How a Man Can Be Single & Live in Purity

Job and Suffering

2012-02-02T22:35:00.002-05:00

I was listening to a John MacArthur sermon tonight about how believers who trust Christ for their salvation receive a salvation that is secure. Being secure means that there is nothing that can take it away from us once we have it. He stated that Christianity in the life of believers offends the world and there is nothing they would like to see better than our faith to fail. Anyone who has lived long as a Christian knows that people treat you differently when you profess Christ and really want to follow Him. They are a little less likely to invite you to the next party or the next movie with all the profanity and sexuality in it. So the Christian gradually looses touch with his worldly friends but gains new friends that share his love for the things of God. The Christian at that point becomes a missionary and goes back to try to save some of his former friends if possible by praying for them and loving them, even when they don't understand him.

MacArthur also mentioned the story of Job and how Satan tried his best to take away Job's salvation. He mentioned Romans 8:35-36 where Paul asks, "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." The question here is written to Christians who were living in a hostile world. We are living in a hostile world and will face many attacks on our faith.

I remember doing a study on Lazarus and reading several commentaries that all said that there were two main reasons for Jesus's actions. The reasons are stated in the passage. John 11:4 and 42 say that the main reason was that God would be glorified in it and the second is that we would believe that God sent Him. So the result of God being glorified is that the believer's faith would be strengthened. I need to clear up something here. Jesus knew who the true believers were and who were not. His signs were meant to act as proofs of His equality with God so that our faith would be fully strengthened in Him. There were seven miracles that Jesus did in the Gospel of John. This miracle was the apex. The supreme miracle of miracles. Lazarus had been dead for four days and had already started to putrefy. The Jewish rabbis taught that the spirit of a person hung around for 3 days after a person died to see if the person would resuscitate. If this did not happen the spirit would move on. So Jesus waiting four days eliminated the possibility that Lazarus was merely resuscitated. This miracle was given by Jesus as undeniable proof that He holds the power over the afterlife and that one must possess faith in Christ alone to live even if he dies. "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?" John 11:25-26.

Jesus wanted to give more and more proof to those who had already believed in Him so that their faith in Him would be rock solid even if they were faced with such a thing as death. His signs confirmed his incomparable worth to the disciples and increased the hatred of his enemies. There were two reverse effects going on here. One going forward and one going backward. The Pharisees, for the most part, were digressing from knowledge of God into darkness while the tax collectors and sinners were progressing toward holiness and godliness. This miracle was the last nail in the spiritual coffin of the Pharisees. Shortly after this they come to agreement as to what they will do with this Jesus. They will kill him.

"Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what He had done, believed in Him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done. Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council, and were saying, "What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs. "If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish." Now he did not say this on his own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but in order that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. So from that day on they planned together to kill Him." John 11:45-53.

The aforementioned point is a side-note and not a part of the main thrust of this post but is an important fact. But we now return to Job. Why did he go through all that? Some people would like to say that God has some explaining to do. God didn't really have a good reason for putting Job through all that or for the countless innocents that suffer in this world today. There are particular "scholars" in mind when I say this but I won't mention their names, to do so would give them publicity which they do not deserve. They say things like "we shouldn't be thankful because we are more blessed than others" and such other absolute filth that they vomit from their putrid, festering cesspool of a mouth.

But enough about them. I am rambling. I think the reason for trials and tribulations for us is to strengthen our faith in God so that we would make it through this demonic world and make it safely into glory. Now we go on to the good part of Paul's question in Romans 8. Are you still awake? Here it goes:

"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." Romans 8:37-39.

Did you read that? There it is. That is the reason God allowed Job to go through the things that he did. That is the reason why God allowed Mary and Martha to mourn the death of their brother for four days. That is the reason why countless Christians have had to endure personal tragedy. They were having their faith strengthened that as each situation came, they would see their faith remain and grow in their Lord while their love for the world and the things of this life would diminish. Does that surprise you that God isn't as interested in your feelings here and now as He is interested in your eternal salvation? Was God interested in Moses' feelings? How about Elijah? Jeremiah? Abraham? Didn't he ask him to sacrifice his only son? What kind of God would do that? A loving One, that's who. So take heart if you are going through a difficult situation. It is not anything that any other godly person hasn't had to go through. Take as encouragement the lives of the people in Hebrews 11 and let that be an anchor for you in the midst of the storm.

Remember Paul's exhortation in Philippians 4: "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you." Philippians 4:4-9.

This is what we must do. We must remember and meditate on the daily blessings we receive and give thanks. We must not let difficulties in our lives shake our faith in our Lord. We must be like Martha in John 11 who said, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You." She did not let the fact that Jesus had allowed her brother to die to shake her faith in the Lord Jesus. She RAN to Him and sought Him out when she heard He was near. She did not stay in the tent like her sister Mary. Here we can see the faith of Martha was strong. This is how we should want our faith to be in the midst of tragedy.

The dialog between Jesus and Martha continues: Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." 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?" She said to Him, "Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world." Wow! What faith! Can we genuinely say that our faith is even as strong as Mary's in a tragedy such as this. I don't know how many of us could tough Martha's! Now with any faith however, we must realize that it is a growing faith, a faltering faith. There are many occasions where people who loved and believed in Jesus had their faith in Him falter. At the sepulture we see that Martha's faith did falter a little. "So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus 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." Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?" John 11:38-40.

This, my friend, is your and my faith. It is not perfect. Not yet. We will have a perfect faith in glory because what is now faith will then turn into sight. We are hoping for what we do not see and wait for it eagerly as the Word of God says. But God preserves the faith of his elect. He doesn't allow it to lapse into unbelief. You may be thinking that it would be greatly strengthened if God would do the same thing for you in your tragedy that He did for Mary and Martha in theirs. But it is God who sets the times for these things. What God does is he gives us His word with all the examples in it for us to look at and trust. That is how God works.

God knows that "If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead." Luke 16:31. That is to say, you have the example of Mary and Martha in your tragedy. You have the example of Job. Is that going to be enough for you or are you going to be like the unbelieving Jews who ended up crucifying our Lord who said, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from You." Matthew 12:38 and when Jesus told the Jews in John chp 6 that the work that God approves is to believe in Jesus who has been sent from God. "So they said to Him, "What then do You do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform? "Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'HE GAVE THEM BREAD OUT OF HEAVEN TO EAT.'" John 6:30-31. So the Jews wanted some miracle from Him to prove to them that He had been sent from God. But the same thing remains for us, do we demand that God do our bidding to be worthy of our belief or do we trust His word?

Repentance - A.W. Pink

2012-01-09T22:14:00.002-05:00

Arthur Walkington Pink lived from 1886-1952. He was an evangelist and a Biblical scholar. Born in England, he became a Christian in his early twenties. He attended Moody Bible Institute in 1916 and pastored several churches throughout the United States and also lived in Australia, pastoring two churches from 1925-1928. He returned to England in 1934 and began writing books and pamphlets for the remainder of his life and died in Scotland in 1952.

Among other things, Pink taught on repentance.

Audio: "Repentance: What Saith the Scriptures?" Part 1 | Part 2. Click Here to go to the webpage.

Pamphlet: Repent or Perish. Click Here.

Book: Repentance. Click Here.

Other Sermons/Books/Pamphlets by A.W. Pink, Click Here.

Mom's Blog: Progressive Thinking Without Jesus?

2012-01-05T23:05:00.002-05:00

I think my mom is the funniest person in the world. I was reading her blog and came across this paragraph:

"Before you read this blog, I think that I should remind my readers of a little problem that I have with writing, I can't spell! I usually remember to use my dear friend Webster, because spellcheck just doesn't work, especially, if you come close to correctly spelling the word. I, for some strangeand unknowing reason, have what I term a sleep spellcheck. It seems that a little part of my mind reels at night and when I wake up the day after I have written my blog, and think about what I may have spelled incorrectly, then some word will come to my mind. Yesterday it was effort, which I first spelled effect. Today it is interruptions, which should have been spelled interpretations. Yeah! I agree with you, it is something from thetwilight zone, but it works. Makes me wonder if I am the one really writing this blog!"

But for all the humor, she can say some things that truly highlight the problem with the world today. We are all out there thinking that if we were only in charge, the world would be a better place. But read the following quote, taking special note of the last sentence: "I hate the injustices, but I know that no matter how hard we work at making them right, there are always going to be new ones springing up. You might say well we will just keep fixing them! This is all good and well, and deserves true effort to right any injustice we see which needs attention; however, I believe that our world has always been on an endless treadmill of injustices that have never been fixed, nor will ever be fixed without God and His Son Jesus Christ. Injustices come from within our own souls."

She said, "Injustices come from within our own souls." This is the idea that James had when he said, "Where do wars and where do fights among you come from? Isn't it from your pleasures that are warring in your bodily members? You desire something and don't have it. You murder and envy and still can't obtain it. You fight and you war. You don't have because you don't ask! You don't receive when you do ask, since you ask wrongly—to waste it on your pleasures." James 4:1-3 (CCNT)

Wars and fights in this world come from wicked people with selfish hearts that want what they want and don't care what it takes to get it. If someone gets in the way, they will step on them to get it. It doesn't matter how vile the desire is, they will make sure that eventually they may obtain it.

Another quote says, "Man centered thinking became disguised as God centered thinking, which then took hold and has never let go throughout man's life on earth. Because of this, there have always been and are still today many people, like Dr. Zinn, who are constantly trying to right the injustices that are in our world." I have no idea who Dr. Zinn is but it sounds like he is one of those people preaching against injustices in this world. This is not the Christian message. The Christian message tells people suffering injustice to endure it while we remember Jesus who endured but did not lash out. He continued doing the will of God no matter what others around him were doing. What they did made no difference to Him. He went on anyway in obedience to His Father all the way to the cross.

This is a very insightful comment about Karl Marx:

"I just read a piece about Karl Marx's life, and although his rhetoric may make sense to the working class now, it will not satisfy their needs for a better future. Should socialist and communist succeed in progression toward trying to equalize world economics and somewhat giving all people a chance for economic equality, I think people will dry up like prunes. Marx had everything growing up. His family was wealthy and could afford to send him to a great college. He had a lot of leisure time to drink, socialize, and form his opinions about the human condition. What I think he might have considered is that the system that made his life possible was the system he was trying to crush. He may not have wanted material things anymore, but he still wanted something-- to create an ideal society."

If you would like to read her blog, please click below:
http://mariechasteen.blogspot.com/2011/12/progressive-thinking-without-jesus.html

Justifying Ourselves Before People

2012-01-05T22:26:00.000-05:00

So He said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before people; but God knows your hearts. That which is highly valued by people is an abomination before God. Luke 16:15 (CCNT)

We justify ourselves in every action that we do because we want to appear like everything is going alright. We don't want it to appear that we don't have it all together or that there is some shameful sin in our life. We want it to appear that we are very generous and that we are so full spiritually of the Holy Spirit that we are just overflowing with love toward others. We want to be thought of as spiritually mature but there is sin in our lives that no one knows about that, if they knew, we would never show our faces again there in church. If the women knew what we were thinking; if our wives knew what we thought about other women, we would be ashamed to say the least. How would we face them?

21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter into the empire from the heavens, but only the one who does the will of My Father Who is in the heavens. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in Your Name, and didn't we cast out demons in Your Name, and didn't we do many miracles in Your Name?' 23 And I will declare publicly, 'I never knew you; get out of here, you workers of lawlessness!' Matt 7:21-23 (CCNT)

When we say 'Lord, Lord' it is because we have no idea that we aren't saved and we think that we are. We have this idea that all our external good works actually had power to justify us before God. It is like they are thinking, "Didn't everyone else think that we were righteous, God? If we succeed in leaving this earth as being thought of as a great Christian, doesn't that mean that You have to accept us?"

In Luke 16:15, the focus is on the justifing ourselves before men. This is the inner machinations of the heart in that we think that what we desire is what God should desire too. What we desire is our happiness and we think that that is God's purpose to fulfill. All we need to do is make sure we don't hurt too many people and we are philanthropic to those who we view as humble and kind. That is how we justify ourselves before men. That is the hearts motivation that produces the self-righteous deeds in Matthew 7:22.

The test for the self-jusifyer is when things don't go his way. This means that God is not consenting in giving them what they think makes them happy. "When mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy". They make the whole world suffer with them and of course, like Cain their brother, they step on anyone who makes them look bad or who gets the accolades they feel they should have received.

A Plea for Moral Purity - Carter Conlon

2011-12-10T22:27:00.001-05:00

Prospects for the Future - Martyn Lloyd-Jones

2011-12-08T21:48:00.001-05:00

What matters most to you? Have you thought about what exists beyond this life and are you ready for it? If you are, do you know what you are supposed to be living for in your time here? This is a clip from a sermon by Martyn Lloyd-Jones. A link to two full sermons are located below:

http://www.mlj-usa.com/pages/hebrews

The Gospel and Why We Are Supposed to Live Different From the World

2011-12-05T22:05:00.001-05:00

"For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures," 1 Corinthians 15:3-4

I was thinking about what this means. I have been thinking about it a lot here lately. I even posted on someone's blog about it. Some things I say should have better remained unsaid. But I know about my own conversion and the life I was living before I came to know Christ. I know that I was walking on the edge of a cliff (metaphorically speaking), and knew that it was life or death for me as to what I did with the next moments of my life. I made that irreversible decision to jump into the arms of Jesus because the only other option was to jump off the cliff to eternal perdition. I think that this may happen with everyone. I don't know if it is as clear as that but, I know that our conversion has to do with our death, burial and resurrection.

The new birth is only the beginning of that. There will be a full fulfillment of that at the resurrection of the just when Jesus returns. What does living by faith mean? We all have faith in God that he will give us a good marriage if we live by his word and that we will be able to give good testimonies to those around us by loving them. But is that primarily where we should be looking? To the relationships of this life? I know that we will be spending eternity with our fellow believers but is that all there is?

Christian counsel and instruction seems to be too much "this life" focused instead of being focused on our "living hope", the Lord Jesus Christ. We read a passage such as 1 Peter 3:10, "For, "The one who desires life, to love and see good days, Must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit." It tells us that if we want to have a good life, then we must say things that build up and are true. Doesn't it? Is it really speaking of how we can have a good life here on this earth? I don't believe that it is talking about this life because the context of 1 Peter is of giving encouragement to suffering Christians. He encourages them in the following manner:

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."

1 Peter 1:3-5

So what is the life, to love and see good days referring to? In the above context it is referring to eternal life with Christ. So he is saying, (my paraphrase) "If you have placed your faith in Christ, if you are longing for heaven and the resurrection from the dead, then you should control your tounge because that will be the norm of eternity." Isn't that the way we should view all those passages that we look at as self-help tips? This life is to be viewed as preparation for eternity and for meeting the Lord as a chaste virgin prepares herself for the day of her wedding. This is when Jesus will return "from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus." 2 Thessalonians 1:7b-8.

Psalm 119 - Verses Dealing with the Heart

2011-11-26T11:07:00.001-05:00

The arrogant have forged a lie against me; With all my heart I will observe Your precepts.

- Psalms 119:69.

Both Jesus and Paul had to endure hatred and evil plans from those who they had prayed for and had come to minister to. Jesus healed the sick and taught repentance and the kingdom of God. Because he was not what the Jews had expected, they in their pride put him to death (although that was in agreement with God's plan all along). Paul could say, even though having already endured many years of attempts on his life by the Jews that, "my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation." Rom. 10:1.

The literal translation of the phrase "forged a lie against me" is, "they besmear me with lies". Have you ever seen a piece of metal before it has been forged into a sword? Normally it starts off as a harmless block of steel. But after being pounded, folded and heated with great skill it becomes a sword with which you can do great damage. This is like the plans of the evil doers. He is saying that they have fashioned lies designed to ruin his reputation but that he would keep on doing what God has appointed to be done anyway. He says that he will do it with all that is within him. He would employ all of his strength, will and mind in staying obedient to what God had appointed to be done.

That flies in the face of our fickle resolve nowadays. When someone says something harsh to us, we just want to quit. We think someone is lying about us or "besmearing us with lies" and we mentally shut down and may even drop out of life altogether. But David says that he keeps pressing on doing, not his will, but God's will that he has appointed that we should do. Here we see this personal prayer to God in what that he doesn't just hold it all in. He shares his complaint with God, leaves it in his hands and presses on. That is our part in the midst of adversity and backbiting when we are doing what is right. Tell it to God and press on in spite of it.

Another application to this verse is that our eyes need adjustment. If we could illustrate it in this way, we look at people through warped understanding. Certain people become huge and God is very small and insignificant in relation to them. God really never had a place in our lives. We have never seen him for the magnificence that he deserves.

When we make someone else big it is because we also esteem ourselves too highly. We think that anything WE value is valuable. The problem is that no matter how big we make ourselves in our eyes, there are going to be some people we make even bigger. If you can picture a 10ft. tall person walking around your house demanding to be served and catered to, with a bad disposition and an enormous appetite, you can start to see what I am saying. They are so big and terrible that you fear what may happen if they become displeased. Maybe it is a son or daughter, coworker or boss, friend, relative or whatever. All these people that become big in our eyes make God seem small and powerless. To compare the two we could say that if they become angry, we care a lot but if God becomes angry we care not. When they need something we are ready to serve, but when God needs something we are too busy. Just a couple of examples here. But that is how we do though. Now what does that mean in the grand scheme of things?

What we do is skew our view of God in favor of someone else. This is driven by an ignorance of God and a high view of ourselves. When we are brought low, through humbling circumstances, it is not enough to make us break the image that we have of ourselves. (Ezekiel 20:43). We were never truly broken (Isaiah 66:2). That is the reason why a person like Ted Haggard or Jimmy Swaggart will appear broken and repentant but will return again to the same evil that he was doing before he fell. Their will says, "Do what you wan't God! You won't break me!" They all the while continue to profess allegiance to God outwardly and may be completely deceived as to their true spiritual state (Matthew 7:21-23, 25:41-46). These are the arrogant that exalt themselves and despise those who are truly humble.

We need to break the high opinion that we have of ourselves and then we will break the high opinion of others. This can only be accomplished by a right view of God. We must fill our minds with a proper understanding of the character of God. I suggest reading A.W. Pink's "The Attributes of God" to help put your mind in perspective.

Their heart is covered with fat, But I delight in Your law.

- Psalms 119:70.

Now we have a good perspective for going into the next verse. These very same people have not one ounce of compassion for others. This is due to their high opinion of self. They refuse to grind the image of their idol to dust or to see God for who he is and magnify him instead of other people. People in their lives have become so big and terrible that all God's slaves have become small and wretched in their eyes.

A heart that is covered with fat is dull to the law of God. It is interesting that the most pagan people can feel conviction of sin when presented with the gospel. But contrast someone who has heard the word of God many times and has not repented. His heart is now dull and insensitive to the strongest preaching of the word. I remember Hebrews 6:8, "but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned."

David's joy is God's law. Here law means instruction. What David is saying that hearing God's instruction gives him joy. This is the opposite of the hard-hearted people who are persecuting him. They refuse to hear God's instruction.

BibleCalendar.org

2011-11-22T22:20:00.001-05:00

The pastor of my church, La Fe en Cristo Iglesia Bautista, has began posting videos of Bible teaching in English. He also has a Bible calendar on an appropriately named website: http://www.biblecalendar.org/

If you want to see all the videos, check out the website or view the Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/BibleCalendar#p/u

The Spanish website is called: ComoleerlaBiblia.org

Scripture Memory: The Missing Link in Life-Transformation

2011-11-21T22:22:00.001-05:00

Why do so many people seem to not get it? Could it be that they have not let the word of God in to their heart to change them? Consider the following by Jay Adams: "[David said] in Psalm 119:11, "I have treasured Your Word in my heart, so that I won't sin against You." The word "hid", or as it has been translated here, "treasured," has in it the idea of "laying up" or "storing up" treasures. It sometimes also connotes "hiding" or "concealing" something in order to "protect" it. But the important qualifying phrase in this verse is "in my heart."

The principal way to avoid sinning in daily life is to personally possess an abundance of scriptural treasures. Closely allied to Psalm 119:11 is Paul's command in Colossians 3:16, in which internalizing and abundance are emphasized: "Let Christ's Word dwell in you richly," and the message of Deuteronomy 6:5, 8-9 (repeated in Deut. 11:18) is:

These words with which I am now commanding you shall be on your heart.... You shall bind them as a token on your hands, wear them on your forehead as a badge, and write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates....

Clearly, in all of these passages, God is requiring you to internalize the Scriptures for use in day-by-day, Thursday living. According to Deuteronomy 6:5, one loves God with all his heart, soul, and might when he daily lives according to the commandments of God recorded in the Scriptures.

When Moses writes of the Scriptures being "on" the heart, that means more than our phrases "in your heart" or "by heart," which more or less have to do with memorization. The preposition "on" is used in this expression to convey the idea of affecting the heart—we might also translate it "riding heard on the heart" (i.e., continually guiding and directing the heart). When the Scriptures lead the inner life (the heart) they will control what one thinks (Scripture on the forehead), does (Scripture on the hand), what goes on in his home (Scripture on the doorpost), and even what he does when he goes out (Scripture on the city gates).

Paul's conept of the "riches" (or treasures) of Christ's Word "dwelling" within says the same thing in a third way. Dwelling speaks ofo a permanent residence within. It is the person embodying God's truth; the truth so permeates and influences him that he lives his life out of that treasure or storehouse of truth. Again, the truth is not just there, to be recalled for the next Bible quiz. It is not merely filed for quik retrieval (though that is a part of the process), but it is the dominant influence in daily life.

All of these passages, then, refer to the controlling and guiding power of the Bible. Plainly, God intended the Bible to play a practical part in everyday affairs. But, once again, let me ask your question for you—"How? What does Bob do when he is faced with a problem at work on Thursday?"

I have observed that, even if he wanted to, Bob could not take three or four hours from his work to do a quick Bible study in order to seek an answer. How, then, does he respond?

This problem is precisely the one that is met by the passages that I have been presenting to you in this chapter; they all speak of the Scriptures controlling the life and the decision-makin process from their residence in the heart. Basically, Bob (or you) must know enough Bible—what it says, where it is located (for quick reference), and what it means—to enable him to put together an answer as soon as possible. Usually, when possible, he will refresh his inner understanding by reviewing several portions of the Bible; sometimes, however, he will not be able to do this. So it will be essential for him to know the Bible's teachin on various problems, often before the problem arises."—Adams, Jay. What to do on Thursday? pg 56-58.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

2011-11-12T20:51:00.001-05:00

Effectual Calling and Human Inability

2011-11-10T12:29:00.000-05:00

The Westminster Confession of Faith defines Effectual Calling by which God calls those that are saved as: "All those—and only those—whom God has predestined to life, he is pleased to call effectually in his appointed time, by his Word and Spirit. He calls them from the state of sin and death—in which they are by nature—to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ. In this calling, God enlightens their minds spiritually and savingly, so that they understand the things of God. He takes away their hearts of stone and gives them hearts of flesh, renews their wills, and by his almighty power turns them to do what is good and effectually draws them to Jesus Christ. Yet he does this in such a way that they come most freely, being made willing by his grace." I found this quote by Charles Spurgeon that I think illustrates this perfectly:

"The first thing the Holy Spirit does when he comes into a man's heart is this: he finds him with a very good opinion of himself: and there is nothing which prevents a man coming to Christ like a good opinion of himself. Why, says man, "I don't want to come to Christ. I have as good a righteousness as anybody can desire. I feel I can walk into heaven on my own rights." The Holy Spirit lays bare his heart, lets him see the loathsome cancer that is there eating away his life, uncovers to him all the blackness and defilement of that sink of hell, the human heart, and then the man stands aghast. "I never thought I was like this. Oh! those sins I thought were little, have swelled out to an immense stature. What I thought was a mole-hill has grown into a mountain; it was but the hyssop on the wall before, but now it has become a cedar of Lebanon. Oh," saith the man within himself, "I will try and reform; I will do good deeds enough to wash these black deeds out." Then comes the Holy Spirit and shows him that he cannot do this, takes away all his fancied power and strength, so that the man falls down on his knees in agony, and cries, "Oh! once I thought I could save myself by my good works, but now I find that
"Could my tears for ever flow,
Could my zeal no respite know,
All for sin could not atone,
Thou must save and thou alone.'"
Then the heart sinks, and the man is ready to despair. And saith he, "I never can be saved. Nothing can save me." Then, comes the Holy Spirit and shows the sinner the cross of Christ, gives him eyes anointed with heavenly eye-salve, and says, "Look to yonder cross. that Man died to save sinners; you feel that you are a sinner; he died to save you." And he enables the heart to believe, and to come to Christ. And when it comes to Christ, by this sweet drawing of the Spirit, it finds "a peace with God which passeth all understanding, which keeps his heart and mind through Jesus Christ our Lord." Now, you will plainly perceive that all this may be done without any compulsion. Man is as much drawn willingly, as if he were not drawn at all; and he comes to Christ with full consent, with as full a consent as if no secret influence had ever been exercised in his heart. But that influence must be exercised, or else there never has been and there never will be, any man who either can or will come to the Lord Jesus Christ."

The first thing I have noticed about us is that, after hearing someone preach the gospel and talk about sin, we tend to defend ourselves by thinking, "OK. I acknowledge that I am this "sinner" person you are talking about, but I have Jesus in my heart. I mean, I made a profession when I was 10, got baptized and now I am a Christian. All my sins were forgiven through Jesus Christ on the Cross."

"Well, how about your life? Are you living in obedience to the Word of God?" You say, "Of course I am. I share my faith, go to church and go to Mexico every year on a mission trip. I don't drink too much beer or curse all the time. I am struggling with pornography but I am going to church. If I repent of my sin then I am forgiven, right?" Mind you, if you are a Christian, it doesn't mean you have changed your inate nature and everything you desire is somehow sactified by some mystical magic that God performs, but your desire is holiness if you are a Christian and you will desire to destroy it rather than leave it in your life.

Consider the following quote by John Owen:

"Indwelling sin always abides whilst we are in this world; therefore it is always to be mortified. The vain, foolish, and ignorant disputes of men about perfect keeping the commands of God, of perfection in this life, of being wholly and perfectly dead to sin, I meddle not now with. It is more than probable that the men of those abominations never knew what belonged to the keeping of any one of God’s commands, and are so much below perfection of degrees, that they never attained to a perfection of parts in obedience or universal obedience in sincerity. And, therefore, many in our days who have talked of perfection have been wiser, and have affirmed it to consist in knowing no difference between good and evil. Not that they are perfect in the things we call good, but that all is alike to them, and the height of wickedness is their perfection. Others who have found out a new way to it, by denying original, indwelling sin, and attempering the spirituality of the law of God unto men’s carnal hearts, as they have sufficiently discovered themselves to be ignorant of the life of Christ and the power of it in believers, so they have invented a new righteousness that the gospel knows not of, being vainly puffed up by their fleshly minds. For us, who dare not be wise above what is written, nor boast by other men’s lives of what God hath not done for us, we say that indwelling sin lives in us, in some measure and degree, whilst we are in this world. We dare not speak as “though we had already attained, or were already perfect,” Phil. iii. 12. Our “inward man is to be renewed day by day” whilst here we live, 2 Cor. iv. 16; and according to the renovations of the new are the breaches and decays of the old. Whilst we are here we “know but in part,” 1 Cor. xiii. 12, having a remaining darkness to be gradually removed by our “growth in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ,” 2 Pet. iii. 18; and “the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, so that we cannot do the things that we would,” Gal. v. 17: and are therefore defective in our obedience as well as in our light, 1 John i. 8. We have a “body of death,” Rom. vii. 24; from whence we are not delivered but by the death of our bodies, Phil. iii. 21. Now, it being our duty to mortify, to be killing of sin whilst it is in us, we must be at work. He that is appointed to kill an enemy, if he leave striking before the other ceases living, doth but half his work, Gal. vi. 9; Heb. xii. 1; 2 Cor. vii. 1."

Overcoming the Life-Dominating Problem of Fear

2011-11-09T21:23:00.001-05:00

Most of the following commentary is taken from Steve Gallager and his workbook, The Walk of Repentance. Now, you may not think overcoming fear has much to do with living in purity, but the Bible has much to say about the subject. Let us examine the material from the workbook.

"Fear is an emotion given to us by God that operates in much the same manner as pain. Pain sends an alarm through the body that something is wrong and needs to be dealt with. Fear sends an alarm throughout the body that there is danger. But God has made provision for fear. The writer of Hebrews (quoting the Old Testament) said, “for He Himself has said, 'I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,' so that we confidently say, 'The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What shall man do to me?'”
With God on our side, who or what can be against us? We are in the hands of the Almighty. But you say, “Bad things happen to Christians too.” That is very true. But when you truly learn to walk in the Spirit, you will not be dominated by fear."

Romans 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father."

Fear is for the unsaved who are still under the power of the enemy. We live by faith and are consoled by the fact that God protects his kids.

Psalm 27:1 The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?

Even in darkness when we feel all alone and vulnerable, God is with us and we can trust Him to console us and to save us from it. Why should we be overcome with the darkness of worry and dismay when people threaten us if we are doing God's will?

Psalm 56:10-11 In God (I will praise His word), In the LORD (I will praise His word), 11 In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?
God is the one who has said that we are of more value than many sparrows, of which He cares for. Even in persecution (which man does), he will not shake my trust in God. Isn't it God who promised a new body for the one who trusts in Christ?

Matthew 10:28-30 "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 "Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. 30 "But the very hairs of your head are all numbered."

If I fear weak men who can harm me physically, I am placing my hope in the wrong place. Man has only a certain amount of power. God has power not only to kill but also to determine who goes to heaven or hell.

2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

If we have the Holy Spirit and walk obediently, we can live powerful, loving and self-controlled lives. Steve Gallager said in another lesson that, "As we learn to stay in constant communion with the Lord throughout the day and as we learn to crucify 'the flesh with its passions and desires' (Galatians 5:24), we begin to walk more and more in the Spirit."

"Many who are dominated by fear see themselves as victims. As much as these people need compassion for their problem though, the fact is that fear has no hold on the person who isn't wrapped up in himself. A person who is truly putting God first in life and is more concerned with the welfare of others than he is about himself, is not going to be dominated by fear. Read 1 John 4:18 and explain in your own words what this means." There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

If we live in fear it is because we love little. That fact is unthinkable to most people. They can't stomach it and when told of it or reminded of their lack of love, they will vehemently deny it or suppress it, choosing not to examine their lives but rather to reassure themselves about how much they love others. The Apostle John said, "If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us." 1 John 1:8.

Walking in Purity

2011-10-25T23:22:00.001-04:00

For the Christian man, walking in purity is not an option that can be taken or left. For the man of God, it is a requirement. There is no doubt that this is probably the hardest thing we as men have to deal with. The reason that God lets us struggle with it is because He loves us so much and that He knows how sinful we are. Of course, pornography and masturbation are just the tip of the iceberg. We many times want to eliminate that without dealing with all the selfish lifestyle and self centeredness that drive it. God will not be content to allow you freedom from this area of sin while leaving the rest of you untouched. God wants all of you friend. Unless you are willing to let him have it all, he is not interested in giving you what you want.

Four Crucial Questions

2011-10-19T22:59:00.000-04:00

Who made us, and to whom are we accountable? Romans 1:18,21; Acts 17:24-26,30-31;
What is our problem? In other words, are we in trouble and why? Romans 1:23, 2:1, 3:9-19 *
What is God's solution to that problem? How has he acted to save us from sin? Romans 3:21-24;
How do I–myself, right here, right now–how do I come to be included in that salvation? What makes this good news for me and not just for someone else? Romans 3:22, 4:5; Acts 3:19; Isaiah 55:7;

* To have someone say to you, "I'm coming to save you!" is really not good news at all unless you believe you acutally need to be saved.

Adapted from Greg Gilbert's, What is the Gospel? published by Crossway books.

Louis Berkhof, in his book Systematic Theology, defines the elements of repentance in the following manner: "Repentance, penitence and conversion are closely linked. Whenever someone gives his thought and life a new direction, it always involves a judgment on his previous views and behaviour. This process is expressed in the NT by three word-groups which deal with its various aspects:epistrepho, metamelomai and metanoeo. The first and third both mean turn round, turn oneself round, and refer to a man’s conversion. This presupposes and includes a complete change under the influence of the Holy Spirit. metamelomai expresses rather the feeling of repentance for error, debt, failure and sin, and so it looks back. Hence, it does not necessarily cause a man to turn to God. epistrepho is probably the widest conception, because it always includes faith. We often find pisteuo, believe, expressly used with metanoeo, since faith complements repentance (cf. L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology, 1938, 482)."

What this means is that there must be both a hatred for your sin in your heart and a love for God that turns away from your sin and toward God. This repentance is what true faith brings. To turn from our sin we have to actually have our eyes opened by God. God gets us to this point in several ways. He uses his word to teach us about him (namely about his holiness, mercy and justice), and his laws; the standard that no one can attain to. Romans 7:7, James 2:10. He uses affliction in the life of an unbeliever to make him realize what this sin in his life does to himself and how it has seperated him from God, rendering him powerless to do anything truly good or to save himself. Psalm 119:67,71; Jeremiah 31:18-19. God also shows him that he is spiritually dead in the fact that he is unable to genuinely and honestly love others and have self control. Galatians 5:22-24; 1 John 3:3-18. This second passage mentions how we can spot false believers.

So what does a person who has had God open his eyes do? He owns up to the choices that he has made, he sees the magnitude of his sin and where it is taking him, he sees the mercy and patience by which God has dealt with him, and he fears. He fears. Possibly for the first time in his life. Proverbs 1:7. He fears the consequences of continuing living like this. Proverbs 3:7. He fears what will happen to his heart if he goes on. He sees how hard he has become and becomes afraid of becoming like this permanently. Proverbs 29:1. At the same time however, he remembers. He remembers the mercy God has showed him. Deuteronomy 5:15, 7:18, 8:2. He knows that God provided a sacrifice that paid for the sins of those who will turn from their sins and place their faith in him. Romans 4:5, 5:6-9. He has studied this countless times before but never truly realized that he was lost. 2 Corinthians 13:5. Now he realizes this fact and is more afraid than he has ever been in his life. Hebrews 4:1-2.

But. The most blessed word in the English language is often, "but". But he realizes that there is a God who, based on his own finished word, is saying to him, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Matt 11:28-30. He realizes however that God accepts those who come to him with no perogatives, self-will, or conditions. God says, come with open hands or don't come at all. We come to him to accept his terms. We don't offer anything. What we do is surrender to the Lord of all creation and fall upon him never looking back. He accepts us, gives us a new life and then we will find that He changes us and takes us to be with him in heaven forever when we die (but that is another blog post).

He who argues against opinions with Scripture, does so in vain

2011-10-18T21:25:00.000-04:00

Steve Gallager said something similar to, "People generally belive what they want to". This is a relatively simple statement that is full of truth. I think it is so pointless to try to help people with anything because they aren't going to listen to what the Bible says. They will just go with what they think and come out with some nifty notion that sounds wise but has no biblical basis.

Repentance is defined in the NIDNTT as, " Whenever someone gives his thought and life a new direction, it always involves a judgment on his previous views and behaviour. This process is expressed in the NT by three word-groups which deal with its various aspects:epistrepho, metamelomai and metanoeo. The first and third both mean turn round, turn oneself round, and refer to a man’s conversion. This presupposes and includes a complete change under the influence of the Holy Spirit."...Conversion and surrender of the life to God is done in faith, and includes faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 11:21). Such a conversion leads to a fundamental change of the whole of life (Acts 26:20). It receives a new outlook and objectives. God’s original purpose in creating man is realized in the new life. The converted man is to serve him alone with a clear conscience in voluntary dependence (1 Thess. 1:9; Acts 14:15; cf. Heb. 9:14). The effect of conversion is the forgiveness of all sins (Acts 3:19; 26:18)."

Tell me this: Where in the Bible does it say that after a man repents that he goes back to living in his sin? A man who struggles with pornography in an ongoing manner is not repentant. I don't care what you say or how you put it. You can say that you love God or whatever but if you continue in this sin then you don't. It is as plain as that.

Hebrews - Part 2 - by Jay Adams

2011-10-09T21:12:00.001-04:00

Hebrews, Lesson 2 from Donn Arms on Vimeo.

Amazing. Early Christian Literature.

2011-09-28T23:45:00.000-04:00

Justin Martyr was a Greek Christian who spoke to the Greek Non-Christians about the utter foolishness of their idolatry. Here he speaks of the origin of idolatry and the foolish notion that man can make a god by created things,
"For it was not just that they who did not keep the first commandment [Genesis 2:16-17 And Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17. but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.], which it was easy to keep, should any longer be taught, but should rather be driven to just punishment. Being therefore banished from Paradise [Genesis 3:24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden the Cherubim, and the flame of a sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.], and thinking that they were expelled on account of their disobedience only, not knowing that it was also because they had believed in the existence of gods which did not exist, they gave the name of gods even to the men who were afterwards born of themselves. This first false fancy, therefore, concerning gods, had its origin with the father of lies. God, therefore, knowing that the false opinion about the plurality of gods was burdening the soul of man like some disease, and wishing to remove and eradicate it, appeared first to Moses, and said to him, "I am He who is." For it was necessary, I think, that he who was to be the ruler and leader of the Hebrew people should first of all know the living God. Wherefore, having appeared to him first, as it was possible for God to appear to a man, He said to him, "I am He who is; "then, being about to send him to the Hebrews, He further orders him to say, "He who is hath sent me to you."

Check out New Studylight.org. Great Website! http://new.studylight.org/his/ecf/view.cgi?pn=3&sid=ant&aid=01-06&file=anf01-49

The Trellis and the Vine Reviewed by Mark Dever

2011-09-21T22:46:00.000-04:00

Mark Dever reviews a book called, The Trellis and the Vine
, written by Colin Marshall and Tony Payne. Purchase this book here:

Hebrews - by Jay Adams

2011-09-14T21:05:00.001-04:00

Hebrews, Lesson 1 from Donn Arms on Vimeo.

Link to this Blog at Nouthetic.org
This video posted by Donn Arms at Nouthetic.org. A website for training in Biblical Counseling. Below is a summary of the video written by Donn Arms.

This is the first of a 13 week series Dr. Adams is teaching on the Book of Hebrews this fall. We apologize for the sound quality on this first video. I am using a new camera and I had it set wrong. We will have it fixed next week.

Please understand that we have simply set up a camera so you can listen in. His focus is on the students sitting in front of him—not you. There is quite a bit of interaction with students that you may not be able to hear.We are so thankful Dr. Adams has regained enough strength to be able to teach again.

Please continue to pray that God would grant him more and more strength each week.We plan to post the notes Dr. Adams wrote for this series later.

Quotes for Monday

2011-09-12T23:23:00.000-04:00

assertion:
It is foolish to evaluate according to someone's appearance, voice, beauty or intelligence. These cause us to make certain presumptions about others, give preference to some or covet what we shouldn't. These lead us into sin.

verses:
1 Samuel 16:7 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart."

John 7:24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment."

2 Corinthians 10:12 Not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who are commending themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.

assertion:

Before we were saved from the course of this world, we had no necesity for God. Floating downstream together with the rest requires no power outside our own. Going against all the power of the enemy requires a power completely foreign to us.

verses:

Ephesians 2:1-3 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2. in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- 3. among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

John 15:20 Remember the word I spoke to you: 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

Bible Education Links

2011-09-05T14:23:00.000-04:00

Online Study Bibles ESV Study Bible HCSB Study Bible Logos Bible Software Online Blue Letter Bible	Resources Archives CCEL Monergism.com
Dictionaries & Encyclopedias Strong's Dictionary Strong's Numbers.com Bible Study Tools Lexicons Vine's Dictionary Vine's Dictionary Words International Standard Bible Holman Bible Encyclopedia Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology	Sermons & Biblical Training OnePlace.com GraceToYou.org SermonAudio.com SermonIndex.net BiblicalTraining.org

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Unplug the Umbilical Cord

2011-07-31T11:13:00.000-04:00

I think that the Internet world (yes, it is a world of its own), has become very big in my eyes. Anything that becomes that big competes with God for affection. Constantly checking email, facebook and blogs for something that I don't seem to be getting in the real world. What is it? Do I find more excitement in the world that I have created for myself than reality? Reality is what God has put around me. The relationships, people, vocations and clients that God has inserted me into all are apart of that reality. In the virtual world, these seem to be at my own beck and call and I can escape from them or I can look up some old flame and fanticize about how wonderful it would be to see them again.

Those who are connected to this umbilical cord are living their lives in it and don't realize that it is actually a chain that keeps us bound to fantasy and pleasure. It is a prison of our own design. Why is this so wrong? Because of the example of Jesus of course! What do I mean? I mean we should apply the gospel to this situation.

Take Jesus for example, although he existed in the form of God, he didn't retain that glory in selfishness and stay up in the perfect environment. He came down to a place where he would be despised and rejected, stricken and smitten of God. He bade us to follow him and take up our cross. Why? Because that is where he was going.

Jesus lived a life free from all the fantasy and sinful self-indulgence that we bask in. But if that were all He did, it would be only enough to save himself. Instead, he accepted the will of God that he would take that perfect life and have all our self-indulgence and fantasy that deserved God's wrath laid upon him. It was he who was being punished for what we did wrong. There he suffered for what we are doing evil, even today in our disregard of the people around us for our own pleasure that we seek on the Internet. The good news however is that God accepted that payment, that wrath having been spent on his Son. God is the one who spent his wrath on an innocent person for your an my sin. That is what it took for your pardon to be won.

God raised Jesus from the dead showing that it is possible to live a new life free from that bondage to selfishness and Internet fantasy. This means that Jesus' sacrifice was accepted! There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ! Now go on and start living in that new life! Sever that umbilical cord that is keeping you bound up in your selfishness and desire. Follow Christ to the cross and be obedient to Him in loving others, abstaining from sexual sin and all other sins rooted in pride and selfishness and see the needs of the people around you!

Reasons for Respecting my Mom

2011-07-27T23:08:00.000-04:00

I was reading my mom's blog found here and noticed that she has a great sense of humor and a talent for writing. These are some things you just don't notice when you grow up thinking your parents exist to meet your needs and put you through school.

Mom, "although, your point of view is somewhat different than mine, you speak intelligently about issues that are important to you." My mom doesn't care what people thinks. This can be a two-edged sword though. I also respect the aptness that she has for learning. Learning things like medical billing is about as easy for me as playing professional basketball. But it seems that my mother can handle it.

God helps his children to learn to love and respect the people that they before cared little for. God also helps his children to care not only for people closest to them, but also those that are different from them. I see more and more the necesity of praying for others and the needs that people have for someone to come alongside them and disciple them. God hasn't set us on this earth to write blogs or to study theology or to preach to everyone. Jesus told Christians that they need to practice love toward other believers. This is manifested in sacrificial service to others whether they return the favor or not (and also not mentioning it if they never do).

One subject I think needs to be addressed is the completely bone-headed way we men view women. Man's lust teaches him to see a woman as an object to gratify a desire. The more prideful he is the more he sees himself as a king that needs to be served. No wonder we have men practicing all forms of sexual deviancy and seeking to involve women in it. How many women have been pioneers in promoting sexual perversity? None that I can think of. But I guarantee that I can rattle off a dozen or more sexual miscreants that have been men.

Is the answer emasculating all the men? That is probably the answer for the feminist. God's answer however is different. This will not be accomplished until Christ returns to reign over mankind as a whole and smashes all rule and authority that opposes Him. For the people of God however, the answer for men is, submit and surrender your life, dreams, choices and fun to God, humble yourself before Him, repent of your sins (all of them. not just the ones you feel you can live without) and subject your will to God's will, your life to Christ Jesus' life and your death to His death.

The Will of God

2011-06-16T13:01:00.000-04:00

When I spoke about the will of God in the past, I was always speaking in terms of vocation and marriage. I wanted to know what (job) was the will of God for my life and who I was to spend it with. My problem was that I did not have a relationship with God in the first place. That was the reason I had difficulty in finding God's will. Sexual purity, both externally and internally must be pursued to have any clue as to what the future will of God should be for you. If you want to know God's will for your life, the first thing you must do is pursue a holy life. 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8. Not external holiness but internal holiness. What is going to happen is that you are going to find out that you are unable to attain it. You will not be able to attain a holy life but you must pursue it. If you don't pursue it you will never attain it. But if you pursue it you will never attain it until you get to the point where you hate your sin so much that you don't know what to do.

You should get to the point where you are willing to do anything and everything to rid yourself of your sin that you hate so much. I found that in studying the holiness of God, particularly the attributes of God, that I fell far short of God's standard of righteousness. I was far from his standard in every area of my life when I really started to examine it. After reading books in which I was called to examine my prejudices, selfishness and pride, I realized how lost I was. I thought I was saved but realized that I was not in the will of God. In fact, I had done what seemed best to me and I had assumed that God's will was strictly limited to what kind of job I had and who I would marry. Suffice it to say, my understanding of the will of God was very shallow!

One observation on this view of the will of God: this is a very selfish way to think. When you think of God's will only in terms of yourself and what YOU will be doing and who YOU will marry, whom are you thinking of? You are not thinking of GOD's interests. You are thinking of YOURS. Why not change the entire way you think about God's will? Why not think about OTHERS? I am learning to think more about others and less about myself and am seeing that God values other people as much as he values me. I am no one special. In fact, I am no better than any other Christian around myself. When I focus on my own importance in the realm of God's workings on this earth, I will inevitably let God's will be shaped by what I want.

When we think of God's will, while being focused on ourselves and are inflated as to our own importance, we choose ministries that massage our egos and give us something in return for our hard work. Let me try to relate this to my own life. I began going on mission trips. I thought that this was a very godly activity to engage in and I admired the missionaries and viewed them as very godly people. I began desiring to return because I met people that I was attracted to. I was attracted to the lifestyle because it appeared carefree and fun.

Let me point out here that up to this point, all my concerns with the mission work were self-centered. I did not have a burden for the salvation of the people that I had gone to minister to. I was concerned with how I felt and with what other people felt about me. During the mission trips, I enjoyed close comradeship with others who I wanted to like me and the fact that people in other countries appreciated the fact that I took time and money to minister to their needs. These were all things that made me feel good. The problem was that these things in themselves do not have anything to do with the will of God. The person that I was concerned most with was myself. That is the point that I am trying to make. I lived my whole life for what felt good and what made me seem the most important and got me the most admiration.

I want to say at this point that it is fine for someone who doesn't know God to live their life concerned with doing what makes them feel good. This person knows that they don't know God and must repent and trust in God for their salvation through Jesus Christ. I want to say here that what we do is not good or bad by what it appears to be externally. God looks at our heart reasons for doing things. Being a missionary or doing a normal 8 to 5 job are both great pursuits to do if that is what God has called you to do. The problem is not with the thing you are doing. If your reasons for doing anything are rooted in selfish desires, no matter what you are doing, it is not a God-pleasing activity.

1 Timothy 5:8 says, "But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." This means that if someone professes to have faith but thinks only of himself and sees a need for his family but refuses to do so, he is not really a believer. He has "denied the faith" that he professes to believe. This is a helpful examination point that we can use to determine whether we even know God in the first place. When we think of the world in terms of how it can benefit us first, we see our needs as the highest good and will find any way to justify our selfishness, even as far as finding verses in the Bible to support our selfish decisions.

Romans 14:14-15 says, "I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love." This situation had to do with the Jewish idea of what meats were clean or unclean. If they saw you eating meat from an unclean animal, but they had just converted from Judaism, they would be tempted to eat that meat in violation of their conscience and sin against God. Even if something is permissible for us to do but violates our conscience should not be attempted until our minds are well informed as to what the Bible says and our hearts are shaped by the Bible and not by old prejudices.

To summarize what I am trying to say here, let's take the two principles we learned and make an observation: Selfish people are concerned with themselves and can't know the will of God until they repent. They will trample on other people who get in the way of what they desire. Whether that has to do with their pocketbook or their rights to engage in pleasurable activities, they will be unconcerned with what is loving or respectful of others' well-being or good conscience. A selfish person who pretentiously follows God but lives for themselves, will inevitably become a Judas Iscariot unless he repents of his selfishness by confessing his sin of living for himself and calling it living for God and throws his life into the arms of Jesus to live the life that is pleasing to Him.

Repentance is Incomprehensible

2011-05-21T21:12:00.000-04:00

Repentance is incomprehensible for the man who lives life on his own terms. It defies logic. It defies all notions of what is best for the individual. Repentance is impossible for the man who will not give his life over into the sovereign will of God. Someone living in this country illegally and becoming a Christian, would think it imcomprehensible that God would demand that they return to their country's consolate and confess that they want to make it right with both our country and theirs and accept whatever the representive decreed they would have to do. A man who has lived as a woman for 20 years would feel that it would be incomprehensible that he be asked to change back into the sex that he was born. A man would think it incomprehensible that he should forsake all his dreams and goals for marriage and family and quietly submit to a life of uncertainty in a ministry that he was totally unequipped for.

These are all examples of incomprehensible situations. Maybe they are very cut and dry for you the reader. Maybe you could easily decide for someone else what they should do with their lives. That is all your subjective reasoning. But what happens when the tables are turned? Are YOU willing to submit to God in what HE tells you to do even if it means you loose your life or that you are resigned to a life of abject solitude because of the choices you make removes you from all means of pursuing your own happiness with the people you so desire! What would it take for you to surrender your life to God? That is what I am talking about. What if God's will were that you have no happiness and live the last two years of your life in obscurity with no way of being recognized?

I remember a situation of a man who was in this country illegally and receiving dialysis. He was advised that he needed to return to his country to an uncertain situation there to keep from being a burden on other people in the church who had tried numerous times to help him, but for his own rebellion against the rules they set for their houses, he had to leave home after home until he had exhausted all options for habitations and help within the church. Instead of submitting to the elders of the church, who were all unanimous in their counsel to him, he decided to leave the church and find some way to continue living in the country illegally so that he could receive his dialysis and retain his dreams of working again so that he can go back to his own way in life. How sad. He chose to keep his life rather than facing the risk of loosing it for the sake of Christ. Why do I say this? Because had he submitted, God would have been able to use this man. But because he chose to continue in rebellion, he now lives his life like a godless man who has no testimony.

Anyone can repent. The problem is that for each one of us, there is a challenge, a test that we may be unable to do because it goes against all that we think is logical and safe. I remember the movie, "Luther", where Martin Luther said, "To go against conscience is neither right nor safe." He was right. If it violates your conscience, would you be willing to trust God or would you do what you think is right and safe? If so, you have not repented.

God's Message To Man by Zac Poonen

2011-05-13T22:43:00.001-04:00

A great message about God's message for us. Are you spending time with the Lord?

Good For Goodness Sake

2011-03-28T21:54:00.000-04:00

Video Found At: http://www.realtruthmatters.org

True Holiness

2011-03-28T20:26:00.000-04:00

The Rich Young Man

2011-03-24T08:21:00.000-04:00

17 uAnd as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and vknelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to winherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him,“Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.19 You know the commandments: x‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” 20 And he said to him, “Teacher, yall these I have kept from my youth.” 21 And Jesus, zlooking at him, aloved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, bsell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have ctreasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”22 dDisheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Mark 10:17-22 esv.

When God calls us to faith, he also calls us to obedience. Please prayerfully consider the commentary by John MacArthur:

sell whatever you have.Jesus was not making either philanthropy or poverty a requirement for salvation, but exposing the young man’s heart. He was not blameless, as he maintained (v. 20), since he loved his possessions more than his neighbors (cf. Lev. 19:18). More importantly, he refused to obey Christ’s direct command, choosing to serve riches instead of God (Matt. 6:24). The issue was to determine whether he would submit to the Lordship of Christ no matter what He asked of him. So, as he would not acknowledge his sin and repent, neither would he submit to the Sovereign Savior. Such unwillingness on both counts kept him from the eternal life he sought. treasure in heaven. Salvation and all its benefits, given by the Father who dwells there, both in this life and the life to come (cf. Matt. 13:44–46). take up the cross. See notes on8:34–38.

(MacArthur Study Bible. Electronic Edition. Logos Bible Software)

The Offender

2011-02-22T00:04:00.000-05:00

The act of inflating myself helps me to see how worthless I truly am. My only worth comes from what Christ has done in me. Deep down, I know that whatever attacks that someone makes on me are warranted because I am a sinner. Being a sinner means failing to give the glory to God. I fail in this constantly. Any comments that someone makes about myself should be viewed as valid but also needs to be balanced with the fact that God the Father has forgiven me for all my sins and it doesn't matter what a person says about me because God accepts me on the basis, not of what I have done but on what Christ has done for me.

How do I react to someone who has offended me? I can pray for them. "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven...Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" Matthew 5:44-45a, 48.

This means I need to be patient and kind to my enemies and not be jealous if God blesses them. I don't need to be arrogant if they stumble or say something in ignorance. I need to care about what shows them the love of Christ and to bring them to Him. I don't need to take into account if they do something hurtful to me. I don't need to take pleasure in self-righteousness and puffing myself up over them but in the righteousness of Christ. I need never get tired of this person being around or forgiving them. I need to believe them when they say something positive about themself. I need to hope that they are saved and become like Christ and patiently endure their mistreatment (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).

The Two Parts of Justification Under the Law

2011-02-16T23:14:00.000-05:00

The two parts of justification under the law seem to be active and passive efforts to please God. Actively, we do things like sacrifice to atone for our sins. Passively we abstain from doing the things that make us unclean or that break God's laws. These things are motivated by bitter envy and selfish ambition. We either want something that someone else has, or we want to be better than someone else. This is the double edged sword that we stab ourselves with every day.

Under active sacrifice would fall reading more books to increase our knowledge out of sheer desire to gain more knowledge for ourselves. Being incredibly productive at work with a goal of being noticed by the boss would be another example. This is a mindset that desires personal advancement by magnifying the laziness of others and magnifying the importance of self so as to be seen for what one's personal worth is and that it is much higher than those around you. This becomes a system of works righteousness.

The other side of the coin with which we passively promote ourselves and try to be justified by the Law is by not doing some things that others do that are sinful. I don't have sex with women that I am not married to. Therefore, I am better loved by God and ought to be more highly blessed in what I do. I also deserve to be more richly rewarded both here now and in the life to come. Going back to the previous paragraph, in productivity, I refrain from laziness (passivity) and do productiveness (activity). Or I refrain from sex and do chastity. These are the two sides of justification by the Law.

What this leads to is a mentality that sees oneself as a living, breathing version of the Lord Jesus. It becomes a person who is justified by grace but thinks that with their efforts that they have obtained a degree of sinlessness. I'll give you an example from my own life: 1 Corinthians 13:7 says that love "believeth all things". When I hear of a promise that someone else made, and make judgements on their ability to keep it, merely on the basis of the way I perceive their character to be. I judge them as promising something that they are unable to fulfill, simply because I view them as less spiritually mature than myself. I don't take them at their word because I see their ability to keep their promise (the Law) as less than mine because I view them as not having the Holy Spirit (even though I am not sure if they are saved or not).

Furthermore, I imagine that I know what is really in their hearts because I remember a few Scriptures about Jesus, "knowing their thoughts" or "knew what they were thinking in their hearts" or "But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man" Joh 2:24-25. I picture myself as being so discerning that I can actually judge their character as to whether they will keep their word or not.

I actually see unsaved people do this all the time. Where do you think the phrase, "good judge of character" came from? But this is far from something a sactified and justified and glorified person should be doing. The Bible is clear. "Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things" 1Co 13:7. If I find myself not doing these things, I can be sure that I don't know the grace of being forgiven because I don't think my sins are very bad.

My only plea is to hate this in myself and desire to obey God. To realize that this attitude does not come from God but is a part of me that needs to die. "Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry"

Col 3:5. Why persist in this sin? If you realize that you are doing it, don't give up calling upon God every day to free you from a love of self and ask him for a love for others. Review the gospel that tells you that you are nothing and think you are something: "For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself" Gal 6:3. This verse doesn't say that some of us are something and some aren't, only those who know they are nothing are actually something. Those who think they are something point out to the Lord that they are really nothing.

The Brother and Anger Against Him

2011-02-06T23:03:00.000-05:00

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny." Matthew 5:21-26 ESV

The Cost of Discipleship, a great book by Deitrich Bonhoeffer, gives an interesting take on the concept of grace that is to me so wonderful that I thought I would share it. There is a great principle here for the murderer. "The judgement he passes on others falls on the murderer himself." This is the principle behind "eye for an eye," that was given by the people of Israel corporately as punishment for murder.

This is the principle that we see here applied when he says, "Even anger is enough to overstep the mark, still more the casual angry word (Raca), and most of all the deliberate insult of our brother ("Thou fool")." In God's eyes, we are guilty of murder and must fall under the same sentence of death that we merit for having become angry with someone and expressed it with our words. This becomes abundantly clear in the following quote:

"The disciple must be entirely innocent of anger, because anger is an offence against both God and his neighbour. Every idle word which we think so little of betrays our lack of respect for our neighbour, and shows that we place ourselves on a pinnacle above him and value our lives higher than his. The angry word is a blow struck at our brother, a stab at his heart: it seeks to hit, hurt and to destroy. A deliberate insult is even worse, for we are then openly disgracing our brother in the eyes of the world, and causing others to despise him. With our hearts burning with hatred, we seek to annihilate his moral and material existence. We are passing judgement on him, and that is murder. And the murderer will himself be judged."

When I lash out in anger, I am trying to damage or destroy someone else and I am a murderer. Anger with others destroys our relationship with God. "When a man gets angry with his brother and swears at him, when he publicly insults or slanders him, he is guilty of murder and forfeits his relation to God. He erects a barrier not only between himself and his brother, but also between himself and God." Ever wonder why your prayers aren't answered and God seems to be punishing you? It could be because you have hurt some brother or sister and need to ask them to forgive you!

Later on, we see just how urgent this is. The last reason given for being reconciled to our brothers and sisters in Christ is that, "His only-begotten Son bore the shame and insults for his Father's glory. But the Father would not be seperated from his Son, nor will he now turn his face from those whose likeness the Son took upon him, and for whose sake he bore the shame. The Incarnation is the ultimate reason why the service of God cannot be divorced from the service of man. He who says he love God and hates his brother is a liar."

"There is only one way of following Jesus and of worshipping God, and that is to be reconciled with our brethren." Now all that is very hard. In fact, Bonhoeffer says, "This is a hard way, but it is the way Jesus requires if we are to follow him. It but is indeed the way to him, our crucified Brother, and therefore a way of grace abounding. In Jesus the service of God and the service of the least of the brethren were one. He went his way and became reconciled with his brother and offered himself as the one true sacrifice to his Father."

"We are still living in the age of grace, fore each of us still has a brother, we are still 'with him in the way.' The court of judgement lies ahead, and there is still a chance for us to be reconciled with our brother and pay our debt to him. The hour is coming when we shall meet the judge face to face, and then it will be too late."

Have you ever thought about the commandments of God to you as a demonstration of his grace? I don't think I have ever thought about that until I read that. I have seen God's grace as, "leading us to repentance," as is found in Romans 2, but I haven't seen the very commandments as a demonstration of that grace. But it is very logical to me to think this way. If judgement is coming and I am warned beforehand how to escape it, wouldn't I be abusing that warning by ignoring it? Wouldn't I be a fool to ignore the warning and go on living as if the judgement were not coming? I think so! The fact of the matter is that the judgement is coming and here in his word is found the grace that we need to let us escape it, namely, the absolute, unquestioned obedience to the words of Christ. That is grace people.

This is put beautifully in the next quote: "It is grace that we are allowed to please our brother, and pay our debt to him, it is grace that we are allowed to become reconcilled with him. In our brother we find grace before the seat of judgement." Finally, I would like to say that this impossible task is the every day life of the Christian. It is only to the Christian that this command is given. Every disciple is a Christian and you can't be a Christian without being a disciple as well.

So if you are an unbeliever, you should pay no attention to this. Jesus has only one command for you. Turn from your sins and fall upon the mercy of God and plead that he save you and accept you as his willing slave to buy you off of the slave market so that you can become a slave of Christ and no longer a slave of sin. How do you do that? Check Luke 18:9-14 for the answer.

If you are a believer, our desire should be to please the one who enlisted us. "To serve our brother, to please him, to allow him his due and to let him live, is the way of self-denial, the way of the cross. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. That is the love of the Crucified. Only in the cross of Christ do we find the fulfillment of the law."

Matthew 5:6 - Do you Hunger For God's Righteousness?

2011-02-06T11:22:00.000-05:00

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied."

(Matthew 5:6 ESV)

Do we feel despair or satisfaction regarding our spiritual condition? We can say one or the other and be wrong. If we say we aren't satisfied, it can be because we want God to solve all of our problems because we don't like the situation we are in. Much of the world today looks for God to save them from their situation or some kind of oppression. The problem is that Jesus did not come to save us from that. There is always going to be a situation we aren't going to be happy with.

Jesus came to save us from our sins. The question is not whether we are satisfied with our spiritual condition in relation to the place God has put us or with the amount of spiritual knowledge that we have. This verse refers to our desire to be conformed to God in the aspect of his justice. We are to hunger to be just as straight and free from corruption as God is. We are to hunger for the same mercy, love and hatred for our own sin as God has. Do you have this?

If we say that we are satisfied with our spiritual condition, we need to go back to week 3 and study Luke 18:9-14 again because we haven't learned the principle of the righteousness of God. We have not learned that repentance is a gift of God only to those who realize their own injustice and depravity who cry out to God for mercy. In fact, if we are hungering for something, we do not possess any of it and need it for survival. That is why desiring to be as just and straight as God, is compared to having a hunger. It should be as necessary to us as food. If we haven't eaten for a week then we will be very hungry.

This is how we should progressively be. We at the beginning hunger for God's righteousness and think that we are doing well. But after years of living the Christian life we should many times more hambriente for it that at the beginning. If we think that we have lived the Christian life so long that we are almost at the point of having God's justice then we show how far we actually are from it. If we aren't hungering for God's justice we must think we have much of our own so why should we need God's?

Blog has been renamed

2011-01-20T23:22:00.000-05:00

I renamed the blog from simply, "bryan's blog" to "All of Grace and All of Truth", because I wanted to emphasize the fact that people need to hear both grace and truth in equal measure. I think that we like to be gracious but sacrifice the truth so that people won't be offended. Behind this, I think, lies a fear of man and a desire for approval. I am not saying that I am not affected by this. I struggle with telling someone the truth when they ask me.

Truth must not be told without a regard to kindness and love for the other person. Telling someone the truth but having love for the other person is destructive. The other person can distinguish from something said in love or something just simply said out of pride. Pride, I think is what is motivating us to say things that are not from love. So, it is important to say things with 100% grace and 100% truth.

How is that going to happen? Well, you first have to have experienced God's grace, had it change your life and produce fruit. You also have to know the truth that flows from God's grace in your life. Those who are truthful have experienced grace and therefore can be truthful in a gracious way. Peter said, "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. " 2 Peter 3:18.

I sometimes find myself wanting to grow so much in truth that I put it above being gracious and kind and loving. I am harsh with people when they get in the way of my learning more information. That becomes what is called an "idol". Yes, I hate the term because it is so overused nowadays but thought it was most appropriate here. So, I must back off of my desire to learn and think about all the grace that God has showed this numbskull (myself), and show the same care and patience with someone else.

A Better Freedom

2011-01-04T23:34:00.000-05:00

Christianity must seem foolish if you are lost. I said it before, but I will say it again. I have always liked Michael Card. I appreciated his music before I became a Christian and now I appreciate it not only for the music but also because He expresses so beautifully the heart of the Gospel.

A Better Freedom
by Michael Card michaelcard.com
Lyrics
Christ revealed Himself to me
Enslaved my soul to set me free
I was bound to at Him at Calvary
And found a better freedom

That Soul who suffered in the dark
Has purchased and unchained my heart
A shining slavery did impart
And I found a better freedom

A better freedom can't be found
By those unwilling to be bound
A better freedom is not known
By those whose hearts will not be owned
And those who follow find a better freedom
(Come with Him and find a better freedom)
(Follow me and find a better freedom)

We never can be truly free
Till we're bound to this community
The Incarnation lets us see
A path to better freedom

A slave to sin, my heart before
Was bolted like a prison door
But in slavery to the Risen Lord
I found a better freedom

Michael Card - Slave of, and Fool for Christ

2010-12-23T00:09:00.000-05:00

John MacArthur recently published a book with the title, "Slave". This concept of course is found throughout the New Testament and should have been very familiar to the Christians of the First Century. Michael Card has the following to say on his website regarding a new book that he will be coming out with soon:

When Michael Card first started attending an African American church, he was struck by how the congregation worshiped Jesus as "Master." He soon learned that during slavery, calling Jesus "Master" was a subtle way of saying that their earthly masters were not their true Master. This insight led Card on a journey of discovery, as he wondered, "What did it mean for African American slaves to acknowledge Jesus as Master? What did Paul, Peter, Jude and James mean when they acknowledged themselves as Christ's slaves? What would it mean for you and me to take upon ourselves the title 'slave of Christ'?" A Better Freedom explores the biblical imagery of slavery as a metaphor for Christian discipleship. Michael Card shows how the early church saw Greco-Roman slavery as a window into understanding Jesus both as the Savior who took on the form of a slave, but also the true Lord and Master who sets us free from our own slavery to sin. Come, let yourself be captured by the Master. And discover how you can be truly set free.

Now Michael invites us to be a fool for Christ. Jesus was thought of as a fool, the early Christians were thought foolish for trusting their eternal salvation to a crucified man. They trusted Him for their salvation from their sins both now and forever. But they had to become slaves of a man that most people thought was a fool and who Himself became a slave to His Father to subject His will to His Father and not have any of His own. Please listen carefully to the song below.

Violence in Guatemala: Daniel LeClair's story

2010-12-07T10:59:00.000-05:00

Phil Coomes | 08:45 UK time, Tuesday, 7 December 2010

Photographer Daniel LeClair works for Reuters and has been based in Central America since 1999, but is now facing the possibility that he will have to leave. The ongoing bus war and violence in Guatemala City, where he and his family have been living, has forced some changes. Here is the story in his own words:

"I can clearly remember the day the bus war escalated. It was 4 February 2008. Two extortionists were shot and killed while trying to collect a payment on a bus in downtown Guatemala City. Drivers, tired of paying thousands of dollars in extortion, had hired the assassins.

"As I photographed the scene, I overheard police telling each other this was a declaration of war. The response from gang members was brutal. Fifteen drivers and eight assistants were killed over the next three days. I would spend my whole day going from one bus driver's murder to another, then to a funeral for the drivers killed the day before.

"The scenes were chaotic and similar. A driver would be on his route, his bus full of passengers. Suddenly a young man would stand up, approach the driver shooting him at close range in the head, then jump off the moving bus to a waiting motorcycle. The bus would career down the street, crashing into anything in its path. It was out of control, even drivers who made their payments were being killed. It wasn't just the gangs doing the killing now. Drivers confessed privately that those who didn't pay were also being targeted by their own peers, as one non-compliant driver on a route would inevitably make all of them a target.

"Gangs began to take hold in the 1990s, attracting impoverished and uneducated young men and women. Now they've become organized money-making enterprises, extorting businesses, including bus companies, for regular payments and assaulting people on the streets for cash. Narco traffickers have cemented their presence in Guatemala, taking advantage of the authorities' inability to cope

"Three years on and drivers still get up every day to go to work, despite the knowledge that 450 of their colleagues have been killed. Sometimes when I photograph them on some of the most dangerous routes, I can sense the fear and tension. More than once they've dangerously cut off a suspicious motorcycle. Passengers seemed to trust no-one, not even me. Tactics have changed somewhat since the authorities have beefed up security on the buses and extortionists have responded by spraying whole vehicles with gunfire, killing many innocent passengers in the process.

"Once in March 2009, a woman, so stressed from witnessing a driver's murder, spent 45 minutes trying to calm her crying baby at home before realizing the baby had been struck in the stomach by a deflected bullet. The baby died in the hospital.

"A new, modern, city-owned bus system has started to come online, with pre-paid tickets, assigned bus stops and better security but the violence has not abated. The old privately-owned buses continue to be attacked at a rate of two per week. As I wrote this, a driver from the 40R route has been attacked.

"I've been covering Central America for a decade - coups, riots, hurricanes and so on - but never seen violence like this. I have never seen so many innocent people caught in the middle. The tragedy is that Guatemala has so much to offer. It's so beautiful and so full of wonderful people. As much as I love this place, I've already sent my family away, the future here is very uncertain."

Central American Immigrants: Between Survival and Torture

2010-10-02T11:07:00.000-04:00

The Nightmare of Central American Immigrants on Mexican Soil
By Fernando León and Mercedes Osuna
Special to The Narco News Bulletin

http://www.narconews.com/Issue67/articulo4218.html
September 27, 2010

The journey that Central American immigrants have to take due to a lack of work in their own countries involves a forced hell in Mexico on their way to the United States. And Mexican immigration and police authorities have done everything possible to torment the Central American citizens and prevent them from making it to the US-Mexico border.

This month Mercedes Osuna, an organizer in Chiapas, accompanied a team of Italian journalists on one of the most dangerous stretches for Central American immigrants—a tour full of governmental traps to stop the immigrants from their goal: finding a job to make ends meet in North American lands.

The Tapachula landfill, where dozens of Guatemalan families live and work to survive.
Photo: D.R. 2010 Marco Diotallevi

The tour started on the Guatemalan border along the Suchiate river. The first thing the immigrants must do before they enter Mexican territory is to cross the vast river. Between the city of Tecún Uman, Guatemala and Ciudad Hidalgo, México, the immigrants have to cross on rafts that cost $100 a ride, in contrast to the settlers in Tecún Uman who are charged 10 Quetzals to cross over and buy food in Mexico. The rafts, or tractor tires tied to three boards, are the way to Mexican soil. The control over the rafts is part of a whole organized network, managed by Mexican and Guatemalan citizens tied to authorities who want to make juicy profits off of the immigrants.

Before crossing to Mexican soil, on the Guatemalan side there was a large group of immigrants gathered under a plastic tarp that seemed to have been part of a tent. The majority of the people gathered there said they were from Honduras, and that they had arrived there months or even years ago. According to them, they were there because on the Mexican side there had been beatings and assaults. They said that because they didn’t have anymore money they were forced to return to work on Guatemalan soil, to work outside of the boats.

On the Mexican side, the immigrants have the possibility of making it to an immigrant sanctuary in Tapachula to get food and shelter. However, they’re only allowed to be in the place for three days. If after that time they have left the city, they won’t be able to continue staying at the sanctuary.

The ability to get out of Tapachula is an achievement in itself on this bitter journey. Going through Mexico’s National Institute of Immigration (INM in Spanish initials) checkpoint on the outskirts of Tapachula could mean deportation from Mexican soil. The majority of the immigrants, in an attempt to avoid it, have to go through an area known as “La Arocera,” where most of the gangs—known as the maras in Central America—are located. It’s members are made up both of Central Americans and people from Chiapas. Their presence there is strategic to terrorize the immigrants who pass through. The maras,acting with total impunity, frequently attack the immigrants and rob, threaten, rape and murder them. There is a strong collusion between these gangs and Mexican authorities. During the tour it was common to find maras in police trucks, where they are moved to rotate the gangs and constantly maintain the criminal presence in order to terrorize the migrants who choose not to risk going through immigration control. The dissuasive job of the maras is fundamental to keeping immigrants out of the place. Often, intimidated immigrants have to go back to Ciudad Hidalgo to return to Guatemalan soil.

Many of the immigrants who haven’t been able to leave Tapachula, due to fear or a lack of resources, decided to settle in the vicinity of the city landfill. The foul smell is part of the atmosphere of the place. Here, entire families work from dawn to dusk to scavenge through trash. The vast majority of them are from the department of San Marcos, Guatemala. The ages range from 3 or 4 years to 70 years or more. These scavengers receive a peso for each kilo of cardboard or plastic that are able to gather, which they sell to truck drivers in Chiapas who are stationed on the banks of this place. These same families live, eat and work in this area. The inhumane conditions of the site constantly cause disease, but it is the only opportunity that they have to live and survive. In Guatemala, they say they don’t have anything. Here at least they can gather 10 pesos a day—if they’re lucky—to buy a few tortillas for subsistence. It’s that or nothing.

The immigrants have to cross the Suchiate River on rafts that cost 100 dollars per person.
Photo: D.R. 2010 Marco Diotallevi

From the city of Tapachula, the next stop is the city of Arriaga in the same state of Chiapas. The distance between Tapachula and Arriaga is approximately 230 kilometers. However, in October 2005, hurricane Stan destroyed everything in its path in Chiapas, Guatemala and El Salvador. Five years after the devastation, the effects still linger. From Tapachula to Arriaga, various train bridges for the train known as the “immigrant train” disappeared, making rail transportation impossible for the immigrants. Most of them choose to make the journey on foot, while some use public transportation that often brings them directly to immigration checkpoints. In Arriaga, if they’re lucky, they’ll be able to find food and a bed at another sanctuary, but again, if after three days they haven’t taken the train they will have to leave the sanctuary to sleep on the tracks, outside and under constant threat from gangs, police, and immigration authorities.

According to interviews given by immigrants in the area, the Beta Group from the National Institute of Immigration is the same as the maras and smugglers, and extorts, robs, and beats the immigrants. Everyone gets a slice of the immigration pie.

In Ciudad Hidalgo, as in other parts along the way, there are groups of smugglers who work with immigration agents to kidnap immigrants. The kidnappers call the families of the immigrants demanding ransoms in exchange for the release of their kidnapped relatives, while lying to them that they are about to cross the border into the Untied States. The illusion of reaching the US means that many immigrants rely on smugglers who are supposed bring them from Ciudad Hidalgo to the northern border. However, many are brought to safe houses in Chiapas to extort money from their families.

Juan, 17 and from Honduras, left his home 10 days ago to try his luck in the United States. He doesn’t have anything to lose. His parents died when we was a boy, he didn’t go to school, and he never found work. His sister raised him, but right now he has to be responsible for himself. His destination: the United States, where he hopes to send a little bit of money back to his sister and find a way to survive. He’s still not sure if he’ll reach his final destination, as he’s scared of the violence from the maras and Mexican immigration authorities.

This is only one journey that immigrants have to make in the state of Chiapas. From Arriaga, they will leave for Ixtepec, Oaxaca, and from there a train will bring them to the state of Mexico, from where they will choose between a path along the Pacific or the Gulf—both of which are controlled by a network of smugglers and organized crime, which when joined with the INM will make it a difficult trip to forget.

The passage of immigrants through Mexico is a forced route to the United States. Anti-immigrant politics in the United States have provoked the criminalization of immigrants who pass through Mexico, in an attempt to stop the flow. For Mexican immigrants each time it is more difficult to make it to the United States, but for Central American immigrants the effort required is double, when many times the journey through Mexico is more devious and dangerous than in the United States.

Are We Preaching A True Gospel?

2010-09-20T00:01:00.000-04:00

The Last Days Like The Days Of Noah

2010-07-03T12:30:00.000-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0rSYHptq8M&feature=related

What happens when you are insulted or treated unfairly? Are you offended? Do you feel like you were unjustly treated? Do you immediately start to point out the hypocrisy in the other person? Do you hope that they fall or mess up and get egg in their face? This video is for you (and for me).

The Awe Of God, The Shame Of Our Sin

2010-06-12T11:21:00.000-04:00

A good friend of mine told me that when we think about reverting back to our old way of life we must think of the awe of God and then the shame of our sin. Here are a few verses that deal with God's awesomeness:

Psalms 97 — ESV
The LORD reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad! Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Fire goes before him and burns up his adversaries all around. His lightnings light up the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory. All worshipers of images are put to shame, who make their boast in worthless idols; worship him, all you gods! Zion hears and is glad, and the daughters of Judah rejoice, because of your judgments, O LORD. For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods. O you who love the LORD, hate evil! He preserves the lives of his saints; he delivers them from the hand of the wicked. Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name!

Job 42:1-6 — ESV
Then Job answered the LORD and said: "I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. 'Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. 'Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.' I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes."

God is the owner of my life. It doesn't belong to me to do with it what I want. If God were to treat me like Job, he would be perfectly just in doing so. I could not question him or demand an answer from him. God is the Lord over every aspect of our lives. We will one day have to give an account for how we lived our lives. Those who have obeyed God will go to heaven. Those who have disobeyed him will rise and will be judged. It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Grace To You Blog

2010-03-03T22:21:00.000-05:00

If I could recommend any blog to someone that was asking me, "Which blog would you recommend for me to help me most in my Christian life?" I would have to say that it is the Grace To You audio blog http://www.gty.org/Blog/

In addition to that, I would like to say that his website is phenomenal also.

Behaving Oneself Unseemly

2010-02-12T21:38:00.000-05:00

Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. ~ 1 Cor 13:4-7 (KJV)

Love, agape in greek, is God's love. It is the love that is defined by what it does or doesn't do. It is not an emotion. It is a fruit of the spirit that manifests itself in selflessness (disinterest) in favor of the good of others. There is the brotherly love of phileo that is referred to elsewhere, but the love that is described here is God's own special love that only comes from someone who is born from above or born from the Holy Spirit.

The specific part that I want to focus on is the "Behaving oneself unseemly". This verb is translated in the greek as: to be unseemly. It is used in 1Co_7:36 «improper»; That is, to act in such a way as to expose a virgin to a dangerous situation or contempt; and in 1Co_13.5: «is not unseemly».

How would I act unseemly or improper toward someone else? Maybe in the case of acting in such a way with a girl that would make me feel more important or powerful without caring for her good or reputation. Men in our society do this all the time. Learning how to womanize and attract women so as to have their way with them. Buying the 'axe' cologne or listening to advice on how to 'get a woman'. These attempts focus not on selflessly loving and looking out for the good of the opposite sex but of glorifying ourselves to create an idol that someone will worship so that we can gratify our selfish and sinful desires or some perverted craving for praise, approval or attention.

Another way of behaving myself unseemly would be to say or do something that would cause someone else to be looked at with shame or disrespect. How about playing basketball against someone with the intent of showing them how pitiful their skills are in keeping us from scoring or in scoring a goal against us. It is getting the better of someone specifically to lift ourselves up and put them down. This can happen in work when we point out someone else's failures so that we can laugh with others about someone so that we don't look bad.

This behaving ourself improper towards others has wide reaching implications. This is just one of the ways we can fail to show love to others. Conversely, if I want to show love to someone else, I think about their good and what will show them honor. With the opposite sex, I treat them with dignity and kindness. I don't look for ways to glorify myself at their expense. I don't look for ways to dishonor God's command to treat them "as sisters in all purity". In my dealings at work, I give thought to how I speak to people to not do so dis-respectfully or flippantly. I think about the way that I address others.

In light of this, what are we to conclude? Is my life progressively moving toward treating people with more respect and caring less about my own glory? If not, maybe I should re-examine my own salvation to see if I even have the Holy Spirit at all.

Saving Faith Part 3

2010-02-10T00:54:00.000-05:00

I have seen probably 10 of these sessions where Ray Comfort is witnessing to people on the street. In this episode, the man actually prays to receive Christ. In Matthew 13, Jesus says:

"Behold, the sower went out to sow; 4 and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 "And others fell upon the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. 6 "But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7 "And others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. 8 "And others fell on the good soil, and * yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. 9 "He who has ears, let him hear."

Matt 13:3-9 (NASB77)

Fruit is the only proof of genuine conversion. Out of all the soils that made a profession, only 1 of these actually produced fruit. Just think about how many people he had to go through to get one person who was willing to actually pray. Think about how many religious people are sitting in church that may not be genuinely saved.

Saving Faith Part 2

2010-01-14T18:07:00.000-05:00

Going back to what I was saying earlier about faith being more than credence, I wanted to state a concise definition of the gospel and what you must do to be saved.

The gospel in one sentence is that you are a sinner and that you must place your faith in Christ alone to be saved. What does that mean? Here is what I have heard from preachers and believe that the Bible says and testifies about as to what true saving faith is.

When the Bible says that you are a sinner it means that you are committed to yourself as lord of your life and you are driven by your needs and goals and feel that it is your right to attain them (Isaiah 53:6a; Romans 3:9-20; Romans 10:3; 2 Timothy 3:1-5). You are in rebellion as God to your master and are a slave to your other master who is Satan and he is lord of sin and rebellion. So all who are rebels are slaves of sin and ultimately Satan (Romans 6:20-22).
For this, you are promised eternal separation from God in hell after you die and the absence of his covenant grace in this life (Hebrews 9:27, Galatians 5:19-21, Ephesians 2:3, Philippians 1:28).
To be saved you must surrender the control of your life to Christ to follow and serve him for as long as you live and vow to live your life in obedience to whatever he tells you to do from now on (Romans 10:9-10, Luke 6:46-49, Luke 9:23-25, John 12:25-26).

Saving Faith

2010-01-08T22:41:00.000-05:00

Saving faith has to do with much more than believing in Jesus than in the sense that we use the word believing. The essence of the word, believe or faith in Greek has a wider meaning than in the way we use it.

We can believe in Jesus or the boogey-man or the abominable snowman or we can choose not to. This means that we believe that he exists.
We can Christianly believe in Jesus by praying a prayer to him. "Jesus I believe that you died for me on the cross and shed your blood to pay for my sins and want you to save me."
You can believe someone's opinion whether they are right or wrong. For example, someone tells you they can run the hundred yard dash and if they do it you can say, "I believe you can do that." But, in this case you don't really have to do anything.
You can believe what someone tells you that they are going to do. Like when the politicians are trying to get elected they lie and say they are going to lower taxes and you can choose to believe them or not. You can believe that Obama is going to lower taxes but you may not necessarily go out and vote for him or exercise your faith.

The Greek word, pisteuo, is defined in the Vine's Dictionary as:
"to believe," also "to be persuaded of," and hence, "to place confidence in, to trust," signifies, in this sense of the word, reliance upon, not mere credence.
Be persuaded of, placing confidence in, reliance upon-not mere credence.

What does credence mean? Well, I just gave you some examples above in how we use the word today. I can give something credence but faith in the Greek sense of the word is something more robust. Why do so many people have a shallow faith? Because they have merely given credence to the fact that Jesus died for their sins on the cross. They haven't let him be the soul thing they are persuaded of and put their reliance on his righteousness and not their own.

But you may say, "I trust only in Christ's righteousness to save me." If that is true, then you will be like the man in the story below:

A tight-rope walker stretched a cable across a deep and wide precipice. He said to the crowd standing around that he was going to walk across the cable without a net or a balancing beam. And he did. Next he said he was going to walk across the precipice with nothing but a wheel-barrow. And he did. Next he said that he was going to walk across the precipice while pushing the wheel-barrow with a 100lb bag of sand. And he did. Next he asked the crowd if they believed that he could carry a person across the precipice. The crowd shouted to the affirmative because they had already seen three seemingly impossible feats formed by the man. To which the man responded, "who wants to volunteer?" No one stepped forward.

Now maybe you're thinking, "if it were Jesus with the wheel-barrow, I certainly would have stepped forward. Or maybe you're thinking, "Jesus doesn't ask us to do any works to be saved. Only faith. Jesus never asks any of his believers to do anything." Maybe you are right. I certainly agree that in this situation, you were not standing there and no it was not Jesus who was asking people to get into the wheelbarrow. But what if there was a fire behind you closing in on you? Would you be more apt to get on? Maybe you would just say, "forget you Jesus, I'm making it across on my own." Many people try that.

Well how about that second question. No, salvation is not by what we do or don't do. It is all of faith and it is also all of God. Eph 2:8-9. But certainly you can see that faith is much more than mere credence can't you?

Let's consider the following scenario:
Jesus is holding the wheel-barrow. There is no other way to get across the precipice except for in the wheel-barrow. Those who try to throw their own ropes end up falling into the gorge and those who try to cross through either balancing or climbing across on the rope are shot down by arrows from flying demons who hover on either side of the rope. Only one person can go across at a time. Jesus says, "all who will, let them come unto me." There is an inescapable fire closing in on your group as you stand before the precipice. What are you going to do? Well, in that case there is nothing left to do but get on and trust in Jesus. That would be faith.

But incredibly, you see most of the people in light of what I just described, knowing the danger knowing their death is approaching, just lounging around and getting drunk. Others are gossipping about you for considering such a crazy choice as getting in the wheel barrow. While others, knowing the risk are getting picked off left and right as they, one by one, try to exalt themselves by going across the precipice on their own. Some take armor with them to try to deflect the blows, but nothing ever works. Sound crazy?

How about this? Before you can get into the wheel-barrow, Jesus tells you, you see these people standing around getting drunk and whispering? You will have to leave them all behind and you will have to leave behind this life that you have there and trust me to take you across the precipice. But, mind you, if you go across with me, you must keep in mind that you are trusting your life to me. Not only that, heaven is not immediately on the other side. You must pass through many tribulations to enter into the kingdom of God. But I will be with you every step of the way. I will never leave you nor forsake you. But as for these who are standing here; their part will be in the lake of fire, prepared for the Devil and his angels.

The reality is that in evangelicalism today, the picture is not painted as black as that. In evangelicalism. The picture painted is that, there isn't a fire coming. Jesus is just an entertainer who likes to take bags of sand across precipices and we turn a deaf ear to him. When he says that he can take a person across in the wheel-barrow we are happy and cheer, "hip Hip Hooray!" And the preachers that are standing around there with us are telling us, "You see, Isn't Jesus great? We get all this entertainment and now we are saved because we have placed our faith in Jesus! Isn't that great? Jesus asks us to do nothing but believe! Hallelujah! Pass the port!

Are you believing in Jesus in this way? I urge you to read the Bible and see that your situation is much more dangerous than you could have ever imagined there is much to loose but the reward is certain and the salvation, once entered into is sure.

Spanish: How To Learn it in 2 years! (and not loose it all)

2009-05-12T16:02:00.001-04:00

How to Learn to Speak Spanish Proven Method:

Buy and learn: Pimsleur Spanish (this will take 100 days or more).
Go to Mexico for 6 months and use what you have learned while not speaking any english.
While in Mexico, take a dictionary and read the Bible, and other books to increase your vocabulary. Also, write down words that you hear people say and don't know what they mean and look them up in your dictionary when you get home.
Cry (because that is what will get you through not being able to express your anger at how different their culture is from yours).
After 6 months, now you can make jokes and understand 90% of what is being said.
Return to the US via bus and stay for 2 days with the family of someone that you knew in Mexico. You have to do this because your visa only lasts 6 months and you have to renew your visa (also take 40 dollars to pay for the new visa, and about $400 for bus fare. MAKE SURE you don't act like a gringo!).
Go back to Mexico for another 6 months.
Return to the US and get a job speaking spanish.
Find some people who speak spanish and talk to them frequently.
Read lots of books in spanish and translate some books from english to spanish.

Disclaimer: Method not 100% guaranteed. Method is also FAR from the best one to actually use but will probably work if you can't find a better one. Although, this method is pretty well laid out. All you have to do is the work! Saftey not 100% guaranteed (especially with the drug war that is going on right now). Also, be careful in Mexico City! Make sure you have access to a good doctor and have someone to take you if you get cholera or the flu or a bad case of athletes feet. Don't eat cow stomach stew unless you like gross stuff. Tip your cab driver. Learn to speak spanish BEFORE riding a bus. Don't make this trip if you are a member of PETA.

Bible Study Tools

2009-04-14T15:46:00.000-04:00

Bible Study Tools

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia is a free online Bible Encylopedia. It has very detailed articles on most prominent words in the Bible. Helps you to study words like Ashtoreth or Pharisee that you may not know the meaning from simply reading the Bible.
Blue Letter Bible Is a resource for looking up Strong's Dictionary and Vine's Dictionary terms. Useful for understanding Bible words in the original language.
E-Sword is a website with a Bible study program available for a free download. It has several reliable Bible translations as well as a Strong's Dictionary and several very good commentaries that are all available for free. Other Bible
Christianity.com is a great site with many resources such as videos, articles and a Bible study tool where you can study commentaries and various translations of the Bible.
Grace to You is John MacArthur's website. The great thing about this is that he has opened up the archives of the past 40 years of his preaching and made all the audio free for download. Type the topic you want to search for in the Search box at the top of the page and choose from thousands of relevant topics for your life today. This is an indispensable resource for growing Christians!
Desiring God is John Piper's website. In addition to great Bible teaching, you can also download for free in pdf format all of the books that he has written! There is a search function also. So if you want information on a topic or word, you type it in the Search box and you will see a listing of all the relevant material.
Ligonier Ministries is the home of R.C. Sproul. For years he has been one of the most renowned theologians in Christendom and in the last 12 years he has pastored a church in Florida. He has free teaching videos and articles by himself and other Christian laypersons.

How Does One Translate Something?

2009-04-05T23:28:00.000-04:00

I am finding out that translating things is very hard for me to do! I do notice however that the translation of terms into Ingles is much easier if I PRAY beforehand! There are many terms in English that are impossible to translate directly into Spanish. Because the English language is so subject to change and we have reduced our vocabulary so much, we have been able to make a slang term for almost everything. While slang terms exist in Spanish, they are different from English and vary from country to country.

Most people who have an education frown upon them and you most certainly can't use them in translating a published work. So, one must come up with a way to grab the meaning of the english expression and translate it to Spanish.

I wonder if the Bible translators had this problem. If so, I can see where some parts of the Bible could be hard to understand if you don't do your research. Also, word-for-word translation may not work perfectly if the slang term is not translated properly. Nevertheless, the Bible has been very well translated in almost every literal translation that I know of. I say this not because I can read Greek but because those who do proper hermenutical study of the Bible have been able to understand almost every passage of the Bible without a vast knowledge of the origional language.

I can say this much. I definetly have great respect for any Bible translator or any tranlator in general. This is no easy undertaking. Also, a caution to anyone who wants to be relevant to anyone who doesn't speak your same language is to not use more slang terms or made-up on the spot words like "Churchianity". Even the term, "putting off and putting on" is easily understood in English but difficult to translate the meaning into Spanish.

Fear Not Little Flock

2009-01-26T13:53:00.000-05:00

"Fear not little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." Let's me know that when I feel deprived of something or am lacking something (or someone), that God is still good and loves me immensely. Just today I felt sad for a brief moment that I don't currently have any prosepect for marriage on the horizon. I know that this is bad news for a Christian who feels the desire to be married. Satan likes to tell us how much God is holding out on us. Chiefly, he tempts us through our eyes. Things that we see. So, I may be tempted instantly through my eyes.

What helps me to not get angry at God or loose my cool is to remember in the promise of Jesus that it is the Father's good pleasure to give me all good things. I can trust that if this thing or person will be really good for me then it would come in God's providence. If this is just a temptation, it is thrown in front of me to make me doubt the goodness and protection of God over my life.

When I am tempted my immediate reaction is to begin thanking God for all that he has given me. This helps me keep from desiring things that would be damaging to my relationship with God and to maintain victory over the Enemy who is out to kill, steal, and destroy. He will lie and do everything else under the sun to steal glory from God, kill our relationship with Him and destroy our usefulness as a creature created to give glory to God.

Reformed, Gospel Preaching Pastors

2009-01-21T11:13:00.000-05:00

Grace To You

Widely known for his thorough, candid approach to teaching God’s Word, John MacArthur is a fifth-generation pastor, a popular author and conference speaker, and has served as pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California since 1969. John and his wife, Patricia, have four grown children and fourteen grandchildren.

John’s pulpit ministry has been extended around the globe through his media ministry, Grace to You, and its satellite offices in Australia, Canada, Europe, India, New Zealand, Singapore, and South Africa. In addition to producing daily radio programs for nearly 2,000 English and Spanish radio outlets worldwide, Grace to You distributes books, software, audiotapes, and CDs by John MacArthur. In thirty-six years of ministry, Grace to You has distributed more than thirteen million CDs and audiotapes.

John is the president of The Master's College and The Master's Seminary, and he has written hundreds of books and study guides (see below), each one thoroughly biblical and practical. Best-selling titles include The Gospel According to Jesus, The Second Coming, Ashamed of the Gospel, Twelve Ordinary Men, and The MacArthur Study Bible, a 1998 ECPA Gold Medallion recipient.

Ligonier Ministries

Dr. Robert Charles Sproul was born in 1939 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is the founder and chairman of Ligonier Ministries, which started as the Ligonier Valley Study Center in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, more than thirty years ago. In an effort to respond more effectively to the growing demand for Dr. Sproul’s teachings and Ligonier’s other educational resources, the general offices were moved to Orlando, Florida, in 1984, and the ministry was renamed “Ligonier Ministries.”

Dr. R.C. Sproul is featured daily on Renewing Your Mind, an international radio broadcast that has aired for more than ten years with an estimated two million people tuning in every week on more than 235 radio outlets in the United States and throughout more than 40 countries. Dr. Sproul is a respected teacher, theologian, and pastor. He is currently serving as the director of Serve International, and as senior minister of preaching and teaching at Saint Andrew’s Chapel (www.saintandrewschapel.org) in Sanford, Florida. Dr. Sproul is ordained as a teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church in America.

Desiring God

John Piper is the Pastor for Preaching at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, and studied at Wheaton College, where he first sensed God's call to enter the ministry. He went on to earn degrees from Fuller Theological Seminary (B.D.) and the University of Munich (D.theol.). For six years he taught Biblical Studies at Bethel College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and in 1980 accepted the call to serve as pastor at Bethlehem. John is the author of more than 30 books and more than 25 years of his preaching and teaching is available free at desiringGod.org. John and his wife, Noel, have four sons, one daughter, and an increasing number of grandchildren.

Sovereign Grace Ministries

C.J. Mahaney leads Sovereign Grace Ministries in its mission to establish and support local churches. After 27 years of pastoring Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland, C.J. handed the senior pastor role to Joshua Harris on September 18, 2004, allowing C.J. to devote his full attention to Sovereign Grace. He serves on the Council of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals and on the board of The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.

C.J.'s books include Humility: True Greatness; Living the Cross-Centered Life; and Sex, Romance, and the Glory of God. He is the editor of Worldliness and Why Small Groups?, and has coauthored other books in Sovereign Grace Ministries’ Pursuit of Godliness series.

C.J. and his wife, Carolyn, have three married daughters and one son. They make their home in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

Heart Cry Missionary Society

Paul Washer completed his bachelor degree at the University of Texas. Shortly thereafter he enrolled at Southwestern Theological Seminary where he received his Master of Divinity degree. Paul left the states shortly after graduation as a North American missionary to Peru.

Paul ministered as a missionary in Peru for 10 years, during which time he founded the HeartCry Missionary Society to support Peruvian Church planters. HeartCry's work now supports over 80 indigenous missionaries in 15 different countries throughout Eastern Europe, South America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

An itinerant preacher, Paul also frequently teaches at his home church, First Baptist Church of Muscle Shoals, and is the author of The One True God: A Biblical Study of the Doctrine of God.

At the present, Paul serves as the Director of HeartCry Missionary Society and resides in Muscle Shoals, Alabama with his wife Charo and two sons Ian and Evan, and one daughter Rowan.

First Baptist Church of Grand Cayman

Thabiti Anyabwile, Senior Pastor, is a native of Lexington, North Carolina (U.S.). He is the happy husband of Kristie and the adoring father of two daughters, Afiya and Eden, and son, Titus. He began serving as elder/senior pastor in August 2006. He served previously as an elder/assistant pastor at Capitol Hill Baptist Church (Washington, DC) and as an elder at Church on the Rock (Raleigh, NC). Thabiti holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in psychology from North Carolina State University. A former high school basketball coach and bookstore owner, he enjoys preaching, reading, sports, and watching sci-fi films.

First Presbyterian Church of Jackson Mississippi

J. Ligon Duncan III (born 1960) is a Reformed theologian, professor, author, and minister of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). He is currently the senior minister of the historic First Presbyterian Church, Jackson, Mississippi—a flagship church of the PCA (the largest conservative Presbyterian denomination in the English-speaking world). His preaching is televised regionally, and he hosts a regionally broadcasted radio program, with Derek Thomas and Bill Wymond, Hymns of the Faith.

Capitol Hill Baptist Church

Mark Dever serves as the senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC. A Duke graduate, Dr. Dever holds a M.Div. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, a Th.M. from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. in Ecclesiastical History from Cambridge University. He is the president of 9Marks Ministries and has taught at a number of seminaries. Dr. Dever has authored several books and articles, most recently, What is a Healthy Church? and The Gospel and Personal Evangelism (Crossway 2007). Earlier books include Nine Marks of a Healthy Church (Crossway 2000, 2004), The Deliberate Church (Crossway 2005), Promises Kept: The Message of the New Testament (Crossway 2005), and Promises Made: The Message of the Old Testament (Crossway 2006). He and his wife Connie live and minister with their son, Nathan, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

How does a person making decisions know what is the will of God?

2009-01-12T19:30:00.000-05:00

John MacArthur preached a sermon about knowing the will of God for one's life entitled, "If God's Will is So Important, Why Can't I Find It?" The following is a short summary of the answers given to discern God's will:

The will of God is not meant to be a secret we must uncover. God wants us to understand His will far more than we want to understand it. He always makes His will clear to those who seek it with an obedient heart.

Most of the real problem areas in the question of God's will are settled for us in Scripture. The Bible reveals that it is God's will for all of us to be:

Saved
(1 Timothy 2:3-4; 2 Peter 3:9)

Spirit-filled
(Ephesians 5:17-18)

Sanctified
(1 Thessalonians 4:3-7)

Submissive
(1 Peter 2:13-15)

Suffering
(Philippians 1:29; 2 Timothy 3:12)

If all those things are true in your life, you may do whatever you want. Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart." That means that if you are conforming to God's will in all the five ways listed above, He will place in your heart desires that reflect His will. So do what you want to do!

Now, I must admit that my life has recently been more difficult than usual and I also have been looking to know with more certainty God's will for me. For quite a while, I thought that I wasn't anyone special so I should just resolve to live myself suffering where I was and not making waves, just obey God and read my Bible.

Then I thought that God does have a will for me but I should just sit around and wait till someone knocks on my door and says, "I have been sent by God to tell you what you are supposed to do with your life. The answer is __________." So I basically just waited around and decided to humbly wait on God's timing and in the mean-time try out a few things because I was also hearing this talk by John Piper about God revealing his will for your life through community. Basically, whatever you are best at in ministry can give you a good clue as to the will of God for you. The only problem with this for me is that the things that I seem to be good at are all things that require me to have more training to be able to to them well.

So, I listen to this sermon by John MacArthur and he lists these 6 things. I think, "Cool! I am doing all those things so basically, whatever I want to do I can do!" Another thing that went on was that I was praying one night and kind of realized that I was letting God have control of everything except for who I was going to marry. I basically had resolved myself to not marry anyone or either to marry ________. In my opinion, I was telling God, "either you give me so and so or I will just stay single." I decided to just give up and let God have the say-so in even this area. As a result, it became more clear that if this option were totally out of the picture then I would be free to do ANYTHING that I wanted to do!

So now I am at the point of, "OK, I am going to endeavor to do this thing and if God shuts the door, great, I will just go some other way and pick something that I want to do. I know that by "testing, I will be able to discern the good and perfect will of God" and that "no one can take me out of the Father's hand or out of Jesus' hand." So, I know that I am in Christ and if I just sit on my can and don't do anything I may be living in disobedience to the will of God and that is certainly something I don't want to do!

As a little disclaimer, if you are violating anyone of those points listed above and think you can just do what I am doing, you won't be doing God's will. If you do try it, maybe God will lead you into a relationship with him through suffering (as he did me when I tried to rebel against Him). But you really really don't want to go there. Just submit now and surrender your self-will to him and if you are living in sexual immorality or greed or some other sin, deal with that first before you try to find out God's will for you.

THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST - from (Monergism.com)

2009-01-10T12:29:00.000-05:00

THE GOSPEL IS A MESSAGE ABOUT:

GOD
- Is. 6:1-5, 5:16; Rev.4:8-11. God is Holy.
- Dan. 4:35; Ps. 135:6. God is Sovereign.
- 1 Jn. 4:8,16. God is Love.
- Heb. 12:29. God is a Communing Fire.
- Gen. 17:1; Jer. 32:17; Is. 43:13; Amos 9:2-3. God is Omnipotent.
- Ps. 139:1-6; Rom. 11:33-36. God is Omniscient
- Jer. 23:23-24; Ps. 139:7-12. God is Omnipresent
- Ps. 145:17. God Is Righteous.
- Ex. 34:6-7. God is Merciful.
- Rev. 29:11-15. God is a Judge.
- Jn. 4:23-24. God is a Spirit.
- 1 Jn. 5:7; 2 Cor.13:14; I Pet. 1:2. God is one God revealed in three distinct persons; Father, Son, & Holy Spirit (trinity, not modalism).
- Jn. 1:1-3, 14,18, 10:30-33, 17:5, 20:28; Acts 20:28; Rm. 9:5; Phi. 2:5-11; Col. 1:15-17, 2:9; I Tim. 3:16; Titus 2:13; Heb. 1:1-12; II Pet. 1:1; Rev. 1:8. Jesus is God--YHWH.
SIN
- Gen. 2:15-17. Adam and Eve's disobedience resulted in spiritual and physical death.
- Rom. 6:23. The wages of sin is death.
- Dt. 6:4-5. However, before sin entered the world man's purpose was to serve God and glorify Him.
- Matt. 22:34-40. Therefore, man is now living in an abnormal condition.
- Rom. 3:10, 5:6-9; Lk. 5:31,32 There is none righteous, no not one!
- Rom. 3:23. Everyone, without exception, is a sinner.
- Rom 5:12. Adam's sin nature is inherited by all mankind.
- Is. 64:6-7. God views our good deeds as “filthy rags.”
- Eph. 2:8-9. God rejects our good works.
- Ps. 51:5, 58:3. We are sinners from birth.
- Jn. 3:19. Sinners love their sin.
THE LAW
- Ex. 20:1-20. The Ten Commandments must by obeyed perfectly.
- Mt. 22:34-40. If we disobey the 1st & 2nd greatest commandments we have broken all of the Bible’s laws.
- Ja. 2:10-11. If we break one commandment we’ve broken them all.
- Rom. 3:20; Gal. 3:24. The purpose of the Ten Commandments is to reveal sin in us and disclose our inability in keeping the law’s demands. This creates an attitude of desperation in sinners to be delivered from the guilt and penalty of the law. Christ alone is the sinners hope.
THE VANITY OF LIFE
- Heb. 9:27. Three things are common to all: Life, Death, & Judgment.
- 2 Pet. 3:8; Ja. 4:13-14. Life Is short: The earth will be covered by all new people 110 years from now. Our life span is compared to one grain of sand taken from one planet among a thousand planets covered with sand. After you die no one remembers you (Eccl. 1:11, 2:16).
- Eccl. 12:8,13,14, Life is vain: Solomon, the wisest man who lived, had everything this world has to offer yet he judged this life as totally vain and futile. Nevertheless, man pursues the vain things of this world against all reason, logic and intelligence (2 Tim. 3:7).
- Lk. 12:16-21. Life is fragile: You may die tonight! Many labor to extend their life through exercise and vitamins but will add only a few years.
- Eccl. 5:15; 1 Tim. 6:7; Lk. 9:24. Money and riches are vain.
HELL & JUDGEMENT
- Rev. 20:11-15. The great white throne judgment.
- Matt. 25:41-46. Everlasting fire and punishment for the unsaved.
- Heb. 9:27. After this life comes judgment.
- Lk. 16:19-31. Hell is a place of unceasing pain and torment with no escape.
THE NEW BIRTH
- Jn. 3:1-7. Jesus teaches that the “new birth” is necessary for salvation.
- Jn. 1:13. Salvation is not inherited from our parents, secured by our effort, nor decided by our will, but is a process by which we are “born of God.”
- 2 Cor. 5:17. To be born again means that our old life is replaced by a new one.
- Eph. 4:21-24; Col. 3:9-10. When a person becomes “born again” the Bible describes him as a “new person,” who brings forth new fruit.
- Gal. 6:15. All that matters is that we become a “new creation.”
GRACE
- Eph. 2:8,9. Grace is a free gift, it is unmerited favor.
- Acts 15:11. We are saved by the grace of Christ.
- Rom. 4:3-5. Salvation is by grace through faith and not by the deeds of the law.
- Tit. 3:5-7; Rom.3:24. We are “Justified” freely by His grace.
REPENTANCE
- Lk. 13:3. Unless we repent, we will all perish.
- Acts 3:19. We must repent and be converted.
- Matt. 4:17. Jesus said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” however; the world ridicules the need of repentance.
- Acts 26:20. We must repent and bring forth fruits worthy of repentance.
- I Jn. 1:9. If we confess our sins He will forgive us our sins.
- Prov. 28:13. He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confess and forsakes them will have mercy.
- Ps. 66:18. If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear.
FAITH
- Heb. 11:6. Without faith it is impossible to please God.
- Jn. 20:24-29. Blessed are they who do not see yet believe.
- Jn. 3:16-19. Whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal fife.
- Eph. 2:8. We are saved by grace “through faith.”
- Gal. 3:23-26. We are saved through faith in Christ and not by keeping the law.
- Rom. 3:28, 5:1. We ore justified through faith in Christ.
- Gal. 3:11; Rom. 1:17; Heb. 10:38; Hab. 2:4. “The just shall live by faith.”
SALVATION THROUGH CHRIST ALONE
- Jn. 14:6. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.
- 1 Jn. 5:11-13. He that has the “Son” has life, and he that does not have the Son of God does not have life.
- Acts 4:10-12. Salvation is in none other than Jesus Christ.
- Rev. 3:20. Jesus knocks on the door of our heart.
- Rom. 10:13. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
- Jn. 3:36. He who does not believe on the Son of God has the wrath of God on him.

This concise overview of the Gospel is an excellent tool for Bible study, discipleship, evangelism and group studies. For a laminated copy of this card to keep in your
Bible for ready use write to: CHRIST BIBLE Pulpit, P.O. Box 5772, Oakland, CA.
94605 U.S.A.; or E-mail us @ wildernesstable@yahoo.com; or call (510) 727-1877.

Prayer - a blessing for the Christian

2008-12-21T12:51:00.000-05:00

6"But you, when you pray, ^(H)go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and ^(I)your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. Matthew 6:6

23"Moreover, as for me, ^(A)far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you; but ^(B)I will instruct you in the good and right way. 1 Samuel 12:23

In my own life, these scriptures have helped me to be constant in prayer and powerful in seeing requests answered. This is not a magic formula to get your selfish requests answered however. If you want to see God working in your life to accomplish His will through you, then you will pray things that God wants to happen (salvation, repentance, changed lives, His glory known).

Don't pray for his will in your life if you are unwilling to obey him in your daily life. Don't presume that you deserve better or are better than anyone else. You must pray for God to work in other people's life and pray unselfishly.

An example is when someone asks you to pray for them that you know they are godly persons. You should pray for that request until God answers it for them. If someone you know is unsaved, you should make sure you are saved first (Romans 8:16, Romans 8:14) and then pray for their salvation. Another example is when someone mentions to you some scripture that they think has been impactful in their life or some doctrine that you may never have heard about or something that you should go and study. You will hinder your spiritual growth if you do not make an effort to understand that concept.

Also, I have found that people may not ask you to pray for them but need prayer. For example, a group of guys that I meet with have been studying the Bible for a while but haven't been seeing God's power displayed. I know the leader of the group is praying for the guys so I decide to join in praying for the same thing the group leader is praying for (Matthew 18:20). This verse is talking about praying in groups and it is certainly effective to pray in groups but I think the verse is talking about two brothers earnestly praying for the same thing with the same desire in mind. We often pray in groups thinking that is the magical formula. Simply, I don't think that is very effective unless the people in the group are Christians and are praying for the same thing and are doing it with unselfish motives.

So, as I have been praying more, I have been seeing the working of God more strongly among my family and friends. Hopefully, these things will help you as well.

Studying the Bible

2008-12-13T20:02:00.000-05:00

I like to use books when I study the Bible rather than the internet. I find that in using the internet, I get distracted too easily and get nothing done. I invariably begin browsing for books on Amazon.com or look at some programming web page or update my online photo gallery or something equally useless. There are however many good tools online for Bible study. A few of them are as follows: Blue Letter Bible, and e-sword. E-sword is a program for download with modules. Blue-Letter-Bible is an online Bible study tool that my friend Mike recommended to me.

I find myself being increasingly more old-fashioned. Writing a letter instead of an email, wearing plain clothing, and books. I am creating quite a good collection of Bible study materials and enjoy using them. I do however realize the power of PC and mac programs like Logos Bible software or e-sword. I do like to use programs like that because they have great articles by dead preachers that I like to read.

In studying the Bible, I have a good literal translation, a Vine's and Strong's Dictionary, a greek/english new testament and maybe one or two other translations that are less literal in case I am meditating on a scripture and don't have a good Bible dictionary handy. If I am studying a verse such as Matthew 5:3, I have learned to look up certain words in the origional greek because they often have a wider meaning than the translators used. I know there are certain ones who believe that THEIR translation has the all-supreme-exact-infallible translation of that word from greek to english. In reality, those people linguistically ignorant. Any person who has learned to speak a language other than english had to come to the realization that every language has words that translate differently and there are in many cases no exact translations for similar words.

An good example is the difference between the renderings in the Bible of, "be merciful" and "be propitiate". The english versions of the Bible render Luke 18:13, "God, be merciful to me a sinner!" or something similar. The real translation should be, "God, be propitiate toward me the sinner!" In webster's dictionary, propitiate has almost the exact meaning that the Greek word, hilaskomai has: To conciliate (an offended power); appease: propitiate the gods with a sacrifice. Basically, the tax collector(publican) is asking God to apply the atoning sacrifice to him not to just be merciful to him because God is the kind that just forgives those who ask him. God is not that way.

So we must come to him realizing that our God forgives us through the passion of Christ, that is the suffering from the wrath of God poured on him because of our sins. Because Jesus took our sins upon him on the cross and we must come to him broken and humble, knowing that we deserve the wrath of God and offering no defense on our behalf. We must know that God is just in condemning us and that he cannot simply overlook what we have done because he demands absolute perfection and are not perfect so God requires either that we pay for our sins or that we humbly submit to God's verdict and ask for the forgiveness based on the suffering of Jesus for what we have done.

What should that inspire in you? Namely a life sparked and energized by that reality to live for God rather than yourself. You are a pathetic wretch apart from living your life in light of that reality and submitting to God's ownership of you.

Conflicting Desires and Torment in Hell

2008-11-07T23:22:00.001-05:00

For some reason, I begin these blogs talking about some subject and that gets me thinking and by the end of the blog, I am talking about something not even remotely similar to what I began with. This time I was going to attempt to compare my life before Christ to my life now.

Before Christ, my desires were more intellectual for studying the Bible than actually deriving joy from it. Being a Christian was like a 9 - 5 Job for me. For example, I would go to church, serve there, spend time with my friends and turn my mind immediately to other things upon leaving. I spent my time thinking about normal pursuits such as movies, partying, working and playing on the computer. I was always looking for the next party where I could meet some girl or hoping that some beautiful girl would consent to go on a date with me. Even while in church I thought of those things.

Now, you are going to think, "Wow, what a hypocrite!" But I really did read the Bible. I actually read it in the morning and in the evening sometimes. I succeeded in reading the entire Bible once before I went to Mexico for a year and had read numerous books on how to live a godly life. A few such were, "Every Man's Battle", "The Prayer of Jabez", "Wild at Heart", "Life is Tremendous!", "The Magic of Thinking Big", "How to Win Friends and Influence People" and a myriad of others. I was one of the best Christians you had ever met (although I was not).

I had a good paying job at UGA and attended church every time the door was open. I actually taught Bible Study and was an Elder in my church! I even went to Mexico and became a missionary for a year. There I had to learn Spanish. I went down there knowing very little and left being able to preach the Bible in Spanish. I actually shared with the church there all that God had taught me through my stay in Mexico. But you know something, I WAS NOT SAVED!

If you had told me this, I would have told you that you are crazy. Of course I am saved! If you had named my sins and told me that my persisting in them was evidence of my perdition, I would have told you that they didn't mean that I was lost because they were sins that I didn't do ALL the time and that I had a sincere desire to serve the Lord and that my life had evidences of my faith.

Now, you are probably thinking, "you don't seem all that bad to me." You are right! I wasn't all that bad. In fact, I would probably put most people who are reading this blog to shame in regards to "being a good Christian". By the way, "being a good Christian" is just another way to say, "as to righteousness under the law, blameless!"

So, in regards to this, where was my problem? It was actually much deeper than anyone or myself could ever see. God had to reveal it to me through many painful experiences, betrayals and loneliness. Thank God for pain. Without it we just kind of simmer in the pot until we are fully cooked. This is actually one of the things that I pray more and more for people. I pray for pain and discomfort in their lives so that they can turn to God for answers instead of other things. I want people to hate themselves and others so much that they finally come to the point where they realize everything bad in their lives is their own stupid fault and that they must repent or face eternal torment in hell apart from God where, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

My Mom's Blog

2008-10-24T18:56:00.000-04:00

I read my mom's last blog post and I am very glad that she is my mother. God blesses us with mothers and it is a travesty when we don't treat them with love and kindness. Mom, if you read this, thank you for who you are and for bearing with my disrespect, disobedience and self-love.

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We are responsible for what we do in this life. God does offer forgiveness but not forever. We can not continue willfully living in rebellion and think that God owes us forgiveness and empathy. We must realize that men are called to repent and turn to God.

Mom's Last Blog

Regeneration is an Act of God

2008-10-21T08:15:00.000-04:00

Now a vital and saving knowledge of these Divine truths can not be acquired by a mere study of them. No amount of pouring over the Scriptures, no painstaking examination of the soundest doctrinal treatises, no exercise of the intellect, is able to secure the slightest spiritual insight into them.

True, the diligent seeker may attain a natural knowledge, an intellectual apprehension of them, just as one born blind may obtain a notional knowledge of the colourings of the flowers or of the beauties of a sunset, but the natural man can no more arrive at a spiritual knowledge of spiritual things, than a blind man can a true knowledge of natural things, yea, than a man in his grave can know what is going on in the world he has left. Nor can anything short of Divine power bring the proud heart to a felt realization of this humbling fact; only as God supernaturally enlightens, is any soul made conscious of the awful spiritual darkness in which it naturally dwells ~ A.W. Pink

This was me who knew repentance before actually being repentant; who knew salvation without actually being saved; and knew about Jesus without actually being known by or knowing him. The simple fact was that I was blind and thought my own personal desire to know and experience God was enough reason for him to accept me. The truth is that I did not ultimately treasure God more than I did my sins. I was not willing to give up sin but rather wanted all the good that God has to offer without accepting his sovreignty in my life.

I was not a little child who did not know all the details of salvation or even the details of repentance. I knew them in my heart but chose to listen to people who were telling me letting Jesus be Lord was not necessary but rather, something that may happen later in life if I am "really spiritual".

At the Altar of Sexual Idolatry

2008-10-15T23:31:00.000-04:00

Can a Christian man really maintain a pure heart in America’s sexually charged culture? Can he truly honor God with his thought life? The answer is resoundingly YES! And the At the Altar of Sexual Idolatry 20th Anniversary Edition goes right to the heart and proves it.

Put an end to the mystery of lust and step into a life of freedom with the proven biblical answers that have helped thousands.

Something new for men at every level of the struggle:

Fresh insights from 20 years of counseling in every chapter.
Goes deeper than its predecessor in unearthing the roots of sexual sin.
Two new chapters address Internet porn, the eroding morality of America and deeply examine a man’s inner life.

Endorsements

“The reason I am writing this foreword for Steve is that he has based everything in this book on God’s Word. It is foundational, inspirational, confrontational—just what you need. This is your book. Put the Bible and this book side by side—reading them—and let the Word do the work. Thank God for a man like Steve Gallagher, who will tell the truth and let the truth make us free. Live Free!”
The Late Dr. Edwin Louis Cole, Founder of Christian Men’s Network

“At the Altar of Sexual Idolatry is one of the best books out there on this topic. I recommend that you get this book.”
Beverly LaHaye, Concerned Women for America

“I do a lot of counseling of men struggling with sexual addiction. Far more than any book I have encountered, Sexual Idolatry cuts right to the heart of the problem. Steve Gallagher has finally given the evangelical world a book that uses the Word of God to deal with this terrible epidemic.”
Dr. Robert K. Wetmore, Professor of Theology at Toccoa Falls College

“Steve Gallagher has nailed the roots of sexual addiction by naming it an idolatry. This kind of spiritual aggression against God has but one cure at its foundation—brokenness, repentance, and walking daily in the power of the Holy Spirit. God’s transforming way is revealed in this book.”
Dr. Tim Clinton, President of American Association of Christian Counselors

“Evangelical Christianity is indebted to Steve Gallagher for turning the pain of his past into a path toward purity for those in bondage to sexual idolatry.”
Richard Dobbins, Executive Director of Emerge Ministries

My Testimony

2008-10-15T12:17:00.001-04:00

Before I became a Christian, I was involved in sexual immorality. I know that it was wrong somehow and that the Bible condemned it but that I was a Christian and that I was only "struggling with it". I thought that I could overcome my sin through my own efforts. I was also very greedy and self-righteous. My self-righteousness came from a lack of having God's righteousness and an attempt to feign what only God could genuinely produce.

I tried to cure my sin by becoming heavily involved with the church. I did many good things but always did them with selfish motives. I treated people a certain way and expected that they treat me the same way. If someone didn't treat me like I thought that they should, I viewed it as they were sinning against me and should repent. I viewed myself as a great servant of God who others could look to. All the things that I were doing were done because I either wanted love, acceptance or if I wanted to feel important.

All my efforts to get my dreams and goals in life failed. I was angry at others because I felt like I was totally righteousness and that every one else was taking advantage of me. I began reading a book about evangelism and was interested in learning what the author had to say because I had come to respect him as a Bible teacher. In one of the exercises in the book, I was told to write down all the reasons that I was better than all the different groups of people that I looked down upon. I began to write this list down and little by little, I began to realize how self-righteous and utterly unrighteous that I really was.

In that moment I realized that I was not a good person and that I really didn't deserve God's favor. I realized that this life that I had been living was very hypocritical and displeasing to God and I wanted it to change because I didn't like who I found out I really was. From that point on, I decided that I was going to submit to God and obey what he said in his word and through other godly leaders that he had placed in my life.

Since I had that realization and was truthful to myself and God about who I really was, my life has never been the same. God began to work in the areas that I had kept hidden for so long. God began to change my heart and help me to confess what I was doing as sin and help me to think differently about people. God is helping me to be more obedient to him everyday and I am seeking what he wants for my life and to deepen my relationship with Him.

What needs to be preached in Baptist churches

2008-10-12T15:21:00.000-04:00

Jesus is not the Ticket!
http://www.reformedvideos.com/index.php?option=com_seyret&Itemid=104&task=videodirectlink&id=15

Paul Washer Explains that Matthew 7:13-27 does not refer to times of testing, rather salvation.
http://www.reformedvideos.com/index.php?option=com_seyret&Itemid=104&task=videodirectlink&id=294

The first video is only about 2 minutes but the second one is about an hour but, they both are about salvation and the importance of taking seriously the call of salvation.

Not to say that this shouldn't be preached in every church but, the baptist church, being the biggest denomination that can do the most good if they repent.

The Thief on the Cross

2008-10-04T16:32:00.000-04:00

But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."
- Luke 23:40-43

Did the thief on the cross pray the sinners prayer? Did he even ask Jesus to go to heaven? NO. What did this thief have that saved him? Why did Jesus accept this man? He accepted the man because he realized the fact that Jesus was dying for something he didn't deserve but that he was dying for something that he deserved. He realized that God was just in punishing him and that Jesus was going to a kingdom because the world did not deserve him as their king.

Did he have theology? I dare say that he had little in common with most of us in the amount of Bible he knew. So, had he been explained the "Four Spiritual Laws"? Here, for your convenience, they are:

God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life.
Man is sinful and separated from God.Therefore, he cannot know and experience God's love and plan for his life.
Jesus Christ is God's only provision for man's sin. Through Him you can know and experienceGod's love and plan for your life.
We must individually receive Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord;then we can know and experience God's love and plan for our lives.

Here also, are the problems with telling people these laws:

While it is true that God loves you, God hates sin and God will send unrepentant sinners to hell. You, by the way hate God with all your heart and want your way with all that you are. Jesus said, The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil. - John 7:7 God's plan for your life, is that you unashamedly acknowledge your sin and repent your you will have to follow the plan for un-repentant sinners which is that you die and go to hell.
The problem with this law is that it is true but it is not the entire truth. While man is seperated from God, he actually likes being seperated from God. Why? Because God demands control of our lives in every aspect and man is not willing to give God that kind of control in his life. God says, unless you give me everything you have, I will not accept you or know you. I will judge you as a rebellious goat and send you to outer darkness.
Yes, Jesus is God's only provision for sin but people think that they are doing OK without him because their lives are bad but not that bad. We live in an age of constant pleasure to cure all of your problems. As an example of this, I would like to use Noah's ark. The ark is Jesus. Noah is me telling you to stop sinning and to go to Jesus. You are the person who is about to be drowned and destroyed along with everything you own and all that you hold dear and all the movies and music that you like to listen to rather than studying your Bible. Ha! Eat that one! When you hear this, you say, "Um, there isn't any rain dummy. I am doing just fine, I don't need your stupid ark. Go and cut down a tree if that will make you feel better. You are smelly and need to take a bath."
You hear this and think, "Oh wow, is that all there is? I thought it was actually going to be harder than that! I will pray that prayer on the off chance that there is actually going to be some kind of accountability for my actions. That was really nice of Jesus to die for me. It was noble of him so I guess I owe him a prayer and to make Christianity my religion of choice. But as long as that's all I have to do, I will continue being a Christian. As long as God's plan doesn't encroach on MY plan, me and God are ok. But if God starts to try to touch my things, then I am going to have to let him know who is boss."

So, that is what is behind the four spiritual laws. They are deficient because they teach a weak God who loves us and forgives our sins and doesn't demand anything else from us. Kind of like a cheap prostitute. That is it. We think and teach that God is a prostitute. God put on all this perfume and got all dressed up so that he could serve us sexually, meet out temporal need and let us go on without any type of commitment to him.

What blasphemy we are preaching! Jesus, please forgive us for our sin! We have perverted your gospel for so long and it is our fault. We put our minds above your word and accepted the doctrines of demons so that the world wouldn't persecute us and take away the lifestyle we were trying to create of heaven on earth without treasuring you and your kingdom! We love the world and hate you! We think that you are happy with us as a nation and are on the verge of commiting apostasy!

I am not going to say much more than this, I am not going to tell you the entire truth. I am just going to direct you to some websites where you can begin to learn the truth. Here is where I have learned the truth about God and Jesus. I hope that you can humbly submit to God and turn from your sin.

http://www.marshillchurch.org/

http://www.purelifeministries.org/

http://www.desiringgod.org/

http://gty.org/

Create in Me a Pure Heart - for women

2008-10-02T17:28:00.000-04:00

“She who gives herself to wanton pleasure,” observed the apostle Paul, “is dead even while she lives.” These ominous words perfectly articulate the living hell in which many Christian women are currently living. It has been thought that sexual sin is strictly a man’s problem, but statistics indicate that the problem among women is much vaster than anyone might have imagined.

The desire to connect with someone emotionally, the indulgence in romantic fantasies, the craving for male attention and the ever present godless influences of the media have all combined to create what has quietly become a spiritual epidemic in our midst.

Create in Me a Pure Heart addresses the unique issues that the struggling woman faces. Utilizing the profound insights found in the author’s best-selling book, At the Altar of Sexual Idolatry, this book offers a clear-cut path to freedom that will prove to be invaluable to pastors, counselors and struggling women.

Love Comes From Purity

2008-08-10T12:37:00.000-04:00

"Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;" - 1Pe 1:22-23

What I believe this means is that purity doesn't come from being born again, it comes from obedience to the truth that we have already believed. There is a progression here:

obedience to the truth (the gospel of repentance and belief in Jesus, Mark 1:14-15)
resulting purity
sincere brotherly love
encouragement to pursue a deeper love for the brothers

To purify one's soul comes from having been obedient to the gospel of Jesus which is, "repent and believe in Jesus for the salvation of your souls." This is confirmed from the very beginning of the book where it says in verse 3: "he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,".

Of course, being born again, is a new heart and new life. A new feeling toward God and a realization of ones own dependence on God to live the Christian life. The living hope is Jesus. He is alive and we all hope to attain to the ressurection of the dead. Of course, our hope is a confident one. We are not hoping as if we were hoping that it doesn't rain tomorrow. We "have" hope because of something that we believe. That is more of the idea conveyed when God says, a "living hope".

So, as a result of the new birth that comes from God causing us to understand our hopelessness and need for Jesus and causing us to believe only in Him, we are purifying ourselves because we are new creations and we do this by obeying the gospel that we have heard. That is, the word of God.

In purifying ourselves, we are preparing ourselves for loving our bretheren. The wording of the text implies that without purifying oneself by obeying God's word, one can not love someone even in the most basic sense which is brotherly love. If we are unable to love each other, apart from being born again and thus purified and able to finally love each other, there is no wonder that our human efforts at love are always going to fail. Why? because we are fallen from the perfect state that God created us and live in seperation from his divine attributes. We can only be more like God when we obey him. Why? because obedience to God's word means to put sins to death: "sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry"(Col 3:5). If we don't put sins to death, we are being disobedient to God's word and therefore are not pure, and most likely not born again. The flip-side of this is that without being born again you can not put sins to death or be obedient to God's word!

So how is one born again? Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel." (Mark 1:14-15). Jesus said it himself, repent and believe. What do we need to repent of and what is the gospel? Repentance means in the Strong's to think differently or afterwards. This means to have a change of mind about what you are doing. For example, you were going to the store and you changed your mind. In other words, you repented. Why? You repented because you decided you could make due with what you had. That idea that you needed the butter or whatever you were going to get was thrown out because you realized that you had something else that would do.

The beginning of our purification process comes from our new birth. Our new birth is the result of Jesus Christ using his Word to educate us about what we need to change our minds about. What we need to be corrected in is our view of self. Everyone is born thinking that they are sinless and that everyone else sins against them. God wants us to get the idea that we are sinful and we sin against everyone else but the most important one that we are sinning against and really the one that we are sinning against is God himself. So what God tells us in the Bible is, "You are a bad person. All your addictions and problems are a result of your choosing to live your life your own way by your own rules and your desire to live for everything under the sun except me. You have worshipped all the created things but have forgotten about your creator who formed you and gave you life."

So God wants us to deliver and account to ourselves about all these things and wake up and realize that we are acutally following everyone else on the road to hell and that we should fall down on our knees realizing that we can't make ourselves "good" or we are not good anyway and that we need God and that our hearts are bad and we need a new one. We confess our sins and our being sinners to Jesus and ask him to forgive us for living our lives according to our own wisdom and submit to God's solution. Namely, give control of our lives to Him! That is what repentance is and what God wants from us. This is the first thing that takes place. We are born again when we repent and subsequently believe in Jesus. This can take place quickly in the life of someone who already belives that Jesus died and rose from the dead.

It was a strange thing in my own life. I believed (really believed) that Jesus is God, that he came to earth born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, was punished on the cross for the sins of all the world and that he died, was buried and rose from the dead and was seen by over 500 people after his resurrection. My problem was that I identified with the world as being full of sinners and that somehow by praying a prayer and believing some facts, I was somehow taken out of the card deck of the "sinners" and had been placed in the card deck of the "believers". So, in reality, I didn't see myself as a sinner but rather as a believer. The problem is that even after a person believes, he never stops sinning and as a result is a sinner for his or her entire life!

The funny part is that God commands us to actually stop sinning and to serve him and follow him and live for him. We therefore are given the impossible task of stopping sinning when it is physically and morally impossible and told that if we don't succeed in this impossible task, we are, going to hell! "No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him." 1 John 3:6.

That is crazy talk! No one can stop sinning for the rest of his life! Everyone has sin! Only those crazy cooks who yell at people on the street believe that! Yep, you are right. I agree with you! Hahaha! fooled you! You thought I was going to tell you that my s**t don't stink. Well it doesn't I take pills so that it doesn't. But for all of you who still have this problem, there is a solution. Stop sinning and therefore you will stop sucking so bad! Why do you suck? Because you believe as you do. You think that it's ok to put up with a little sin. You try to do things so that you can feel like a good person. You go to church and read your Bible using your handy dandy devotional that you picked up off of the church pew. You neglect however obedience to the truth. The truth is to repent and believe.

True repentance has as its fruit, purity. Purity comes from obedience to the truth. The obedience to the truth is a result of a new nature to go along with your old nature. Now, you are in fact born again. This just means that you are able, in addition to choose sin, to choose instead to obey God and walk in the Spirit. Completely stopping certain sins can be achived but not apart from a continued obedience to God. This is how we maintain obedience, through a relationship with God. We do sin from time to time but God gives us the ability to stop say for example, sexual immorality all together. This is achieved through repentance regarding that frame of mind toward it and becoming obedient to God's word instead.

That's all for now. If anyone ever reads this I guess I will finish it. I sometimes get way to tired of writing and lack the skills to organize it well. I also just realize one or two things and since I haven't studied the passage as thoroughly as is needed, tend to ramble a lot.

Could the Apostasy Be Upon Us?

2008-08-07T16:05:00.000-04:00

By: Steve Gallagher | Download

Although he is better known for his role on The Love Boat, Gavin MacLeod cited his supporting performance in the 2003 film Time Changer as “the most important thing” he had ever done. It’s hard to disagree with him.

The storyline occurs in 1890 and revolves around Bible professor Russell Carlisle, who is unwittingly transported by a time machine into modern-day America. For five days, he finds himself trapped in a wicked world to which you and I have become shamefully accustomed.

In his day, the term, “Gay Nineties,” referred to the nation’s innocence, not to the filthy and lewd behavior reflected in our past decade. Men married their wives for life, with divorce rates hovering around a microscopic 5%. Teenage promiscuity, marital infidelity and abortion were almost nonexistent. Pornography—even if you could find it—was typically an artist’s rendering of a topless woman.

Christian filmmaker Rich Christiano’s character, Russell Carlisle, is an awkward and unlikely hero who is thrust into the America of our day. This results in the inevitable scenes of him marveling over modern technology and dodging speeding cars. More important, though, are his reactions to the stark contrast in morality between the two eras.

At one point, he is seen watching television. His horrified expression betrays the fact that he is witnessing the kind of blatant immorality which has become standard fare for many of us. But perhaps the most poignant scene occurs when he is invited by some Christians to attend a movie with them. Suddenly, he is shown running out of the theater screaming at the employees, “You have to stop this movie! That actor took the Lord’s name in vain! He blasphemed God!”

If you or I witnessed a fellow believer acting this way, we would quickly distance ourselves from him. And yet this scenario provokes a few pointed questions Christians should ask themselves. Why aren’t we more outraged when we hear actors take the Lord’s name in vain? How can we look upon scantily-clad girls on television without blushing? Why do we permit TV to indoctrinate our children with the world’s values? The Church is obviously backslidden. The greater question it provokes is: Could we be in the Great Apostasy and not be aware of it?

After having spent the last two years studying this subject in Scripture, I was forced to acknowledge that two of my long-held assumptions regarding it have been wrong.

First, I came to realize that this falling away would not primarily be an obvious, outward renunciation of Christianity; it would be much more an issue of what is occurring in people’s hearts (e.g., Matt. 24:12).

My second erroneous notion was that the greatest problem in the Church today is that pastors are too busy to effectively disciple their flocks. I thought the sin and carnality running rampant in our midst was the result of harried pastors not holding churchgoers accountable to actually live what they are learning. I now believe that the larger issue is that pastors are burning themselves out trying to lead unconverted people into living the Christian life.

In the end, I arrived at the devastating conclusion that a large segment of the Post-Modern Church—that which has been the subject of our love and efforts—fits all the criteria predicted by Scripture of the Apostate Church. This issue of Unchained! Magazine will highlight a handful of those characteristics.

Yes, I believe that if “Russell Carlisle” stepped into our Christian world today, he would immediately come to the conclusion that we are indeed in the midst of the Great Apostasy. May God help us to discern the times in which we live!

Steve Gallagher is the founder and president of Pure Life Ministries. He has dedicated his life to helping men find freedom from sexual sin and the abundant life in God that comes through deep repentance.

Forgiveness and Faith

2008-08-03T17:39:00.000-04:00

Luke 17:3-10 is our passage for today. Jesus tells his disciples that if one of their fellow Christian brothers does them wrong multiple times in the same day, they are to forgive each time. Keeping in mind that a brother who sins against you may not know that they have done something to offend you, you should humbly let them know what they did.

But, the point of what Jesus said is that we should forgive them over and over again for doing the same thing. For example, if you have a Christian brother who is your roommate and he always forgets to do certain things like he leaves dirty dishes in the sink or he forgets to flush the toilet. We are to rebuke him but never hold a grudge and to forgive immediately.

Let's say that every time you go out to eat with a particular brother in Christ that he seems to always forget his money. You should tell him that he should remember his money next time and asks you to pay, you should let him know that he needs to bring his money but that you forgive him and will pay this time. But what if the very next day he does the same thing, what should you do? Tell him that he needs to wash dishes for the restuarant so that he learns his lesson? Well first of all that would be pride on your part if you did and that is a sin. Should you just pay for his food that time and never eat out with him again? No. That would not be forgiveness. Love keeps no record of wrongs as stated in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. You should pay, let him know that he needs to remember his money and continue being friends with him and eating out with him. That is the impossible obedience that Jesus demanded.

To this command, one of the disciples responds, "Increase our faith!” What he was saying is, "Give me enough faith to be able to do that because with what I have now, that is impossible!" Jesus responds by telling him that if he had a very small amount of faith he could do what seems impossible. He was not telling his disciple that every person who has even a small amount of faith is going to be able to have a very successful tree removal service business, but that something that is impossible can be accomplished with just a little faith.

We don't need a huge amount of faith to do impossible things. We do however need to be obedient to what Jesus tells us to do in his word. The next passage explains this in verses 7-10. We are servants, Jesus is the Master. A servant is to be working all day in the field and then, when he gets home to the master's house where he lives, instead of to be served by the master as a reward for working so hard, he has to prepare the master's food, fill up his drink when it gets empty and wait till the master is finished eating before he can sit down to eat. But the servant, before eating must be properly dressed to sit down in the master's presence to eat his food.

We must remember that we are not worthy to have God serve us. This is the attitude that is required when we are dealing with other people. We are serving God who is our master when we are instructed to forgive those who sin against us. It is not enough to do what we are called to do and work faithfully in pastoring people or evangelizing the lost. We are also called to serve our Christian brothers and sisters even the weak ones. We do this as if we were serving God himself (Matthew 25:40).

Childrens' Camps

2008-07-12T10:09:00.000-04:00

Children's camp in Rio Blanco

Matthew 19:14
but Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven."

Precious to God are little children and this is how we must come to God, as they are. Children are dependent on their parents for every need that they have and we must be that way toward God.

Once every quarter we had a 3 day long camp for the children in the mountains. Since none of their parents have automobiles, we have to go up to the mountains to get them and take them to the camp. It takes nerves of steele and lots of gasoline to get all the children from their respective villages to the one place where the camp is located. We go 3 or 4 different dirrections on 1 to 3 hour trips to pick up everyone. Sometimes by the time the last child is on the vehicle, it is so loaded down that with every minor bump (and there are many on those mountain roads), that the tire scrapes the wheel well or the van thumps the rocks that we are passing over.

It is such a joy to see the children though. I remember one trip in particular when I was accompaning Roberto to Teotsacualco to pick up children to take them to a Summer camp. We were driving in a blue Dodge van that was loaded way beyond its capacity. All the children were singing praise songs to Jesus and in perfect harmony. It sounded like a load of angels coming down the mountain and was one of the most joyful experiences of my life.

At the camps, the children sleep in tents and attend classes and play games. The tents are set up dividing boys and girls and sometimes they will have a large tent where all the boys or girls will occupy. Regardless of whether they use one or many tents, all are loaded to capacity. The missionaries were kind to me however, they let me sleep by myself in either a tent or one of the vehicles.

The classes are led either by the missionaries or by young women or married couples from the church in Rio Blanco. At the group meetings, all children are in attendence and sing silly songs and praise song or are entertained by clowns or puppets. These meetings are where the children learn the songs that they take back to their parents in the mountains.

What is really wonderful about these meetings is that these children will grow up knowing Jesus and will be able to raise their families following Him rather than alchohol or worshipping some god that is not the real one. They will be able to do away with sinful customs of their fathers such as robbing your future wife from her parents or having more than one wife. I am thankful for the work of the missionaries in not neglecting the children or hindering their coming to Jesus.

Giving and Taking

2008-07-11T14:20:00.000-04:00

Today, two verses have been particularly helpful to me and describe just what is happening in my life at this point:

Job 1:21 And he said, "Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."
Hebrews 12:3 "Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted."

When things go wrong and it looks like you may be loosing something important to you, how do you respond? Today, it seemed that way at work today and I really wanted to get angry and yell about my rights and threaten people if they were taken away.

When things go wrong, I have found that going away to a quiet place and praying helps. If you are a Christian and something important is lost, your response should be different than that of most people (threatening, anger, depression and burying your sorrows).

For me, it helps to keep my mouth shut when I am angry. I have not developed the qualities yet that allow me to immediately respond with trusting in God rather than in anxiety regarding the situation.

The question is, "Why should our response to disappointments be trust in God and forgiveness to those who offend us rather than anger and getting back with them for treading on our pride?" The answer is that God cares about those people and wants to see them turn from the road they are following toward destruction and follow Jesus who is the path to life. God also loves you and doesn't like to see you hurt but cares for you infinitely and would never allow anything to hurt you unless he knew it were for your good and theirs.

When people see our different response to disappointment, God is glorified. When we respond like the world does, we are glorified and the other person humiliated or hurt. Let us seek as Christians to glorify God so that other people will see His beauty rather than glorifying ourselves and contributing to the darkness in the world.

Raul Martinez

2008-06-30T17:22:00.000-04:00

Here is a guy with probably the most difficult to pronounce name in the entire world. I don't know how many times I have said his name but every time it is a struggle. In my year of living in Mexico, I would frequently say simply, "Hey Man" instead of "Hey Raul!" Aside from that, he is a pretty fun guy to be around and has a heart for the people in the mountains.

He is married to Avelina and lives in Tequila with her and her family. When I first met him I did not like him very much because he was very mischievous and I couldn't understand his accent, sense of humor and I was a very judgmental and angry person. Raul is from Perote, which is a few hours north of Orizaba. I have never been there but I understand that the climate is very cool in comparison to the valley of Orizaba.

Over the year I stayed in Mexico, I began to get to know him better and although, we never were the best of friends, I began to see respect him more and to judge his actions less. I noticed that he never was one to dis-respect ladies or to have womanizing tendencies like most of us had down there. I saw him reading his Bible often and that he loved to listen to Christian music. I noticed that although he was very poor he would give you the shirt off his back if you were in need.

This example of love and humility from Raul and other believers in Mexico helped me see my selfishness and the need for a change in the way I was thinking about everything I had come to believe.

Avelina and Raul

2008-06-28T10:09:00.000-04:00

Avelina is pictured on the far left in the green shirt. Her sisters, grand-mother and mother are also pictured.

This is Avelina and her family (well her family then. Now she is married to Raul). She was one of the two full-time women missionaries working while I was in Mexico. Avelina was and still is one of the most amiable people that I have ever met.

Her father died when she was young. This left her grandmother and grandfather alone to support her family. She also has three brothers and they also help to support her mother. They make very little money as a family. The women don't work in her region unless they have some kind of home-based business. Her house is located away from the down-town area so this is not very good for that. Besides, you have to either borrow the money or have enough to set aside a little to be able to start a business. As it is, her family barely makes enough to survive.

I have met quite a few rich people in my day. Most of them have had arrogant attitudes about the poor. I have to admit, I was one of them myself. Well, I wasn't rich but I had a rich person's attitude about the poor. I guess you kind of have to have this attitude if you are going to get rich as the world sees it. If you don't have this attitude, you will have to give all your money away. The attitude goes like this, they have the same opportunity that I could. If they would stop thinking like loosers and think like me (a winner) then they would pick themselves up off the ground and be successful. As it is, the rich have no respect for the poor. They view them all as people who have got themselves into the mess that they are in.

Here are a couple of scenarios for you to explain this outlook that rich people have: They had too many kids and therefore had to spend all their money to feed them, chose to live in a rural area or even, they come from a race of savage Aztecs and don't deserve to live anyway. They are just getting what they deserve from living so immorally when they were in power in Mexico. God just took their power from them because they were bad stewards of it but I am better and am very religious and pay my tithes and that's why God has blessed me instead of them.

Are you throwing up yet? Yes. That is sort of the way I lived my life before and I know that is also the way that you have to look at it if you are going to be rich and coldly and callously ignore the needs of others.

God instructs the rich to buy for themselves moneybags that will not be stolen and riches that will not wear out. These things refer to their generosity. The way God sees it, He owns it all anyway and could take the very lives of rich people in an instant. God demands them to be generous to the poor because He was generous to us. He sent Jesus, who by the way was very rich in heaven, to be poor and have no where to lay his head and be beaten and rejected and die with all his followers weeping and in dis-belief while the world rejoiced.

So, yes God does have the right to demand generosity from us. We can coldly think the following: "God will take care of them. I need to provide for my own needs." Yes. God will take care of them. But he demands us to be generous for our own sakes. In the book of Luke, Jesus pronounces some "woes" to go with his "blessings". Luke 6:20-23 pronounces the blessings while Luke 6:24-26 pronounces the woes. All the blessings are for those who are poor, hungry, weeping, hated, troubled, reviled and spoken of as evil. Who does this sound like to you? Donald Trump's family or Avelina's? All of the woes have to do with people who are rich, have plenty to eat, happy and spoken well of. Who does this sound like? Which should we aspire to be if we are going to be blessed by God?

The following picture is of Raul, Avelina and Raul's sister in the back of the "hot wheels" van going up to the mountains to share the gospel with people in the mountains of Mexico. Raul and Avelina are a good match because both of them love the Lord and want to raise children to love the Lord Jesus as well. Happiness is not so much what the Bible lauds as joy is. Joy is the enduring inner contentment in what God has given you and that that is all that you need. It carries with it the thought of being thankful for all that God has given us, even if we don't have anything. This is where true happiness is found.

Monthly Meetings

2008-06-27T10:39:00.000-04:00

The Mission team from Rio Blanco normally goes to the mountains 6 days a week to conduct Bible studies or evangelism among the Indigenous people in the Sierra de Zongolica mountain range.

Beginning in May, they have meetings for the different age groups every Saturday. Every month there is one meeting on any given weekend. One week is for women, another for men, another for the youth and the fourth is for married couples. They do this every month until sometime in October or November. Every week they have the meeting in a different town. Here is a picture of a women's meeting in Quiniatla. It is an agricultural town located in a steep valley nestled between two mountains. Most of the people farm coffee and bananas or are carpenters who make furniture.

When they have a meeting in a particular town, the Christians who live there are responsible to provide a place to meet and some kind of refreshment for the believers from the different towns. This is a great show of hospitality. Often times they will put a lot of money toward providing food for everyone to eat. Sometimes if there is only one family in the area that they are having the meeting, there will be a lighter snack instead of a meal. Nevertheless, the believers go to great lengths to provide what they are able to for others to enjoy.

In order for the meetings to take place on Saturday, the missionaries must wake up early in the morning and gas-up the trucks to go to the different villages to pick up the people. There is about 3 or 4 different directions that they have to go and this ends up costing a lot of money on gas and often times the trucks are loaded down beyond capacity as people pile on the small vehicles. The women's meetings are especially large because more of them go to them and they sometimes bring their kids. I remember several times where the women would be bouncing around in the back of a borrowed pick-up truck with their children.

The definition of comfort there and here is like night and day. I remember complaining silently that I had to sit on the floor or that my back was hurting from all that jumping around. I think we are spoiled here most of the time. Our roads are great and we have much newer and comfortable vehicles to ride around in. Most of the time we have only 1 or 2 persons riding in them. Whenever you see a truck in the mountains it will usually be loaded down with people because there are much fewer vehicles than people.

The meetings usually begin with prayer followed by singing and announcements for the next meeting or to discuss business. They introduce the speaker and they talk for about an hour. They always have a special speaker for these meetings and usually it is someone from the church in Rio Blanco. After the meeting, they eat and then take everyone home. This is usually a long day with the missionaries arriving back at their homes/lodging close to midnight.

Men's Meeting in Tlaquilpa

Vicente

2008-06-27T10:11:00.001-04:00

Vicente is a man who lives in Tequila. He pulls his eyes out of his head if you give him some pesos. On my year stay in Mexico, we saw him several times in the downtown area.

His story is a little sad though. He was born into poverty, had no father or mother and couldn't see very well since he has been a child. He had to live off of whatever people would give him for many years but barely survived.

Along the way, he discovered that he could pop out his eyes and that people were fascinated by it and would pay money to see it. He has been able to support himself by doing this "carnival trick". The only problem is that years and years of doing this has left him nearly blind. I am thankful that I haven't had as hard of a life as Vicente has.

Some people are born in lives of luxury and some people are worse off than even him. The thing that God wants us to do is to be thankful no matter how our lives are. We should learn to be content with Him alone for our fulfillment.

Grumbling and Complaining

2008-06-13T12:46:00.001-04:00

Last night, I was studying in the Bible about grumbling. I was reading several passages in Deuteronomio about how the Israelites blamed Moses for their problems when things did not go right. I read some other passages where it talked about people who sin and are punished for their sin but instead of repenting they get mad at God. God wants us to repent of our sin and to trust in him.

The Old Testament says that it is called taking refuge in God or waiting on Him. When bad things happen to us we take refuge in God and we wait on his loving mercy rather than blaming him for our problems or complaining that we have our problems and demanding that He fix them because he led them to this point and it is his fault.

I don't like to have someone grumble at me. I can understand why God gets so angry when people grumble at Him. I want to be very careful about when I am having a hard time and blaming God for it. I know that God is good. These problems that I have are in my life because God either wants me to repent or I am suffering so that I can learn to be more like Christ.
I am thankful that in going through suffering or if God is teaching me something, that I can trust in His love for me and that whatever is happening will turn out for my good.

Controlling Thoughts

2008-05-31T21:22:00.000-04:00

This week has been very busy at work. Many customers coming in and the phone ringing off the hook. On Friday, we did 5 or 6 leases and Saturday we were only open for 4 hours but did 4 leases. Next week is "rent week", one of my co-workers is on vacation and I am still not fully recovered from my illness. Rent week, by the way, is when all of our renters that pay on time bring in their money to pay rent for the current month. Rent is due on the first but they give them a 5-day grace period to pay on time. So, from the first till the fifth, we have people coming in constantly, paying their rent, wanting hand-written recipts, and us having to manually log all the checks that we receive.

When my co-worker, Katy is helping, the process is usually not very painful. I am just almost dreading going back to work next week because she will not be there and the work load that she has will be shared between our two managers. Sometimes I want to quit really bad but I think how God put me here in this job for this time in my life and it is where He wants me. Although, I don't want to be here, I continue going because I feel some need to stay in my heart.

Don't get me wrong, I have occasionally glanced around for other jobs at times but I haven't gotten serious about it. Would I jump on a job that payed more that didn't offer a chance to use my spanish? Normally I wouldn't but this next week, I am seriously thinking about it! I know however, that God is my life. My relationship with Him will get me through no matter what goes on. My need right now is to deepen my relationship with Him, not be selfishly hoarding my time and getting rest and excercise. I am glad that I am a warrior fighting for Jesus. I wouldn't have it any other way!

Feeling Better, Getting Yard Work Done

2008-05-29T23:43:00.000-04:00

I was excited to read Chet III's blog again today. I was feeling better at work and got a lot of stuff done on the PP website that I am working on. I am learning a lot about programming in php that I hope to use for something in the future.

When I got home, I actually was feeling good enough to wash clothes and do a little yard-work. I raked, moved rocks, sprayed round-up and cut down bamboo canes. I am learning that I can't work myself to hard if I expect to keep going for a long time. I over-worked myself these last months (which I don't regret) and God allowed this to let me see that instead of getting rid of these good things I am able to do, to eliminate areas of my life that bear no fruit. One is the area of my website and another is an area of a side job that I took on some months ago. It has really been a drain on my ability to do other things that help others.

Sometimes things that I do seem good at first but I find out that they don't bear fruit and I have to get rid of them. Maybe you have something like that in your life? There is a trick to it though. You won't find out until you give up your will in place of God's.

Better?

2008-05-28T15:10:00.000-04:00

I took 3/4 bottle of Pepto Bismol last night and it may have fixed me. The problem is that if this is a bacterial infection, the Pepto won't help. I will eventually have to take some antibiotics and go see a doctor. I did have a chance to talk to a doctor briefly last night and he gave me some good advice. I was wanting him to write me a prescription for some antibiotics but it looks like I may be getting better. I am going to see what these next couple of days does.

On a lighter note, my pastor went to Mexico for some speaking engagements at one of the churches that we visit. He will be gone all this week. I believe he loves Mexico and the people all most as much as I do. Here is a link to his blog, www.chet3.wordpress.com. You should read it if you have a second. I get excited every time I hear news about Mexico.

I'm Sick.

2005-06-14T15:00:00.000-04:00

No, I am not mentally insane. My stomach is. I am taking Pepto-Bismol (Max Strength) every hour or so in order that I don't get the runs. I am hopefully going to see a doctor tonight to get some much needed antibiotics. I really don't think this thing is going to get any better unless I get some serious medicine. I haven't been able to retain anything for about a week and am getting hungry. I have been living off of fruit juice, and eating chicken noodle soup. My house fellowship is going to eat pizza this week. Hope I can eat it with them. I fear however, that I will have to eat nothing at all or something that the doctor recommends instead.

It is no fun to be sick. I can't even go out to coffee shops and study because I have been mostly bed-ridden for the past week. This hasn't been fun but has been a chance for me to forcefully take some needed rest. We will see what happens next week. Will I live or die?

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A Plea for Moral Purity - Carter Conlon

Prospects for the Future - Martyn Lloyd-Jones

The Gospel and Why We Are Supposed to Live Different From the World

Psalm 119 - Verses Dealing with the Heart

BibleCalendar.org

Scripture Memory: The Missing Link in Life-Transformation

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Effectual Calling and Human Inability

Overcoming the Life-Dominating Problem of Fear

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Four Crucial Questions

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Bible Education Links

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The Will of God

Repentance is Incomprehensible

God's Message To Man by Zac Poonen

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The Offender

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The Brother and Anger Against Him

Matthew 5:6 - Do you Hunger For God's Righteousness?

Blog has been renamed

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Saving Faith Part 2

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Reformed, Gospel Preaching Pastors

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THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST - from (Monergism.com)

THE GOSPEL IS A MESSAGE ABOUT:

GOD

SIN

THE LAW

THE VANITY OF LIFE

HELL & JUDGEMENT

THE NEW BIRTH

GRACE

REPENTANCE

FAITH

SALVATION THROUGH CHRIST ALONE

Prayer - a blessing for the Christian

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Conflicting Desires and Torment in Hell

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Regeneration is an Act of God

At the Altar of Sexual Idolatry

My Testimony

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Create in Me a Pure Heart - for women

Love Comes From Purity

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Although he is better known for his role on The Love Boat, Gavin MacLeod cited his supporting performance in the 2003 film Time Changer as “the most important thing” he had ever done. It’s hard to disagree with him.