The Mover

O Lord, I am astonished at the difference
between my receivings and my deservings,
between the state that I am now in and my past gracelessness,
between the heaven I am bound for and the hell I merit.

Who made me to differ, but thee?
for I was no more ready to receive Christ than were others;
I could not have begun to love thee hadst thou not first loved me,
or been willing unless thou hadst first made me so.

Let 'wrath deserved' be written on the door of hell,
But 'the free gift of grace' on the gate of heaven.

- excerpts from 'The Valley of Vision'

Christmas 'Break' Readings

Although I have graduated, it still seems like a got a mini-Christmas break this year. I've been reading some powerful texts from the prophets.

"But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears from hearing. They have made their hearts like flint so that they could not hear the law and the words whcih the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets; therefore the great wrath came from the Lord of hosts." - Zechariah 7:11-12

A text that reminds me of being a sinner. These words were written by Zechariah the prophet warning people of who they are serving and what has been going on.

"Thus says the Lord of hosts, 'Behold, I am going to save My people from the land of the east and from the land of the west; and I will bring them and they will live in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God in truth and righteousness.' " - Zechariah 8:7-8

A text of hope and promise of the Lord.

" ' A son honors father, and a servanth His master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My respect?' says the Lord of hosts" - Malachi 1:6

Another text of warning to the rebellious people. Malachi 1:8-9 has a similar warning, with the example that if you're able to give the best to your governor to please him, why are you giving poor offering to your God. Later in the book, even during judgement and warning, Malachi 2:14-16 shows us the Lord's value of marriage, He as a witness of the covenant and the Spirit as 'binder'. " 'For I hate divorce (sending away),' says the Lord." That was really neat to learn glean from the passage, although the overall theme of the book is not towards marriage.

Some Christmas Bounty

God has been gracious over the Christmas break. He has been a God of provision through the workings of family and friends. Listed below are some of the books that received for Christmas. While I am proud of these gifts, I hope that they will give you new ideas of authors to read, maybe a new avenue of good reading to be had.

C.S. Lewis - The Four Loves













C.S. Lewis - The Great Divorce













Jerry Bridges - The Gospel for Real Life













Randy Alcorn - The Grace and Truth Paradox













Jerry Bridges - The Discipline of Grace

Merry Christmas

After the weighty post below, not to take away any of the seriousness, but I wanted to wish all:

Merry Christmas!

The Disappearing Doctrine of Hell

I read this after seeing the link to Al Mohler's website on Chris's blog:

"Belief in hell is fast disappearing in Scotland, according to press reports. Reporter Donald MacLeod points to the fact that one third of Scottish clergy "still believe in the existence of hell." Of course, that means that the other two-thirds have decided against hell.

From MacLeod's article in The Guardian [London]:

Eric Stoddart, a lecturer in practical theology at St Andrews University, surveyed 750 randomly selected clergy and found that 37% believed in hell, although this was more marked in the Highlands and Western Isles, where conservative, Presbyterian congregations predominate.
"The doctrine of hell is downplayed by most of today's churches even by those who still believe in it. It isn't viewed as very politically correct even by a new generation of more theologically conservative ministers," said Dr Stoddart, who commented that there was a conspiracy of silence on the subject.

This is consistent with what is happening in the United States as well. Hell has become an odium theologicum -- an odious doctrine that is just too politically-incorrect for modern taste. Many preachers just find a way never to mention it. Or, as one wag has observed, they just air-condition hell, denying that it is a place of everlasting torment.

Look at this fascinating section of the article:

Dr Stoddart is interested in how belief in hell affects everyday life and is keen to hear from ordinary Christians as well. He said: "I'm interested in how people handle their belief in hell. If you believe (or are told you should believe) your grandmother is going to hell because she is not a Christian, how do you deal with that? Do you dehumanise her or psychologically distance yourself in order to accept her fate? How is it possible to go about daily life while believing that a loved-one has entered eternal suffering? When most hell-believing Christians are likely to encounter the death of 'non-Christian' loved-ones it is striking that it is a subject rarely tackled. No one talksabout this aspect. There is something of a conspiracy of silence."

Dr. Stoddartis interested in how the relational aspects of human life influence an individual's belief in hell -- and vice versa. At the Web site for his research project, Hell: The Pastoral Implications, he comments:

I concluded that the pain that arises from believing in hell whilst suspecting that your loved-ones might already be there is something that churches fail to recognise. There's something of a conspiracy of silence when it comes to acknowledging that it might apply to real, actual people rather than just an anonymous group called 'the lost'.

The knowledge of what hell really represents is a humbling consciousness that leads to heartbreak and serves as an impetus to evangelism. Those who deny the reality of hell will bear some real responsibility for the fact that so many will be found there.

Ezekiel 3:16-21

A very good article to compliment this is one of John Piper's on DesiringGod.org:

'Dorothy Sayers on Why Hell in Non-Negotiable'

Comment: Is this the same St. Andrews that PCM read about in 'St. Andrew's Seven' this summer in our missions Bible study?

The Chronicles of Narnia

My wife and I went to see the movie last nite, along with my brother and some of his friends. It was a good movie, not great, but good. It did have some very powerful moments in there. Those key moments were awesome.
It's hard when everyone has seen the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and how well done those movies were done. The LOTR series had such excellent detail, imagery, and direction, it was an awesome series really. Well, I'm not saying Narnia doesn't have any of this, it's hard to hold up to that series. Maybe that's the problem, it may be 'Lord of the Rings Lite', but it really is probably directed to a different genre or audience.
It is toned down, you notice there will be no blood, even for the great sacrifice. (* I'm being vague to not ruin any storylines intentionally). The children are the main story line, even if they are going to battle later in the film.
The allusions that some of the things in the film holds, they can be very powerful. Edmund's treason and betrayal. Aslan and his actions. I think the being of Aslan was just very powerful, the respect to he was on film and Who is portraying. And what Aslan does, wow.
It was definitely worth seeing, but as a film, won't take the place of LOTR for me. But some of those moments in Narnia are just chilling due to imagery it holds and the power of the imagery.

A Link to the Movie site:
http://adisney.go.com/disneypictures/narnia/index.html

Wedding Announcement

Mr. and Mrs. Blinson

Blinson - Madden

Megan Ashleigh Madden and Joshua Lee Blinson were married October 22, 2005, at Providence Baptist Church in Raleigh. Reverend Chip Bugnar officiated their ceremony.
The bride is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gary Madden of Apex. She is the granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. Herb Hilsinger of Kinston, and Mrs. Kiyoko Madden of Holly Springs and the late Mr. Madden.
Parents of the groom are Mr. and Mrs. Mel Blinson of Raleigh. He is the grandson of Mr. and Mrs. L.W. Sharp of Raleigh, and Mr. and Mrs. Shelton Blinson of Raleigh.
The couple will live in Raleigh, having completed their honeymoon to Topsail Island.

- Isaiah 46:9-10 -

* sorry for the delay, this is 'official' unofficial announcement *

Spice Shower Pictures

Thanks to all who helped in throw the Spice Shower for us. We really appreciated it. Thanks to the Whatleys for hosting it in there home. Thanks for attending too, and all the great spices and other gifts that we got.

-The Shower Cake - The theme was "Love, Honor, Cherish"

This is a few of the attenders that we at the show. Love you guys.

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More Wedding Pictures

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Exchanging of the Rings

The New Mr. & Mrs. Blinson

Excitement After the Ceremony

Our Wedding Party

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Wedding Pictures - The Beginning

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My beautiful bride, Meg, along with two of her bridesmaids, Kristen McCutchen (L) and Sarah Thuston (R).

My bride with only one of her many favorite aunts, this one is Aunt Michelle.

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Streams of Mercy

Man's great difficulty is that we have religion without guilt, and religion without guilt just tries to make God a big 'pal' of a man. But religion without guilt is a religion that cannot escape hell for it deceives and finally destroys all who are a part of it.

Religion without any consciousness of guilt is a false religion. If I come to Jesus Christ without any confession of guilt, simply to gain some benefit, I still have woe upon me, as did the Pharisees before me! But if my guilt drives me to Jesus, than I have my guilt taken from me and I find mercy. Oh, the mercy of God! We sing about the mercy of God, and I hope we know what we are singing about: 'O depths of mercy, can it be, that gate is left ajar for me.'

If God could not extend us His mercy and grace, and treated us exactly as we deserved, there would be only one course for Him to follow. God would have to turn an angered face to us in life and He would have to turn His back to us in death. That would happen to the best human beings that ever lived, if we should only receive what we deserve.

But, oh, the grace of God! God through the plan of salvation in Jesus Christ will go beyond our merits, beyond that which we deserve. Even if our sins have been like a mountain, it is the grace of God that assures our forgiveness. There is cleansing for the defiled, gracious and satisfying cleansing - a beautiful element in Christianity as revealed by the Lord Himself, and not just abstract theology.

- A.W. Tozer

Pictures Coming Soon

We've gotten some of our pictures back from what the family has taken, and also some from the beaches during our honeymoon. I will work on uploading these to the website soon. Stay tuned...

The Catch-Up

It's been a blast the past couple weeks. I recently got married on October 22nd. The wedding was phenomenal. God was working. Our friends and family really helped out too to make this a very beautiful wedding. I hope all that attended enjoyed and got to praise the King also. We enjoyed everybody showing up, it was great time of celebration.

Then me and my new bride were off to the honeymoon! We spent the week enjoying each other, getting to one another better, and experiencing the joy of living with your best friend. No more going home late at nite because we can be together! It's such a beautiful thing to give oneself to another.

And now we begin to live in the apartment with each other. We will sorting and living out of boxes for a while. And looking through all the new wedding gifts, wow, thanks everybody. But's it's a great time.

p.s. for a preview of some of the wedding pics, check out our friends the McCutchen's site. Cutch

Absolute Heresy

This is a disturbing news article from Europe:

THE hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church has published a teaching document instructing the faithful that some parts of the Bible are not actually true.
The Catholic bishops of England, Wales and Scotland are warning their five million worshippers, as well as any others drawn to the study of scripture, that they should not expect “total accuracy” from the Bible.
“We should not expect to find in Scripture full scientific accuracy or complete historical precision,” they say in The Gift of Scripture.
The bishops acknowledge their debt to biblical scholars. They say the Bible must be approached in the knowledge that it is “God’s word expressed in human language” and that proper acknowledgement should be given both to the word of
God and its human dimensions.
The Bible is true in passages relating to human salvation, they say, but continue: “We should not expect total accuracy from the Bible in other, secular matters.”

This could be very damaging to many believers in establishing wrong patterns at the basis of their faith. The Bible is the Word of God and inerrant, very true in every sense. It is the foundation and the rock, and the only thing that can be trusted as being the truest thing. We have a world that wants to be stuck in a very postmodern mind-set. The only thing that is true is what you think about it, that's very incorrect. This article and this kind of thinking erodes the power of the Scripture. If we can be skeptical about we can believe or not about the Word, we lose our foundation and our footing about what we believe, we begin to believe what we want to believe, in order to serve our means.

They say the Church must offer the gospel in ways “appropriate to changing times, intelligible and attractive to our contemporaries”.

Here's the reason why they stated the above. We need to all be very careful of trying to not stand ABOVE the Word, but UNDER its teaching. If we can pick and choose, what parts about the Bible we believe, we are OVER the Word. It doesn't have meaning to us, we try to put meaning on the Bible. "I don't think that parts true, we don't have to follow what it says."

I believe we can interpret their saying above as, "If WE don't change how the Bible is presented, it won't be attractive to modern day people." This is the beginning of the slide in connecting the WE to the ATTRACTION, as if we are determining how important "God" is. God is Almighty, the power of the gospel is true, let's not water down biblical doctrine to serve our means.

Let us become better listerners to what the Word has to say to us. Let us take that as truth into our hearts, being the Word of God, which we know is truth. Let us communicate these absolute truths to others in a gracious, loving way.

Here's a link to the website. Click Here.

More Time Management

Here's some other quotes that I found useful in understanding time management:

Procrastination may represent a failure to identify and to act in congruence with your own basic values. - Dr. William Knaus

Unwillingness to say No: Recognize the pain of saying YES is becoming greater than the pain of saying NO.

A Counter !?!

Did you see the counter on the left side? What's that for? Who would be keeping track of that?

Time Management

I was reading a time management booklet at work on how to better manage time for business. They were some great quotes in there, a lot of them had biblical principles behind them. I hope they are as encouraging to you too.

"The enemy of the 'best' is often the 'good'. - Stephen Covey

How true. Sometimes we get caught in doing good things, that we don't take the time to really ponder what God wants us to do. His plans work out in better ways than we can ever think or plan. His plans are what's best, so we can't fill our schedule with what we think is best, even if they're great, good things.

"Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least." - Goetne

We must always keep our core values first, our goals, our principles in place before we let other things push those aside.

On Christ's Care

"The disciples were glad when they saw the Lord." - John 20:20b

"We should come to know Christ in this way: He is kindly disposed and comforting to all the poor who are needy and anxious; on the other hand, He is a severe judge of all who despise Him. To know Him this way is to know Him rightly.
Therefore, we should expect from Christ all love, kindness, comfort, salvation, and encouragement, and call on Him in perils of fire, perils of water, in death, and in all assaults on your faith. For He is also the only Cornerstone, to whom we should hold in all our troubles."

The Complete Sermons of Martin Luther - 6: 55

Seven Issues with the church's current evanglestic state.

1. Sunday School has lost its' priority. The importance of the small groups and the small groups specifically reaching specific people. (86% of people that go to Sunday school will be invovled in the church 5 years later as compared to 17% of those not in Sunday school being involved in the church.
2. The uninvited 81%. Of the unchurched, 81% haven't been invited to church ONE time.
3. Failure to grasp the '4-legged stool'. Of keeping people in church, we aren't encouraging these aspects enough: expectations, ministry invovlement, small groups, relationships.
4. The interested unchurched person. Of those that hadn't been invited to church, 84% would say yes they would come to church if invited, as long as you would come with them through the doors.
5. Failure of members to develop meaningful relationships with the lost.
6. Lack of intentionality in evangelism.
7. Theological beliefs that diminish evangelistic passion. Christ is the ONLY way for salvation and to be excluded from condemnation. Also, we need to cling to the gospel, not this life.

- notes from Thom Rainer, Providence Baptist Church 8/14/2005

The Effect of Universalism on Missions

The notion that people are saved without hearing the gospel has wreaked havoc in the missions effort of denominations and churches that minimize the biblical teaching of human lostness without Christ.

Apart from the special, saving grace of God, people are dead in sin, darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God and hardened in heart (Ephesians 2:1, 4:18). And the means God has ordained to administer that special saving grace is the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

J.Piper - Desiring God, pg 192-193

The Engaged Couple

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We are all smiles the day after our engagement. Here we are getting ready to go to Capitol Hill Baptist Church at Paul Curtis' house.

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The Couple

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A Picture of me and my fiance, Meg.

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All I Need

Give me unwavering faith
that supplications are never in vain,
that if I seem not to obtain my petitions
I shall have larger, richer answers,
surpassing all that I ask or think.
Unsought, thou has given me
the greatest gift, the person of thy Son,
and in Him thou wilt give me all I need.

Valley of Vision - The Prayer of Love (pg. 271)

Delayed Writings

Sorry for the delay in returning to the post, but a lot has been happening over the past couple months. I transistioned to my new position with Sherwin-Williams, and am constantly learning new things every day. It's a transistion working full-time and juggling what was on my plate in less time, but I really praise God for this position and the financial stability it brings and for the future. Also below, I now have a fiance too, it's been a sweet time preparing for that moment of proposal and now for the moment of engagement, heading and planning towards our marriage. Hopefully I will be able to post more and post pictures of some of the events of the past couple months.

Josh

Happy News!

I would just like to announce to you all that this weekend, Meg Madden and I got engaged. We were in Washington DC visiting a friend and away for a little mini-vacation. It was the perfect opportunity for a suprise. We had a peaceful picnic right near the Jefferson Memorial, and then I proposed, asking her to be my wife. Such a sweet weekend, and I had a hard time keeping it under wraps and containing my excitement.

the Building of the Church

'I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.' - Matthew 16:18

'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.' - Matthew 28:18-19

These two verses point out a lot about the sovereignty of God and the importance / His care for the church.

God's Workings at Work

Praise God! Last week it was confirmed that I got the new promotion in Sherwin-Williams. It is a great working of Him. Thanks for all your prayers and encouragement during this time. It is definitely a blessing.

Josh

The Happiness of God

'God's saving designs are penultimate, not ultimate. Redemption, salvation, and restoration are not God's ultimate goal. These He performs for the sake of something greater: namely, the enjoyment He has in glorifying Himself...

If God were not infinitely devoted to the preservation, display, and enjoyment of His own glory, we could have no hope of finding happiness in Him. But if He does in fact employ all His sovereign power and infinite wisdom to maximize the enjoyment of His own glory, then we have a foudnation on which to stand and rejoice.'

- J.Piper - Desiring God (pg. 33)

Then Let All My Pleasures Tell

But I do bid that all will come
And drink with me the waters from
The Fountain of delights whom we
Call Christ, and that we taste and see
The fullness of his Father's joy
Which none can make and none destroy;
And that we take from his right hand
Eternal pleasures he has planned
For those who love him more than all
His gifts, and gladly leave the small
And fleeting pleasures of this earth
To savor God and all he's worth.

...

His goodness shines with brightest rays
When we delight in all his ways.
His glory overflows its rim
When we are satisfied in him.
His radiance will fill the earth
When people revel in his worth.
The beauty of God's holy fire
Burns brightest in the heart's desire.

- J.Piper - Desiring God

Praising God

'I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation.'

- C.S. Lewis - Reflections on the Psalms

'Praising God, the highest calling of humanity and our eternal vocation, did not involve the renunciation but rather the consummation of the joy I so desired. My old effort to achieve worship with no self-interest in it proved to be a contradiction in terms. Worship is basically adoration, and we adore only what delights us.'

- J.Piper - Desiring God

A New Job ?

I humbly ask for your prayers. This coming Thursday I will have an interview for a full-time job. I hope to get this, and put forth my best capabilities. Pray that I will use this opportunity to exalt Christ, that I would be humbled by that, and truly live it out in my work-life. Thank you.

Contentment

Do you think you are content in life? Pastor Horner laid out a lot about our / my state of contentment. Convicting words that cut to the heart.

"We always want more than we have, not less. I need just a little bit more ..."

And then even to the point of:

"We don't know the meaning of enough."

A lot of this sermon was pointing our need for contentment, and the wrong attitudes of contentment we have and the wrong things we have contentment towards. But he then went on to explain a solution for this problem.

"We won't be content with anything unless we are satisfied with Jesus Christ."

Praise God we have a remedy that will truly be all-satisfying and fulfilling to exactly what we need.

This passage for the sermon was Philippians 4:10-20

D.Horner - 'To Learn Contentment' 5/1/05

Remember the Word - Authorial Intent of 2 Peter

Peter writes 2 Peter to tell his audience - "REMEMBER THE WORDS." Which words? "The words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles." (2 Peter 3:2) WHY do we need to remember the words? I believe the end of 2 Peter sums this up - "the untaught and unstable distort ... Scripture to their own destruction. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 3:16-18) Also, "you do well to pay attention [to the prophetic word] as to a lamp shining in a dark place." (2 Peter 1:19)

Here are some points of the book that support the above:

• Through the true knowledge of Him, we can see that His divine power has granted us everything pertaining to life and godliness. (1:3) Where can we find the true knowledge?
• "He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of divine nature." (1:4) Where can we find the promises? In His Word.
• In the section 1:12-15, Peter explains that he wants to constantly remind them of the truth, so that they will be diligent to call it to mind.
• In the section 1:16-21, Peter reveals the authority of the writers of the Word, the eyewitnesses of His majesty and the prophetic word. Verse 21 says, "for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God."
• Peter sounds the alarm against the false prophet and teachers in chapter 2. They "will secretly introduce destructive heresies" (2:1) and "because of them the way of truth will be maligned;" (2:2) and that "they will exploit with false words;" (2:3). Peter explains the severity of these actions in 2:3, "their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep."
• Peter uses 4 Old Testament proofs and examples in regard to the false teachers in chapter 2. Three are specifically examples of 'the LORD knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment.' (2:9) 1] "God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast into hell." (2:4) 2] God "did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah". (2:5) 3] "He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly thereafter;" (2:6) and "He rescued righteous Lot". (2:7) The other is an example of the false teachers following the way of Balaam. (2:15-16)
• In chapter 3, verses 1-2 tell us that Peter is stirring them by way of reminder to remember the words.
• Mocker will come saying "Where is the promise of His coming? ... all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation." (3:4) Peter refutes this by using the Word - "it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water." These 'teachers' didn't know their Word well enough to perceive these things or they choose not remember the Word.
• "According to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth." (3:13)
• Peter introduces the value and high regard to Paul's work in 3:15-16 - "just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters," "which the untaught and unstable distort [some things Paul has written] as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.
• Again, 3:17-18 tells them to be on guard so they will not be deceived in a manner that leads to destruction but to grow in grace and knowledge.

Check out all of 2 Peter and study it on your own to gain insight from this awesome, powerful book. Figure out the author's intent from the word, which means more than my words. I encourage you to diligently study the word. Let me know what you think and your opinions (shaped through the word).

To Not Be Afraid

'But there are better reason not to let our fears increase. It is not so much because we become smarter or more able to avoid danger, but that we become more confident that, by faith in Jesus, God will take care of us in the way He sees best. It does not guarantee safety or comfort in this life. But it does guarantee everlasting joy, as we trust in Him. Trusting God, through Jesus Christ, is the key to fearlessness. And promises from God are the key that leads us from the dungeon of fear.'

J.Piper - Pierced by the Word

Experiencing God's Love

1. Look to Jesus. Consider Christ. Meditate on His glory and His work, not just casually, but intentionally. Think about the promises He made and guaranteed by His death and resurrection.
2. Pray that God would open your eyes to the wonder of His love in these things.
3. Renounce all known attitudes and behaviors that contradict this demonstration of love to you.
4. Then enjoy the experience of the love of God poured out in your heart by the Holy Spirit.

Father, incline our hearts to see the
beauty of Christ and to embrace it with joy.
Grant that we would behold and believe -
that we would see and savor.
May our minds lay hold on the content of faith,
and our hearts receive it with the affection of faith.
Cause Your love to flow like a river through our souls.
May we not just know about it,
but experience the reality of it, to the glory of Christ.
In His name. Amen.

J.Piper - Pierced by the Word.

To Glorify God

'The more people know about God, the more they will want to shout out about His glory."

- D.Horner 4/24/05

Events Galore

It's been a long, busy week, yet still very good with lots of fun moments. So it's been a bit since I've had time to put something new up. There were birthday celebrations (Happy Birthday to Dad, Stephen Day!), basketball games, and the Joy Prom event at Providence in which it was a blessing to participate in the event. So much more too! I'm happy to try out the new Delta Lake Center for the college class, which I had chance to preview this week.

'The World Is Run by Tired Men'

"If a Christian is not willing to rise early and work late, to expend greater effort in dilligent study and faithful work, that person will not change a generation. Fatigue is the price of leadership. Mediocrity is the result of never getting tired.

But Christians know where to find renewal. 'Therefore do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we being renewed day by day' (2 Corinthians 4:16)."

J.Oswald Sanders - Spiritual Leadership

A Concept Misunderstood

'Submission is not an inferiority in a relationship,' whether of human or divine nature.

Dr. Nelson, talk on Doctrine of the Trinity, Acts Forum 4/17/05

The Inadequacy of "Instant Christianity"

'The American genius for getting things done quickly and easily with little concern for quality or permanence has bred a virus that has infected the whole evangelical church.'

'Instant Christianity came in with the machine age. Men invented machines for two purposes. They wanted to get important work done more quickly and easily than they could do it by hand, and they wanted to get the work over with so they could give their time to pursuits more their liking, such as loafing or enjoying pleasures of the world. Instant Christianity now serves the same purposes in religion. It disposes of the past, guarantees the future and sets the Christian free to follow the more refined lusts of the flesh in all good conscience and with a minimum of restraint.'

'By “instant Christianity” I mean the kind found almost everywhere in gospel circles and which is born of the notion that we may discharge our total obligation to our own souls by one act of faith, or at most by two, and be relieved thereafter or all anxiety about our spiritual condition that we may discharge our total obligation to our own and we are permitted to infer from this that there is no reason to seek to be saints by character. An automatic once-for-all quality is present here that is completely out of mode with the faith of the New Testament.'

'It is true that conversion to Christ may be and often is sudden. When the burden of sin has been heavy the sense of forgiveness is usually clear and joyful. ... The true Christian has met God. But the trouble is that we tend to put our trust in our experiences and as a consequence misread the entire New Testament.'

'There are decisions that can be and should be made once and for all. There are personal matters that can be settled instantaneously by a determined act of will in response to Bible-grounded faith. No one would want to deny this; certainly not I.'

'The question before us is, Just how much can be accomplished in that one act of faith? How much yet remains to be done and how far can a single decision take us?'

'Instant Christianity tends to make the faith act terminal and so smothers the desire for spiritual advance. It fails to understand the true nature of the Christian life, which is not static but dynamic and expanding. It overlooks the fact that a new Christian is a living organism as certainly as a new baby is, and must have nourishment and exercise to assure physical growth.'

'Undue preoccupation with the initial act of believing has created in some a psychology of contentment, or at least non-expectation. To many it has imparted a mood of disappointment with the Christian faith. God seems too far away, the world is too near, and the flesh too powerful to resist. Others are glad to accept the assurance of automatic blessedness. It relieves them of the need to watch and fight and pray, and sets them free to enjoy this world while waiting for the next.'

'Instant Christianity is twentieth-century orthodoxy. I wonder whether the man who wrote Philippians 3:7-16 would recognize it as faith for which he finally died. I am afraid he would not.'

A.W. Tozer - excerpts from "That Incredible Christian"

Mercy and Justice

'The mercy of God moved Him to send the Son of God to bear the wrath of God so as to vindicate the justice of God when He justifies sinners who have faith in Jesus. So we have our very life because of mercy and justice (Romans 3:25-26). They met in the cross.'

J.Piper - Pierced by the Word

To Accept or to Deny Christ

"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people say about Him: ‘I am ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse."

- C.S. Lewis

Is TV Too Big a Part of Life?

'In the end the soul that is made for God has shrunk to fit snugly around triteness.

It seldom inspires great thoughts or great feelings with glimpses of great Truth. God is the great, absolute, all-shaping Reality.'

J.Piper - Pierced by the Word

New Heavens & New Earth - A Home of Righteousness

'In the future, righteousness will dwell. The righteousness here is God's righteousness (2 Pet. 1:1), which fills the future world with His glory and beauty. And Peter had clarified thoughout the letter that only the righteous will participate in that world.

Only those who heeded Peter's message [encompassing the gospel of Christ] will inherit the promises and enjoy the new world. We should remind ourselves that no notion of works righteousness is involved here, for as Peter had already taught (1:3-4), those who live righteously have been transformed by God Himself. They do what is right as a consequence of God's gracious work in their lives.'

T.Schreiner, New American Commenatary, 1, 2 Peter, Jude
on 2 Peter 3:13

'Restored by God, {yet} Relying on Men'

Today, we were given lots of truth at church. What I remember most is the passage of David taking the census in 2 Samuel 24. Pastor Horner's applications from this text were piercing. It really hit home to our sinful nature that we exhibit.

1. Performance-based Acceptance.
   - We often care too much about what others think or say about us, and that guides our decisions. We often approve people for what they can do for us.
2. 'We often have an attitude based on the opinions on what others did, not on what Christ did.'
   - For example, this person did this to me, so I can do that back and not show grace like Christ. I have a right to stay upset at them... Wrong.
3. We tend to rely on our capabilites, not the capabilites of God.

D.Horner, 4/10/05, 'Restored by God, Relying on Men'
Check out outline link, middle of page.

German Friends

I'm glad I had some time to visit with the German friends that got to visit America again. We first met Evie when went to Meinengin, Germany, in 2001. This is a picture of my girlfriend, Meg; me; and my German friend, Evie.

Road Trip - Beach

We got a lot of pictures back from the photo shop. This is one from couple weeks back when Meg and I got to go to the beach. It was a great trip. Great fellowship and conversion during the car trips, good times walking the beach admiring God's great creation, reading coast-side while listening to the calming presence of the ocean.

Prayer

' "When you feel most indisposed to pray, yield not to it," he counseled, "but strive and endeavor to pray, even when you think you cannot."

To Martin Luther, an extra load of duties was reason enough to pray more, not less. Hear his plans for the next day's work: "Work, work from early till late. In fact I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer."

The praying Christian wields no personal power and authority, but authority delegated by the victorious Christ to whom that faithful believer is united by faith.

"With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit" - Ephesians 6:18a'

J.Oswald Sanders - Spiritual Leadership

Pitiful

As I recall with my stomach turning
I was hiding away from myself, away from you
Like nothing, though something was terribly wrong
And I admit that I was only waiting for the right time
Night time, the right moment for you to look away
Though you never did, I pretended for a while
So I could walk where I don't belong

And I remember every word you said
Come back in time, come back
And I remember I would soon be dead
Now so pitiful, so pitiful

But I know, as I hammered those nails into your beautiful hands
Your eyes still try to search for mine, but I look away
Now your eyes are the only thing that can save me
I'm so afraid of them piercing
You're breaking into my prison.
Just pretend for a while
My soul is dying
I won't look away

And I remember every word you said...

I'll remember every word you said
This time I won't look away

Blindside - Pitiful

Luther: Loving your Neighbor

‘He who would be a saint so stern and selfish as to endure no evil words or acts, and to excuse no imperfections, is unfit to dwell among men. He knows nothing of Christian love...' (4.1: 315)

‘He who truly loves will be distressed that a beloved neighbor wickedly trespasses against God and himself.’ (4.1: 321)

‘Sincere love makes a clear distinction between the evil and the person; it is unfriendly to the former, but kind to the latter.’ (4.1: 321)

- Martin Luther

the Complete Sermons of Martin Luther

Luther: Look at Christ's Example

'Mark the example of Christ, however, and there learn to censure yourself. Beloved, how can you complain when you see how infinitely greater was the grief and how much more painful the anxiety endured by your beloved Lord and faithful Savior, the Son of God Himself, who yet bore all patiently and submissively and, more than that, prayed for those instrumental in causing that agony? Who with a single drop of Christian blood in his heart would not blush with shame to be guilty of murmuring at his sufferings when, before God, he is so sinful and is deserving of much more affliction?'

- Martin Luther

the Complete Sermons of Martin Luther (4.1: 259)
on 1 Peter 2:21-25

Luther: Why Be Troubled At Suffering?

'Now, this one fact, that one so exalted as Christ himself, the only and eternal Son of God, has trod the path of suffering before us, enduring unlimited distress, agony transcending the power of humanity to experience - this alone should be enough to admonish and urge anyone to patiently endure affliction. Why, the, should we disciples, we who are so insignificant and inexperienced in comparison with our Master - why should we be at all troubled at any suffering for His sake? especially when all He asks is to follow Him, to learn of Him and to remain His disciples.'

- Martin Luther

the Complete Sermons of Martin Luther (4.1: 252-253)
on 1 Peter 2:21-25

1 Peter 2:24

'and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.'

The Beginning of Thought Boxes

Well, this is the beginning, not as in Genesis 1:1, but of this post site. Let's see how this works out. I hope you enjoy the readings on this site, and I will do the best to keep them interesting and updated.