths, calendars, devotional books and on and on for the entire month of advent. I urge anyone to take part in such things and enjoy them. But I cannot stress enough, in this season, don't get wrapped up with the holiday rush around and all the consumerism that commercials and retailers are shoving on us. Remember the old saying, "Jesus IS the reason for the season. "

I ask that we all take some time this Christmas season and examine ourselves in the light of the gospel to see how far we are from Christ and what is our character of His faith and love. How many of us share the longing of the prophets for the Messiah to come. Mother Theresa once noted that the first person to welcome Christ was John the Baptist, who leaped for joy on recognizing him, though both of them were still in their mother's wombs. (Luke 1:39-45) Do you welcome Jesus into your lives like this? Do you recognize him for who he really was and not just some holiday we celebrate every year to give gifts?

I wanted to do this advent topic because most churches don't celebrate advent. Its lost in the consumerism and rush of the season. Most of my ideas and the Mother Theresa info came from the book, Watch For the Light, reading for advent and Christmas. A good read I recommend.

My prayer for all is that we forget the hustle and bustle of the season, that we forget how work is going, that we forget how the economy's doing, and that we concentrate on the one thing that really does matter, Jesus of Nazareth

With love,

C.

Luke 1:39-45
Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”

Does God Change His Mind?

2008-10-11T08:46:00.000-07:00

We are told in the Bible to pray on all things. We are also told to be anxious for nothing, but to offer prayers and petitions to God. Well I have been asked before and even asked this question myself. If and when we pray, does that or will that change God's mind?

In the beginning, the first book of the Bible, Genesis, Abraham the forefather of the Israelites, is asking that the Lord not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. He pleads as we will see in the verses below to save the cities if they have any righteous in them.

23Abraham came near and said, "Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
24"Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it?
25"Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?"
26So the LORD said, "If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place on their account."
27And Abraham replied, "Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ashes.
28"Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, will You destroy the whole city because of five?" And He said, "I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there."
29He spoke to Him yet again and said, "Suppose forty are found there?" And He said, "I will not do it on account of the forty."
30Then he said, "Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak; suppose thirty are found there?" And He said, "I will not do it if I find thirty there."
31And he said, "Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord; suppose twenty are found there?" And He said, "I will not destroy it on account of the twenty."
32Then he said, "Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once; suppose ten are found there?" And He said, "I will not destroy it on account of the ten."
33As soon as He had finished speaking to Abraham the LORD departed, and Abraham returned to his place.

First of all, as we asked in our Wednesday prayer class when looking at the passage, why did Abraham stop at ten? Did he feel like he was pushing the Lord too much? Did he in pleading with the Lord get a revelation or sense as to what God was going to do anyway? He was pleading for Lot, that's why he didn't want the cities destroyed...Lot lived there. Well even though Abraham was a great bargainer, the Lord in the next chapter sends to angels to Sodom and Gomorrah to destroy them. Abraham's prayer was still heard though in that Lot and a handful of his family was brought out of the cities before they were destroyed. Unfortunately his wife disobeyed the Lord and looked back as they were leaving and turned into a pillar of salt. That's a subject for another time, but I do want to note, don't do anything God tells you not to do.

To stay on topic, Abraham asked God to not destroy Sodom and Gemorrah, even pleaded with him, but it was God's will to do it. So it had to be done. God did know of Abraham's wish to have Lot spared and God being merciful and gracious granted him that. God did answer Abraham's prayer just not in the way Abraham had wanted or asked. Remember that...God knows what's best in the end for us and that is how he will answer all our prayers. Not for our will, but for His.

7Then the LORD spoke to Moses, "Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.
8"They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and have sacrificed to it and said, 'This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!'"
9The LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people.
10"Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation."
Moses' Entreaty 11Then Moses entreated the LORD his God, and said, "O LORD, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
12"Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, 'With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth'? Turn from Your burning anger and change Your mind about doing harm to Your people.
13"Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, 'I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.'"
14So the LORD changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people.

This is the story of the golden calf and the plea from Moses to God to spare the people from God's wrath. God had planned to pour out His wrath on them and make a great nation out of Moses. After Moses' plea, verse 14 says "so the Lord changed his mind about the harm which he said he would do to his people." (NASB) The King James version says God repented and other versions say God relented. What it boils down to is God did not destroy the Israelites like He was going to and make a great nation for Moses. So does God change His mind? In the end, God's will is always carried out. God may change the means to which the end comes about but it is always according to His will since He is sovereign. His mind may change, but His will does not. For His will to change would mean God is not perfect, which is absolutely not true. God is true perfection.

My prayer for all is that we bring our troubles and thanks and prayers to God no matter how big or small they may seem. That we may open our eyes to glimpse the way of which God's hand is working in all our prayers.That we see the beauty and glory of His perfect will.

With Love and prayers always.

C.

"STORMS"

2008-10-04T08:57:00.000-07:00

I wanted to do this blog on Jesus' teachings on love and compassion to all His creation, and all the analogies He uses referring us and Him many times as animals of one kind or another. Well that is still in the works so I'm gonna do this one on the storms that come along in our lives. We all face trials and temptations in life, and in times like that I find great comfort in the teachings Jesus gives us on the storms others have faced in His day and the way God uses it to show Himself and His power to us. I am pretty sure I have done a blog before on problems we face and go through in life. The Bible teaches that such times will come, for not even Jesus was spared trials and temptations. We will not be spared hard times, but instead we will be made and conformed into that of which God wants us to be through them.

James 1:2-4 "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."

Matthew 8:23-27 Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. So the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

Now this is a literal storm that the disciples went through here, and imagine the fear that must have gripped them, for they thought they were gonna die. Now I gotta ask, how is it Jesus was sleeping during a raging storm like this? Do you sometimes feel that God is sleeping when you are in the middle of a raging storm that is trying to consume your life? Do you feel like He is not hearing your cries and waking up to calm the storm like He did for the disciples here? Well, the storms will and are coming, and rest assured that Jesus knows that they are and He knows the best way to calm them.

I have no doubt that Jesus knew this storm was coming before He even got in the boat. He slept and was in the boat during the storm with them (as in life He is with us) and He wanted to show them what faith really was, and to in times of trouble cry out and call upon Him. Many times in the gospels things like this happened so that Jesus could teach the disciples (and us) to rely, depend, and trust in Him completely. This story shows a touching picture of Christs humanity that He fell asleep and was so weary that not even the violent rocking of the boat woke Him. This story also shows us of His power as the Son of God that He awoke and rebuked the sea and winds and they obeyed Him. In the storms and the good times of life, that's the type of Saviour I choose to serve and obey!

The next set of scriptures I am gonna comment on is the story of the death and resurrection of Lazarus found in John 11:1-44. (Bear with me for I know this is alot of scriptures.)
1Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
2It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.
3So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick."
4But when Jesus heard this, He said, "This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it."
5Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
6So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was.
7Then after this He said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again."
8The disciples said to Him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and are You going there again?"
9Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.
10"But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him."
11This He said, and after that He said to them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep."
12The disciples then said to Him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover."
13Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He was speaking of literal sleep.
14So Jesus then said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead,
15and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let us go to him."
16Therefore Thomas, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, so that we may die with Him."
17So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days.
18Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off;
19and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother.
20Martha therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet Him, but Mary stayed at the house.
21Martha then said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.
22"Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You."
23Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
24Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day."
25Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,
26and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?"
27She said to Him, "Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world."
28When she had said this, she went away and called Mary her sister, saying secretly, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you."
29And when she heard it, she got up quickly and was coming to Him.
30Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met Him.
31Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and consoling her, when they saw that Mary got up quickly and went out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
32Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died."
33When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled,
34and said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to Him, "Lord, come and see."
35Jesus wept.
36So the Jews were saying, "See how He loved him!"
37But some of them said, "Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?"
38So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.
39Jesus said, "Remove the stone." Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days."
40Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?"
41So they removed the stone Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.
42"I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me."
43When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth."
44The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."

This is the story of Lazarus. Lazarus was a close friend of Jesus as we see in verse 5. His sisters sent word to Jesus that Lazarus was sick. When Jesus received this news He waited two days until He decided to go back to see him. Now He tells His disciples that they are going back to see Lazarus because he has fallen asleep (verse 11). The disciples are worried about the Jews in that area wanting to kill Jesus and say if he has fallen asleep he will awaken, and this is the part to really ponder, Jesus says "Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe." It goes on to show how distressed Mary and Martha were over the death of their brother and the power of Christ to come back and raise Him from the dead on the forth day of Lazarus' death.

Jesus knew the storm was coming and as we see He had the power to calm it. He said that Lazarus' sickness would not end in death. You say he did die? Yes he did but in the end he was alive and I bet more alive than he had ever been. Lazarus died and lived again to bring glory to God. Never forget that God is Huge! So huge that our biggest storms in life, including death, are nothing to Him. No one can begin to even ponder the greatness and awesomeness of God. The human mind literally does not have that capacity. So please, in the storms of your life call and lean on Him. He may not answer your prayers and requests how you make ask or like, but He is sovereign and does have your best interests in mind in all that He does. He let Lazarus die, and was glad, because it showed many who He was and the power He has.

My prayer for all is that we do indeed try to see things in the holy and awesome way that God does. That we see the beauty that lies just beyond the storms in our lives, and the power and glory in the hand whom calms the storms. With love and prayers always.

C.

Compassion To All: Part One

2008-09-20T08:16:00.000-07:00

We had some real good storms a couple weeks back with a lot of rain. As I was walking into work I noticed that this soaking we needed had really brought out the frogs (toads). So I mentioned this to a fellow employee sitting at one of the picnic tables outside. And he tells me, "ya they are really out, but it's a shame because some idiot will start stomping on them on his way in".

What satisfaction does a person get from something I see as so terrible? Why would you kill something (whether a frog, dog, cat, mouse, whatever) for fun? I really don't get people at times. I think we should do all we can to protect God's creation since we were entrusted with dominion over them. (Genesis 1:28-31) I think so many people misunderstand that statement. We do have, granted by God, dominion over the birds and creatures of the earth. Should we not use that dominion in a compassionate and merciful way like our Heavenly Father who has dominion over us does? An old quote I found interesting goes like this; "A truly religious man does not ask how far this or that deserves sympathy...,to him, life as such is sacred."

There are many verses in the Bible that deal with God's relationship with us and animals. As well as our relationship with animals. Look at the great flood in Noah's day. God saved Noah's family and two of every kind of animal (seven of each of the clean animals) in Genesis 7:1-3. And after the flood we see that God made a covenant with Noah, his family and all animals and earth that he will never destroy earth again with a flood. Genesis 9:8-10 "Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying; and as for me, behold, I establish my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you; the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth." I find it interesting that God mentions the animals too. They are his creation after all, for we cannot breathe life into things, only God can.

Ecclesiastes 3:19-20 "For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them: as one dies, so dies the other. Surely, they all have one breath; man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity. All go to one place: all are from the dust and all return to the dust." This verse tells us that in the end, whether beast or man, we all die. For all come from dust and all will return to dust. We are guaranteed eternal life through Jesus Christ, animals are not mentioned in that salvation. So to all the people who ask if they're dog or cat went to "doggy or kitty heaven", I must admit that the Bible does not teach this. However I can say in the beginning in the garden of Eden there were animals. And many prophecies for the future kingdom of God show animals present and in harmony with one another. Isaiah 11:6-9 "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; there young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobras hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the vipers den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."

Hosea 2:18 "In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, with the birds of the air, and with the creepy things of the ground. Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth, to make them lie down safely."

Both these scriptures we just read speak of the coming kingdom of Christ where all will live in harmony as was in the garden of Eden. I love the verse where the lion will eat straw like an ox. I will do my next blog on the New Testament and Jesus' teachings on compassion and love to all including his Father's creation. I hope I didn't lose any of you in this cause it got longer than I'd hoped. But so many people are just mean to animals and I don't get it! They have the breath of life in them just as you and I do. I don't get how a Christian can ask for mercy from God who is above when he shows no mercy to what is below him. The scriptures make clear that God expects humans to be caretakers of his creation.

My prayer for all is that we see the value and the beauty of God in his creation of us, his animals and nature. That we treat all people and animals with love, mercy and compassion as God so wonderfully does for us. With love and prayers always.
C.

Disgusted!

2008-09-18T14:07:00.000-07:00

"The Small Things"

2008-09-01T18:16:00.000-07:00

I was at a education committee meeting at church a while back and we read a story of some American missionaries that were in a poor third world country working to spread the good news of Christ. The story talked of the things they were learning, especially how poor other parts of the world really are. The lady writing it said that her family always said grace before a meal and gave thanks for the food they were blessed with, yet didn't realize how much of a blessing that was til they had to go with lack of on their missionary journeys. That really got me to thinking how spoiled we are in this country in the sense of food.

How many times have you had to go to bed hungry because you had nothing in the pantry to cook or eat? How many times have you had to tell your kids its time to go to bed, we will eat tomorrow? I am not a wealthy man according to this societies measure but that is something I am fortunate enough to say I have never been through. Many people in other countries and even this one face this struggle everyday. I know we have all seen the starving kids on TV and heard about the lack of food elsewhere and the crisis that it is. I do not say this to make you feel bad or anything of that nature.

Think about the faith that would produce in a person if they literally had to rely on God completely for their next meal. Something we so often take for granted yet need to survive. I have heard of remarkable miracles happening in places like these that we don't hear often here and I just wonder if it has to do with the amount of faith people like this have. You have to truly go without something to know what a blessing it really is and these people know this firsthand. It's easy to say God is great and go to church on Sundays and maybe volunteer for some church activities, but its when the true hardships come and we are forced to go without that true awesome faith is produced in us. That's when God does His most powerful acts and works to and through us. We so often, and I am extremely guilty of this at times, overlook all the "small things" in life that actually are not that small. Many people will die in their sleep tonight and we will go through the day never thanking God for the breath in our lungs. We will eat at least two to three meals tomorrow not realizing what a treasure and blessing it is. We will notice our friend has a nicer car than ours and we will not thank God that we have a vehicle that runs and gets us to work and our kids to school. We will forget what a blessing it is we can cloth our kids and send them to get a free education. On and on and on I could go.

I am going to put the story of Elijah and the widow at the end of this post for any who would like to read don't have to go find their bibles right away. Most of you know the story, the widow had enough oil and flour for one cake for her and her son then she was going to starve to death. Elijah said to make him a cake from it and them one as well as The Lord will not allow the oil to dry up nor the flour jar to be used up until the rain comes. (There was a severe famine because Elijah said the Lord will not allow it to rain because of their disobedience and worshipping of false Gods. This drought lasted about three and a half years. James 5:17) Think about the faith of this woman. Her last meal for her and her son and this stranger walks in and wants that last meal. Look at verse 12 says, she isn't even a believer in Elijah's God for she says "As the Lord your God lives...".

Now I got to ask you a question, what would you do. Be honest with yourselves. You would say no. I would say no. Most of us in this situation would honestly say no and in essence would miss this miracle that God wanted to do through us. I have a hunch that the Lord really pressed this on her heart but that is just my opinion, either way it is still amazing to me. This woman was down to literally nothing and not even a believer in the true God at this moment, yet had the faith to try anything since she had nothing to lose. We can all learn a great deal from this remarkable story, there is alot more in here than just some story we tell our kids.

This post is dedicated to my grandpa. I asked him today if he ever had to go without because I knew he was raised in extremely poor conditions and he remembered his mom saying we just have to go to bed tonight because we have no food. I pray that he and us see God in these situations for he is now sixty five years old. The Lord brought him through those times safe and with a great future. I pray we all see Gods hand in all the "small things" as well as the big things in our lives. May we a go forth with our faith, hope, and trust completely in Him.

With love and prayers.

C.

Elijah and the Widow (1 Kings 17:8-16)
8 Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” 10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, that I may drink.” 11 And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” 12 So she said, “As the LORD your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” 13 And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son. 14 For thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the LORD sends rain on the earth.’” 15 So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days. 16 The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke by Elijah.

Drug Raids

2008-08-25T17:43:00.000-07:00

So Friday night there was a huge drug raid that went on here in our town. It was a 3 county project that aimed at cracking down on those who deal crack cocaine and other illegal drugs. Any of you out there have a serious addiction? I have talked about illegal drugs and addictions before. This instance hit close to home, literally, considering it was practically in my front yard. And after reading the list of people arrested, I saw a good friend I had in high school was one of them. Apparently he has not changed much since high school and has stayed on the same path. It got me to thinking that I could have been one of those names on the list had I stayed on that same path.

I am all for law enforcement cracking down on drugs for that slavery of addiction to drugs and money causes the addict to do things he otherwise would not. Lying, cheating, stealing, sometimes even killing. I must admit though, my heart aches for these addicts as well. We are responsible for what we sow, I don't deny that. Yet when we make a bad decision that causes us to become a slave to an addiction that is hard to overcome it can be hard to recover from that bad decision since it leads into a cycle of bad decisions. Romans 6:17-19 "But thanks be to God that though you were slaves to sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification."

I really feel that we need to pray for people who are addicted and so wrapped up in this drug world. I truly believe a lot of them will never be able to quit and get out of this slavery to drugs and money without the awesome hand of God interceding. Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." Many of us know this verse and it plainly tells us that with God we can overcome addiction any anything for that matter with Him.

I know it sounds crazy to some, but I ask that you pray for these drug addicts. James 5:15-16 "and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up and if he has committed sins they will be forgiven him. Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much."

At church yesterday I asked to put these people arrested on our prayer list. And it turns out they were one step ahead of me by having a basket with all the names of the people arrested since it is public record in the paper. They asked us to take a name and pray for that person as much as possible in the days to come. Number one I love our church and number two, it really gets us to putting others before ourselves. Think if we could all do that, put others needs and prayers before our own. Jesus did just that for us.

May God grant us the gift of seeing the beauty in all things and all people.

With love and prayers always,

C.

Another Great Video

2008-07-28T16:34:00.000-07:00

God's Love letter Video

2008-07-28T15:57:00.000-07:00

Pride

2008-07-15T17:54:00.000-07:00

I did a post on envy and I could do many posts on that subject. Pride is another subject that I could do many on and I hope I do it justice. Let's look at a few scriptures on this subject.

2 Corinthians 10: 17- 18 "But he who boasts is to boast in the Lord. For it is not he who commends himself that is approved, but he who the Lord Commends."
I love how this verse begins. If you're going to boast, boast in the Lord, in His presence, in His power, in His grace. How true! Paul was an amazing man of whom was so Spirit filled and one minded in God and His ways. Paul through all his letters (epistles) shows by example the humility of which the Lord commends. He only boasts for the glory of God. He has no money, he tells Timothy at one time to bring his coat since he had none when it was cold, and he wrote many of his letters chained in Roman prisons. He never griped or complained, but kept "running the good race until finished" as he wrote in 2 Timothy 4:7. I bring all this up because it shows the true humility that Paul demonstrated for the gospel and as an example for us believers. Humility, of which I have talked before is the exact opposite of pride. Pride is a lot like money in the sense that it also is a root to all kinds of evil. It says in the Bible that money is the root to all kinds of evil, but I believe that pride and envy go hand in hand with that as well. Just look around, you see it everywhere today in society. Pride is a stronghold that can clasp onto us so easily that by the time we notice it it is hard to get under control. I've mentioned before in envy that an action we do so many times that leads into this sin is comparing. Comparing leads us into one of two things, being prideful or being envious. Both are serious sins we need to be extremely alert of. Pride is a sin that God will rebuke us of if we're not careful to quit and repent of.
Isaiah 2:11 "The pride look of man will be abased and the loftiness of man will be humbled, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day."
Proverbs 3:34 "Though he scoffs at the scoffers yet he gives grace to the afflicted." I've always taken this verse and other translations say it this way, that God is against the proud, but he gives grace to the humbled and persecuted.

Let's look at an example of God against the proud in the Bible. 2 Chronicles 26: 16-23 I urge all to read this in their Bibles if you have the chance. This is a story of king Uzziah who was a God fearing man. What this story breaks down is he went into the temple to burn incense on the alter of incense. Now this is a practice that only the priests were allowed to do, but Uzziah being full of pride thought he could do it for the Lord. The priest told him get out of the sanctuary for you have been unfaithful and will have no honor from the Lord God. This enraged Uzziah and instantly leprosy broke out all over his face. Now notice here, Uzziah attempted to do the role of the priests which is forbidden in Levitical code. God judged this king's refusal to heed the law, but was merciful in that he did not kill Uzziah. With leprosy, Uzziah had to submit to the priests in a new way according to the laws of leprosy and endure isolation the rest of his life from the temple. He also lost his kingdom to his son because of the leprosy. The Lord never cured him of this and his son took over the kingdom and he even had to live in a separate house than that of his mansion and could never enter the temple of the Lord ever again. Some would almost prefer death than these circumstances in those days. He lost it all over disobedience because of his pride. It's not fun to hear stories of God rebuking people for sin, but it does happen then and now.

Let us not be prideful of anything we have, rather let us share with all our blessings and gifts from God. That's what Jesus would do. Let us not be prideful in our health, financial status, spiritual knowledge, works and deeds or material possessions. Remember the Lord can take all of it in the blink of an eye, literally.

My prayer for all is that we see the sin of pride for what it is and not become ensnared in it like we so easily do. Let us call on God for clean hearts and cleans hands washed by the blood of our Lamb and Saviour Jesus Christ. In all things let us put Him and His will and His glory first.

With love and prayers always.

C.

True Freedom

2008-07-09T17:06:00.000-07:00

As we all know, the first right in the bill of rights is the freedom of religion. As we just passed our Independence Day, it's good to reflect on our freedoms and rights. I must admit though I have of lately looked at freedom in a different way, not defining it as free to do whatever, rather defining it as free to do the right thing. I think that's what true freedom should mean and reflect.

My pastor gave a great sermon this past Sunday on freedom and I'm going to use the verse and a little material that he did as well as some of my own thoughts and opinions. John 8:31-36 "So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed him, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." They answered Him, "we are Abraham's descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that you say, you will become free?" Jesus answered them "truly truly I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed."

Now that's where real freedom comes from, the Son. The truth here is not only the facts surrounding Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God, but also the teaching he brought. No matter what man can promise or do, nothing sets you free like the Son. For the Son is the source of true freedom, because he is the only one who can free you from the slavery of sin.

Galatians 5:1 "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yolk of slavery." Christ set us free for freedom's sake that we may not be yolked to slavery again. The truest freedom we can obtain is through Christ, which is the deliverance from the curse that the law pronounces on the sinner who has been striving unsuccessfully to achieve his own righteousness but who has now embraced Christ and the salvation granted by Him through grace.

The John verse shows that Christ frees us from sin. The Galatians verse shows us that Christ frees us from the old law. Though we have the privilege of being born in the freest land of all, the only way to be truly free is not through our government, but through our Savior.

Romans 8:1,2 "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death." Christ even frees us from the life of sin and death. Now don't get me wrong, you will still die a physical death, but with Christ you will still live even though the flesh dies. That's true freedom. Christ came to overcome death so that we might have eternal life through Him.

Romans 8: 31,32 "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies;" With God for us we cannot fail. I hope we all recognize what true and real freedom is and through Him of who it's obtained. Let us rejoice that we live in one of the greatest countries in the world and let us strive through our freedoms of the land to show the world God's kindness and love.

I wanted to post this closer to July 4th, but that did not work out. I really wanted to yesterday, but lightning had other plans with our modem. My prayer for all is that we reach out to all who need the freedom only the Son can give. Let us proclaim His message and His love for the glory of the Father always.

With prayers and love always.
C.

Envy and Jealousy

2008-06-29T15:00:00.000-07:00

What does the Bible say about envy and coveting? I put envy and coveting together here because they are synonyms. Jealousy is not a synonym with the two as we often make the mistake in assuming. Synonyms can be used interchangeably, which is usually the case with envy and jealousy, but not always. Try substituting envy in Exodus 34:14 "Your Lord who's name is jealous is a jealous God." God is not envious, He is jealous. And His jealousy is His possessiveness of His people for it protects us from being plucked out of His hand. Paul talks of a Godly jealousy in 2nd Corinthians 11:2. All jealousy is not bad,but do not be fooled, our jealousy is a bad jealousy 99% of the time. Jealousy causes so many "good" people to do so many "bad" things. We see it all around us. So I say leave jealousy to God and try to rid it from our lives.

James 3:13-18 "Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist there is disorder in every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed who's food is righteousness is sewn in peace by those who make peace." James tells us that where envy is, there you will find disorder and every evil practice. He also tells us that such jealousy and selfish ambition is earthly, natural, and demonic. Them are some pretty strong words that are straight to the point. In our walk with Christ and our choosing of the narrow path of which we are called, envy and jealousy should have no part of our lives. Let us not "drool" over what our neighbor has that we don't. We have salvation and a personal relationship with our Savior. Gifts of which we could never earn on our own at any expense, gifts of which also no man could ever take away. So you envy your brother because he has a $200,000 house and yours is only worth $50,000? Do you realize how many people don't have a home at all? Or the millions of people who rent? Or possibly those in the third world countries, those who don't know where their next meal's coming from? We need to have the mindset of Christ. We are so blessed, yet I see so many of us Christians crying about what we don't have rather than giving thanks and praise to what we do have.

Luke 15:31-32 "And he said to him son you have always been with me and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live and was lost but has been found." This is the end of the parable of the prodigal son and the father's telling his devoted son you are always with me and all that I have is yours. That's what God is trying to get across to us. We have what is His and that is so much that no man could ever truly comprehend it until they are united with the Father. We have a relationship with God which is the most priceless thing a man can have. Don't get me wrong though, never should we think we are better than unbelievers because of this, for that would drift us into the sin of pride. Instead we should want all to come to that knowledge and relationship with Christ.

We see Jesus telling us this in Matthew chapter 20. (This chapter's too long to type out. It's the parable of the laborers and I resolve any and all to read it if possible.) This chapter starts off with the story of the laborers. Some were hired early in the morning to work the vineyard all day for one denarius. Well the land owner went out again the third, sixth, and ninth hour and hired more people each time. Well when the end of the day came, the landowner paid them all one denarius. Now we can all understand why the early workers are a bit envious, but the landowner paid them what they agreed on. Fair is fair. That's what the Lord wants us to know. No matter when we come to him he will gift us all the same. We just need to be able to come and work for His kingdom and His namesake. And no matter when we come and how long we work for Him we should rejoice rather than be envious when another comes later and gets the same reward. We should be glad that they are saved and have heard Jesus knocking, and have opened the door to have let him in.

The Bible tells us in 2nd Peter 3:9 "The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." That is the true mindset of Christ, when we think out of the spirit rather than out of our flesh. No matter what the situation or how one serves God or how one is blessed by God, let us be glad and rejoice in the fact that they are children of God, for none of us are worthy of the grace we have received which makes grace so awesome.

In the Old Testament, Joseph's brothers were very envious of him and would have killed him had it not been for Reuben and Judah. Ya I know he was sold into slavery, but it was that or death. Killing over envy, it's a serious sin that can lead to death. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:23) For it's amazing how all sin measured to it's fullest equals death. Porn can lead to rape can lead to death. Jealousy can lead to envy can lead to death. Every sin measured at it's fullest equals death. We have to many times heard in the news of a jealous spouse who ended up shooting their spouse over jealousy because they caught them cheating with another person. Cheating lead to death, jealousy ended up leading to death, the Bible does not lie when it says the wages of sin is death. As Christians we should not have envy in our lives and any excuse against this is just pure carnal thinking. Let us leave jealousy, vengeance, and judgement to the one of whom it belongs, the Lord. A simple step to eliminate jealousy and envy from our lives is to stop comparing. Comparing will lead to one of two things; pride or envy. Both are sins, so if we stop comparing things, that may help us with this temptation.

Let's end with Isaiah 30:21 "Your ears will hear a word behind you," This is the way, walk in it". Whenever you turn to the right or to the left." Listen to that voice and it will always direct you away from jealousy and envy, for the spirit within will always tell us the way to walk rightly for the pleasing of God.

I could do blog after blog after blog on this subject and still not scratch the surface on this topic,for there are many verses on the subject that I did not even use. Envy and jealousy are things we will deal with daily. I will probably do more in the future on this topic, but my prayer right now is that we recognize this sin and the deadly effects it can have on relationships and our lives in general. Let us be strong and not give into this temptation that so often tries to snare us. With love and prayers always

C.

"I AM"

2008-06-25T16:34:00.000-07:00

So I saw a spot in my study bible that tells of the "I AM" statements Jesus made, especially in the gospel of John. I figured I'd type some of them up for all of you, hopefully giving a better understanding of Jesus and who He was.

John 6:35 Jesus said to them,"I AM the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst."

John 8:12 Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying,"I AM the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life."

John 10:7 So Jesus said to them again,"Truly, truly, I say to you, I AM the door of the sheep."

John 10:9 "I AM the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture."

John 10:11 "I AM the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep."

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I AM the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."

John 15:1 "I AM the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser."

Revelation 1:17-18 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I AM the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I AM alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and Hades."

John 11:25-26 Jesus said to her,"I AM the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?"

My question to all is simple, what is your answer to Jesus' question in the last line of the last verse? You don't have to tell me but I ask you to look at your relationship with Christ and answer that question to yourselves honestly and openly. It's one question Jesus straight out asked Martha in the verses John 11:22-25 as well as all of us reading His word. Do you believe this? I'll end with that.

My prayer for all is that we know who Jesus was, is, and always will be. That we cast all our cares, doubt, and love on Him and His greatness. May God richly bless each and everyone of you. With love and good tidings always.
C.

Christian Marriage

2008-06-21T08:54:00.001-07:00

I talked about divorce in my last blog, now let me talk about the role of husband and wife in a good marriage. The Bible tells us in Genesis 2:22 that God took the rib of man and created woman from it. The Bible also teaches us that the man is the head of the wife. (Ephesians 5:23) Sorry to all feminists, but that's what the Bible teaches.

Ephesians 5:22-33 "Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of his body. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Never the less, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband." (NASB)

Looking at these verses we see that we husbands are to love our wives as Christ loved the church. How much did Christ love the church? So much that he gave his own life for it. Also we are to love our wives as our own bodies. Verse 22, where it says wives be subject to your own husbands is addressed to the wives willingly and lovingly obeying their husbands, which is right, not the husband commanding or demanding it. Honestly, if the wife is not living up to her end, scripture does not give the husband a free pass to forget how he ought act and treat his wife. It also does tell the man that he is to demand respect and obedience. So when people, especially Christian men, argue with you that women are completely inferior to men and completely low on the totem pole, here is some scripture that tells us completely different. The Bible does tell us that man is head over the woman, but only the husband over his own wife. I don't have dominion over my friend's wife, only my own. This point shows up the perfection and oneness of marriage. Yes I am head of my wife, as Christ is head of me. Well, Christ shows me mercy and blessings constantly, so should I not do the same for my wife?

There is a real responsibility to those who are put in charge of people, and one can rule like a tyrant, or one can choose to rule out of love like our Heavenly Father does. 1 Peter 3:1-2 "In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be one without a word by the behavior of their wives, as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior." This verse is addressing wives to be submissive to their husbands so if they are not of the faith, they may be won over by your Christian conduct. You know the greatest evangelistic tool we posses as men and women is living the life of a Christian for others to see not just merely talking about it. So wives, be submissive to your husbands except if it goes against the Lord. The Lord is always first then the husband. So often people get the order of things wrong and it destroys marriages fast. First and foremost is always God, then your spouse, then kids. I have seen many people put their kids or their parents or even friends above their spouse and there is always trouble when this is done. The worst thing a couple can do is have a marriage without the Lord in it and the head of it.

1 Peter 3:7 "You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered." Submission is also the responsibility of the Christian husband as well, though not submitting to his wife as the leader, a believing husband must submit to the loving duty of being sensitive to the needs, fears and feelings of his wife. It says of the wife here as someone weaker. My MacArthur study Bible notes this saying, "While the woman is fully equal in Christ and not inferior spiritually because she is a woman she is physically weaker and in need of protection, provision and strength from her husband."

So the next time someone says that Christianity is unfair to women remember these verses. Especially Galatians 3:28. "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither man or female; for you all are one in Christ Jesus." Let us all know that in God's eyes we are all spiritually equal no matter who's rich, poor, famous, man, woman, black, white and on and on. We are all the same to God, beloved children of His whom He gave special talents and blessings.

My prayer for all is that we see the proper way to treat our spouses and to submit to them willingly and lovingly as we do to the Lord. Husband, or wife, let us do all to show the proper love that God so desires in marriage of which he instituted and so graciously created.

With love and good tidings always,

C.

Divorce

2008-06-14T11:09:00.000-07:00

First off, I'm sorry to all who may enjoy my blog, that I have not been posting in a while. Weather is nice and there is much to fix, paint and remodel around our house. K and I have also been doing some landscaping which has been a lot of work, yet very rewarding.

In society we see that divorce is very common even among the brethren. What does the Bible say of this topic? Divorce is permitted if it is done Biblically and there are three reasons, according to the Bible, that one may divorce. One of them is if either the man or woman dies. Romans 7:2 and 3. "For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. So then, if while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress though she is joined to another man."

The second reason the Bible allows divorce is found in the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:31 and 32. "It was said, whoever sends his wife away, let him give her a certificate of divorce; but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the reason of unchastity, makes her commit adultery; And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery."
So this passage talks of unfaithfulness. A person has biblical grounds for divorce if their spouse is unfaithful to them.

The third reason for a divorce is found in 1 Corinthians 7:15. "Yet if the unbelieving one leaves, let him leave; the brother or sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace." The whole of chapter 7 in 1 Corinthians is on marriage and gives good advice on issues pertaining to it. I urge all to read this entire chapter to understand verse 15 because it is too much to type out on this blog. Verse 15 that we just read tells us that if a brother or sister in Christ is with an unbeliever and he or she wants to leave, let them for you are not to stay with them quarreling and without peace over the one's faith and the other's lack of it. This usually takes place and addresses the issue of, if two people who are not believers come together, both not of the faith, and one becomes a Christian and the other can't or won't deal with that the Christian is to keep the peace and let them go granting them the divorce they seek. Now don't get me wrong, for the few verses before 15 says, if the unbeliever of the two will stay, then let it be and stay married. I am not writing this blog to show people how to get a divorce and please God. In Malachi 2:16 God says straight up, "I hate divorce." So in marriage we are to take every extreme step we can to stay together and keep the marriage.

The divorce rate in this country is way out of control and I would love to see people marry "the right person" and stay together "til death do them part." That's the key though, finding the "right person." So often we think we know what's best for us and exactly what we want, that we make the grave mistake of not allowing God to guide us, relying on our own wits. Whatever happened to being a Christian that prays on decisions in life to know and to be led in the right direction? I am a fortunate man for I have found the woman of my dreams who is perfect for me and I found her at one of the roughest points of my life. We have been together almost 13 years and happily married 8 of them this fall.

I will try to blog more often, at least once a week if I can and again do apologize to anyone who enjoys reading my blog that I have been away so long. Beautiful weather with much to do makes a mess of my computer time.

My prayer for all of those reading this is that you recognize the importance and holiness of marriage. So often we don't look at marriage as a holy commitment given to us by the Lord. If any are having marriage problems, I ask you to pray pray pray on it. Have the Father guide you before you make any hasty decisions. I also ask that we with great spouses and marriages give thanks to our God always for such a wonderful blessing.

With prayers and love always,

C.

A Quick Fun Note

2008-05-03T11:41:00.000-07:00

I am sure you have all heard of the Golden rule.

Matthew 7:12 "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."

Well while you all are having your weekend fun, go ahead and memorize this verse. It is a good one to have etched in the brain. I'm gonna tell you such a easy way to memorize it too. The hardest part is to remember Matthew the name. He was the tax collector that Jesus called to follow Him as a disciple and who wrote a Gospel of Jesus' life.(The first gospel in the new testament) So we are going to remember the name Matthew. Now remember, how do you want people to treat you? Good, right? So we should treat them the same, hence the Golden rule; do to others as you would have them do to you. So how often do we want them to treat us good and us treat them good? 7 days a week 12 months a year. So Matthew 7:12 Treat others as you would have them treat you 7 days a week 12 months a year. Thought that was interesting and felt I would share. You all have a safe and fun-packed weekend. With love and prayers always.
C.

What about a little weed?

2008-05-01T17:21:00.000-07:00

So we know in Genesis(first book of the Bible) that God said He gives us every seed bearing plant and herb to use. Ive heard and have used that argument myself to say that smoking weed isn't that bad and should be something we should be allowed to do recreationally. The old band (Cypress Hill) I used to listen to in high school even quotes that scripture. " Also that God doesn't mind it considering He gave us every herb to use. I used to also say how the Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper, that hemp is one of the strongest fibers known(way more stronger than cotton)and that one acre of hemp produces way more paper than one acre of trees and takes way less time to mature then those trees. So yes we should use hemp, I agree with that completely, but I think smoking it to alter our mind and make us feel loopy is not the reason God put it here. All things have their purpose and if you use any of them by putting their smoke into your body, you're probably not using them responsibly. I believe the verse actually is Genesis 1:29 " Then God said, I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has seed in it. They will be yours for food."

So Hemp(or the marijuana plant) has many uses that it can be used for to benefit mankind, yet in our depravity we would rather use it to get "high". Another reason that smoking weed is bad is that it is the "gateway drug". Deny it all you want, but all the hard drugs I was ever exposed to were through my "hook-ups" who happened to have this or that to buy too. So you figure, why not, a little won't kill me, but all it can take of some drugs is just a little to drive you to get a little more and after that a little more and on and on and on. Next thing you know you're broke and have a serious problem with drugs. You end up being that guy who said "it would never happen to me". It's a dirty game and ever dirtier cycle, and weed is a gateway to it all in many instances.

Many people say that alcohol is legal, and it alters your mind a lot more then weed. That's true if you smoke weed daily, the buzz is not so intense that you can't drive like with alcohol. Let us not forget though that you are still not as sharp as when sober and that your reaction time will be much slower then when sober. To the issue of making it legal because alcohol is legal, well I think that's looking at it the wrong way. Why not make alcohol illegal with it. Oh yeah I said it, start throwing things and logging off now. If these things are legal, people have access to them and will use them, if they are illegal there will be a black market for them and people will still use them. Black market equals a risk equals big money and many people love money and will take the risk, we all know that. From the words of our Lord; Matthew 6:24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money."

The last reason to stay away from marijuana (or drugs in general) is that people put their problems and bad days in the wrong hands. I've heard many people say they're not hurting anyone coming home after a rough day and smoking a joint. Well maybe not, but you're giving your troubles to weed rather than God. You want to feel better and truly lifted up, call upon the Son and not some crappy little weed that makes you tired and hungry. God created weed, worship the Creator rather then the created. Right? I hope you all enjoyed this topic, I get tired of hearing people talk about smoking marijuana as no big deal when in reality and in God's eyes it is. Truth be told, A sin is a sin is a sin in God's eyes. Plain and simple.

I didn't use much scripture in here so let me end with one of my favorite verses;
Matthew 628-29 "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow? They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these"

I pray that all of us can have the eyes like God to look at sin as it really is and not brush it off as no big deal. May we everyday grow in that discerning divine nature that He plants in His children through His Spirit. I pray for safety and health for all of you. With love and prayers always.
C.

Drugs and Addictions in General

2008-04-30T16:46:00.000-07:00

Can an alcoholic be a Christian? Or how about a "pothead" who smokes a little weed here and there? I even dare ask, what about a person who smokes cigarettes? There are some denominations that say no, a person who is addicted to drugs cannot truly be a saved Christian, even if it's legal tobacco products. I must say in essence that I disagree with them to an extent and agree also to an extent. Now wait, before you start throwing things at me, hear me out.

I know many people who say they are Christians and smoke cigarettes. I actually was one of them two years ago. I knew I needed to quit, I felt guilty at times going out to smoke a cigarette rain or shine with a few others after our men's bible study meetings. My conscience was getting to me worse and worse as time went on, you know, that little voice in you that you don't audibly hear but instead feel, (kokopelli called it the Holy Spirit and I can agree with that) and made me feel guilty and wrong every time I lit a cigarette. It doesn't help when you have small kids you wish to never smoke, who you will always tell smoking is bad, yet you yourself do that exact thing. God was every day more and more laying cold hard conviction on my heart. I knew what it was and I knew what I was expected to do. Quiting smoking was one of the hardest trials in my life thus far that I have had to overcome, it was not easy, but I did it. I will not sit here and act all smug and self righteous about it, instead I want to glorify God by letting all know that on my own I could not have quit, only with the strength that God gave me did I overcome tobacco and it's horrible grip. It reminds of; Luke 1:37 "For nothing is impossible with God"

I had a good heart that was devoted to God while I smoked, I knew of the salvation that was mine in my faith in Christ. I truly believe that I was a saved Christian even when I smoked. I gave my life and heart to God, so it did not surprise me when I was convicted internally of things I did not need in my life. That conviction gets stronger in your walk with God daily, for he wants to conform you to the image of His son. Please don't get me wrong, don't feel you have to change before you become a Christian, take that step right now! Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to me,all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Come to Him today no matter what your situation! God will change you, fight it all you want, but he will. If you have been a Christian for many years and still smoke or are an alcoholic or drug addict, I ask you, have you really given your life completely to God? He can and will help you overcome your trials and faults, but you got to give you life truly and fully to Him. The gospel of Christ is not just all fluffy and happy, it is a gospel of repentance and obedience. I once heard it said that it takes a real man (or woman) to be a True Christian. How true is that!? 1John 2:6 "Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus walked"

I don't remember Jesus physically hurting himself on purpose. That is what drugs and alcohol do to us, science has proven that. Cigarettes are linked to something like 400,000 deaths a year.(I don't think that touches on the harm that second hand smoke causes) We all know the bad effects of drunk driving, the "mean drunk"behavior that is violent, and the harmful physical effects alcohol causes. I know what you're thinking, well Jesus and His disciples drank wine. You are absolutely right! Can you find in the bible where Jesus, or the disciples, or the apostle Paul sat around drinking to get drunk? . Phillipians 4:8-9 "Finally bothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me-put into practice. And the God of peace will be with you."

Romans 12:1 "Therefore I urge you, brothers, in view of Gods mercy,to offer your body as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship."

How can we do this if we are tied down by addictions that control our lives rather then God. Many people here in Ohio are constantly going outside of places to smoke, it controls where they go. The alcoholic can't wait to get his next drink to take the edge off. The drug addict can't wait to get his next fix, many times doing immoral or illegal things to obtain funds to fuel his addiction. That's not offering your body as holy to the Lord, rather it's destroying a temple of which His Spirit should be in. When things control what we do and take that control from God, it's also a form of idolatry. Scary stuff.

Ephesians 5:18"Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit."

The Greek word translated into witchcraft, magicians and magic spell is pharmakia. From this word comes the English words pharmacy and pharmaceutical.
Did you know that pagan cultures around Israel used drugs as part of their religious ceremonies? In those times a witch or a shaman would prepare drugs used to induce worshippers into an altered state of mind to allow their "gods" to take over their minds. So there is a rich connection between drug use and the occult which a person cannot ignore.

I have gone way more into this than I should have, I hope I have not bored you all. I will touch on drugs and alcohol more at a later time. Cigarettes are bad for us and those around us, so let us be strengthened by God to quit.

My prayer for all of you is that God helps you in whatever big or small addiction or trial you may be going through. May the God we serve shine His light into the dark places of our lives to reveal the dirt that needs cleaned. We are not perfect, but let us each day walk more like He did. Many prayers and blessings always.
C.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

2008-04-26T21:46:00.000-07:00

I just want to quickly say happy birthday to my wife Kristy (a.k.a. K) She has turned thirty today, and gracefully at that. We are not the type that get down about growing older, you can't stop the ageing process so why not do it with a good attitude. Along with age comes wisdom and knowledge. Personally, the older I get the more hair I will lose, so hey, that's less to shave. It is also nice to have great friends as you all, especially you Mandy, that act of kindness just added to the joy and pleasantness of this great day Kristy had. I am so undeserving of such a blessing in my life as Kristy truly is, and she is such a great mom to my beautiful girls. She most assuredly is my Proverbs 31:10-31 lady. With love to my wife on her special day.
C.

My response to the 100 things list

2008-04-25T21:20:00.001-07:00

I like doing this blog about the bible and what the scriptures say about life. I must admit I was not going to do the hundred things about me list, but I was pondering it over at work and thought that actually it was a good idea to do. Many of you have shared, and I have learned much about all of you that I otherwise would not know. Also, it allowed me to put things from my past that I'm really not proud of, but rather ashamed. I like that cause it shows that I am not perfect, and I will never claim to any of you that I am, trust me on that. I have the pierced ear, tongue, some tattoos and much more baggage to prove it. I have felt called to teach Gods word in all ways that I can, I do it at lunch everyday at our bible study, and now that I have this blog I can randomly spout off all the things I'm learning and observing in my studies of Gods word. I hope to one day, if it be Gods Will, to go to seminary and then start preaching as a minister/pastor of a church. We will see, until then however, you all can be my congregation to tell me how I'm doing, sound like a deal? I ask to that you be honest, I may not always say things you like or agree with, and I will clearly state when I am using opinion or word for word scripture. I am a firm believer that the Bible is the ultimate say in all things of righteousness, truth and divinely given by God to us. (2 Timothy 3:16)

I have truly met alot of great people on this blog loop we have going on and I truly do thank God for each and everyone of you that have come into my life. I am thankful for people like you kokpelli, cheryl, pps landlady, tim, steph, shanna, and all the others that I may have forgotten and who may read this simple blog. I am not perfect, but I will do my best to represent Gods Word tastefully and without judgement against anyone for any reason. I hope you all keep reading and keep the great comments coming in. With love and prayers to you all.
C.

Colossians 1:3

My"100 things about me" list

2008-04-23T18:31:00.000-07:00

Many people have invited me to do the 100 things about me list. I wasn't going to, but I did and here it is. Enjoy.

1. God is first in my life.

2. I have a wife I do not deserve.

3. I have 3 great daughters.

4. I really like to read, especially fiction.

5. I am a Chevy guy.

6. Funny thing is, my daily driver is a Jeep.

7. My favorite Old Testament Book is Daniel.

8. My favorite Gospel is Luke.

9. My favorite Epistle is 1 John, Romans, Ephesians, crap all of them.

10. I had a rough dad growing up.

11. I came from a divorced home.

12. My mom and dad are both alive.

13. I had many step-parents and I'm not a fan of step-parents for the most part.

14. I quit high school.

15. I did go back to get my GED.

16. I took classes for welding and became certified.

17. I don't mind working on cars.

18. I am not a hunter.

19. I detest the practice of trapping.

20. I am not a sports fan.

21. I am not a racist.

22. I am not a sexist.

23. I own two handguns.

24. I have delivered pizza to the Amish for 9 years as a second job.

25. I have a bad back.

26. I have to do back exercises every night for the rest of my life.

27. I love my job most of the time. (both of them)

28. I was a vegetarian for about 2 years several years ago. (Best I ever felt!)

29. I have been welding for about 3 years.

30. Gas prices drive me nuts. (natural gas, kerosene, and especially gasoline)

31. I like reading Nicholas Sparks and Richard Paul Evans (that does not make me gay!)

32. I work mostly with a good group of people. (again both jobs)

33. I started a Bible study at lunch break at my welding job and it's been great.

34. I'm a people person.

35. I lost my grandma two years ago and it's the hardest thing I've ever been through.

36. I love animals....not so much cats though, but I would never be mean or anything.

37. I used to paintball a lot.

38. I believe in the Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12.)

39. I would like to go to seminary one day.

40. I have one true brother, same mom and dad.

41. I have one half sister, different dads same mom.

42. I have one half brother, different dads same mom. Met him once, he thought he was Jesus, haven't seen him since.

43. I love trucks.

44. I love all kinds of music, but favor country and Christian rock.

45. I believe in a good work ethic.

46. I'm not into designer brand clothes.

47. I'm glad to have been born and live in the USA.

48. I owe my life to a pastor of a small church in the small town I spent half my childhood in.

49. I'm afraid of heights.

50. I'm terrified of snakes.

51. I don't like any of the presidential nominees.

52. I am a registered republican.

53. I never drink alcohol.

54. My favorite pop is Sunkist.

55. I'm a coffee guy.

56. I try to see the good in all things.

57. I am a horrible typer.

58. I prefer the NKJV or NIV translations of the Bible.

59. My favorite flower is the lily.

60. We gave each of our girls a flower name.

61. I have 7 tattoos and regret them.

62. I am sad Rob and Big is over.

63. First and only time out of the country was Niagara Falls on vacation with wife and our first born when she was a little over one.

64. My role model growing up was my grandpa H.

65. My worst fear is my kids dying before me.

66. I don't live in the greatest neighborhood, but my neighbors are great.

67. My favorite fast food is Taco Bell and Guerne Heights or any dairy food.

68. Favorite home cooked dish is crockpot Jambalaya.

69. Favorite ice cream is tin roof.

70. Smoked for 10 years and quit about 2 years ago.

71. Favorite color is yellow.

72. I enjoy blogging. (Thanks Mandy even though I told you it was gay)

73. I sleep during movies.

74. I want to move out of the city in a few years.

75. I shave my head every other week.

76. I'm part of the evangelistic and outreach committee as well as the educational committee at our church.

77. I love my wife's awesome totally delicious monster cookies.

78. I sing really loud around the house...I admit I'm a bad singer.

79. I have not broken this darn habit of biting my nails.

80. I like singing at church....again, I'm a bad singer.

81. I grill outside in the middle of the winter.

82. I talk really loud in my sleep.

83. I want to take down the Christmas tree the day after Christmas.

84. I love tools.

85. Fall is my favorite time of the year.

86. I have been married to my wife 8 years this fall.

87. I do not like the Easter Bunny.

88. Would still vote for Bush today over John Kerry.

89. I'd like to visit Africa or Australia one day.

90. I prefer used solid furniture over most of the garbage they make these days.

91. I zone out on VH1 shows about 80s hair bands...and I don't even like that music.

92. My wife hates when I have the remote (see 91!)

93. I strongly oppose abortion.

94. I miss walking around the house naked.

95. I don't believe in luck.

96. I can't get my middle daughter to quit coloring everything! Walls, cars, floors, herself and on and on and on.

97. I believe 100% in 2 Timothy 3:16.

98. I like growing flowers around the house, definitely weed! Just kidding about the weed!

99. I used to have my tongue pierced as a teenager.

100. I am glad this is done!

Let me end with saying that it has been great blogging about Christian issues and Our Lord Jesus Christ. It has been fun getting to know all of you who months ago were total strangers to me. I pray that if any of you don't know Christ or have a question about Him or the Bible feel free to ask me in a comment, or e-mail me if that's more comfortable for you.(elmsdad@aol.com) I do not have all the answers, no one truly has all the answers, but I will do all I can to help you find the answer or the Lord if it be His will. May the God of all creation wrap you in His glorious embrace and pour out His abundant love upon you. With love and prayers always.
C.

Interracial Marriage and Racism

2008-04-16T17:50:00.000-07:00

Genesis1:26"Then God said, " Let Us make man in Our image,according to our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth".

A touchy topic with many still today is the issue of racism and especially interracial marriage. I did this as a topic to one of our Bible studies we have at work every day during lunch. I always wondered what the Biblical view was on interracial marriage , so I sought the Good Book for the answers. Lets look at a verse on racism first.

Acts 10:34-35 "Then Peter opened his mouth and said: In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him"

Peter pretty much lays it down here as clear as one can get. God does not show favoritism, He even instructs us to not do it in James and other letters. Notice it doesn't say here that God shows no partiality except to blacks or Latinos or whites. This would be the perfect verse to slip it into if God felt that way, don't you think? It's not here because God is not a racist, as we saw in Genesis 1:26, God created us in His image and likeness. I said in a comment to Random thoughts of an idle mind that I will not be one to mock God's craftmanship and tell Him He messed up by creating one color or nationality of people. You may be bold to do such a thing, but I'm gonna have to pass on that. Now the Son of God did come as a Jewish man, and all the Jews I know are white, but we have to understand that the Jews were Gods chosen people from the beginning, to bring and preach salvation to all the peoples. They failed in a sense as we see throughout the whole bible through doubt and unbelief. The Gentiles were believing while the Jews clung to works and the Law, of which still is the case with orthodox Jews today, but that is an entirely different subject for another day.

I have had MANY people throw Exodus 34:15-16 as a verse they say means that God wants us "to stick to our own kind". They always throw in right before that that they are not racists. Well to those not familiar with the Israelites coming out of Egypt and their wandering around in search of the promised land, let me break it down as quick and simple as I can. The Israelites were saved from Egyptian captivity by God through Moses as His servant. They were a very stubborn and unfaithful people even after many miracles they saw such as the Red sea parting, as well as others. God gave them many commands to keep them on the straight and narrow so to speak. Well in theses two verses He gives this command (to the Israelites) Exodus 34:15-16 "Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices. And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same."

They are commanded to "stick to their own", so all those people were half right, however it had nothing to do with skin color. It simply says why, they will lead their sons into worshiping the pagan gods and not the one true God whom rescued them from captivity in Egypt to take them to the promised land. Please don't ever try to make the Bible say something it does not, that is why we have so much separation and denominations out there these days. Read what it says and "interpret" it by what it says, rather then grasping at straws to make it say what fits your agenda.

1 Corinthians 7:39 "A wife is bound by law as long as her husband lives: but if her husband dies, she is at liberty to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord."

So a wife is to remain faithful (as is the husband of course gentleman) to her husband as long as he lives. But if he dies she can remarry anyone she wishes if it's in the Lord. In the Lord? Christian + Christian = In the Lord. I noticed it also does not say anything here about except if hes black, Latino, white, etc.. This too would be a perfect verse to slide that into if it was the inspired view of God. God tells us all He wants us to do and what is well pleasing to Him. It nowhere says God hates any people because of the color He created them. It does say things like God Hates sin and that the greatest commandment is;Matthew 22:37-40 "Jesus said to him" You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."

If Jesus was racist He would have most assuredly said here to love our neighbor as ourselves unless he's black or white or Latino etc... He doesn't, He says love your neighbor as yourself. Our neighbors are not just the people on the street , God's vision is much bigger than the people on your block. He wants you to love all people no matter if they are white, black, Latino, crippled, rich, poor, stinky, well groomed, well mannered, funny, odd, and on and on. We may all be different in one way or the other, but the blood of Jesus was red for all. Remember the skeleton man and muscle man back in science class? Its funny that the teacher didn't have to tell us what color the person was, it didn't matter because we are all the same on the inside. When God comes into your life, that's where He is, on the inside. I hope that we all knew that racism is wrong and that people can marry whomever they may choose if they have God's blessing, Him being the central part of the couple's lives.

My prayer to all out there is that we can overcome such silly conflicts as racism and see all people with the love and respect that is pleasing and glorifying to our Creator Whom created us all in His image. Let us do all we can to reflect the life and teachings of our Saviour Jesus Christ
With love and prayers always.
C.

The Great Commission

2008-04-13T18:13:00.000-07:00

Matthew 28:19-20 "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Many of us know this as the Great Commission, where Jesus tells us to go out and tell all people of the good news of Him. As Christians this should be something we want to do, wishing all the same security and love in Christ of which we have. Note that the verse doesn't say hangout and I'll bring people to you, it says GO. I do think that a gift God has given me is the comfort of telling people I know and don't know about God and the Bible. I have heard and know others that are very uncomfortable to bring up the name of Jesus to others. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, and we ought always be in prayer thanking God for our strengths and asking to lift up the areas where we are weak. The commission is for all of us, I know I know, people this day are always saying don't speak of politics or religion. How though, are people who don't know Christ supposed to hear of the eternal reward that lies in Jesus and the cross? Sure there is church, but how are we to get people in the church if we never bring up God.

I have gotten many people to attend our church and not all of them still attend. That's fine, all we can do is plant the seed as Jesus tells us. Some people will not respond the way you did or how you want them to. In the end, it's all in God's timing, we need to just keep sowing seed liberally.

I have a relative who is fourteen, and most fourteen year old boys have sports and girls on their minds. Now his parents are not bad people at all, I know the father is a Christian but I am to the understanding that God and the Bible is not really discussed in their house. They don't attend church which would help them to communicate better on the topic of God, but I know that the dad has had some bad experiences at a church he used to be a regular at in the past. (Not to get off track , but isn't that the same ole story, why are there so many churches out there giving people such bad experiences? I have said it in a post before, if that happens, move on. Don't give up on church altogether, there are many out there that are worth attending and teach the good news of the Bible as it is. ) So I decided to take this relative of mine (I will refer to him as L for the rest of the post) to that movie Evan Almighty when it came out in theaters a while back. I wanted to see the movie, and my wife thought it would be a good idea to take him with me since I had bought him a Bible and didn't know how to go about giving it to him. What a icebreaker, a movie of a modern day Noah and the ark. I figured I could show him in the Bible where the story was and tell him that I actually got the Bible we are using for him. It worked out pretty well to. I had also put a slip of paper in the bible with a reading plan starting in the book of Matthew to get him familiar with the gospel and the life of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

I took him home and told him that if he ever had any questions to call and I would help explain and answer if I could and if not we could tackle the question in a Bible study. Well as you know and I was worried, a teenage boy with minimal exposure to the Word is not going to start reading the Bible like crazy and forget all other things like video games and girls. So I just had to wait, I planted a seed that I needed to let God grow. I could water it at times when I ran into him here and there, but I also didn't want to be pushy on the subject leading him to completely ignore it because of me "shoving it down his throat".

Well God hears the prayers of His children, this we all know is true, and I had been mentioning L to the Lord in my prayers. All in God's timing, and that timing came this past weekend for the hand of the Lord is doing work in L's heart. I was taking him home Saturday night and he turned down the radio in the jeep to talk. He said "do you remember that Bible you got me? I started reading it in Matthew like you said" I was astonished and asked him what he thought. He seemed to be enjoying the teachings in the Sermon on the Mount and has been talking to a friend online about the Bible and God. How awesome is that?! So we talked about it another ten or so minutes until I got him home and he just seemed curious and I hope hungry for the Word. I will keep praying that God keeps working His awesome love and will in this young man's heart. I told him again that if he has any questions to call anytime and we can tackle them, and I also mentioned that he is more than welcome anytime to come to church with us. (he has been to church with us two times before and seemed to like it)

I just love seeing God's hand at work in the younger generation, I am not that old by the way being only twenty seven, but I am much older now then when I was in those shoes as a fourteen year old. God is always at work. Are we willing to slow down in our fast paced multi-tasking lives, see His work in progress and submit ourselves by taking time to tell people the great news of Jesus and the gift of salvation through His Grace? (Ephesians 2:8-9) And always remember not to become discouraged if God is not working at the pace you think He should. 2 Peter 3:9 "The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise: as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but everyone all to come to repentance." I have found this saying to be O so true; God is never early but ALWAYS on time.

I pray for all those out there that God shows Himself to you and strengthens you for the work He may have for you. I pray we all learn to love Him and one another for His glory, and that we may lead lives pleasing in His sight. Lean on Him in trouble and in victory. With blessings and love always.
C.

Inner Examination

2008-04-07T18:28:00.000-07:00

2 Corinthians 13:5&6 "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?-unless indeed you are disqualified. 6. But I trust that you will know that we are not disqualified."

I work in manufacturing as a heavy welder welding up crawlers better known to many as dozers. Most of our products though are for the arborist industry rather than construction. A job perk that I have as a welder is that I am in somewhat complete darkness all day under my welding hood. I can see my molten puddle of weld but that's pretty much it when the hood is down. This is a great job perk because it gives me a lot of time to think and examine myself, to test my actions and reasoning to see if I am living a life that pleases and honors God. I am happy most of the time with the results yet I am discouraged at times reflecting on where I fall short and stumble along in my journey with Christ.

We will all fall short, the Bible itself tells us that. Psalm 53:3 "Every one of them has turned aside; They have together become corrupt; There is no one who does good, No, not one." Let us though never use that as an excuse to go and sin of course, for that leads into great temptations if we knowingly sin because "God will forgive it". Knowingly sinning like that will lead into much sorrow and grief. That's why we are to examine ourselves, are we doing all we can to help our fellow man, or are we just sitting back because we are "comfortable"? Are we doing all we can to tell people about the Good news of Christ, or does bringing up such things to strangers and/or friends make us "uncomfortable"? Are we living a life that reflects as much as possible that of Jesus Christs? 1John 2:6 "He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked"

Time is short tonight as I should be getting to bed because a long day awaits me tomorrow. I just wanted to write tonight to mention of the spiritual healing and strengthening that can take place when we examine our inner selves. Though you may feel conviction at times over areas you have fallen short in His eyes, remember that the verse also said "do you not know that Jesus Christ is in you?" He is there to help mend and correct those areas in your life so that you may be a light to the world(Phillipians 2:14&15)

May God bless you all in your walk through that narrow gate and down that narrow path that leads to everlasting life in paradise. Call on Him in all things and praise Him in all things. With love and prayers always.
C.

THANK YOU SO MUCH GOD!

2008-04-03T18:01:00.000-07:00

Psalm 7:17 "I will give thanks to the Lord because of His righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High"

I write this blog to give many thanks to our great God. I will do this blog today like we do what we call "God moments" at church. The concept is pretty much a testimony of how you see God's hand at work in yours or someone else's life.

I have heard numerous times from my wife that "we need a van". We have a Jeep Cherokee, which has been a great vehicle to us and one we both like. However with three kids under six, we have three car seats crammed in the backseat, kind of like sardines packed in a can. While the front where me and my wife sit is also crammed to give them leg room, which puts me pretty much eating the steering wheel when I drive. The simple solution to this would be to go get another vehicle that's bigger, right? Well, that won't work because I owe way more on the Jeep than it's worth and I can't afford on a single income to go out and get another, making two car payments a month. I know I could roll over the negative equity into the next car, but that has happened on the last two cars and it just seems to keep growing larger and larger. A never ending cycle with a vicious appetite. I owe two more years and I will go the length of the loan so I own it, no more negative equity to pay interest on.

So when my wife says we need a bigger car I nod in agreement and say I don't see it happening soon even though I really want it to. So I put it in God's hands. My neighbor has a child with a condition (I can't for the life of me think though of what it's called) that keeps her bed ridden , unable to walk or talk. I would like to note that her name is Faith, she's six years old, and if anyone reading would add her to their prayers it would be greatly appreciated by me and her parents. Poor little Faith has had some difficulties lately that have resulted in several operations, which are done by specialists a good drive from here. Her dad ,bless his heart, stays with her when she has to stay in the hospital, sometimes days to a week at a time. Well naturally this has put a strain on their finances as it would most single income house holds. Faith's grandpa passed away this past year and left his van to them in the inheritance. You starting to see God's hand at work yet?

Their family already had a van and this made a work car for M. (Faiths dad). Well it started to act up and M. parked it on the street over this winter. It was brought up a while ago that they might sell it, and I merely brushed it off because it is a very nice van that appears in good shape and well taken care of. I surely thought that it would be way out of my budget of straight out buying it. We have savings but we need that for emergencies and unforeseen expenses. So last week my wife mentions they want to sell the van because they could use that financial help. Again I brushed it off like before, then my wife told me the price. I couldn't believe it, it seemed unreal. Well I didn't know that it was acting up, which what it was doing was sputtering like a cylinder or two were misfiring. I asked M. if I could test drive it and if he would go with me, and on the trip we stopped at advanced auto and put the actron code reader machine on it to diagnose the problem. It came back with three:1)p0171 System lean bank 1 2)p0174system lean bank2 3)p0301 misfire detected in cylinder #1
I understand the misfire but the system lean had me. I was thinking cat converter or O2 censor. Well we agreed on a price, I did not by the way haggle them like I usually do car salesmen or private sellers considering they are my neighbors and their situation.

I am not a Ford guy, been raised working on GM and am a foreigner to Ford. Wasn't sure how to approach the fix on this so again, I put it in God's hands. The verse that kept coming to mind was Phillipians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" I prayed for a van and He came through with a real nice one in our budget that needs a little work , so surely He would have His hand in the fixing. I did a plug wires, plug , pcv valve tune up on it quick to see if that would do it. Started it to hear the same sputter. Well, ok, gonna take more than that. I'm at work and my wife texts me that she googled the codes and found a ton of information. Even a website that had very detailed pictures of the entire fix from start to finish. Wow. So I called the Ford dealer and they had the parts in stock. Apparently this was a problem all Windstars had that it took Ford several years to change the problem, which were faulty isolator bolts causing carbon buildup and the port seals to fail causing a bad vacuum leak leading to a sputtering engine. I had to take off the cowl , the splash shield, unhook the throttle, remove the air filter and it's housing, and remove the upper plenum, and lower plenum exposing the intake and problem area. It was a pretty big job. I did it all without losing my cool,or coming out in the end with all my knuckles bloodied. That for sure has God's hand in it. While I had access to it I also changed the coil pack, old days they were distributor caps, to complete my original tune up of wires and plugs. So now its time to start the van to see if she works.

My wife was out there for the starting, and I was nervous. It wasn't lack of faith in God, I was just worried that I wasn't worthy for it to be fixed. I knew God could do it Luke 1:37 "For nothing is impossible with God" So I started it and it was fixed! No sputter at all,rather it purred like a kitten so to speak. It cost me under two hundred dollars to fix and the dealership charges seven to nine hundred to fix this problem. God's hand was at work since last year bringing us a van that our growing family really needed. We took a chunk out of savings but didn't have to deplete it. He brought us the info, parts, and a steady hand to me to fix it. God is great and I will sing praises, for His mercy and grace shine so bright in this world if we just open our eyes to a fraction of the big picture that He sees.

I pray for all those reading this that God opens your eyes more and more each day to His plans and will for you. Call upon Him in ALL things and have that unwavering faith and attitude to give Him praise and glory in ALL things. May God touch each and every one of you. With love and prayers always.
C.

Find A Good Church

2008-03-31T16:16:00.000-07:00

In a comment on the blog "Random thoughts of an idle mind", Mandy said she had several bad experiences with churches and that she does not have a church she attends. I understand completely Mandy! There are so many churches out there that can make a person feel down right uncomfortable, or even unwelcome. It truly is a tragedy that this is such common place in a lot of churches these days. What ever happened to everyone welcome, come as you are and leave changed. Right? That's how it should be, but all too often these days we find that how things should be, are not how they are.

I know a guy that I happen to work with, who I am also fond of and consider it a true pleasure when we get to work side by side, that does not go to church for that very reason. He has tried some in the past and was never impressed with the ones he attended. So whats he do? He actually got some friends of his together and started meeting at each others houses on Sundays for a little church session of their own. He has told me that they sing hymns and just pretty much have church like everyone else, just without the big fancy building and "church politics" so common these days. I also believe they meet one day during the week for a bible study. I must commend him for his perseverance in the worshipping of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ! He did not give up because he couldn't find a church he liked, instead he found a solution. At my other job I work among the Amish regularly and they do the same type of church, at their homes rather then a normal meeting place. Though with the Amish it is a bit more of a traditional style service and they meet every other week. Matthew 18:20 says"For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them" That's what it's about, having Him(Jesus Christ) in our midst as we come together to worship and praise Him in all things.

I started going to a church with a friend of mine I worked with some time ago. I loved the men's meetings/Bible study they had one evening a week and attended these for a quite some time without attending their Sunday services. Finally I decided I wanted to start going to the Sunday services and I gotta tell you, what in the world!? There was music so loud I couldn't hear myself think, good songs but way to loud. The craziness was somewhat indescribable. There were dancers who stood at the front, I'm gonna say about four to six of them and at least two had a flag of some sort they would wave around. The others just danced like in a trance or I don't know what. They would end up on stage or wherever the "Spirit" led them. I know David danced before the Lord but this is a bit different in my perspective. I gotta say right now before I go any further, I am not a "new age" worshipper if that's what you call this worship, I am strictly a Biblical worshipper. 1 Corinthian 14:40"But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way" We also see from the law of the old testament and all the restrictions that God is a God of order, not of chaos and disorder.

There were other things I saw that disturbed me and led me to my decision of not attending that church any longer. Well, once I stopped going there one of my best friends and many other good friends that go there thought it best to disassociate from me for good. They in essence "shunned" me because I wanted to find a church that my family and I could grow in the Lord and that was our style of worship. They spent an hour doing loud music and dancing, I am the type that would rather have that hour be a Sunday school setting where you dive into the word and learn God's truths. I did find a perfect church then for me and my family, though I must admit I spent many Sunday morning's "shopping" until I finally found the right one for us. The church we are at now is perfect for us and I must admit, I thank God for all the bad experiences I had because it makes me all that more grateful of the right church I have finally found. So please, to all of you out there, keep "shopping", the right church for you is out there and waiting to be found like a lost treasure. It mat not be easy but it's well worth it. Hebrews 10:24&25 "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage on another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching"

I pray for all reading this that if you don't have a "home" church that you do have a personal relationship with Jesus. I pray that God gives you that strength to take action and find a church that fits you, that preaches His word how it is written and changes not one word from it. May you all grow more and more each day in the Lord in His mercy and grace. With love prayers and good tidings always.
C.

P.S. To any "new age" worshipper out there that may read this, I mean no offense in your style of worship, it is just not for me. Call me old fashioned. I will say, as I would to any church goer out there, in any act you or your church does know why you do or don't do it scripturally. Know God's word and be informed of the things He wants and finds pleasing and the things He don't. Never do something just because your pastor says its right, especially if it "doesn't feel right to you". Be informed, and pray without ceasing as the scriptures tell us. (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

Humility please

2008-03-25T17:13:00.000-07:00

James 4:10 "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up"

What is humility? I want to focus on the humility that deals with our relationship to God and His with us. The kind of humility that gives us the right understanding of who we are before God. Humility is an essential way in which a Christian demonstrates the right relationship with God.

Mark 1:7 "And he preached, saying, There comes One after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose."
John the baptist is the one who is talking here in this verse, and look at the humility he showed to Jesus, The Son of God. John had the right attitude of humility, telling the crowd around him that the One coming, he is not even worthy to untie His sandal. That's humility folks,wow. He knew who he was and where he stood in relation to the Saviour.

Romans 12:3 "For I say , through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think somberly, as God has dealt to each a measure of faith."
We are always thinking of ourselves these days and thinking way to much of ourselves. We need to think of ourselves somberly, which is the exercise of sound judgement, which will lead us to recognize that in ourselves we are truly nothing, and should yield the fruit of humility. Scripture is full of verses that deal with and command humility.

Titus 3:1-2 "Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one,to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men."

1 Peter 5:5 "Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble"."

James 3:13 "Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom."

I like that last verse there, (James 3:13) for Christ showed the ultimate act of humility by taking on a fleshly body to walk with us, as a great example of how to live a life pleasing to the Father, and by going to the cross to gain for us something we could have never in any way done for ourselves. Jesus came to be like us so that in the end we could be like Him, glorified and sanctified in the eyes of God. That popular line people use :"what would Jesus do?". I always try to run that through my head when facing difficult decisions or when I fear my thoughts or actions may be border lining sin. Jesus led the perfect life, and if we have constant exposure to the Word and learn His life and teachings, we are able to know more clearly what Jesus would do in our circumstances.

In society we see all too often people looking out for themselves or "number one" they say. What would Jesus do? Well He came to save the world that was dead in its sins, sounds like He had our best interests at the head of the line rather than His own. Does God need me to complete His will? No! Does God need me to answer peoples "tough questions" on religion? No! Does God need me to get things done for Him? No! He needs none of us! But He loves us and therefore uses us and pours out His abundant Grace. We need to in return listen to Him, His word ,and teachings, look to the cross and remember the love He displayed for us, love Him first with all that we are, love our fellow man second, and get rid of this mindset we have of thinking so highly of ourselves.

I pray for all who are reading this that you shed any coat of pride you may have on and cloth your self in humility as the Peter 5:5 says. Let us look out for our fellow man and his needs more and more each day, random acts of kindness are contagious so let us start that ripple effect for mankind immediately. I pray you see the Father more clearly through scripture,His children, and prayer each and every day. With love and good tidings always
C.

Is it ok to be angry?

2008-03-24T14:47:00.000-07:00

Well, I haven't blogged in a while. I have this back pain that will not go away, and I was fortunate enough to catch that horrible flu bug that is causing havoc all over. I won't complain though, at least my girls and wife didn't get it, and the back pain does let up here and there. I went through physical therapy for my back and learned quite a bit of exercises to strengthen my "core" muscles to keep a strong back that isn't prone to "going out" like mine does on occasion. I must admit my back problems are my own fault' being young you think you are invincible and you never listen to people when they tell you not to lift something that heavy or if you do lift like this with your legs. I never listened to that and am paying the price now. Whats the old saying "young and smart"? No that's not it, its;"young and dumb".

Now even though its my fault and I admit that, I am still a baby when it comes to pain, ask my wife, definitely when its pretty severe pain. When I'm in pain like this I tend to be testy, or grumpy with a short fuse you could say. I end up walking around with anger in me, something that I am not fond of , for I like being pain free and happy. Well I was doing some soul searching the last few days at work, and realized that this pain is putting anger in me and am I sinning against God for being angry? Well the first verse that came to mind was Ephesians 4:26"In your anger do not sin:do not let the sun go down while you are still angry 27 and do not give the devil a foothold."

The first part of this verse(in your anger do not sin) is quoted by Paul here from Psalm 4:4. So is it alright to be angry? This verse tells us not to sin in our anger, so we haven't sinned yet in being angry, oh but how easy it is to fall into the temptation of sin when one is angry. That is a trait we all must strive to achieve, to keep our cool when someone/thing really gets to us, under our skin and in our minds. You know what I'm talking about, we all as humans struggle with this. There is someone or something out there that just rubs you the wrong way even thinking about it. Its fine to get mad, its gonna happen, if you have a legitimate reason, but how you handle that anger is what leads to sin and can "give the devil a foothold" as verse 27 says. Do not be fooled, the devil will not light the match, but he will offer it to you and stand right beside you dancing as the house burns down. So what we need to always strive for is being able to control our anger rather than allowing our anger to control us. I like these two verses as well:
Proverbs 15:18 "A hot-tempered man stirs up dissension,
but a patient man calms a quarrel"
Proverbs 19:11 :A mans wisdom gives him patience:
it is to his glory to overlook an offense"

James 1:19-20 "My dear brothers, take note of this,: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,20 for mans anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires" Have I mentioned before how much I love the Bible!? What a tool that teaches all the ways to live a righteous life and all the ways to please our Heavenly Father. Let us not only learn to control our anger, but let us be very slow to become angry as James writes. Let us not "sweat the small stuff". Imagine if more people did that,I bet the divorce rate would be much lower if we could let go of a lot of selfishness and not get angry over such small little things that in the grand scheme of things is nothing. You know?

Jesus got mad at the money changers in the temple and turned over the tables. He did not do this out of selfish anger, He did this because they had turned the house of His Father into a "den of robbers". He never got angry and lashed out at people because they had wronged Him. He came and lived a perfect life of which we can never do, by not sinning. Being angry at unrighteousness and unrighteous acts is a healthy anger. Its selfish anger that gets us into trouble and wrapped up in sin. God hates sin and does not and will not look upon it with favor. I hate abortion and the very fact that its legal angers me, but I cannot go shooting the doctors of these places or burning the buildings down. That would be letting my anger turn to sin and giving the devil the foothold he so eagerly longs for. Its alright to be angry at such things, but let us always take a scriptural approach to our anger rather then a carnal and selfish approach. God is the judge, therefore leave the judging to him.

I have really started to ramble on this one, but anger is something we see and might even experience everyday. I will sum this up by saying what I did earlier, let us avoid becoming angry at all times possible, but when we do become angry let us have control of it rather than it control us. We not only represent other Christians in the way we act, but also our Lord Jesus Christ. So let us act in a manner worthy to be called His friend, His disciple,His child.

My prayer for all who read this is that God will help you draw closer to Him every day. That He will give you strength in all your trials and that you will give Him praise no matter what or where you are at in life. May we learn to control our anger in a way that pleases Him whom gave us the breath of life. With love and good tidings always.
C.

Unfortunate losses

2008-03-12T17:30:00.000-07:00

It's not a new thing to look around at society today or pick up a paper and read of tragedy. One that really touches home to me is people losing their children. I sympathize and feel completely for those parents this tragedy touches, for I know not that I could handle such a loss. I love my girls so much and just couldn't imagine losing them to deaths never ending hunger. Whatever happened to the fairytale life of your kids burying you and not the other way around? It seems so simple, yet many times it does not work out this way.

I am not writing this to try to tell people who may be going through this tough ordeal how to cope or handle it. I merely and prayerfully write this that anyone who may be going through this tragedy may find comfort and hope in my words or in the the words of scripture I may use. As I have stated, I know not that I could go through losing one of my daughters, I fear that that sting of death would be too much. I do not fear my own death, yet I must admit I fear the loss of my wife or kids. I know I should not, for ultimately God is in control, and it is His will that will be done. I would not blame Him or hate Him as I see some have done in such circumstances. I know I see only a tiny piece of the puzzle of which He drew and orchestrated into perfection.

In the sermon on the mount Matthew 5:4 says " Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." What a thought, those who mourn will be comforted! Comforted by who? The Holy Spirit! It is only natural that a Christian will mourn at some time, we will all lose family members and those we love and hold dear. I urge you though, don't go through that alone. God is there, His shoulder is huge and soft and always there when you need to cry upon it. Call upon Him who knows exactly what you're going through. He sent His own Son to come and die, He heard His own Son say "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me", and He also heard His Son cry "Father, father,why have you forsaken me.?" He knows your pain. Lean on Him.

In the book of Daniel, his friends are to be thrown into the fiery furnace for disobeying the king. Daniel 3:23-25 "And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego,fell down bound in the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors,"Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?" They answered and said to the king, "True O King" "Look!" he answered, "I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the forth is like the Son of God""

I wrote out that scripture so we could read and get a powerful message from it. You see even though we may not be spared from the fiery furnace or whatever we may encounter in life, at least we have Jesus, The Son of God there with us going through it. Call on Him now, whether your deep in the fire or actually doing good right now in life. He will meet you where you are.

My prayer is that anyone who does have to go through a difficult loss in life knows Christ and leans on His love and mercy. I would be devastated to lose a child, yet it would be truly unbearable beyond belief without His hand and love in it. May you ever increase in the love of God each day and His abundant grace. With love and good tidings always.
C.

Should homosexuals be ordained?

2008-03-03T18:26:00.000-08:00

What a subject we have here, that was brought up in my Sunday school class. It amazes me that the Methodists, the Episcopalians, and even the Presbyterians are troubled over this issue. Cant we simply read the Bible and do what it says anymore? Cant we do our best everyday to walk the path Jesus did? Why do we only recite, remember and apply the parts of the Bible we like rather then take it as Gods inspired Word profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and for instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16)

I am not a gay basher at all, but I will not sit here and say its not a sin when the Bible says it is. Many are doing that, we are taking a carnal way of thinking on the matter rather then a scriptural one. I truly invite all gays out there to come to my church or go to a church near you. That is where we all need to be for we are all sinners. Gays, liars, murderers, gossips, drunkards, drug addicts, and on and on, we all need to be in church drawing closer to our Redeemer and Savior. 2 Peter 3:9 "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance"

That last word is the one that sticks out to me in this topic, repentance. The definition of repent is to turn away from, and repentance is a major theme in the entire Bible. God wants us to turn from our sins, he wants us to strive towards holy lives for not our glory but His, so that we might shine like stars to the world for Him. So if this is the case, why is the Church bouting over ordaining gays? It is a sin, I will get to those verses in a minute, just as drunkenness, drug addiction, compulsively lying, etc... So are we to ordain someone who drinks like crazy and will not get help? Should we not also ordain a drug addict who refuses to quit because his mom did drugs pregnant with him making him "born that way"? A bit ridiculous I know but I am merely trying to make a point. We will slip up here and there, the recovered alcoholic might take a drink here or there in a time of weakness, or likewise with the drug addict, but before they are ordained as a minister/deacon/bishop shouldn't these problems be under control and addressed? So I ask, what gives a gay person a special pass to not repent? A sins a sin to God. This day in age the church is making God out to be tolerate of sin and the Bible says quite the opposite from beginning to end. God cant and wont look at sin with favor.

Lets look at Romans 1:26-27 "For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even there women exchanged the natural for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in there lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was do." I also urge all who read this to please read 1 Timothy 3:1-13 It is the qualifications for overseers/bishops and deacons a few are blameless, a husband of one wife, sober-minded, of good behavior, not covetous, not violent, not greedy, not given to much wine, etc.... Gods Word contained in the Bible teaches that the act of homosexuality is sin also called sexual immorality. I don't want a drunk teaching me Gods word, nor a drug addict, nor a gay. Not because I'm not liberal and not because I think its wrong, no, because Gods perfect Word tells me it's wrong.

I pray for all of us that God shows us the areas in our life that we may fall short of glorifying Him, and that He helps us and strengthens us to repent of such shortcomings. May all things be made perfect in and through you by the love of our Glorious Heavenly Father. With love and good tidings always
C.

Forgiveness

2008-03-01T11:00:00.000-08:00

"I wish my Dad's so-called wives in the past would have left for feeling unappreciated. Haha, then again, that was a different situation altogether. Mooching and no love between them, endless whining day in and day out... I know it's against God, but I doubt I'll be able to forgive her anytime soon. I think we all learned and got stronger from it though, learned how to deal with people like that."

This is a comment to my blog titled response to controlled chaos. First of all it is from a great friend of mine who I can also be glad to call family even if merely by marriage. Tommy Tommy Tommy, it breaks my heart to read it though, mainly the point I took the liberty of making bold and red so it sticks out like a sore thumb. No one is perfect, (Psalm 53:3) however that is never an excuse to knowingly or willingly go against God (i.e.sin). I do completely understand your feelings for B. for I know alot that she put you and your siblings through. I do admit that I do not know all of what you went through with her, and I do sympathize with you for the grief, heartache, and pain that you endured from her self-centeredness.

I had a step-mom growing up that I hated with a passion, I will not lie about those feelings. She did things that no kid should ever go through, I will not get specific, it will serve no purpose, and don't feel bad for me, its just another period in my life I had to go through to become the man I am now. There are still moments in my life I find myself reflecting back on those times with resentment and bitterness still towards her and my dad of which I get mad at myself every time I do that. For really what are those feelings going to accomplish? If I feed those feelings they will just grow into evil passions and desires. Right? Whatever a person feeds, physically or mentally, that will grow. If a person feeds evil passions and desires, should he then expect to reap of harvest of blessings and good tidings? Absolutely not, he will reap a plentiful crop of more evil passions and desires. Look at porn, look at money, look at drugs, they reap nothing good but only a lust for more and more. Galatians 6:7 "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap."

Now I'm not trying to preach Tommy's head off (maybe a little) but simply trying to make a point scripturally. I love the fact that Tommy's statement said that he could not forgive her anytime soon, which is great, for than there is at least that chance that he will someday find forgiveness in his heart through Christs grace to forgive her. Jesus gives us a straight forward teaching on forgiveness in His sermon on the mount found in Matthew 6:14-15 "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.(15)But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses" Doesn't leave any room for "interpretation" as some might suggest, its pretty much to the point.

The biggest benefit to forgiving others who sin against you is for you and not them. So many times we think that forgiving someone who wronged us is letting that person get away with it and it not being fair. Let us approach as the Bible tells us, and forgive them for our consciences sake. We sin so much in our consciences and many of us don't know or realize it. Not forgiving someone is so much more a burden to you then them. You have been the one wronged and hanging on to that leaves bitterness, hate, malice, etc.... inside you which will grow as we discussed earlier if you feed it. So in not forgiving a person who has wronged you can do so much damage to you and your relationship with God.

I mentioned earlier that I still occasionally deal with those feelings for my step mother of long ago, as well as several other people from my past. Don't let the enemy get that stronghold on you. It's hard to forgive, extremely hard at times when the offenses seem to "unforgivable." I will admit it is not easy, and on our own we can not do it, yes you read right, on our own we can not truly forgive someone who has sinned against us. We have to give that over to God, for without Gods hand in it, we will and cannot truly forgive. He is the author of all, definitely forgiveness.

I would like to end this by writing a verse that shows Gods love and forgiveness unto us Romans 5:6-8 "For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.(7)For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.(8)But God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us"

My prayer for all who read this is that you may continue to grow in your walk with God down the narrow path which leads to eternal life. Forgive much so that you may be forgiven much, no matter how hard or impossible it may seem at times, remember that the Lord is right there and willing to help his children. For as the verse we just read tells us that Christ came when we were at or ugliest in sin and died for us to grant us forgiveness, how much should we be willing to follow such an awesome example in our own lives. Forgive much, Love much, and draw closer to God every day. Good tidings and love to all.
C.

Response to controlled chaos

2008-02-28T18:32:00.000-08:00

This blog is in response to controlled chaos' blog about a story in woman's world (I think it was) by a freshman girl, about a mom who felt unappreciated and left for two weeks. I have not read it and don't doubt it's a good story, and seemingly has a good ending from what the blog said. Here is my thought on would it work in real life, a mom just up and leaving because she felt unappreciated at home.

So often we are left feeling unappreciated, in our jobs, in our friendships, and even as in this case in our homes by those closest to us, our family members. You asked if that scenario would work in real life, the mom just up and leaving. I would think no but really I guess it depends on the age of kids, the fathers job and so many other situations. Personally i think (whether it be a father or a mother) just leaving for feeling unappreciated in the home is extremely selfish and immature. What ever happened to talking things out, especially with your spouse. I know there are many parents out there that are unappreciated and treated like dirt, and I sympathize with them deeply, however to up and leave without communication and merely on the basis of "feeling unappreciated" is absurd in my eyes. Whatever happened to doing things out of love for the person of which your doing them? I know it sounds corny, but really. I think if you go the extra mile out of love for your spouse and kids, the appreciation will be there even without words. Maybe the lack of appreciation is in part a by product of the intentions put forth by the person feeling unappreciated. In essence the person who feels unappreciated does in cause they "have to" rather then they "want to". The attitude is one of what will I get rather then self sacrifice for those they love. I have found the same attitude goes in serving God.

My wife (God bless that woman I love her so much) has gotten down so to speak because the laundry piles never seem to get smaller, there are always dishes it seems, dust seems there even after she dusts. Now she could sit around and complain how we need to help more and she cant take it she feels so unappreciated. However she does none of this, instead she told me she does it for us (me and our girls) and God. She goes at it with the attitude that she is grateful her kids are clothed and therefore she has there dirty clothes to clean, that though the dishes are piling up, her family is fed, that though there is dust in the house, she has a house to clean. Have I mentioned how grateful I am to have such a beautiful blessing of a wife as this? I hope all who read this are inspired to remember how God wants us to look at things, not taking them for granted or complaining about things that are actually by products of the blessings he has given us. Ephesians 2:14-15 says :"Do all things without complaining or disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights of the world" Let us do all things out of love for those of we care for, not out of the need for "praise from men" or with intentions of something in return. If we do this I guarantee you will not feel unappreciated, rather quite the opposite.

My prayer for all of us is that we open our hearts to Gods will and attitude, that we may shine as lights to the world, bright with the Spirit to draw all to the love and power of God and His awesome kingdom. With love and good tidings always.

2008-02-26T16:35:00.000-08:00

" Amazing love how can it be, that you my King would die for me Amazing love I know its true, that its my joy to honor you, in all I do I honor you"

These are some lyrics from Chris Tomlins song amazing love. I had this song in my head all day at work, which isn't a bad thing for it is a great song. So it was in my head, which got me to really thinking about the lyrics. I starting thinking of fellow Christians at work and really looking inside myself. Am I doing all things to honor Christ? To honor his sacrifice? To honor his name? We all know that his sacrifice was truly amazing love as the song says, but are we as individuals and as the church body joyed to honor him and in all we do honoring him. He honored his word to all the prophets of long ago by coming and bringing with him the love of God and salvation to all who believe. "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8)

I ask all who read this to really do some self searching. When people see you out and about or in the privacy of your home are you shining that light of Christ which resides in you as a believer? Do they see a life that is lived like that as the Word instructs? "He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as he walked"( 1 John 2:6) I know that we all fall short of that perfection, however let that never to be an excuse, but a reminder of the sinners that we all are and a motivator to repentance. I see today and have seen so many times people that confess Christ and claim that they are Christians, yet they are the ones who at work tell the most vile of jokes, or are the ones bar hopping all weekend in a drunken state that they forget most of what they did or where they had been. Is this glorifying to God? Does it honor him? Now I know many are thinking that I am just being another judgmental Christian jerk. Ok then, fine, I'm guilty. I am not condemning these people, just praying for there repentance, for are they not mocking Christ by claiming him but living a completely different lifestyle than that of which he calls us. Scripture tells us not to be Christian drunkard (1 Corinthians 5:11-12) Scripture also tells us as Christians not to use filthy language (Collossians 3:8) and to abstain from foolish talk and coarse joking(called jesting in NKJV).

I know that no one except Christ is or was perfect, however if we are going to live a life that honors Him we need to have constant exposure to His Word to know the ways that are pleasing to Him. When people see you and your actions as a child of God, they should see Jesus in you. You may be the Jesus they need to see to come to God! That's really something to ponder. Amazing love was the song that got me on this amazing rambling. Wow! In short, If you are a Christian, live the Word. The church in the past and now has gotten a bad rap because so many have claimed Him but have not lived Him. I read the other day that Gandhi had once said that This Jesus I like its the Christians that scare me(that's not exact quote but gives the jist of it) Let us come together in love for one another and love for our Savior and put an end to it now.

May the love of god dwell deep, taking root within the inner most part of your souls. Live for Him, Love for Him, Honor Him, and always do all things for Him. May He protect you all today and forevermore.
C.

Good friends and good intentions

2008-02-25T18:30:00.000-08:00

Today my wife received a call from our church with a request to make an elderly couple dinner and take to them tomorrow. The lady just had a surgery and our church loves doing things like this in circumstances as such. We were brought a meal every evening for an entire week when we had our recent child Emma, and I must say It was great. We didn't know who was bringing what, but at five o'clock each evening something hot and delicious arrived from one of the members. It was exciting and inspiring which is why at our last church fair we volunteered to do this when beckoned. Well, this is our first time "we got the call" and I must say me and my wife are rather excited!

I love to cook and asked if she wanted me to cook something but considering it falls on a day I have to go to my second job in the evening she said she was on it. Honestly I think she would want to do it either way, I am not a bad cook but compared next to my wife there is no contest, she wins hands down every time! My six pack abs that turned into a keg attest to this fact.

Now me and Maya my daughter have to embark on our grocery store adventure to pick up a few things we need for this meal. I had told my wife to go ahead and do it, "get out of the house for a little while" I said to her for she had taken care of our oldest who had the stomach flu today. I ended up going since it started getting late, my wife figured Maya could go to get out of the house a little while which was fine with me. So we go to the downtown store that my father in law had gotten us a gift certificate for at Christmas time.

We got in the store and were wondering around when we ran into a friend of mine whom I havent seen for awhile. It was (as I will call him) my "floor guy" and his wife. I haven't seen him since he installed my kitchen floor in August of last year and it was a pleasant surprise. Well we talked about church and God as we usually end up doing ,which is great, I love such conversations with fellow members of the Brethren. I haven't been to that store literally for years and so I asked them where to find some things and they responded that they also hardly ever frequent this store and were in the same boat as far as knowing where items could be found. They asked if I would ever care to come out and speak at there bible study on Wednesday nights, which happens to also be our church supper and study nights. I may take a Wednesday though to do that, for I adore the time, even brief encounters with this kind Spirit-filled couple.

It really got me thinking as I reflected back on the day at how Awesome God is in all His ways. I can say I would not have been at that store had it not been for the gift certificate we got at Christmas. My wife was gonna go but time got away that had me take over the task. Had it not been for this meal that we were to prepare I would not have been there at that store for that is the only reason I was going. Yet all these things fell into place that caused me to run into my "floor guy" and have a remarkable "small talk" with him and his wife. It was great to see that they are doing good and growing in the Lord every day, what joy and inspiration that brings to my heart! It brings to mind a verse that I love and turn to alot Romans 8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called to His purpose"

I hope and pray that all who read this will always see Gods hand in there lives. Even when things are going bad, be glad and rejoice in this day the Lord has made (Psalm 118:24) How hard it is to do, yet if Christ is truly in your life, you are walking in the path of repentance and obedience, there is no other thing to do but rejoice! We may not be able to rejoice in our circumstances but we , as children of the Most High, can and will always rejoice in our Redeemer whom brought forth salvation to all who believe in His Son! May God bless you all with much love and happiness always!
C.

Sunday Feb. 24th

2008-02-24T16:00:00.000-08:00

Well today was a great spiritual learning day for me in a sense. I woke up by eight to catch John MacArthur on channel 378(Direct TV), and his sermon was on Mark 12:44. Now I must first say that I truly love listening and learning from John MacArthur, he is a man that speaks the word of God without in any way compromising or changing it, which is, unfortunately, something hard to find these days in the big evangelistic "scene"( for lack of a better word.) I have listened to him on the radio many times and have even purchased his study bible which is an amazing learning tool for anyone interested in drawing closer to God through the learning and constant exposure to His word.

His sermon was on the poor widow who gave her last two mites (small copper coins) to the treasury of the church. Jesus tells his disciples that this widow has given more than all those who have given for they gave out of there abundance and she gave out of her poverty all that she had. Now I always took that as an example to give your all to God (and I'm not merely talking monetary giving here) and in a sense it is, but to look closer to the text we see that it was not said that this either pleased or angered Jesus. Now I know what your thinking, the thought crossed my mind to, why would this do anything other then please Jesus, right?

We know from reading the Gospels that the teachers of the law, religious leaders, Pharisees, and Sadducee's were not fans at all of Jesus and his message, for they liked the way things were and did not like the message that it(and they) were wrong. They liked the fact that they were earning, as they thought they were, salvation through works by obeying the Mosaic law and there human traditions,(which their traditions were not part of the O.T. law and which at times went against the Mosaic laws) and did not want that changed. I point all this out because it points to a flawed religious system, which is what it was then.

So we have here a poor woman who gives up all she has to live on to a corrupt religious system. Would this really make the Son of God happy? Her intentions and good heart would absolutely but the fact that she gave all that she had to live on to a "wicked order of things" would not have. What kind of a religious system would ask of such a thing or accept such a thing? I don't mean either to be hard on the woman, however would she not be in essence testing God, for even the old testament law only required a tithe (or ten percent). God provides for all our needs, should we be bad shepherds of what we are given? Jesus touched on that in the parable of the ten Mina's (Luke 19:11) when it was said to the wicked servant that should he have at least put the Mina in the bank so it would have drawn interest. It was taken away from him and given to the servant who made good with what he was given. I am not trying to point out just money here either, but all things that God gives us , talents, gifts, etc..

Wow I really rambled on about that and still keep going but i will stop it at that. I also heard a great sermon from our Pastor at church today on the Samaritan woman at the well with Jesus in John 4:10. I will not go on and on with that as i did the poor widow but I do encourage you all to read and study it. We also starting working through Chapter 11 in Revelation in our Sunday school class which discusses the two witness' and the seventh trumpet. Great stuff and again I encourage you all to read it and truly study it.

Something happened to day that made me love my wife even more, and I didn't think I could love her anymore then I already do. At church we were singing our hymns as we always do and I really kept getting the sound of my wife singing drifting over to my ears and it was one of the most beautiful things my ears have heard, alot like hearing your child say daddy or I love you for the first time. You see my wife don't walk around the house singing all the time, or ever for that matter, I like never hear her sing. Most of the time in church all I hear is the congregation and of course myself, I have been told on many occasions by many people that I am a loud person, and I will not sit here and lie by denying it. I guess its just one of my quirks. Anyway, as I said, I kept hearing her here and there and it was just so awesomely pleasant to my ears. I do fear that she will read this and I may be cursed by not hearing it again, and honey if your reading please don't do that, I just wanted to mention it because it really warmed my heart, ears, and made my day.

I could sit here and ramble on about so much more, I will not however for I hear the kids in the bath and i may mosey on down to see if my help could be used in any way. I have appreciated this time and pray that God blesses each and every one of you out there through his glorious and awesome Son Jesus Christ. Until next time peace and love be with you all.
C.