So both Jesse Phillips (prophetically speaking) and Joe Martino (searching the sunsets) have "tagged" me, whatever that means. Basically I have to write 5 reasons I love Christ. Hmm. I haven't read other people's "Tagged" posts in a while, so if I'm totally copying people with my answer or the passages I cite, I'm sorry. It was not intentional.
1) My first answer will be obvious. I love Christ because He has acquitted me of my sins. I will not be held accountable for the hell-deserving things I've done.
"Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through Him!" Romans 5:9.
2) I love Christ because through him I am no longer in bondage to my sin nature. I have achieved freedom from sin through Christ. I have now died to the law that I may live through Christ.
"19For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:19-20
3) As dc talk says, "I am still a man in need of a Savior." I love Christ because although Christ has conquered the power of sin in my life, I am still a wretched sinner, and although sin is still waging it's war in my soul, He continues to be my Savior. He continues to forgive me my sins.
"but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. There is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Romans 7:23-8:1
4) I love Christ because through his atoning death on the cross, I now know that I will spend eternity in His presence, with his church, bringing him glory forever and ever. I don't simply have victory over sin in this life, but through Christ I have victory over sin's just punishment, hell. God's presence will bring me eternal joy, not eternal terror.
"I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp." Revalation 21:22-23
5) Lastly, I love Christ because of all the blessings He has bestowed on me. My family, my friends, basketball, biscuits and gravy, Church, Red Bug, 24, 1$ double cheeseburgers, CSI Miami, Sovereign Grace, John Piper, spaghetti, New Orleans, Buttermilks, 1$ mcChickens, more basketball, CJ Mahaney, great music, David Caruso, Metro Life, Brad Paisley, all my neices and nephews, 1$ chicken nuggets. Truly I have been richly blessed.
"He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" Romans 8:32.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Favorite Verses
So I'm at work (yes I actually work) and don't have enough time to do the long-expected "5 reasons I love Christ." Therefore, I'm going to ask two questions (And you have to answer both.)
1)What is your favorite verse(s) of the Bible?
The only reason I put the (s) there is so that you can put multiple verses FROM THE SAME PASSAGE! You cannot say "Philippians 4:8" and "Romans 8:1" you can say "Philippians 2:1-11."
2) If you got stranded on an island and found a box marked "ONE OF THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE" which book would you really, really want it to be?
Muuhahahahaha this should be fun.
1)What is your favorite verse(s) of the Bible?
The only reason I put the (s) there is so that you can put multiple verses FROM THE SAME PASSAGE! You cannot say "Philippians 4:8" and "Romans 8:1" you can say "Philippians 2:1-11."
2) If you got stranded on an island and found a box marked "ONE OF THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE" which book would you really, really want it to be?
Muuhahahahaha this should be fun.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
bad gifts
There somes to be a comical trend among cessationists (ok fine the pyromaniacs.) The trend is that when talking about the gifts, everyone who used to be charismatic should tell their horror stories about what they came from (abuse of the gifts, the fact that they themselves were "faking" it etc.) to show why the charismata has passed. Nothing cracks me up more.
Think about it. People are faking spiritual gifts for whatever reason (to appear more "spiritual", fear of man, etc.) and then they somehow are the self-righteous ones. How dare people let me fake tongues! How dare they let me lie about recieving prophetic gifts! If anyone is going to be self-righteous (and yes I know no one should be self-righteous) shouldn't it be the ones who are actually sincere in their use of the gifts?
I don't understand how telling stories about how you were in a charismatic church, you faked gifts, you realized and were convicted about your dishonesty, and then decided that because you were faking everyone ELSE must be faking, is at all a convincing argument as to why everyone else is faking.
Somebody enlighten me.
Think about it. People are faking spiritual gifts for whatever reason (to appear more "spiritual", fear of man, etc.) and then they somehow are the self-righteous ones. How dare people let me fake tongues! How dare they let me lie about recieving prophetic gifts! If anyone is going to be self-righteous (and yes I know no one should be self-righteous) shouldn't it be the ones who are actually sincere in their use of the gifts?
I don't understand how telling stories about how you were in a charismatic church, you faked gifts, you realized and were convicted about your dishonesty, and then decided that because you were faking everyone ELSE must be faking, is at all a convincing argument as to why everyone else is faking.
Somebody enlighten me.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
New Orleans
So I just got back from a week long missions trip to New Orleans. It was amazing!!! I may or may not post on some other themes that were going on in New Orleans, but there was one constant thing I felt the Lord was reminding me throughtout the week, and that was the theme of the faithfulness of God.
There were parts of New Orleans that was actually depressing to go through. Depressing as in emotionally draining. We, as a group, went through the lower ninth ward and, honestly, maybe one in 10 houses actually had residents. Two years later, there are still areas and houses in New Orleans that haven't been touched. Weeds reach fifteen feet in the air and choke up entire yards. Doors still have notes left by the Navy indicating how many dead bodies were inside and needed to be collected. Mounds and mounds of junk still lies outside of houses.
But at the same time, there are still people who are inspiring in their trust in God and in the example they are to others in New Orleans. The church we visited, Lakeview Christian Center, is full of such people. They helped us see, even as we were serving them by doing yards and door to door evangelism, that God is sovereign over everything, including hurricanes. Hurricane Katrina didn't take God by surprise. One of the things that has happened since the storm is that people living in New Orleans have become much more receptive to help, and, more importantly, the gospel. Although New Orleans is full of voodoo and Catholicism, people are willing to listen, willing to engage in conversation. One elderly man was actually saved when we went door to door.
There are simply too many stories, too many ways that God showed himself to be faithful. I was constantly reminded of this passage in Isaiah 25.
1O LORD, you are my God;
I will exalt you; I will praise your name,
for you have done wonderful things,
plans formed of old, faithful and sure.
2For you have made the city a heap,
the fortified city a ruin;
the foreigners' palace is a city no more;
it will never be rebuilt.
3Therefore strong peoples will glorify you;
cities of ruthless nations will fear you.
4FOR YOU HAVE BEEN A STRONGHOLD TO THE POOR,
A STRONGHOLD TO THE NEEDY IN HIS DISTRESS
A SHELTER FROM THE STORM AND A SHADE AGAINST THE HEAT
As my grandmother said, God is in control and everything He does is good.
There were parts of New Orleans that was actually depressing to go through. Depressing as in emotionally draining. We, as a group, went through the lower ninth ward and, honestly, maybe one in 10 houses actually had residents. Two years later, there are still areas and houses in New Orleans that haven't been touched. Weeds reach fifteen feet in the air and choke up entire yards. Doors still have notes left by the Navy indicating how many dead bodies were inside and needed to be collected. Mounds and mounds of junk still lies outside of houses.
But at the same time, there are still people who are inspiring in their trust in God and in the example they are to others in New Orleans. The church we visited, Lakeview Christian Center, is full of such people. They helped us see, even as we were serving them by doing yards and door to door evangelism, that God is sovereign over everything, including hurricanes. Hurricane Katrina didn't take God by surprise. One of the things that has happened since the storm is that people living in New Orleans have become much more receptive to help, and, more importantly, the gospel. Although New Orleans is full of voodoo and Catholicism, people are willing to listen, willing to engage in conversation. One elderly man was actually saved when we went door to door.
There are simply too many stories, too many ways that God showed himself to be faithful. I was constantly reminded of this passage in Isaiah 25.
1O LORD, you are my God;
I will exalt you; I will praise your name,
for you have done wonderful things,
plans formed of old, faithful and sure.
2For you have made the city a heap,
the fortified city a ruin;
the foreigners' palace is a city no more;
it will never be rebuilt.
3Therefore strong peoples will glorify you;
cities of ruthless nations will fear you.
4FOR YOU HAVE BEEN A STRONGHOLD TO THE POOR,
A STRONGHOLD TO THE NEEDY IN HIS DISTRESS
A SHELTER FROM THE STORM AND A SHADE AGAINST THE HEAT
As my grandmother said, God is in control and everything He does is good.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
sorry
Sorry for not posting I've been on a missions trip to New Orleans I will definitely post when I get back (Sunday.) In the meantime (and the nicetime), please be praying.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Spheres
I was at a church gathering last sunday night where we watched some of Focus on the Family's "The Truth Project" (which is really good by the way.) One of the things the person teaching did, was he had a graph which had several different colored spheres. One said "God", another said "Family" another said "Church" another said "Labor" etc. etc. His point was that we need to be careful not to confuse spheres...in other words, just b/c God says "Wives, submit to your husbands" in Ephesians (a command relevant to the sphere of family) or, in 1 Timothy, "I do not permit a woman to teach or have authority over a man", a command relevant to the sphere of Church, does not mean that man cannot work somewhere just because he has a woman supervising him, or whatever. (Which doesn't involve the sphere of family or church, but of labor.)
He then made a passing reference that in his study of Scripture, he hasn't seen any passage that would indicate that it is unbiblical for a woman to be in authority over a man in the area of labor or, incidentally, in politics. Obviously this is relevant to us now, since the thought of Hillary Clinton being president may soon become a reality.
Now, one could argue (which I'm not going to right now) that it would be unbiblical to vote for Hillary b/c of her stance on abortion or some other issue. However, my question is; is it unbiblical to vote for Hillary b/c she is a woman? This isn't a chauvinistic questions, I simply want to know if you all think it's biblical for a woman to be in authority of an entire nation.
He then made a passing reference that in his study of Scripture, he hasn't seen any passage that would indicate that it is unbiblical for a woman to be in authority over a man in the area of labor or, incidentally, in politics. Obviously this is relevant to us now, since the thought of Hillary Clinton being president may soon become a reality.
Now, one could argue (which I'm not going to right now) that it would be unbiblical to vote for Hillary b/c of her stance on abortion or some other issue. However, my question is; is it unbiblical to vote for Hillary b/c she is a woman? This isn't a chauvinistic questions, I simply want to know if you all think it's biblical for a woman to be in authority of an entire nation.
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