THE CUTTING EDGE

Some Thoughts On Listening to Christian Radio

2011-06-06T19:03:00.000-07:00

Recently I began listening to Christian radio. It was both encouraging and in some ways alarming. It inspired me to return to my old blog so I could put some thoughts about listening to Christian radio in writing.

I began listening to Christian radio at work a few weeks ago. A friend recommended AM 900. I enjoyed the mornings on the station as there is a lot of encouraging stuff, like sermons from Alister Begg and R.C. Sproul. I noticed as I listened to sermons all morning I was greatly encouraged hearing the scripture preached. It helped focus my attention on God during the work day.

Sadly, in the afternoon the sermons end, and there is all sorts of talk radio. One of the programs I found most disturbing was New Life Ministries. In this radio program there are various Christian counselors who help callers, who call in seeking help from their three experts. So often when I hear the caller’s questions I am burdened for them, as the answers they get are often not scriptural. Too often the show states they are giving “Biblical” advice, yet there is no scripture. Their counsel often is secular psychology in somewhat Christianized packaging. I often hear the caller, the advice they are given, and wonder if they have received any real help at all. Very often when I hear the caller speak it makes me want to know if the caller is saved. Yet, the people on New Life Ministries do not often seek to stop and find out first. They dispense advice and do not give the caller much time to respond to the comments. I can’t help thinking about how some of these callers are not even born again, and how they sought “Christian counseling” but have not been pointed to the gospel. I feel bad for these people as they have been perhaps instructed on how to clean “the outside of the cup” but have not had any of the dirt on the inside dealt with. I also think how frustrating it must be for these callers to be given advice on how to change their life, when they may be completely unable to do so because they don’t have the Holy Spirit in them.

It is also alarming to see Christian counselors not probe and go into the deeper and spiritual issues. They trade the power of the scriptures for things that cannot save or heal. If you believe that the Bible is the word of God it seems like a no brainer that one would counsel by it. One familiar scripture comes to mind:
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

What counselor would not love to have a tool that discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart?!? It does not seem like you would need seminary training or Biblical counseling classes to see that. Yet, these people who are called doctors seem to miss what should be obvious to biblically literate Christians.

I could go on. But for the brevity of blog posts I will begin wrapping up. What was disturbing to me about “Christian radio” is how from the same source can come things both proclaiming scriptural truth and at the same time have other programs, that though they don’t state it, deny the sufficiency of scripture by not applying the word of God to people’s lives and problems. My fear is that people will not make a distinction between truth and error as both are coming from the same place. Thinking about this makes me thankful for the sufficiency of scripture and that, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness…” (2 Peter 1:3). God did not just give us scripture for something to hear in sermons but he gave us a divine book that we can trust and put into practice in all areas of life.

2 Cor 5: Part 2

2007-04-10T21:58:00.000-07:00

The Text

(1)For we know when our earthly tent-dwelling is destroyed, we have a dwelling from God, an eternal dwelling not made with human hands, in heaven. (2) For also in this we groan longing to put on our heavenly dwelling (3) and assuming we put it on we will not be found naked. (4) For indeed, we who dwell in tents groan, being burdened, because we do not wish to be undressed but to be dressed, so that mortality may be swallowed up by life. (5) He who prepared us for this very thing is God, who gave us the Spirit as a guarantee. (6) Therefore, we are always confident, because we know that when we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord, (7) for we walk by faith, not by sight. (8) Yes, we are confident, and would rather prefer to be absent from the body and at home with the Lord. (9) Therefore, we make it our ambition whether at home or absent to be pleasing to him. (10) For we must all appear before the Judgement Seat of Christ, so that each may receive what he has done in the body whether good or evil. (author’s translation)

The Interpretation

This first verse looks back and explains how the apostle is able to say “we do not lose heart” in 2 Cor 4:16 and it fits in the context of 4:18, where the apostle explains that “we look not to the things that are seen but for the things that are unseen.” Though our outer nature is indeed wasting away, that is not the end for the believer. The believer has an eternal body to look forward to, as part of 4:17’s “eternal weight of glory”. This is a reminder to the Corinthians that the things they currently experience are temporary and insignificant. Therefore, the apostle and anyone who has their hope on the eternal things has no reason to lose heart, knowing that their true treasure is in heaven.

The significance of Paul’s use of oidamen is not universally agreed on. Garland suggests that it may mean that Paul is telling them nothing new, when he explains to the believers that they will receive a glorified body.[1] Harris notes that this does not necessarily have to be the case and states, “…he may be enunciating a truth he expects them to accept as apostolic teaching.”[2] Regardless of whether the apostle expected his recipients to know this truth, the fact that Paul says “we know” gives the believer confidence and certainty that once death does come there will be another, more durable, dwelling from God.

Paul likens the believer’s earthly existence to that of living in a tent. Harris notes how the imagery of the tent would point a mind familiar with the Jewish scriptures to the wilderness wanderings following the Exodus from Egypt, and God dwelling with his people while they lived in tents.[3] This reminds Christians that the spirit of Christ goes with them on their own spiritual pilgrimage of life.[4] The tent imagery should also serve to remind the Corinthians and believers today of the frailty of their current existence. A tent is easily set up and easily dismantled. It is something that is only used as a temporary residence. The metaphor of the tent should have a humbling effect on anyone who places too much value on this current life; due to the transitory and frail nature of the tent compared to the eternal dwelling we have from God. The metaphor of the tent demonstrates the superiority of God’s provision of a dwelling that is not made with human hands to our current condition. The superiority of God’s eternal dwelling is a source of comfort knowing that the Christian looks forward to something better than this world. The superiority of what is to come helped build a case against the false apostles and others in Corinth who found their value and boasting in the current status quo.

Paul describes our future glorified body as something “we have” with the present, active, indicative, third person plural verb ecomen. Commentators have divided opinion on when “we have” a dwelling from God in heaven. Harris lists the options as present possession in heaven or earth in embryonic form, or in the future at death in reality or as an ideal possession, or at the Parousia.[5] It seems more rational to not understand it as current possession since it would suggest that people have two bodies, one unoccupied until death. It seems likely that Paul could still say “we have” in the presence tense because of his certainty and confidence of the promise of the glorified body. It is something that he knows he will have with Christ as the prototype, so without doubt he can speak of having something he does not currently posses because of his confidence that he one day will. Harris notes that receiving the glorified body at the Parousia is the preferable interpretation since it is in the most harmony with the resurrection accompanying the Parousia in 1 Cor 15.[6] Regardless of the exact moment of possession of this glorified body, it gives hope to the saints because we have the certainty of the resurrection. The certainty of the resurrection may be something that the Corinthians did not fully understand even after Paul’s description of the resurrection in 1 Cor 15. Paul’s confident assertion that “we have” a glorified body is another way for him to convey the certainty of this hope. The certainty of the resurrection is another tool the apostle could use in his dismantling of the Corinthians overconfidence in the things that are temporal, pointing them to the proper perspective of the divine and eternal things.

This next statement that “we groan to put on our longed for heavenly dwelling” is the apostles naturally reaction to the truth that we have a better dwelling. The metaphor of the tent is fitting because people who spend time in them often long for a more stable dwelling. Just as a camper will eventually long to return to their house after their trip is over, so too will those who dwell in this tent that is our body. Those who dwell in tents will be uncomfortable in it and long for their more stable dwelling, which is better than what they currently live in.

Though this groaning that Paul speaks of is not the outcome of discomfort, but of longing for what is to come. Garland explains, “For Paul, sighing is the natural language of one whose heart has turned to God and hungers for God’s final redemption.”[7] It is not complaining about how things are not but longing for how things will be. Longing for what the eschatological end should mark the Christian and not complacent contentment with the current circumstances.

ependusasqai is the verb Paul chose to use to describe how the Christian will “put on” their new body. This verb is doubly compounded and some see this as significant and suggest translating it as “over clothed” to account for the double compounding. This is the translation Barnett prefers.[8] Garland cautions against reading too much in the double compound saying, “But such a interpretation puts more weight on the preposition than it can possibly bear.”[9] Since the verb is only used here and in 5:4 it makes it a little more difficult to discern how it should be translated. The context does not demand that it be translated as “over clothed” against “put on” so it would be safer to interpret the verb as meaning “put on” since there is not sufficient reason to assign additional meaning to the verb. It would be too much conjecture to guess how the new body is “put on” and guess that its being “over clothed” would make a difference. The main point here is what the believer currently has will be replaced with what is greater. That the believer longs put on the new body, again, highlights the superiority of the things that are unseen compared to the things that are seen.

The next verse has two textual variants that should be considered. Some manuscripts have eiper instead of ei ge. The other variant concerns endusamenoi. Harris explains that ei ge is to be preferred against eiper because the majority of the witnesses support it, and it is more likely that a scribe would change the ei ge to a eiper to make it conform to Attic Greek.[10]

The other variant is a little more difficult. It would be easy to guess that Paul would not have used endusamenoi because it would get rid of the apparent redundancy of “assuming we put it on we will not be found naked.” Though, this tautology may seem awkward, that is not sufficient reason not to favor it. Metzger points out that external evidence favors endusamenoi, and that ekdusamenoi is an alteration to avoid the tautology.[11]

The exact nature of what it means to be “found naked” is difficult to understand. John MacArthur interprets this to be a soul without a resurrection body, waiting for the Second Coming.[12] Garland sees it differently, “Nakedness, some incorporeal existence is an absurd idea for him because of the resurrection of Christ.”[13] Nakedness then should not be understood as a time when the believer is away from the body, but a state the believer will not have to be found in, because they have put on the new dwelling. Therefore, knowing that “we will not be found naked” is another way of expressing the assurance of the promised heavenly body.

Verse four continues to give more detail to verse two. In this reiteration of the groaning for the heavenly body Paul says, “we are burdened”. Paul is no stranger to being burdened. The apostle himself lists his burdens in this very epistle (4:8-12). The apostle’s burdens and Christian’s burdens today are reminders that creation itself waits its redemption from the current futility of its current fallen state.[14]

The answer to burdens of this fallen state of creation is not its cessation but its redemption. That is why the apostle points his recipients forward to when “we are dressed”, and reminds them that “we do not wish to be undressed.” The end in view is not mortality expired in death but is “mortality swallowed by life”. Garland states it powerfully, “Death is not a liberation from earthly toil trouble; it is itself a problem. Resurrection is the answer.”[15] The running theme of the superiority of the current unseen spiritual reality is apparent. The current world burdens all creation, the unseen spiritual reality, with the hope of redemption is what is longed for by all of creation. This truth advances Paul’s argument against the false apostles and the worldly Corinthians who evaluate the apostle by worldly standards.

The following verse explains that “the one who prepared us for this very thing is God.” eis auto touto could have two potential antecedents. It could refer to survival until the Parousia, or the receipt and possession of the spiritual body. [16] The first option can be ruled out because it assumes that Paul thought the Parousia was very imminent. Though, Paul does look forward to the Parousia, it does not follow that is what the preparation is for. It makes more sense that the antecedent of eis auto touto is more explicit and refers to the receipt and possession of the spiritual body.

That it is God who prepares the Christian for the eschatological hope is a reminder that the believer could not long and groan for the their new dwelling without God working in them toward that end. John Calvin comments on this verse saying, “This is added in order that we may know, that this disposition is supernatural. For mere natural feeling will not lead us forward to this.”[17] This reminds the Christian of Jesus’ words in John 15:5, “ …for apart from me you can do nothing.” Apart from God’s work no one has a natural desire for spiritual things. If one is burdened by this world and groans for eternal dwelling this is a result of God working in that person. This truth could serve as a warning to anyone who does not have a longing for their spiritual dwelling. The lack of this longing and contentment with the world could be evidence of the lack of God’s regenerating work in their life.

Paul informs his recipients that the guarantee of their preparation is the Spirit. This is similar to what Paul says in Ephesians 1:13, “In him you also when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.” The Spirit is the first fruits of the eschatological hope of the believers completed redemption. This truth makes the believer confident that he will receive his new dwelling because he already has the Holy Spirit. This down payment evidences the reality on the unseen things that the Christian awaits. The Spirit also works in the believer proving that he has a part in the promised inheritance.

The truth that the apostle Paul expressed in the first five verses allowed him to say in verse six, “Therefore, we are always confident.” Paul could say that he was “always confident” because his confidence was not based on the transitory and temporary circumstances of the world. Paul’s suffering could not inspire confidence if it was viewed only through worldly lenses. The apostle’s worldly conditions of constant suffering are what allowed the Corinthian culture and false apostles to judge him by their false criteria. Though, the apostle was able to say that he was always confident because the anchor of his confidence was the things that are unseen, not the things that are seen. John MacArthur expresses it this way,

Paul was always of good courage in the face of death. His courage was not a temporary feeling or passing emotion; it was a constant state of mind. He faced death cheerfully, with complete confidence. It was not that he did not love the people in his life, but he loved the Lord more. Life for Paul was a race to finish, a battle to win, a stewardship to discharge. Once the race was over, the battle won, and the stewardship discharged, Paul saw no reason to cling to his life. The only reason for him to remain on earth was to serve God.[18]

In the second half of the verses Paul states that when “we are absent from the body we are present with the Lord.” This statement also explains Paul’s confidence, because he seeks to be present with the Lord, and is not finally concerned with the things of this world. Harris also notes that this verse does not mean being in the body means one is not with Christ now.[19] It simply means that the believer in not fully with the Lord in the same way he hopes to be with the Lord after death.[20]

Paul continues with verse seven explaining, “we walk by faith, not by sight.” This could also be a summary of what the apostle had been asking the Corinthians to do as they evaluated the apostle with the wrong set of criteria given to them by the false apostles. They falsely evaluated things by the way things appeared, which for the prideful Corinthian culture, like our modern culture, thinks wealth and prosperity are marks of blessing. The paradigm shift the apostle urges the Corinthians to make is to walk with the eye of faith, as they are to look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. Thus, they would have the proper criteria to judge life, and discredit the false apostles, as they ought to realize the superiority of the unseen spiritual reality.

Walking by faith is also how the believer must deal with the current tension of living in this current fallen world with an eschatological hope of redemption. The promise of a heavenly dwelling will not be realized in this world. This fallen world is far from what we long for. The current world is full of brokenness, death, hurt, and suffering. Without faith it would be hard for the believer to have hope in this world. Hebrews 11:1 explains faith as “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” This is what propels the Christian forward in a broken world.

Since Paul walked by faith, again, he could confidently reiterate, “Yes, we are confident, and would rather prefer to be absent from the body and at home with the Lord.” This verse is similar to verse six, but here Paul clearly states his preference of being with the Lord. This parallels Phil 1:24 where the apostle says, “My desire is to depart and to be with Christ, for that is far better.” It is obvious that the apostle is not someone who is suicidal but someone who realizes that being with Christ is far greater than anything this world could offer him. Garland explains his preference, “He longs to move from incomplete fellowship to full fellowship, from indirect, partial, and enigmatic vision to seeing face to face, from unfulfilled hope to fulfillment.[21] This attitude the Apostle Paul had is completely foreign to those with worldly values. Paul, expressing his desire to be with Christ contrasted himself from the false apostles and the unrepentant minority in Corinth who made their boast in their wealth and prosperity in this world. This is boasting in the exact wrong thing. This world has nothing comparable to Christ. If one longs for the world and not Christ his priorities are off, and he may need to test himself to see if he is in the faith, as the apostle later warns in the epistle.

After the apostle demonstrated the superiority of the things that are not seen compared to the things that are seen in the first eight verses, the apostle shifts gears slightly and give his recipients his ambition and motivation. In verse nine the apostle says his ambition is to please the Lord. In verse ten Paul explains that he is motivated by the fact the he will one day be before the Judgment Seat of his beloved Lord.

Paul says, “Therefore, we make it our ambition to be pleasing to the Lord.” The use of “therefore” looks backward to the truth that the Lord has graciously provided every believer an eternal dwelling and redemption from the fallen world. Paul then serves the Lord out of gratitude for all that the Lord has done for him.

Paul’s ambition was to be pleasing to the Lord This is contrary to what the Corinthians and people today often aim to do. The fallen sinful nature has all sorts of idols that it prefers to please rather than the Lord, and is manifested in a number of ways such as having a life devoted to pleasing bosses, friends, family members, peers, or oneself. These are all idols and should be put away to follow Paul’s example of being pleasing to the Lord. Paul’s ambition was to constantly be pleasing to the Lord; whether in the body or absent from the body Paul wanted to please his Lord. Harris points out that too much should not be drawn from verse nine.[22] Since Paul wanted to be pleasing to the Lord outside the body, it should not be assumed that works can be done in some interim state outside the body. Instead one should realize that Paul wanted to always be pleasing to the Lord. Paul wanted to be always pleasing to the Lord and to the Lord only.

Finally, Paul explains the motivation for his ambition. He knew that “we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ.” Paul knew that he must give an account before Christ’s Judgment Seat. The Judgment Seat is the rendering of the word bematos. MacArthur helps explain the significance of the word, “A person was brought before a bema to have his or her deeds examined, in a judicial sense for indictment or exoneration, or the purpose of recognizing and rewarding some achievement.”[23] The knowledge that we will face the Judgment Seat of Christ ought to motivate the believer to have Paul’s ambition of being pleasing to the Lord. This should produce humble reverence from God’s people and fear from the enemies of the Lord. The awareness of this Judgment Seat should motivate people to listen to Paul’s message to walk by faith, and look for the things that are unseen opposed to the things that are temporal. One day the false apostle who judged Paul by their false worldly criteria would be before Christ’s judgment and be judged by the only just judge.

Paul says the result of appearance before Christ is “that each may receive what he has done in the body whether good or evil.” The meaning of this is not easy to interpret. A false interpretation is that one’s salvation would be determined what he has done in the body. This is contrary to the message of the Bible, which teaches the salvation is not the results of works.

John MacArthur helps explain the difficulty in what it means to receive what one has done in the body.

The use of bad does not indicate the believers’ judgment is a judgment on sin, since all their sin has already been judged in Christ. The contrast between good and bad is not one between moral good and moral evil. Bad does not translate kakos or poneros, the words for moral evil, but phaulos, which means “worthless,” or “useless.” Richard C. Trench writes that phaulos ‘contemplates evil under another aspect, not so much that either of active or passive malignity, but rather of its good-for-nothingness, the impossibility of any true gain coming forth from it.’[24]

This quote helps one understand that the Judgment Seat for believers will not be over their sin. Their sin is taken care of in Christ. Instead, the believer will have the usefulness of their works evaluated. If their works are useless then they will receive no reward from them. If their works are useful for the Kingdom’s sake, they have will have their reward. Paul, informing the Corinthians that Christ will evaluate their works, continues to urge the Corinthians to make the needed paradigm shift in their thinking that wealth and prosperity are not marks of pleasure from the Father. This truth should tear down their false criteria by which they evaluate Paul. The Judgment Seat is also a reminder of Paul’s theme that it is better to look to the things that are unseen versus the things are not seen. The Judgment Seat is a reminder of the superiority of what is to come against the current condition. All of this works together in Paul’s argument’s against the Corinthians’ misplaced values and should encourage believers today to walk by faith and not by sight because of the superiority of the heavenly reality compared to the current fallen world of futility.

[1] Garland, 2 Corinthians, 369.

[2] Murray J. Harris, The Second Epistle to the Corinthians: A Commentary on the Greek Text, (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2005), 369.

[3] Ibid., 370.

[4] Ibid.,

[5] Ibid., 375.

[6] Ibid., 380

[7] Garland, 2 Corinthians, 257.

[8] Paul Barnett, The Second Epistle to the Corinthians, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmrans Publishing Co. 1997), 261.

[9] Garland, 2Corinthians, 258.

[10] Harris, The Second Epistle to The Corinthians, 368.

[11] Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, 2^nd ed. ( New York: American Bible Society, 1994,) 511.

[12] John MacArthur, 2 Corinthians, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2003) 166.

[13] Garland, 2 Corinthians, 260.

[14] Cf., Romans 8:18-25.

[15] Garland, 2 Corinthians, 262.

[16] Harris, The Second Epistle to the Corinthians, 391-392.

[17] John Calvin, Commentary on the Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians, trans. John Pringle, (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2003) 219.

[18] MacArthur, 2 Corinthians, 169.

[19] Garland, 2 Corinthians, 264

[20] Ibid.,

[21] Ibid., 265

[22] Harris, The Second Epistle to the Corinthians, 405

[23] MacArthur, 2 Corinthians, 117.

[24] Ibid., 179.

2 Cor 5:1-10 part 1

2007-02-02T14:25:00.000-08:00

Due to the popular demand of a small minority I am making an attempt to reenter the blogosphere. ( Good news maybe to Jeremy Weaver and Brian Joines) I decided to share excerpts from my favorite paper I wrote last semester. The paper came from my 2 Corinthians Greek Exegesis class. This paper is very dear to my heart because God through it pointed me to a text that comforted me during some difficult times. Last semester I had a number of things that brought me some heart ache and perplexed moments. God used this paper to remind me "to look to the things that are unseen and not to the things that are seen". Through it he reminded me of his goodness and that we as Christians can not evaluate life through the way things appear in the current moment, that will only lead to despair. Instead life needs to be evaluated through the lens of Christ. All the promises of God are yes in Christ, and we know that our slight momentary afflictions are preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison! This is a good reason not lose heart as we look to the things that unseen not seen.

Part 1 is the Historical Context. Part 2 will be the Text and Interpretation. My footnotes and sources will be at the bottom of the post.

EXEGESIS OF 2 CORINTHIANS 5:1-10

Historical Context

2 Corinthians is the fourth in a series of the Paul’s letters to the Corinthian church. The first letter being a non-canonical letter which is referenced in 1 Cor 5:9 and is often referred to as Corinthians A.[1] Paul is informed while he is ministering in Ephesus of the many problems in Corinth through some of Chloe’s household (1 Cor 1:11). These problems included factionalism, immorality, a right understanding of marriage, disputes over food sacrificed to idols, disputes between men and women over head coverings, proper use of spiritual gifts and a proper understanding of the resurrection.[2] Paul wrote 1 Corinthians (or Corinthians B) to address these problems. This letter had a limited degree of success, which is evidenced by a “painful visit” (2 Cor 2:1) the apostle made to the Corinthians. Paul continued his correspondence with the Corinthians with a harsh letter (Corithians C) that both hurt the Corinthians and brought about repentance (2 Cor 7:8,9). Paul’s third letter did bring about repentance, but the repentance was still not yet universal, and Paul would continue his work with the Corinthians toward restoration, reconciliation and repentance until the Corinthian’s obedience would be complete prompting 2 Corinthians (or Corinthians D).

The Apostle Paul still had many issues of contention with the Corinthians that still need to be addressed as the apostle continued his pastoral ministry of seeking repentance and reconciliation from his Corinthian congregation. Many of these issues are related to Paul defending his competency against the false apostles whose influence undercut Paul’s authority in Corinth.[3] One commentator explains it this way, “…in 2 Corinthians we encounter Paul the apologist, fighting for the legitimacy of his own apostolic ministry.” [4]

The false apostles, who were able to undermine Paul, could play on the Corinthian’s culture for the false criteria to judge the true apostle. Garland states it this way, “ The breach between Paul and the Corinthians was not simply over theological issues but had its roots in the Corinthian cultural values that clashed with Christian values he wanted them to adopt.”[5] Corinth as a rich and prosperous city equated prosperity with blessing.[6] This false assumption caused the apostle problems because of his lowly state, especially compared to false apostles, who appeared prosperous, by worldly standards. Paul needed to bring the Corinthians to a paradigm shift in their thinking, in order to respond to the charges of the false apostles. This response needed to destroy the false criteria of the worldly Corinthians, which they used to judge Paul’s ministry. This response defended Paul’s gospel ministry and allowed the Corinthians to have a fuller understanding of the gospel.

Paul writes 2 Corinthians to bring this necessary change of thinking to the Corinthians. Paul reinforces the biblical truth that it is one’s weakness that makes one strong. He sets himself as an example and shows that his sufficiency is external to himself. Paul refutes the Corinthians “health and wealth” gospel and reminds them that the Christian life is taking up ones cross and following Jesus.[7] Paul demonstrates that worldly status is not the same as divine exaltation. Paul accomplishes this by showing the Corinthians that one’s boasting and blessing can only be grounded in the Lord and not in the temporary and perishable things of this world. This truth should completely destroy any pride in the corruptible, material and transitory things of this world thus vindicating Paul’s ministry and showing that his lowliness is to show God’s power and greatness. This is evident in 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 as one sees their currently earthly state contrasted against their heavenly dwelling that the believer will possess in the presence of the Lord.

[1] D.A Carson and Douglas Moo, An Introduction to the New Testament, 2^nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005), 422.

[2]Ibid. , 415-417.

[3] Ibid., 419.

[4] Scott J. Hafemann, 2 Corinthians, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000), 21.

[5] David E. Garland, 2 Corinthians, The New American Commentary, vol. 29 (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers,1999), 30

[6] cf. 1Cor 1:18-29, see also 2 Cor 10-12

[7] cf. Luke 9:23

Where in the World Is John Babri?

2006-05-16T08:56:00.000-07:00

The last time I updated this blog was Feb 10 and many people have been asking what happened to John? Well, life happened. I fully intended to reenter the blogosphere but too much life happened and my blog fell into ruins.

So what was I doing? Well working about 30 hours between 2 jobs (I tutored and worked at Chick-fil-a) and taking Systematic Theology I, Greek Syntax and Exegesis and New Testament II. I also got to connect more with my church in Louisville and make some awesome and amazing friends. Anyway it all kept me out of the blogosphere. Its funny too once you leave you begin to realize that its definitely easy to stay out once the blogging bug wears off.

But now I wanted to let everyone know why I was gone so no one would worry. I also want to thank you for the calls checking if I was ok since I was not blogging, as well as the emails, and comments. I ‘ll also tie up some lose ends. What was up with “Brother Top Ical”? It was a little comedic series I was going to do featuring the audio bloging of my roommate Mike who had a hysterical impression of the stereotypical topical Preacher who makes all his points alliterate but makes sure they are not tied to a text. But unfortunately I will not be doing that since I have now moved back home for the summer and far away from my funny roommate. Ok next question. Will John finish his series on the existence of God? The answer is a definite maybe. I want to especially since I want to share my testimony of how I was converted out of atheism but I am not going to making finishing the series a priority. But continue in periodic installments along with other posts.

Nest question what is John up to now? Well, I finished my first year at Southern Seminary. I love Southern! It definitely was an awesome year. It definitely had its own difficulties and joys . But much too tell. Some highlights though were getting to meet awesome new friends in Louisville, have great professors, I got hear R.C. Sproul in chapel, be part of an awesome church, learn new things, gain a deeper understanding of scripture and grow. It definitely was not all easy though. My schedule was particularly taxing, things were often hectic and it was also very easy to play devil’s advocate with new things that I learned, I also got very sick for 2 weeks this spring. Also this semester I always wrestled with the disconnect of head knowledge and heart knowledge as well often found that knowing more does not always help in knowing God more. I also learned you have to fight to maintain your own spiritual life and that Seminary is not the “promised land”. But overall the experience was positive and I am thankful that God brought me to Southern and with the semester behind me it is easier for me to see the good and realize how good I had it.

What else is new? I started work back at my home Church First Baptist Church of Aurora yesterday! Crazy when I was in Louisville Sunday morning. Things are a little different around the church. My old office now houses 2 people who are not me. But ahwell they deserve it since I left and I am now just around for the summer. My role is going to a little different than it was last year too. I am very excited about this summer. I had a good time connecting with my Senior Pastor yesterday and just talking about this summer. I am anxious to see how God is going to be at work this summer. It is also has been very refreshing just being back at the church and being plugged back into full time ministry.

Will John blog again? Yes. Really ? He has said that before. Yes and here is why: I am going to be becoming up with lots cool material since I am back at my church Plus I want to recover the spiritual discipline of journaling. I also have come to realize when you journal on the computer you can copy and paste it and it will come in handy for other things. (The journaling that makes it to the blog though will of course be edited for content) Lastly, hopefully my blog can also be way for me to keep people back in home (in Louisville) informed on things that are going on in my life. Anyway grace and peace to you all.
-John

Introduction To A New Freind

2006-02-10T17:55:00.000-08:00

I want to introduce you to a new freind I met in my recent move. His name is Brother Ical. But he says you can call him by his first name Top. Bless Brother Ical's heart he thinks he is an expositer. I decided to get audio blogger so I could share some of his sermons with you. Let me make this disclaimer: His sermons are examples of what not to do! They also possess no redeeming spiritual value but do have some redeeming comedic value. In my next post you will be able to hear one of Brother Ical's sermons.

BTW: I have not used audio blogger before so bear with me if I have some technical dificulties.

Quick Update

2006-01-26T06:33:00.000-08:00

Ok here's my quick update. I am moving off campus into a house with 2 other guys. So I will not be able to check my blog (or email, istant messenger, etc) during the next week or so since we do not yet have internet access yet at my new place. So I will temporarily be exiting the Blogosphere. But to make up for it I continued my series on the existance for God with TWO posts on Monday which you can find below. In other news my blog is almost a year old! So this could a fun discussion topic since my blog turns a year old next month on the 21st how should I celebrate that?

The Anthropic Principle

2006-01-23T23:06:00.000-08:00

The Anthropic Principle is relatively new idea that states that the universe was fine tuned to make the universe suitable for human life. The “anthropic” comes from two Greek words. The first is anthropos meaning man or human and the second is topis meaning place. This principle points to how the universe seems to be a place designed to sustain life. The anthropic principle points that the universe displays exact precision in order of the universe that without such fine precision life in the universe would be impossible. This can be thought as variant of the Teleological Argument.

Examples of the anthropic principle are numerous through out science. Here is one that does not take much scientific knowledge to understand. Think of the location of the Earth. If it was a little closer to the sun the Earth like Venus would have been to hot for life as we know it. Or lets push the Earth back in the solar system then it like Mars would be to cold to sustain life as we know it. Are we lucky that the earth is in the exact right place it needs to be to support human life? I offer this as a simple example of how to illustrate this principle

Alister McGrath in his book Science and Religion gives four much more complex examples of “fine tuning” of fundamental cosmological constants.(182)
1. If the strong coupling constant was slightly smaller, hydrogen would be the only element in the universe. Since the evolution of life as we know it is fundamentally dependent on the chemical properties of carbon, that life could not have come into being without some hydrogen being converted to carbon by fusion. On the other hand, if the strong coupling constant were slightly larger (even by as much as 2 percent), the hydrogen would have been converted to helium, with the result that no long-lived stars would have been formed. In that such stars are regarded as essential to the emergence of life, such a conversion would have led to life as we know it failing to emerge.
2. If the weak fine constant was slightly smaller, no hydrogen would have formed during the early history of the universe. Consequently, no stars would have been formed. On the other hand, if it was slightly larger, supernovae would have been unable to eject the heavier elements necessary for life. In either case, life as we know it would not have emerged.

3. If the electromagetic fine structure constant was slightly larger, the stars would not be hot enough to warm planets to a temperature sufficient to maintain life in the form in which we know it. If smaller, the stars would have burned out too quickly to allow life to evolve on these planets.

4. If the gravitational fine structure constant were slightly smaller, stars and planets would not have been able to form, on account of the gravitational constraints necessary for coalescence of their constituent material. If stronger, the stars thus formed would have burned out too quickly to allow the evolution of life (as with the electromagnetic fine structure constant).

These are just some of many examples that show how universe shows fine tuning that makes life possible. It is truley amazing how if certain things were only a degree off there could be no life but everything shows how the universe was made for life everything is with perfect precision all showing that we had a master designer putting the universe in order.

The Other Teleolgocial Argument

2006-01-23T22:54:00.000-08:00

I now introduce what I call the “other Teleological Argument”. This can also be called the real “Teleological Argument”. Teleological comes from the Greek word telos which means end or purpose. Teleological Arguments look at how things they have a purpose and work toward an end. The truth of this points us that something is pulling things to and end. The best example comes from Thomas Aquinas' 5th way in the real sense of being an argument being “teleological”. Paley's Teleological argument I presented in the last post inthe series is really specific type of cosmological argument but has become to be known as “The Teleological Argument”. Here is Thomas Aquinas' 5th the "real" teleological argument:

“The fifth way is taken from the governance of the world. We see that things lack knowledge, such as natural bodies, act for an end, and this is evident from their acting always, or nearly always, in the same way, so as to obtain the best result. Hence it is plain that they achieve their end, not fortuitously, but designedly. Now whatever lacks knowledge cannot move towards an end, unless it is directed by some being endowed with knowledge and intelligence; as the arrow is directed by the archer. Therefore some intelligent being exists by whom all natural things are directed to their end; and this being we call God (Robinson 35).”

This argument may not be the simplest to understand so I am going to try to illustrate it with an example. I also hope that my illustration will not undermine the argument with my poor ability to illustrate it. Lets take a seed. The seed has no natural intelligence to become a flower (or what ever else a seed will become). But a seed will ultimately become a flower. (Assuming its planted) How does that seed know it is supposed to grow and become a flower. Why does the seed not just stay a seed a in the ground why does it move forward towards its end becoming a flower? How does the seed know thats what it is supposed to do with its own intelligence telling it “Ok now I need to spout, and have petals, and grow.” The seed is moving to its telos or purpose. Why does it do that? Because it is being governed to do so by God. I am going to admit that my illustration is not perfect but what I want it to show is that things work to end. The things that draw them to the end is God.

Blog Pointing

2006-01-23T09:53:00.000-08:00

As I surveyed the Blogosphere I saw a number of scriptural type posts that I decided I'd share for this edition of Blog Pointing.I always love seeing scripture explained and how it effects people in their lives. So that is the theme of this Blog Pointing.

One still relatively new blogger who you should keep your eye on is Kenan Plunk. Check out his blog Every Thought Captive. He is doing a series on the Beattitudes. Kenan is definately a really smart spirtual guy.

Check out Al Mohler's Commentary. He writes on what should mark the life of a preacher.

Pastor Steve Weaver's Blog is always a good place to go for scriptural blogging. He continues his great expositions on Romans with From Theology to Doxology an exposition of Romans 11:33-36. With a tittle like that you know its going to be good.

Read The Well of God's Word - Personal Testimony on the last 5 years (Part 3) to read Shawn's personal testimony of man interacting with God's word.

Read Chris Thornesberry's blog Spartan for his introduction to the book of Acts as well as some of his own testimony about God's word and his journey.

With so many blogs where people discuss details of their personal lives its alway great to see Blog posts that look beyond themselves and are about something more than themselves. The Blogosphere is blessed with a lot of people who do that, who as you know are not all mentioned here.

My New Years Sermon

2006-01-16T18:30:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to let everyone know you can now hear the New Years sermon I preached at First Baptist Church of Aurora when I went back home for the holidays. The tittle of the Sermon is "Starting the New Year Christ Centered". Click here to hear the sermon and here to get the outline. The text is Col 1:15-18.

I definately counted it a privelge to preach at my home church on New Years day and thankful for the oppertunity they let me have. Though I have had many teaching/preaching oppertunities though devotionals, sunday school, Bible studies etc this was the first Sunday morning exerperiance I have gotten to have. I am also honored that the first "real sermon" I got to preach was at my home church and had the oppertunity to stand behind the pulpit.

So anyway there it is. Hopefully some people in the Blogosphere might benefit from it.

Blog Pointing

2006-01-12T17:19:00.000-08:00

Hey I wanted to tell you to check out Matthew Wiremans' blog Off The Wire. He has also been doing a series on arguments for the existance of God. Its worth checking out. Its also fun to see a fellow blogger doing the same thing.

The Teleological Argument

2006-01-10T08:55:00.000-08:00

1Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: 2"Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? 3Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.
4"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. 5Who determined its measurements--surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? 6On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, 7when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8"Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, 9when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, 10and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, 11and said, 'Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed'?
Job 38: 1-11

The Teleological Argument states that there is order in the universe which is the result of an intelligent designer. The Teleological Argument also says that the order and complexity found in the universe cannot be explained by random chance which would be absurd. The Teleological Argument is also the same thing as the controversial Intelligent Design Argument. Here is summary I did Paley's famous Teleological Argument.

Paley to illustrate why the order and complexity of the universe could not be a result of chance but as a result of intelligent designer, he uses the analogy of man finding a watch on the ground. The man after inspecting the watch sees that it is made out of many parts each with its own purpose and function as part of the watch. He also notices the watch is has a useful purpose. The man then must conclude that this can not be a result of chance. The complexity, order, and purpose of the watch show that it was made with intent and design and thus there must have been a watchmaker.

Next Paley responds to eight potential arguments to the Teleological Argument. Summarized here:
I. Ignorance of how the watch was made does nothing to hinder the conclusion that it took a watchmaker to make one.
II.Imperfections in the watch do not invalidate the conclusion that there is an intelligent maker behind it. Just that the watch has any design at all points to the watchmaker.
III.Parts of the watch that have no purpose or that we do not understand the purpose of do not invalidate the conclusion.
IV.It would be wrong to assume that the watch and its various machinery could be accounted for as the sum of the materials just coming together where it was found.
V.The watch cannot be explained as coming together by the “principle of order” since a principle could not put together a watch.
VI.It would be absurd to think mechanism of the watch not pointing to contrivance but only a motive to make the mind think so.
VII.It would be absurd to think of the watch coming together as a result of “metallic nature.” A law presupposes an agent.
VIII.The observer would not be wrong because he does not know everything concerning the matter. He can still make a conclusion based on what he knows.
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The material found here is a summary of material found in:
chapter 4 of God 2nd edition edited by Timothy Robision
BTW: I did respond to comments made on the Cosmological Argument

A Woman Marries A Dolphin!!??!!

2006-01-04T21:39:00.000-08:00

I am going to briefly interrupt my series on the philosophical arguments for the existence of God to bring you this news story.

A 41 year old Jewish British Woman has a married a dolphin! I not making this up! The wedding took place in the port of Eliat Israel. And here are some of my favorite quotes from the story:

"It's not a perverted thing. I do love this dolphin. He's the love of my life,"
“....she said for now she was strictly a "one-dolphin woman."”

All I can say is WOW. Talk about redefining marriage!?! Marriage can no longer be stated just as one man and one woman it now has to be stated as one human man and human woman!!! Man and I thought I was a weird mix being half Persian and half Swedish, can you imagine the kids from this marriage?!?!? So is this woman going move into the ocean? Or is the dolphin going to move into an apartment with this woman? Weird.....
For more on this story check out:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10694972/from/RSS
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3191923,00.html
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In other completely unrelated news check out my new Blog Roll. I have updated it to reflect more of the blogs I consistently visit. Check it out I may have added you. Keep your eye on my links I plan to do some more updating.
I also will respond to comments on my last post soon and post the next argument in the series soon.

The Cosmological Argument

2005-12-26T21:18:00.000-08:00

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
-Genesis 1:1

All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
-John 1:3

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through him and for him.
-Col 1:16

Cosmological arguments are arguments that look back to find the first cause of something and show that it would have to would have to be a necessary first cause what we observe now. Here are some of the more well known cosmological arguments but is not an exhaustive list of all the cosmological arguments.

For example Thomas Aquinus had his 5 ways to show the existence of God three of which are Cosmological arguments.
The First is the Argument from Motion which goes:
1) Nothing can move itself.
2) If every object in motion had a mover, then the first object in motion needed a mover.
3) This first mover is the Unmoved Mover, called God.

The Second Way is the Causation of Existence
1) There exists things that are caused (created) by other things.
2) Nothing can be the cause of itself (nothing can create itself.)
3) There can not be an endless string of objects causing other objects to exist.
4) Therefore, ther must be an uncaused first cause called God.

The Third Way is Argument of Contingent and Necessary Beings.
1) Contingent beings are caused.
2) Not every being can be contingent.
3) There must exist a being which is necessary to cause contingent beings.
4) This necessary being is God.

God as the temporal first cause refers to God as the beginning as set in a set of causes (so he is the chronological first cause) for example if we watching a set of dominoes fall the first cause would be the finger that tips the dominoes outside that dominoes that makes the first one fall resulting rest falling.

If someone were to object and say that we have infinitely long set of dominoes falling then is no first cause then our response we show that has to be cause because we see the effect. We would have an infinite set of falling dominoes without a cause. If we are seeing certain time of large set of causes we know something proceeded it we cannot have cause with effect.

Another interesting variation of the Cosmological argument comes from William Lane Craig who uses the Big Bang in his form of the cosmological argument. The Big Bang points to the fact that there was once a time when the universe did not exist. So something outside the universe had to cause the Big Bang because there was nothing in the universe to cause it because it did not exist. This cause must be God.

God as the logical first cause is a second form of cosmological argument. This second approach is an attempt to prove the existence of God that is the first cause in the logical sense of the word first (Faith & Reason pg 125). The word first refers to preeminence or position. To describe God as the logical first cause is to view as the ultimate cause of condition of everything that exists. Returning to the dominoes example the floor or table the dominoes stand on is a the necessary condition for the dominoes in order to have the dominoes fall. The floor or table is the first cause in logical sense because without there would be not place for the series to fall. This relates to God because the world is ontologically dependent of God. For example: God minus the world equals God. The world minus God equals nothing. To describe God as the first cause is to say more than he is the efficient first cause that started the causal series but also the ultimate ground without which the world would not and could not exist.
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Most of this post is dependendent on a summary I did of material found in
Faith & Reason by Ron Nash

God's Self Revelation To Man Part 2

2005-12-14T22:38:00.000-08:00

Romans 1:18-32
18The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
24Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
28Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

Theses verse tells us what more can be known about God through his general revelation. Verse 19 talks about how the whole human race has had the knowledge of God . It also goes on to say that it plain to them because God has made it plain to them. God has not left anyone in the dark concerning his existence. God is not hiding nor trying keep a low profile. God is not trying to make sure you do not find him. Just the opposite verse 19 says “ God has made it plain to them”. Not only that he exist but even his attributes are apparent, “For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” No one has an excuse because the truth of God is plainly evident, not only that, his eternal power and divine nature always have been evident since the creation of the world. Verse 21 says this about mankind's knowledge of God, “For although they knew God”, mankind has the knowledge of God. Now lets see what man has done with this knowledge look at veres 28, “ since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God “. Notice that mankind has had knowledge of God. Being clueless is not the default position, not knowing is not the default position. We have to choose not acknowledge God. Though we are born with the knowledge of God (in a certain sense) we willing and volitionally give it up. Look at verse 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.,verse 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen., verse 28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done., verse 32 Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. The reason someone does not believe in God is not because God has made his existence unclear but people choose not to. They in their sin nature choose themselves over God and deny him and worship the creation and not its creator.

What I want to point out here is the truth of God is something that has to rejected not discovered; and man in his sinful nature is very willing to do just that! Also that people are not theological or philosophically neutral concerning God. People do not objectively look at the truth and without the intervention of the Holy Spirit they suppress the truth! So when you present a certain argument all things are not equal! People not legitimately consider an argument due to their spiritual bias. Sin has affected everything in the human race especially our thinking. So is it strange that a particular person would not accept an theistic argument? No! This is because Romans 1 is true remember “their hearts are darkened”, “they exchange the truth of God for a lie”, “they suppress the truth”! That is why people are not neutral about the things of God, they actively resist them. That is also part of God's judgment on them for rejecting the truth;that they do not comprehend what would otherwise be very apparent.

Is there then no use for philosophical arguments because man in his sin cannot see God? No! Even though man may reject he cannot get past the fact that God has left his imprint on man. Gensis 1:27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” and Ecc 3:11 says “He has also set eternity in their heart”. This shows that man was created with God's imprint, so in a certain sense he intrinsically knows his creator since he bears his image and was created to know him this is another form of general revelation and also is the biblical grounds for certain a-priori arguments which point back to the truth that God has inscribed on our hearts. Therefore arguments like the moral argument ,the transcendental arguement, and Plantinga's idea that belief in God is a “properly basic belief” or maybe even certain ontological arguments have a grounding in a biblical wordview. These philosophical arguments can then be used with a sinner who denies the truth to point them their own Sensus divinitatis. This what John Calvin called people's God implanted tendency to accept belief in God

A potential question that then may arise is: “well if we had the truth imprinted in us why is not every one a theist?” The answer is Romans 1:27 “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” Men in their sin nature choose themselves over God and abandon the truth of God. God also gives them over to their sinful desires as an act of judgment against them.

Another question you may ask is “how is the truth that God have imprinted himself on human heart even evident in those who openly deny God? “

Let me first answer this by saying until about 5 years and some months ago I was an atheist. Though I professed not believe in God, I still bore evidence that showed that I was made to be the imageo dei (the image of God). I did not believe in morals being relative but I had no way to ground morals in my naturalistic/nihilistic worldview. I also was not content with the idea that you live, you die, and the end. Although, I wanted to be content with that idea I was not. In my atheism I also had a personal hate for God and the things of God. If God was just a faulty idea that most people had why should that result in a personal hatred. For example, I don't agree with vegetarianism but I don't take the idea of vegetarianism personally and hate it in a personal way. But I did with God. This does not make too much sense when do not believe he exists. Anyway these are not the only ways to show that God's imprint is on those that deny God but is just examples that show that even people who deny God can not escape being the imageo Dei.

This concludes my two posts on general revelation as biblical grounds for philosophical arguments for the existence of God. I also believe in using personal experience as way to show the existence of God and is biblical justifiable I will say more on that when I come to it. This post though explored many topics was to show biblical grounds for a-priori arguments for the existence of God. The next post will actually begin the presentations of arguments for the existence of God, starting with the cosmological argument.
__________________
For futher reading see:
Faith & Reason (especially chapters 8 and 9) by Ron Nash
There Are No Real Athiests! by Dave Mullins

God's Self Revelation To Man Part 1

2005-12-04T20:18:00.000-08:00

Editor's Note: This post is not an argument for the existence of God. This is the first of two posts that show how God has universally revealed himself to mankind. (This was orginally going to be one post but I decided to divide it into 2 posts.) These two post look to biblically ground what kind of philosophical arguments are consistent to use with what God has reveal about himself in the Bible. So this for Christians to show what kind of philosophical arguments are consistant with how God said he has revealed himself to mankind.

One interesting topic that most Christians probably do not think about is how has God said he has revealed himself. This is what this post will be taking a look at. Most Christians have come to believe in him because they have met him personally in the person of Jesus Christ. This though is not the only way to know that God exists, or else the only theists would be Christians. God has revealed himself to all of creation . So someone can know that God exists before coming to know him. In this post I will show how God said he has revealed himself. Please note that I am not currently trying to make an argument for the existence of God (so if you ready to debate wait) and I am not saying that God exists because the Bible says so. I am NOT saying God exists because the Bible says there is a God and I am know the Bible is God's word because the Bible says so. I am NOT making a circular argument for the existence of God. I believe the Bible is the Word of God because God the Holy Spirit has revealed that to me and it has also been confirmed to me by historical and archaeological evidence. The authority of scripture is a presupposition that I hold.(But NOT using to as argument for existence of God.) This post looks at how God has said he revealed himself. This post and next one that will follow it is then for Christians to show them what kind of philosophical arguments should be used that are consistent with the way God has chosen to reveal himself to all the world. It also shows that any argument for God has to be grounded in God’s revelation. There are actually wrong ways to assert that God exists. For example, Mormons would try to prove the validity of the the Mormon faith by the “burning bosom test.” If we were to offer up arguments that are inconsistent with God's self revelation that would give people pretexts for denying God. I may say that you can know that God is real because they found holy grail and if that was the only argument I would offer then I would be be resting the grounds for my faith on the wrong thing. Thus people will think you have no reason to believe what you believe if they can disprove your faulty argument or premises and they deny the reality(illegitimately) that God exists based on a silly argument. For example, I may say I know 1+1 =2 because everyone has two thumbs. Someone who may want to argue with will find someone no thumbs and say I have no reason to believe to 1+1 =2. But reality is 1+1 =2 but you have not given your opponent reason to believe and thus have given him an opportunity to deny your right conclusion based on your false methodology. It also does much to discredit you even when you may be right. So its important not present faulty arguments or somehow give impression the God is somehow ontologically dependent on you having a good argument for his existence. The existence of God is unaffected by arguments. God exists apart from anything. His existence is not contingent on anyone's ability to prove it. But if we were to proffer faulty arguments it would give someone an excuse to dishonor God and ridicule you for your belief. It also would be dishonoring to God for not using showing people what has said about himself. So what could be better than using arguments that are consistent with what God has said about how he has already revealed himself? Thus before I begin my arguments for the existence of God I am going to start by looking to see how God has said he has revealed himself.

Let's look at a key text in Psalm 19. Psalm 19 is all about God's revelation. First in general revelation (vv. 1-6) also in special revelation (vv.7-9). Then it shows us our proper response to God revealing himself to us (vv.9-14). Let's look at verses 1-6.
1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.
3 There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.
4 Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun,
5 which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion, like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
6 It rises at one end of the heavens
It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat.

There is a great wealth of truth to unpack in theses verses! Let's first notice how it says the “heavens declare the glory of God”. This shows us the God has used creation to make himself known. Creation is not neutral on God's existence. Look at all the verbs in in verses 1 and 2. There are: declare, proclaim, pour forth speech, display. This are very demonstrative verbs. These are words that you would use to describe what a preacher or orator does. This is what creation is doing: declaring, pouring forth, displaying knowledge! It is as creation is shouting at us! What is the subject of all of creation's loquacious orations? It is the glory of God! (v1). The heavens declare the glory of God! Creation cannot keeps itself silent about its creator. Unfortunately many Christians can. Creation is not ambivalent on God's existence. It proclaims God's glory. There is no way to say creation has any neutrality on the subject or leaves room for other discussion. The universe triumphantly says that there is God and that he is glorious! As Sire said in his title for his chapter on Christian Theism in his book The Universe Next Door we truly do live in “A universe charged with the grandeur of God”.

Verses 3-6 tells the extent of creation's loud proclamation. Verse 3 tell us “ There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard”. It does not matter your language or your culture or race. The voice of creation is everywhere and it is universal. Have you ever noticed how different cultures have different cosmological arguments. Its because the voice of God's revelation is not limited to a specific people but is universal. This idea is continued in verse 4 it says, “ Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” Nowhere in the world is creation's testimony of the glory of its God is dimmed or silenced. All of of the Earth hears creation's message of its God. It is not limited to white Europeans or North Americans. Africa, Antarctica, Asia, the Middle East, Oceania, Louisville, Jerusalem, Moscow, Washington, Bagdad, New Delhi, Tokyo, Havana, every place everywhere has the same, one, consistent, unchanged message proclaimed to it. The glory of their God! No one is exempt from knowing that God exists and that he is glorious.

So what are the implications of this when it comes to the arguments for existence of God? That God is revealed in creation. So any arguments that point to how creation points to its creator are valid and consistent with God's self revelation to us. So that means we can use various cosmological and teleological arguments for the existence of God. When we talk about how God created the world with with order it and must have been designed by an intelligent designer we realized how this shows us that the heavens really do proclaim the glory of God. Or various cosmological arguments as well testify that the heavens declare the glory of God and likewise are consistent with God's self revelation. This also shows that a-posteriori arguments are fully legitimate in pointing to the God of the Bible.

God has universally made himself known through general revelation in other ways than through creation. The next post on Romans 1 will examine that and also look at how sin has affected our ability to know God.

So funny because its so true!

2005-12-04T19:35:00.000-08:00

Well it looks like one the regular features here at the Cutting Edge is to rip off my favorite news story from Lark News! This my favorited for the month.

Trend: Youth groups forget meaning of names

SYRACUSE — When Rhett Wilson became youth pastor at LifeWay Church, he inherited a youth group name nobody could explain: GetReady 7:35. The youth group had been using it for five years, but almost the entire pastoral staff had changed and nobody could remember what it meant. "We know the youth used to have prayer early Saturday morning," says Wilson. "Maybe it means 7:35 a.m." Others surmise the 7:35 refers to a Bible verse, or to the time on Wednesday nights when the group used to meet. Wilson tasked youth group members with looking up all chapter 7 and verse 35s in the Bible. They didn't come up with anything that fits. Youth groups across the country are finding themselves in the same predicament: sometimes their names outlast their leaders and memories. Get Wi'dit 4:11 in Ft. Lauderdale doesn't know if their name refers to 411, as in where to get critical information, or a Bible verse. "I think it's Ecclesiastes 4:11," cracks the associate youth pastor. That passage reads, "And on a cold night, two under the same blanket can gain warmth from each other. But how can one be warm alone?" Two youth groups — The Call 5:16 and Higher 37 — have posted online requests asking former youth group members what their names mean, so they can retire them with dignity. At Youth Group 720 in Seattle, the current youth pastor confesses he doesn't know what exactly it means. "The previous guy explained it to me one time, but I forgot it," he says. "It may mean two full revolutions, or maybe it's a Bible verse. Maybe it was his membership goal." He laughs. "We still use it because it sounds skateboard-y," he says. •
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Like I said so funny because its so true. Back when I was the Youth Minister at my church back in Ohio here are some names I had to work with through inherentance:
LifeSource-Our primary youth group meeting at tuesday nights in the evening.
Cross Training- Our Sunday night youth Bible Study.
C.O.R.E- Our once a month out reach activity. It stood for Community OutReach Event.

Call me old fashioned but I don't know why we could not called it all Youth Group. All the college minisries I was involved in also had funny names. My Crosswalk (what Southerners call Campus Baptist Ministries) changed its name to 727. That was the time we met. At Kent State our Campus Crusade changed its name to the Dive. A church for college students and 20 somethings had the name 707 after a Matthew 7:7 and also the time it met. Then it branched off into 3 services with none of them meeting at 7:07.

OhI just thought of something I could add to the list. I am now a member of 9th and O Baptist Church in Louisville which is neither on 9th or O street anymore.

Personal Update and Blog Pointing

2005-12-03T07:40:00.000-08:00

My exams are finally over. I think I did well on them which is another plus. Now that my exams are done I can start focusing my attention on other things such as working, blogging, more reading, etc. But since many of you are wondering: what did John learn while being at his first semester of seminary? I will share a short list.

1) Apparently I am a yankee ( I used think that just meant you were a patriot. I had no idea that being “yankee” was such a negative thing.)
2) Sweet tea is really good. Its a shame we don't have that up in Ohio.
3) Apparently there some sort of war a while back called the “War of Northern Aggression”. I never heard of it before.

Anyway I am sure I'll share more as I go. Right now I am looking forward working on my series on arguments for the existence of God (which I really will get back to). I know I said that before but not that exams are done I will soon start.

But for right now at this very minute I want to introduce some new bloggers. I think I will call this BLOG POINTING from now on. In this edition of BLOG POINTING I will share with some new blogs I have been reading and enjoying. I'll start with some people I met here at SBTS.

My good friend Jonathan Forsythe has a new blog Walking with Ordinary Joe. It one of my new favorites. I always enjoyed my conversations with Jon he always puts things in a proper God ward perspective. He is also an independent thinker. I am going to miss having him around.

Another good emerging blog is Every Though Captive by Kenan Plunk. Kenan is a friend I met at church and his blog is deep and insightful. I definitely expect good things from it.

Next is the SBTS metablog. This good way to see students here at SBTS are blogging about. It is a composite of many of the blogs here at SBTS. I recently have been added to it.

Once again I want to point you to a couple blogger I previously linked. Jason Milich because he finally remembered his password and now can blog again! He is going to start a series on leadership. If anyone leadership. His blog is still the oddly named Jason the Late and the Great. ( I guess pastor in Tennessee can get away with odd names for their blogs)

Take another look at Ryan's Simmon's Jumbled Rumblings. He recently posted on the “ Eye argument” showing that complexity makes it hard to believe it evovled.
Now to point you to some old favorites:

Check out Jeremy Weaver's Doxoblogy. I think his posts on atonement are stellar and are a must read for anybody.

Russel Moore has funny article in the Henry Institute. Apparently he ticked off some witches and they now wish that we would be reincarnated as a barren woman in a patriarchal society.

Oh yeah ! And speaking of funny I recently have been enjoying all the funny pictures at Purgatorio.

Anyway happy reading! Its time for me to continue celebrating be exam free!!!!!!!!!!!

Semper Reformanda

2005-11-20T20:36:00.000-08:00

This blog post is of much lighter note than the previous few. This post I should have done a while ago. It is my Reformation Day Pictures post.

Well I celebrated Reformation Day with the Semper Reformanda spirit. In case you do not know Latin it means always reforming. As Christians we are to be alwayse reforming. Not becoming more Calvinist but constantly bringing reform (revival , to use more modern terminology) to own life. Constantly being more conformed to the Word of God in our own lives. Sola Reformanda was also the battle cry of the reformers that we always need to be reforming in a corporate level bring reform to the Church conforming it to the Word of God and opposing anything that unbiblical in the church.

Here is my light hearted effort to celebrate Reformation Day with my own way of living out Semper Reformanda by staging a number of reenactments of Luther’s famous 95 thesis posting through out Louisvile.

In honor of my dear friend Dave Mullins I decided the first place bring Reformation to Mullins Hall at Southern Seminary. Though I did not get too far since it girls dorm.

Next I thought I would celebrate Reformation Day with Southern’s neighbor seminary Louisville Seminary ( Presbyterian USA) . So there I again I did late night reenactment at their chapel.

Lastly I finished the night with a reenactment at a certain Catholic church. It was not quite Whittenberg but the closest thing I could find. (It was cool the nail was already there on the church, we certainly did not put there.)

Lastly, I hope this picture will be taken in good fun and won’t offend anyone. I did not cause any property damage nor left the thesis at various places out of respect for that place. It was just fun posing with the camera. No laws were broken or handbooks violated. Oh yeah and I would explain the “Reformation Day Cowboy Hats” but its not worth the explanation.

Oh yeah here is the last peice of Reformation Day fun that I am sharing for this year. It a cake made good freind Josh and his wife Debbie for a contest for a Reformation Day party they took third place. Anyway its time for me to start transition to celebrating other hoolidays like Thanksgiving.

For the Restless.

2005-11-17T07:25:00.000-08:00

For anyone who is currently restless waiting for me to continue in the series on Philosophical Arguments for the Existence of God I invite you to the the Jumbled Rumblings of Ryan Simmons who hosts the Radio Show Beyond The Bubble for Cedarville University. He has just published a related post on evolution. Go check out. For more information on when I am continuing in the series and my delay in it check out the comments on the last post.

The Existence of God: Intro Post

2005-11-05T20:37:00.000-08:00

This is the Intro post to a series of posts I will be doing on the existence of God. The subject has always been interesting to me since I was saved out of atheism close to 5 years ago (I’ll be sharing the my testimony somewhere in the series).
So why do a series on the existence of God?
1) It interests me.
2) To hopefully help believers realize we have good reasons to believe what we believe. I actually had a Christian friend,who has walked with the Lord much longer than me, ask me how we know that God is real. She obviously did not doubt God’s existence but was not sure how to explain her beliefs to others. The first thing I said is well you know him personally and have a relationship with him, then I went into some of the philosophical arguments. I think Christians sometime forget they actually know God. I think our real,living, interactional relationship with God is the best starting place to approach the subject and then go into the other arguments; because the existence of God is not a philosophical position but the reality of a person whom we interact with daily. God is a person not a philosophical conclusion. Though philosophical arguments can be a good tool to show the rationality of belief in God to those who do not know him;as well as confirm to Christians what we know to be true.
3)To show non theists that belief in God is very rational and actually makes much more sense than atheism.
As a side note I do know and understand that the best theistic arguments will not make someone into a theist. This is because belief in God is primarily a spiritual issue not a philosophical or intellectual problem. Most people believe what they want to believe without logical reasons to do so, this is especially true with spiritual matters. Until God gives us the ability to discern spiritual things we will not be able to understand anything spiritual even if it was as simple as 2+2 (Rom 3:11, 1 Cor 2:14).

Now I want to lay some ground rules for future discussion. I understand that my audience is probably 98% Christian but I welcome discussion from any non-theists; in order to keep the discussion fruitful I lay down these grounds rules:
1) Stick to the particular topic of the post.(For example: If we are discussing the ontological argument do not talk about problems with the transcendental argument.)
2) Be logical. Avoid logical fallacies. Make your points logically,l for example P+P=C (premise plus premise gives me this conclusion), not I do not like the Cosmological argument so it is wrong.
3) Have philosophical and intellectual integrity and honesty.
4) Be respectful to other bloggers and the person you are addressing.
I also will submit to my own rules. If a comment breaks these rules I will delete it.

The next post I will in the series will be my thoughts on Ps 19 and Romans 1 addressing what arguments are valid for Christians to use based on what scripture says on how God has revealed himself. It should be noted that I will not be making an argument for the existence for God; I will not be saying we know God exists because God’s word says so. It instead will be showing Christians arguments are consistent with what God revealed about himself to the world.

The posts that follow the next one will be arguments for the existence of God concluding with the testimony of my conversion from atheism to Christianity. I am looking forward to starting the series I hope it will also be of some benefit to others as well.

Larks News

2005-11-01T19:16:00.000-08:00

Groups form ACLUNPRMTV to better marginalize, offend Christians
NEW YORK — The American Civil Liberties Union, National Public Radio and MTV have merged into a single entity to "ridicule and undermine Christianity wherever possible," says a spokesman. The leaders of the newly formed ACLUNPRMTV felt compelled to combine forces because "evangelicals are gaining too much clout in pop culture and politics." "It's like a resistant bacteria," said one employee anonymously. "The more you try to kill it, the stronger it gets." The group hopes to leverage their strengths in youth culture, the courts and among well-educated atheists to once and for all convince Americans that Christianity is a thing of the past. •
This is my favorite story from the new issue of Lark News you can find here. Larks News definately gives me something to look forward to.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In other news I had my best Reformation Day ever yesterday! I was able to do a couple
reenactments of the posting of the 95 thesis in Louiville. I will post more on that when I get the pictures developed.

Oh yeah and since both Halloween and Reformation are now over I will anounce the winner. 21 people voted and 42.9% said that its up to your own personal preferences. Coming in 2nd was Reformation Day YAY!!!!!!!! with 33.3% of the vote. Finishing last was Halloween with 23.8% of the votes. But its a good thing we don't decide our theology by popular vote. For the record I also agree with Dave Mullins on the issue. (if there was anydoubt..by the way he is posting again at Mullins Musings) Celebrate Reformation Day instead and carve Reformation Day pumkins!

Also in other news I am thinking about doing a series of posts on Philosophical Arguements for the Existence of God...Fun Fun but that may have to wait.. Since there are only two and half weeks in the semester! Please pray for me and other Southern students. Pray that we finish well and not let out spiritual lives slide behind our academic lives as we prepare for exams.

Reformation Day

2005-10-26T20:42:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you but I am getting in the Reformation Day spirit ! I even bought a CD of Hymns today because it has A Mighty Fortress Is Our God on it. That really has been getting me in the Reformation Day Mood! Anyway in the Reformation Day spirit I want to share my new favorite hymn with you. Also please note there is a poll on the right where you vote on if you believe it is right or wrong for Christians to celebrate Halloween ( I got the idea for the poll from brother J. Wendall the Earnest Contender). If you still want to join in that debate scroll a few posts down. Anyway Happy Reformation Day!

A Might Fortress Is Our God (Martin Luther 1483-1546)

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Ps 46:1

A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;

Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:

For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;

His craft and power are great, and, armed with cruel hate,On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing;

Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:

Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;

Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,

We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:

The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;

His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;

The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth:

Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;

The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,His kingdom is forever.

Click here for the tune.

Great Debate!

2005-10-21T10:33:00.000-07:00

I am writng a quick post to direct attention to a great debate that going on: Dave Mullins vs. Jason Millich. Under the comments of my post on Reformation Day. I am thorougly enjoying watching the debate because I am very good freind with both Dave and Jason. The Debate is on whether Christians should celebrate Halloween it also gets into the right and wrong ways to evangelize. Check it out and join in the fun! It technically starts with th 7th comment by Jason then response by Dave then Jason then Dave etc.. Its pretty interesting join in! and give your thoughts! Click Here
P.S. One of my all time favorite Jason Millich quotes is "Its ok to use circular reasoning because everyone does it!"

thats not related to the debate and I am not picking on Jason I put it up there because its funny.

Two New Bloggers are Born!

2005-10-16T21:49:00.000-07:00

Everybody knows how there is rejoicing in heav... I mean the Blogosphere when a new blogger is born. Especially after they are converted out of Xangaism and are ready to join the serious, deep, and spiritual conversations of the blogspot.

Anyway I want to introduce you two new brothers in the Blogosphere.
This is Pastor Jason Milich of Tusculum Baptist Church in Greenville Tennessee. Jason is a graduate of Cedarville Univesity. Jason is a dear brother in Christ and one of my best freinds. We met when we ministered together at Skyview Baptist Ranch . Then we grew in our freindship as we cominstered there for three summers. His blog is: Jason The Late and The Great. (He is not writting from the grave, just dead to sin just incase the name confused anybody else. That explains the late part... the great part is because he is humble.)

The next newly born blogger I want to introduce you to is Ryan Simmons. He is a new freind I met on the missionary trip I took during my fall break to minister to the unreached people groups of Cedarville University. He wants to go into Christian publishing. He is also a cohost of a radio show at Cedarville (more info on that can be found here) His new blog is called the Jumbled Rumblings.

Anyway keep your eye on these two new bloggers. May they be fruitful in their blogging.

Reformation Day

2005-10-07T14:06:00.000-07:00

Reformation day is Coming! It is October 31 and celebrates the day Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the door of Wittenberg igniting the Prostestant Reformation and the recovery of the Biblical Gospel. This a day every Christian should be thankful for.

Since Reformation day is approuching I am thinking about how to celebrate it. A few of my freinds of the Seminary are talking about dressing up as Martin Lurther. I am think a reinactment of posting the 95 theses may be fun. But my seminary buddies tell I might get in trouble if I look for the largest Catholic church in Louisville and try that. So I may use my neighbor's door instead. Although in reality I think I will order pizza and get a bunch of people together and watch Luther the movie and express my thanksgiving to God for men like Luther and thank God for the Reformers and for the doctrines the stood on: Scripture alone, Christ alone, Grace alone,Faith alone, For the glory of God alone. May we thank God in that he always preserves a remnant and for how he used Martin Luther and the other Reformers to recover the beuatiful Biblical Gospel from being obscured by tradion and dogma. Let us not forget how we are deeply indebted to those who came before us on who's shoulders and blessings we stand.

I want to invite you to leave comments on ideas on how to celebrate Reformation Day or how you have previously celebrated Reformation Day.

SpongeBob checks into Exodus International

2005-09-22T10:44:00.000-07:00

I thought this was so funny I had to share. It can orginally be fround at Larknews.com.

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Cartoon actor SpongeBob Squarepants checked into an Exodus International program Wednesday, hoping to leave behind a life of homosexuality he now dubs "duplicitous and shameful." The celebrity sponge said through a spokesman that he intends to immerse himself in the Christ-centered program. "For years, SpongeBob has struggled with his sexual identity," said his spokesman, reading from a prepared statement. "He hopes to emerge from this program cleansed." Other gay children's characters expressed disappointment. Bert and Ernie of Sesame Street told reporters SpongeBob is "denying who he is." "He's setting us back fifty years," Ernie said from his and Bert's Upper West Side penthouse. SpongeBob has said in past interviews that his sexual confusion began when he learned his parents were, like all sponges, hermaphroditic, switching gender roles throughout their life cycle. "It was traumatizing," he says. "It tore a big hole in my personality." The beloved yellow children's character, who has gained fans because of his guilelessness, hopes to settle down with another sea creature once his show runs its course. "When syndication kicks in, I can retire and start spawning, like a normal sponge," he told Entertainment Weekly last April. •

Should Christians Go Out To Eat On Sundays?

2005-09-07T11:36:00.000-07:00

One of the things I have been reflecting on is whether Christians should go to stores, restaurant, and businesses on Sunday.
Let me tell you a quick a little story why this has been on my mind.

A little while ago I got a hired at a certain restaurant that is just opening. When they hired me they knew I was only available 20 hours and was completely and totally unavailable to work on Sundays. Well, anyway, this restaurant was not open at the time of my hiring but just setting up and they asked if I could come in and help them set up as they brought in dishes on a Saturday. This was not scheduled hours just something I could do to help them out and earn a little extra money even before I had orientation. I worked that Saturday and as I was leaving I was told (not asked) to come in tomorrow morning as well (that being Sunday). Keep in mind what I was doing was extra and there was no orientation yet. I then responded by saying I am not available on Sundays. Then I was told I had to be available at nights or the mornings on Sunday. Then (with grace) I informed them I was hired with the understanding that I would not work any time on Sunday and I made this clear up front during my time of hiring and I was hired. Well I was then instructed that I needed to talk to a certain manager about that. I did and then he said I was right. Then they tried to schedule me 40 hours! During my orientation week. I protested (kindly, and with grace, I obviously can not put school on hold because its their training week) and my response was its ok the 40 hour is only for the two training weeks. So two weeks of 40 hours. Making 80 hours combined. I decided to quit (again with grace ) and then got a job with Chick-fil-A a Christian owned restaurant, which is not open on Sundays and is flexible with Seminary students.

This got me thinking why is it that working a Sunday can be an expectation of a an employer. It was at the former place I was working even they knew I was unavailable. Obviously, to the world Sunday is the second day of the weekend. A time to sleep in or do whatever. But still, does it bother anyone else how most employers think that it is unreasonable that some one would want Sunday off? Obviously, the reason employers want people to work on Sundays is economic it is another day to make money.

So anyway, a couple Sundays ago I was feeling thankful that I did not have to work on Sundays and glad that would never be a problem with my new job at Chick-fil-A, then I went out to eat after service (like ever good Baptist) and enjoyed my meal but also realized other people were working. Not for me only obviously but I was part of the reason someone else had to work on Sunday. This bugged me. Honestly right now I do not know whether it is right or not go out to eat or do other business on a Sunday.

Having said that, let me first clarify a few things: my concern is NOT trying to obey 4th commandment, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9Six days you shall labor, and do all your work," Exodus 20:8,9 (ESV) because Col 2:16 says:Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath, but I am concerned about obeying Heb 10:25 says :Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing... So I am not saying that we should not do stuff because it breaks the Sabbath, but that we as Christians doing things on Sundays may prevent other from obeying Heb 10:25 or will reinforce the world's idea that its ok to work on Sundays since its ok for us to be served by workers on Sunday. So what are your thoughts? I would love to have them since my mind is far from made up on this one. What do you think should Christian not go out to eat or to stores on Sunday? Or is ok and why? Let me say I can’t think of a time where I did not go out to lunch immediately after service. Is there anything wrong with that? Are you someone who does not go out on Sundays? Or do you go and have no problem with it? Let me know what you think. I am still undecided on where my convictions are on this issue, so help me out.

P.S. Oh and please come up with something better than "places will be open anyway, so you might as well" that does not mean you have to support it just because it will keep on going without your support. Its like saying you might as well vote for the incumbent even if you disagree with him because he is going to win anyway. Anyway let me know what you think.

A Puritan's Personal Purpose Statement and Yours

2005-08-31T22:55:00.000-07:00

One of the things that is relatively new yet widespread is organizations adopting purpose statements. They are everywhere from your fast food restaurant to your multinational cooperation to your local church (oddly enough certain studies have shown churches with purpose statements are often healthy then those without.) It seems like you can not get away from the ever popular purpose statement. I myself having written a couple purpose statements for organizations because that is often the starting point for the rest of a strategic plan.. But why are they such a big deal? Maybe this simple definition I got in my Strategic Planning class will help: Purpose statements explain why an organization exists. For example, this restaurant exists to serve customers and make a profit or this church exist to glorify God, etc. This is why purpose statements are so powerful they are the articulation of something’s reason for being. Knowing this obviously gives one the great advantage of giving something its direction and clarity on what an organization is supposed to do. This is why its no wonder why when an organization decides to organize or structure itself it will go about it by putting its purpose into words and then arrange everything around its defined purpose. This can be a powerful thing.

One of the things I have been wondering is what if people gave themselves’ purpose statements. What it look like? Would it have the same power for people as it does for organizations? As I was reading through A Quest For Godliness by J.I. Packer for my Spiritual Disciplines class I caught a glimpse of what a person’s purpose statement may look like as I read on page 61 some things that Richard Baxter wanted to commit his life to are: " First , to speak the impenitent, uncovered sinners, who are not yet so much as purposing to turn…And with these, I thought, a wakening persuasive was a more necessary means…My next work must be for those that have some purposes to turn, and are about the work, to direct them for a thorough and true conversion, that they miscarry not in the birth. The third must be directions for the younger and weaker sort of Christians, that they maybe established, built up, and persevere. The fourth part, directions for lapsed and backsliding Christians, for their safe recovery. Besides this, there is intended some short persuasions and directions against some special errors of the times against some common killing sins. Ad for directions to doubting, troubled consciences , this is done already. And the last part is intended more especially for families, as such, directing the several relations in their duties." What laudable goals for a person to have! I paraphrased and summarized what he said his mission was, in this way: 1) To reach the uncoverted. 2) To bring nominal Christians to true conversion. 3) To build up the younger and weaker brothers. 4) To help backslidden Christians safely return. 5) Confront and correct errors of the time.6) To direct families in relational duties. I would call this John Baxter’s personal purpose statement. These were the reason he existed and fulfilling his calling for the glory of drove him which led to a time of great revival in England.

Here is my question what is your personal purpose statement. How would you explain your existence? How would actively knowing the reason for your being change your life. I want to challenge you to articulate your own personal purpose statement for life. Then let that challenge you to change the way you live knowing what you are here for. This how my personal purpose statement would read: "John Babri exist to be a servant of Jesus Christ to the glory of God to call those who do know Jesus to come to know him in a personal way and to call those to who claim to know Christ live transformed Christ exalting lives". Imagine now if I live my life according to my purpose statement and calling. Would I be like the great Richard Baxter? I know have my purpose articulated will help me keep in perspective the reason I am here and rightly forces me to do what I am created to do.

What is your personal purpose statement? What is the reason you exist? Is it to make as much money and have as much fun as you can before you die? Or is your purpose something more. Let me help a little as you write your own personal purpose statement. Your purpose is now so you can gain stuff, have as much fun as you want, or to make money. Your purpose is for Christ. If you think your purpose is for something else you can know you are wrong Col 1:16 says this about why you are here :.. all things were created through him and for him..the him being Christ, all including you, Romans 8:28 has this to say about you :29For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. You are the to be conformed to the image of Jesus. 1 Cor 6:19 says this about you: You are not your own.. This is a good starting point for drafting your purpose statement know you exist for Christ to be conformed to image of Christ and you are not your own and have no rights to yourself but belong to Christ. How does knowing this should then influence you and the way you live? What does this scream that the direction of your life should be based on your purpose. Also, know that if your personal purpose does not have anything to do with Christ or place him as supreme and central its wrong.

How would you articulate the reason for your existence? What is your purpose and how does you change the way you live to fit your reason for living. What is your life’s purpose statement?

Blogs That Link Me

2005-08-28T21:41:00.000-07:00

I wanted to take a moment honor and thank the blogs that are linking me. I really do appreciate it! So now I want honor you with this post and link your blog is this post. I feel a little bit like I am ripping of Phil Johnson's BlogSpotting at PyroManiac . So guess I'll call this OnTheEdge.

First on the edge is Michelle Thomas with her comments on the less serious side of my recent interview in the Basement. I don't usually link Xangas but I love the comments she makes: "Homaune John Babri in print is almost as good as the real thing. " and she affirms my expertise in one the books I mention in the interview by saying: "And just for the record, I think he really could write 'The Interpretations of What Girls Say and What It Really Means'. Yep I can translate girl into English and if there is any popular demand I may publish excepts from that book at this blog. Her blog is By His Grace for His Glory.

Not only I am intereviewed at Spartan but also make Spartan's links under blogosphore. Again I say check out the interview and keep your eye on this blog for 'Missional' writings.

I want to give Joe of Joe's Jotting's a big thank you for his kind words about my blog and for adding me to his links. He clearly helped bring some new traffic to my blog which is evident by scrolling down and seeing the comments on my post about being at Southern. I appreciate Joe's blog he definately has good stuff to say and has alot of links that help me find other great blogs aswell.

Curtis Richardson has me linked. He has not updated his blog for awhile but has told me in an IM conversation that he will soon. He will be telling us who is going to get to go heaven. His blog is The Voice Of Reality. He also was the Youth Pastor of the Church I got saved at about 4 1/2 years ago. I don't know if he realizes it but the games of Risk we played were influntial in spiritual life.

Lastly even though this one should not count I want to give an honorable mention to Dave Mullins and his blog Mullins Musings since I can think of at least three times where he mentions my blog in one of his posts. Besides Dave Mullins is one of my all time favorite people in the world hands down. I even thought about starting a Dave Mullins fan club blog.

Well since I am linking blogs I think I'll just go ahead and link some new favorites as well. I recently have really gotten into and have been enjoying Jeremy Weaver's blog which has recently been renamed to the Doxoblogy. And will also soon move so I geuss this link will not work for long but I strongly suggest following his blog where ever it may go. I also highly recommend his brother's blog, Pastor Steve Weaver's Blog. What can I say? I guess Weavers make good bloggers. Lastly, I want to recommend Tony Kummer's blog Will The Next Generation Treasure Christ? Although, I don't have children and probably will not for a very long time I think this blog will be a great resource for anyone involved in Children's Ministries and I wish I knew about it when I was writting a Strategic Plan for my Church's children's ministries back when I was a intern at my church.

Anyway enjoy the blogs. Just a little side not there are a couple blogs that link me that I did not link. Its not because I hate you (since I don't. Its because its a personal blog and not something others would understand). Also if there is anyone out there who linked me and I don't know about it email me and let me know. Anyway grace and peace to you.

John Babri Interview

2005-08-26T16:57:00.000-07:00

Hey I thought I 'd share this with you. I was intereviewed at Spartan a new blog. This blog is dedicated to 'Missional' issues. I suggest checking it out especially since I am being interverivewed. Here are the questions I answered:

John, tell me what it was like at Kent State being a Christian?

Do you think that everyone should have an "Out of the Box" experience when it comes to sharing their faith?

What do you think the term "Missional" means to you?

Tell me about an experience you had where you were really stretched regarding evangelism.

Now that you're a new student at Southern Seminary, do you think it will be harder to get out of your comfort zone soon to reach the lost?

What are some words of encouragement that you could give "Younger Leaders" in ministry today?

Do you think being Southern Baptist has had an affect on people listening to you as a Christian sharing your faith?

What are some things that you are going to be doing to not only reach the "lost" but also other Seminary students?

Anyway I suggest going and checking out that interview and what is sure to be a great blog for 'Missional' discussions. Also I explain the precurse-curse in the second part of the interview at The Basement the sister site of Spartan which is for more informal, just plain fun conversation. I also strongly suggest seeing that because I explain the precurse-curse as well as talk about the 4 books I am going to write. Anyway Enjoy.

I am at SBTS!!!!!!!!!!!!

2005-08-18T17:04:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary!!!!I decided to do something different for today’s blog. I do not usually write about me but since my life has been full of changes I thought I would to keep you updated on my life. I might even make a monthly update a regular feature now that I gone. Never fear I am not going to this into a personal blog I'll keep putting down Biblical and theological stuff for the most part.

The biggest news is now at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary! I have been here for eight days now and I am loving it! I got to meet Al Mohler and shake his hand during orientation. Even though it was only a brief encounter it may have been the highlight of orientation for me.

In other news I was really impressed with the church I visited: 9th and O Baptist Church. That was definitely a blessing. The preaching was very expository and verse by verse on a difficult passage. It was 1 Cor 1:1-9 the introduction to Corinthians. The message was Christ centered and expository. The Sunday school was a blessing as well. It looks like they have real community in the Sunday school. Its even the home church of Russell Moore who teaches a Sunday school class there. I am going to have to check out a few other churches but 9th and O is looking pretty good.

I am loving my classes. I even enjoying doing my homework! Professors start out with prayer, they call you brother. This is far different then my post modern professors at Kent who wanted to disprove the Bible and not take Christians seriously. I am so blessed and thankful to be here at Southern. Not only that I also have some of the best professor in the nation. For example, I get to have Don Whitney as my teacher for spiritual disciplines class author of Spiritual Disciples for the Christian Life. I am also looking forward to my readings I get to read stuff like the Pilgrim’s Progress among other great books. The campus itself is beautiful. People are friendly. I also really enjoying spiritual conversations with people. Its been so refreshing just to talk to people who are excited about God and are sold out for him .

In other news God also provided me with a job! I will be working as a dishwasher at the Cheesecake Factory in a Mall in Louisville. It is a relief to know I have a job. God is so good!

Oh and since I’ve been doing a lot of name dropping I guess its time to tell you that I am in the lineage of people like John Calvin and Jonathan Edwards. In the first day of my Intro to Christian Philosophy class Dr. Parker past out our Educational Genealogy. This arrow <--- will represent was a student of. Ok here is my Educational Genealogy: John Babri <— Dr. James Parker <–Dr. Bruce Metzger <—Dr. John Mackay<– Dr. Benjamin B. Warfield <– Dr. Charles Hodge <– Dr. Archibald Alexander <– William Graham <– Dr. Samuel Stanhope Smith <– Dr. Jonathan Edwards Jr. <– Jonathan Edwards <– Solomon Stoddard <– Dr. Charles Chauncy <– Archbishop James Ussher <– Walter Travers <– Theodore Beza <– John Calvin
There you go the Evangelical Apostlistic line of ascension. From John Calvin to John Babri, pretty cool huh. It helps remind that are Christians are not isolated from other believers but are indebted to those who came before for us. Its also interesting to look at the line and seeing that way helps me realize how connected we are to the saints who came before us. So now any I teach will be in the line of Calvin and Edwards

To all my friends back home in Ohio as well as First Baptist know that even though I am in a "better place" now ( I never get tired of making that silly little joke) you still very dearly missed. Thanks also for your prayers, emails, letters and other ways you have shown your love. FBCA I am praying for you
Grace and peace to you.
God is so good!

The Supremacy of Christ seen in Col 1:15-18

2005-08-06T22:41:00.000-07:00

15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16For byhim all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through him and for him. 17And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. Col 1:15-18 (ESV)

Taking a look at Col 1:15-18 forces us from going from being egocentric to Christocentric as we see the Supremacy of Christ in all of the universe and everything in it. These three verses show us three pictures of Christ that should leave us in awe. The first is of Christ the Creator. The second is that of Christ the sustainer and the last picture is of Christ the redeemer. These three pictures of Christ remind us that its not about us but about him! The Creater, Sustainer, Redeemer! The only proper understanding then is to abandon any egocentrism but realize we live in a Christocentric universe and our only proper response is to align ourselves with the centrality, supremacy, preminence of Christ in all creation! Here a few thoughts on this extrodianary passage!

v.15 what does first born mean. The first born of all creation! It means in it Christ has preeminence! Firstborn has the idea of the birthright think back Old Testament time who got blessing, honor, and prestige. It is the place of honor. This all belonged to the first born! It does NOT mean that Jesus was born some time after God. He is eternal as John 1:1 teaches equally coeternal with God the father. So what it is saying by Jesus being the first born of all creation? It means all creation is for him. It all belongs to him. It is all rightly given to him because he deserves it all. Jesus Christ rightly has the place of honor. As we are the part of all creation we need to rightly give him the place of honor in everything. Jesus also inherits all of creation. Its all for him!

V.16 This one of my favorite verses of the Bible. We do not tend often think of Christ as Creator but just as Savior. But by things him all things were created. John 1:3 puts it this way: All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. Jesus Christ is the creator of you, your clothes, your family of your universe; of Mars, of Saturn, of galaxies far and near. Look at the stars tonight and see them as what Jesus created. Look at look at yourself as something Jesus Christ created. For you are his workmanships says Eph 2:10. You along with the rest of everything else in the universe has one creator Jesus Christ. The text says he is the creator of all things visible and invisible. Guess what, the air you breath something invisible you owe to Jesus Christ. The microscopic cells that you have that protect your body he created, has, and owns.

The next two lines are beautiful. All things are for him! Ever wonder why the universe exist? Its for Jesus Christ! For him to reveal and display his glory. He did not make the universe for you. Even all the good things you have are not really for you. Its ALL for him. The universe and everything in does not exist for you. You use it but really you are only borrowing. Its is all to please Jesus. That tree outside your window exist to please Jesus. You exist for Jesus. Just to drive it home lets replace the generals in that verse for specifics. You were created through Jesus for Jesus. Like 1 Cor 6:19 says you are not your own. That is so true! Nothing has any right over itself we are to please the our creator that’s what we are for. Think of Romans 9:21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? The creator has supreme authority over his creation! Remember that God created you for what he wills.

V17. And he is before all things… This is simply that all things are subject to him and again for him. He also very literally before all things! He is the Alpha & Omega. Not only that, all things consist in him.He in not only your creator, he is also your sustainer. The reason you are being sustained right now is because of Jesus. This includes all your provisions like food.The reason you have anything such family, friends, hope, shelter, food is because Jesus Christ is sustaining you! Not only is he sustaining you that way he is also sustaining you in other ways. The very atoms that make up your body Jesus is holding together right now! Scientist do not know why an atom is held together. It has to be a very very stong force. Because when you spilt an atom that makes a nuclear bomb. Think of all the power that is released as a bomb goes off. Its what fuels the sun. Why don’t atoms just fall apart? Because Jesus is holding all things together! Does this fill your heart with thankfulness?Also know the air you breath is because Jesus is holding holding you together. The precise orbit of the Earth so you could live all examples of how Jesus is right now holding us together! Not only is he our creator but our sustainer!

V.18 Jesus Christ is also our redeemer! He is the head of the body the church. The first born from the dead. Why does it say that? Because without Jesus right now you would be dead! The Bible describes some one with out Christ as dead.

1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. Eph 2:1-5
Before you knew Christ you were a dead person. But Christ came and redeemed you from your death. Just like Lazarus could not do anything about his condition so were you spiritually until Christ redeemed you. How did he do that by coming down to Earth. Jesus Christ the first born of all creation the one who all glory and honor is due came down and died for you. Think about our condition how we are sin against God. Our sins are like slaps in the face to the God who created all things through him and by him. Our iniquities were placed on him according to Isaiah 53:6. He came and bore are penalty because we failed to do what we were created for. We fall short of the glory of God. And he has bought us back from the death with his own blood to enjoy him eternally. For his sake not ours. Again all so Christ can have preeminence. Look at the verse all salvation is not for our self it is for Christ. All to show his prememinence!

To summarize Christ is the Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer.

Does that help show you its not about you?
To begin with you were created for Jesus.
You are being currently sustained by Jesus.
You are redeemed by Jesus.

What is your response to that? Well lets say someone gives you a really really awesome gift. What is your natural response? What do you want to do back for them? You usually want to do something nice back for them. Not out of duty but out of love! To say thank your for they have done for you. Its not something any should have to tell you to do! It is what should be naturally overflowing out of your heart. That is chief motivation to serve Christ. That’s what we were created for! Remember created by him for him, sustained by him and redeemed by him! This should naturally cultivate three responses.

Gratitude and realization for a your purpose in creation. How do know how to use something. Usually for its intended purpose. There is a reason a you don’t eat soup with a fork. That not its purpose and imagine how miserable someone would be trying to eat soup with a fork. Its just as bad when anyone does not align their life to Christ and his purposes for their life. We are created for him. So we need to be doing what he would have us to do.

Gratitude and Thankfulness for sustaining us! We take everything for granted but the only reason we have our next breath is because has chosen to sustain us. How do we respond to that with a heart of thankfulness? What does a thankful heart do? It serves.

Our response for redemption should be humility. The King of all creation came and died for us. Remember that though he died for us it was for his glory. What amazing benefits we get when God chooses to glorify himself!

When we respond to what Christ has done for us it naturally should cause us to want to get aligned with where we stand in creation. Remembering we are here for him and we should serve him with our life with gratitude, thankfulness, and humility. The right place for us to be is a servant of the beautiful King of Kings who it is all for! Therefore never be egocentric but Christocentric!

Editors note: This post is an adaptation of my notes I prepared for the devotion I gave the my youth on our Mission Service project last week. It was to show the motivation for Service: the Supremacy of Christ.
The picture I used can orginally be found here.

Southern Baptists too Calvinist? & Other News...

2005-07-30T09:58:00.000-07:00

Personal Update: I am still extremely too busy to unfortunately write much of substance but I decided to do some reporting of substance. I found a couple interesting finds in the Blogosphere that I wanted to share.

I found out about 2 groups in the Southern Baptist Convention. Its seems like its the Calvinists and anti-Calvinist. I found a number of interesting links on this from Dr. James White's Apologetics Blog. It seems like this particular group is a reaction to the SBC getting more Reformed. I went to their website and was delighted to see that they had many links to their enimies the SBC Calvinists. I was glad to check out the resource the provide me with about groups in SBC who are working to make the SBC more Reformed. The link to their minstry is here. This is probably a good read for any Reformed Baptist not necessilarly just Southern Baptists. The debate is fun for me to watch because as you all know I am proud Southern Baptist and also very Reformed. Also interesting because I am going (in under 2weeks) to a Seminary that has been called the the Southern Baptist's "Outpost of Calvinism" by a certain speaker in our convention(and he did not mean it as a compliment). So here is a fun question to ponder is there room for Calvinists and the anti-Calvinists in the SBC or will "Calvinism divide the SBC" as I heard one alarmist say. All of the SBC has the same confessional statement the Baptist Faith & Message .Heres a thought does the Baptist Faith & Message support a particular side? So anyway leave you thoughts on Southern Baptists and Calvinism. Do you think we are too Calvinist? Or not Calvinist enough (My first reaction is there no such thing as too Calvinist..unless you a hyper Calvinist..) Or do you think all the Calvinists and non Calvinist we will able to coexist peacefully..(What I think is funny is some of the non Calvinst Southern Baptist I've talked to are at least 3 pt-4.5pt Calvinist and don't admit it.)

In other news while I busy linking other blogs I going to link to Steve Camp's recent blog post on Senator Frist deciding to support a bill to expand federal financing for embryonic stem cell research. I read the article and was outraged!I lost any respect for the guy who is trying to get close with evangelicals for political power but and not out of conviction. It forced me to get closer to Steve Camp's position on "Evangelical CoBiligerence" . Although for the record I still disagree with stance on "Evangelical CoBiligernce" because I believe we need to be involved fighting evil in all ways possible which is not the same thing trying to legislate regenerate behavior on the lost. Thats not the issue. I see Evangelical engagement as doing that. It wouldn't make sense to say "Hey Nazi Germany was unsaved, so we should expect that behavior out of them so we should not try to inforce Christian morality on them." If we can oppose evil politcally then do it! Of course not neglecting the primary issue of the spititual condition which is the root of the problem.(I do confess I made a straw man out of the ECB arguement but I am trying to make a point) But don't get me wrong I am very concerned about the mingling of Christianity and Politics because politics is a very dirty business and we don't need to stain our spotless Savior with the dirtiness of politics. See my post on the first Justice Sunday to see more of my concern on the issue. All this to say I believe there is a place for Christians to be engaged in politcs but we have to be careful of people like Frist who want to politically use us without representing us. Oh by the way reading the comments to the post I was happy to see that Camp still appreciates Mohler even though he disagrees with him. I was happy to see this because I was worried that he might be Mohler basher.

Well, since I seem to be busy pointing you to other blogs I might as well keep going. Check out a couple of Phil Johnson's recent posts at PyroManiac . I throughly enjoyed his comments on the problems with being Fad Driven as well as his comments on Time's list of 25 Most Influential Evangelicals. And since blogspotting is nolonger a fad but a classic tradition maybe I'll get lucky and get blogspotted. Two of my freinds Dave Mullins and Curtis Richardson have already been blogspotted by Phil. If anyone is wondering...this is a shameless attempt to get blogspotted...

Anyway enjoy all the links and sometime I will return my deep theological and Biblical writtings in a break from my packing to go to Southern Baptist Theological Seminary .

Just for Fun

2005-07-23T16:20:00.000-07:00

Hey guys here is something just for fun. Its the great parody "Baby Got Book." It describes the type of girl I want to meet, to quote the song one that's ..."rockin' because she has sound doctrine.." Another great line is "bless me, bless me, and teach me about John Wesly." Anyway I know this video has made its rounds across the internet but for those of you who it will be new for it should be a real treat. Watch it here .

Anyway enjoy that now and I will return to my theological writtings some time soon I hope.

Calvinism and Arminianism....

2005-07-15T00:03:00.000-07:00

First off I need to admit this post is a shameful act of plagiarism from my freind Chris's blog.But I had to because I knew my Calvinistic readers would get a kick out of this shirt. I am tempted to buy it. You can here btw :
click here
Just to correct a little bit of theology a shirt can not choose anyone even if it is a Calvinist one but God can and does.

Speaking of Calvinsism the discussion on my Calvinistic post on whether Jesus was Seeker Sensitive is still going strong. So scroll down read it and comment on it. Oh yeah and I finally join in the discusion as well and ask a few more questions check it out.

And since this seems to the best of Calvinism post here is a link to previous post that lets you know if you are too Reformed read it and see if you are:
You may be too reformed if...

Cross Training: Is Christianity Different From Other Religions

2005-07-10T14:39:00.000-07:00

To any wonder FBCA student who may be reading this I decided not to put up my notes for tonight's lesson because they are 10 pages long! And they are still incomplete where I know what I mean with the note but I don't think they will be much help to you so I decide to give you some very useful links that approuch the subject of how Biblical Christianity is different from other religions. So here you go:
http://www.carm.org/
http://www.everystudent.com/index.html
http://aomin.org/
Enjoy.
-John
I also higly recommend checking out the first site and its answers to 40 hard questions people ask christians.

Cross Training: Science and Christainity

2005-07-03T21:05:00.000-07:00

To any wonderful FBCA student who may be reading this theses are my notes for our Cross Training Lesson. Remeber they my notes so excuse my grammer and typoes. Also I was dependent on two internet source in the lesson. The websites are given in the lesson. Feel free post any questions you may have. Enjoy.

Cross Training : Do Science and Scripture Agree?

If you talk to a non believer and try to get the justify their beliefs they will simply say that its not scientific and in fact that science and the Bible just plain disagree. And when it comes to a testing of the if would be foolishness not to go with science. They seem to think of science as the only thing that can tell you if anything is “real” and we should not believe “religion”. How can we respond to that does scripture and our faith really invalidated when you look at cold hard facts of science?
To begin to really take a look at the issue of Science and Scripture we must realize what we are dealing with here is not Science vs. Religion but it is really a question of how do you know that you know something. This is called Epistemology for the Greek word epistme which means to know.
So lets take a look a “Science” how is it that something becomes “science” Science guess what is not a set of facts it’s a set of observations! You guys have a heard of the scientific method right? Let’s go over that to see how “science” works.

1. Observation and description of a phenomenon or group of phenomena.
2. Formulation of an hypothesis to explain the phenomena. In physics, the hypothesis often takes the form of a causal mechanism or a mathematical relation.
3. Use of the hypothesis to predict the existence of other phenomena, or to predict quantitatively the results of new observations.
4. Performance of experimental tests of the predictions by several independent experimenters and properly performed experiments.

That is how science knows something. What science really is a really just intelligent guesses. I am sure we know that is called science has changed over time. For example before the big bang theory “science” said the universe always existed. Now “science”says the big bang is how the universe started. Or take Chemistry for example who can tell me what is smaller than an atom? Protons, neutrons, and electrons. Once we were taught these were the smallest particles But now we know they even smaller elements still. So how is it that science keeps on changing? It is because science is not a set of rules the universe follows are set in stone. Science is not is not set of solid unchanging ultimate facts. Its really a set of guesses on how the universe works based on the scientific method. So you cannot say “Science says”. Science does not say anything science our collections of observations guess what? Science is not inerrant. So why would want to prove something by a set our best guesses. Ultimately you cannot prove or disprove something unless you actually know something for sure. So how some one disproves something with their set of best guesses? Do you remember how last week we saw about how knowledge does not mean much if we no standard to test it by well the same is true about Science. I am not trying to that there is no value to science but science is not an absolute standard of truth!

Now lets talk about the epistlemology of a Biblical Christian we have a completely different worldview and a completely different way of looking things. Unlike an unbelieving scientist we are not looking at world and trying to have figure out what truth is. We have truth revealed to us. We are extremely unique in that we do not have the problem the much of the rest of the world does. We do not have problem of a relative reality. But we have truth defined. First We can not search for truth because we have no measuring stick to test truth but God is infinite and sees all of time and space so we know that when he reveals truth it he has universal perspective. Truth is revealed to us in the Person of Jesus Christ.(John 14:6 ) Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Jesus defines himself as truth and we know that God’s word is Truth. Jesus said in John 17:17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. Jesus Christ himself is truth. God’s word is also truth. From the truth standard that God gives us we can say we know truth or anything at all. Note this is incredibly different perspectives and how science can invalid the Bible no matter what anyone says. We are thinking about thing in two completely different ways. One starts out with the assumption you can only know truth if it is revealed versus I got to do figure out what it is. The difference is presuppositions and worldview. Presuppositions are the set of beliefs that one already has and just takes as assumed as the view things. Worldview is the particular way you view the.

Ok well the foundation that believer needs to is at the heart of science versus the Bible.

Next lets talk about a few of the “hot topics” in the whole area of science and the Bible. The first I am sure you know about. It has been in the news. Intelligent Design versus Evolution. Let us start with the infamous Evolution.

The Theory of Evolution can be divided into two parts, micro-evolution and macro-evolution. Micro-evolution deals with small changes within a species which adapt that species to be better suited to its environment. This process is well supported with scientific evidence and doesn't conflict with a Christian understanding of reality.

Macro-evolution claims that through major genetic mutations one species can evolve into another, so over a long period of time fish could evolve into insects, birds and mammals. From this concept it's suggested that all life could have evolved from simple chemical structures, thus life could have resulted from natural processes without the need for a creator.

Macro-evolution is highly contentious and its more extreme interpretations challenge conventional Christian thinking. It's sometimes suggested that God chose to create life through evolution, however, there's now a weighty and growing body of both scientific and philosophical evidence that discredits macro-evolution. This article very briefly surveys that evidence.

Creation vs. evolution - Origin of Life
Firstly, there's the question of how life itself originally got started. The theory of macro-evolution suggests how to develop from one species to another, but it can't explain how to jump from no life to life or from unconscious to conscious.

There are two questions in this area that macro-evolution can't answer. Firstly, the DNA molecules which store the genetic code for living beings are extremely complex even for the most basic forms of life. Where did the original injection of the genetic information for life come from?
The second question centres around an issue termed irreducible complexity. Even in the simplest life forms there are a number of different and complex components which must all be in place for life to occur. Take any of the components away and you no longer have life. The building blocks of living beings are complex and are not independent. How can these components have been assembled separately apart from pre-existent life?

Creation vs. evolution - The Missing Link
A second serious challenge to macro-evolution comes in the forms of fossils. The theory suggests that through genetic mutations over a long period of time, species gradually evolve into new species. If this were the case, you'd expect to find a whole spectrum of species within the fossil record at different stages of evolution.

However, the fossil records do not show life evolving from one species to another. On the contrary, there's a notable absence of any fossils of species at intermediate stages of evolution. Further, there aren't obvious intermediate species around today. The problem of the lack of evidence for transition between species is known as the Missing Link.

Creation vs. evolution - Geology and the history of Earth
Macro-evolution is understood to be a very slow process, random mutations taking place and becoming established over long periods of time. From developments in Geology and Earth Sciences, the window of history where conditions suitable for evolution have existed has become shorter and shorter. Many interpretations of macro-evolution have been abandoned as the time available for species to evolve was not long enough to account for the diversity of life we see.

Creation vs. evolution - Conclusion
Whilst there is widespread acceptance of the theory of micro-evolution, the question of macro-evolution continues to be hotly debated. Over the last fifteen years the tide of scientific opinion has been turning against the evolutionists. The complexity and apparent design of life has defied a purely naturalistic explanation and the problem of how life started remains unanswered by the scientific community.

In addition to the huge practical and theoretical difficulties associated with macro-evolution, the physical evidence presented by DNA code and the fossil record has not supported the theory. The available evidence seems to be pointing to the separateness of different species.
As the case for all life evolving from simple cell structures is looking less and less convincing, alternative explanations are needed. Science rests heavily on the principle of cause and effect. To account for the diversity of life on Earth, an adequate cause is required. Many in the scientific world are beginning to seriously consider the case for intelligent design in the universe. The consistent Christian claim of history is that the intelligent designer and sustainer of the universe is the God of the Bible.
This information first appeared at http://www.everystudent.com/wires/evolution.html

This topic is vast so I can not hit everything I want but let me try to give you a few more reason to support the Biblical account of creation.

Then there’s the 2nd LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS. The evolution model would have you believe that we began as some kind of swamp goo and through chance-random process, evolved into the complex piece of humanity that we are now. The 2nd law of thermodynamics says that everything runs down, not up. Complex things break down, life becomes more disorganized, time and chance make things worse, not better. If you look around, everything starts out beautiful and then deteriorates. Trees, people, buildings, everything. Yet the evolutionists want you to believe that ONLY where evolution is concerned are we to disregard the 2nd law of thermodynamics.

THE SHRINKING SUN. Since 1836, the diameter of the sun has been measured to be shrinking about 5 ft. per hour. By going back in history and studying solar eclipses, scientists say that this shrinkage appears to be constant. Extrapolating backward, we find that the sun would have been so large one million years ago that no life at all could have existed on this earth. If we went back 20 million, which is still far short of the 5 billion many evolutionists claim as the age of the solar system, the edge of the sun would have touched the earth. The earth would have exploded long before the sun ever got that close.
This helps support the young Earth Theory that the Earth is not Billions of years old

CONSIDER THE HUMAN EYE. What animal, or back further, what piece of algae decided one day that we needed to see? And then began the billion year process of forming an eye, with all of it’s intricacies and marvels. Can we really be led to believe that we EVOLVED the eyeball.
This information was taken from:
http://www.linda.net/creation.html

There are just way too many Gaps for EVOLUTION to work
So many other topics to consider. Anthrotopic principle, and the difference between science and scientist.
As we close I wan to focus in on one topic.

Are the fields of Science and Christianity are they really enemies are they really incompatible? The answer is of course what is true can not contradict what is true. We know that the Bible is truth. Science can compliment the Bible and give more detail about the sovereign plan of the creator. Take the Big Bang theory for example, most people see it against Christianity but in reality its not. Popular science before the Big Bang theory said that the universe always existed but the Big Bang help prove the universe did not always exist. This helps prove the Biblical account of creation. The universe at some point had a beginning. Take Jonathan Edwards. He is probable America’s greatest theologian ever. He saw the glory of God in creation. He even gave God glory as he studied the flying spider seeing God’s provision and sovereignty. That is why here studied science. If we come back to my favorite Psalm.19 and consider verses one and two:
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above] proclaims his handiwork. 2Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.

Since we know that God is the sovereign creator of everything, the more we will see his hand at hand work and the more we can give him praise for the way he created his universe. We realize that there is real no true conflict between science and Christianity when science is viewed as the study of creator’s creation. The only conflict really occurs when people try to misuse “science” to push their philosophy. The thing to remember only source of truth is God’s revelation in the person of Jesus Christ and his Holy Word.

Was Jesus "Seeker Sensitive"?

2005-07-01T21:25:00.000-07:00

Well I thought it was time for me to stir up some controversy and share some of my thoughts with you. I am expecting people to disagree with me, so feel free to post your thoughts whether you agree, disagree, or just want to dialogue about it. Recently in my own thought-life I have been trying to come up with my own understanding of what a sound biblical ecclesiological model would look like for the church to follow. One of the things I have been thinking about is was Jesus seeker sensitive in his ministry. As I have been in the Gospel of John in my devotions and one passage sticks out. So here it is turn in your Bibles to John 6:

Ok here what’s going on in the beginning of the chapter verses 1-14 . Jesus has large crowd following him because of the miracles he has been doing. So we know that Jesus definitely attracted the crowds. And we know this was the famous feeding of the 5000 passage a miracle that is recorded in all 4 Gospels. Well anyway we know how the story goes there is no food to feed the crowd but Jesus does not send them away but feeds the crowd with a small boy’s lunch. It is miracle!!! Especially when you are hungry notice that Jesus was sensitive to the needs of the crowd. He wanted them fed he had compassion on them. He did not want them to go hungry but does that make Jesus “seeker sensitive”?

Let’s fast forward a little bit to the next day; where Jesus addresses the crowd. Remember he has a large audience of at least 5000 people. Now let’s stop and think for a moment that an amazing opportunity! If you had the chance to say anything to a group that large what would you do? Especially if you wanted to seek and save the lost? I would probably want to present the Romans Road and give an invitation. Others who are particularly seeker sensitive might try a different strategy and say: “Hey let’s get them involved in the sports ministry or something and that way they’ll keep coming to our Church. But hey let’s make sure not to offend them but make sure they keep coming and at the right time they make friends with someone and when there is no pressure one of their new Christian friends will share the Gospel with them. Or they might come to a Sunday service and then they can hear the Gospel when the Pastor gives an invitation” <-- That my dramatization of a seeker friendly approach anyway lets see what Jesus does.

In v.25 the crowds find Jesus and say, “Hey show us some signs and feed us again.” (New John Version). Then Jesus goes and does something completely intolerant and not seeker friendly. He exposes the real reason they have a new found desire for religious things. They want it for the material gain of the food. They want a free lunch. Then Jesus goes and says what they really need to take of is not the physical but the spiritual nourishment in v.27. The crowd not getting it replies “Yeah show us a sign. Like God did for the Israelites with Moses. Remember he fed them with bread from heaven. And by the way we are real spiritual! Did you catch how we used a Bible story to get what we want?” (Again keep in mind you are reading the New John paraphrase)

Well lets now leave the New John Paraphrase and see what how Jesus respond in the text of the ESV:
35Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day."
41So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." 42They said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" 43Jesus answered them, "Do not grumble among yourselves. 44No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45It is written in the Prophets, 'And they will all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me-- 46not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48I am the bread of life. 49Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."

Did you see what Jesus did? He made the crowd upset! Now suppose your Pastor had the opportunity to speak in front of 5000 people and he intentionally turned away the crowd! Do you think a Pastor-search-committee would be formed real soon? The text said they grumbled! The same crowd who just got fed by Jesus a day earlier and were delighted with him now are angry with him and are questioning his credentials.(People are so fickle) Asking “who does he think he is to be saying things like that!”(NJP) Then look Jesus responds with some harsh and pretty Calvinistic Theology and says, “No one can come to him unless the father draws him” Man! This would be like witnessing to someone and saying “Now that I shared the Gospel with you I know you will only accept it if you were predestined.” Wow that is just something you plain do not say to a seeker! Oh and let’s look at Jesus’ analogy its kinda well …cannibalistic! Again, I am pretty sure that was not the most seeker friendly terminology Jesus could have came up with.

Ok well I hate to do this to the text but I am gong to jump to a few verses to highlight the people’s response.
v.60 : When many of his disciples heard it, they said, "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?"
v.66 After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.

OUCH! Man, look what happened! The people are ticked off and they leave Jesus! Many of his disciples no longer walked with him! Guess what is amazing about that? Jesus is omniscient. Many times in the Gospel of John we see that John says Jesus “knowing their thoughts”. He was well aware he would turn them away. It was not an “Oops guess I offended a few guys next sermon will have to be less harsh.” This was intentional! So I am going to conclude that Jesus was not “seeker sensitive”

Well… If Jesus was not seeker-sensitive what was he concerned about?
#1 God’s glory. His father’s glory!
Why do say that? Look at verse v.26 and 27 Jesus chooses not to cater to the masses but expose their need for God by taking their self serving “feed me” attitude turning it around pointing to them what they really needed, the Father.
#2The truth
Jesus was clearly more concerned with defending and pronouncing the truth then worrying how the seeker was going to handle the truth. Look back at v.35-41. Jesus was not ashamed to say that he was the true bread of life. That is what they really needed and that what he said he was. There was no sugarcoating; in fact, he communicated this truth in way I am sure no one else would have. Why? Because it’s the truth he was more concerned about and communicating it, this opposed to be more concerned aboutwhat other would think or say about it. He cared more about the truth than popular opinion.
#3 God’s Sovereign Plan
We see this in v.37-40 Jesus clearly communicates the will of the Father to the crowds. He says that is what he wanted to do and what he came to do. He knew that nothing can thwart the will of the Father. He did not have to resort to tricks, gimmicks, warm fuzzy words, seeker sensitive programs to keep the crowds. He knew all that would come to him would be because his Father willed it. He did not have to win people over, but instead submit himself to God’s will knowing that those who come to him do so because the Father gave them to the son. He did have to get people but receive what the Father had to give.

So how should this affect our ministry in our everyday lives? Well, naturally we should care about Jesus cared about. So will our primary concern be the glory of God when people are asking us for all sorts of things they think they need? Will we point them to what they really need? Not stuff but God himself! Will you stand for God’s truth? Will you jump to defend God’s truth knowing that most people will be offended by it? Will you deliver it to a people who need it but don’t want it? Lastly, will you yield your ministry to God’s sovereign plan? Will numbers be your measure of success or the accomplishing of God’s will through faithful service?

A Couple Quizes

2005-07-01T19:09:00.000-07:00

I decided to share a couple quizes I found from else where in the Blogosphere. Anyway take them and tell me how you score. Here is the first one: http://quizfarm.com/test.php?q_id=43870&first=yes

This one informs you of your Theoligical WorldView. I scored Reformed which should be no suprise to anyone. It was predestined to happen that way..

Hey is the other one its which Thelogian are you. This may come as surprise I scored as Martin Lurther. I was expecting good ol' John Calvin but apparently not so much..Although you can't go wrong with Martin Luther.
Take it and see which Theologian you match up with:
http://quizfarm.com/test.php?q_id=44116
Ok well have fun and let me know the results.

Cross Training: Can I Trust the Bible ?

2005-06-27T07:59:00.000-07:00

To any wondeful FBCA student who may be looking at these notes I want to explain a few things. Fist is that I am only putting up the second half of the lesson becuase if I put it all up it would be 10 pages long! For some of the same information I talked about last night (like the Bible is self authenticating, History that supporst the Bible, How do we know which books go in there etc.) go to this wonderful website that is easy to use and has the most of the same information:
http://www.everystudent.com/features/bible.html?GCID=S15542x003-Bible&KEYWORD=is+the+bible+true

Next remember what I am putting up is my notes so it does not have all the information I was talking about last night so feel free to post questions for things that need explanition.

Ok here is where the lesson picks up on what does the Bible say about itsself:

Now that we have tons of reasons to believe the Bible is true lets see what the Bible has to say about itself:
A good place to look is Psalm 19. Remember how we talked about General Revelation now it is time to talk a about specific revelation
7The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul;
The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;
8The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes;
9The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
10More to be desired are they than gold,
Yea, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
11Moreover by them Your servant is warned,
And in keeping them there is great reward.
12Who can understand his errors?
Cleanse me from secret faults.
13Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins;
Let them not have dominion over me.
Then I shall be blameless,
And I shall be innocent of great transgression.
14Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer.
This Psalm say a lot about God and how he reveals himself lets looks at it piece by piece..
It starts with the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul. Here the scripture is claiming its inerrancy that the it contains no mistakes what so ever and it is what God has given to convert the soul.

Compare this to Romans 1:8
16For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek

God’s word communicates the power of salvation!

-Make wise the simple compare this with 1 Cor 1:18 1 Cor 2:14-15
18For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19For it is written:
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent."

It provides the spiritual instruction to make you wise in spitual things avoiding the foolishness of the world

Then Note the response to revelation that should be the Christian’s response to God’s

The Bible is written by the Holy Spirit and is completely sufficient to meet any need a Christian can have.

The Bible is also given to make you complete for every good work. 2 Tim 3:16-17
16All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

The word for inspired is the Greek word Theopneusis meaning God breathed. God breathed out the scriptures and they are directly from him. Inspired does not mean inspired like an artist gets inspired or as in inspiring but God breathed.

1 Peter 1:20-21
20knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. 21For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Human authorship is does negate divine authorship The Bible is like Jesus in that it is both divine and human as well as perfect.!

The Bible is living
Heb 4:12
12For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
The bible knows you. It can discern the your motives and thoughts!

The Bible is eternal
18For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

God gives us the power to understand the Bible and speaks to us through it. John 16:12-15
"I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
The Holy Spirit is the author of Scripture and lives in us! So he will guide us in truth as we read the book he wrote!. We also have fellowship with God as read the scripture. The number one reason I love scripture is because when I am reading I am spending time with my heavenly father.
God expects us to be in the Bible
Josh 1:8
8This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Ps 1
1Blessed is the man[a]
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2but his delight is in the law[b] of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
3He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
4The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
5Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6for the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish

You will be judged by scripture
17"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

READ SCRIPTURE LOVE SCRIPTURE

In number a places in scripture the Bible is compared to food. Remember Jesus told Satan that man shall not live bread alone, but by every word that proceeds our of the mouth of God(Matt 4:4, Jesus was actually quoting scripture there too from Deut) . Well lets suppose you only ate twice a week. Like Sunday Morning and Wednesday night. And it was a group meal you did not have your meal. Would you be a very healthy person with that much intake of food? Obviously not the same is true of scripture. You can not be spiritually healthy unless you are constantly taking in scripture.

Or lets say you only spent time with a particular friend twice a week and it was only big group settings and never on any one on one time. Obviously this not the closest friend you have and you probably do not know that person all that well. Well it’s the same thing with God with our fellowship with God by continually being in the scriptures we are not going to get very close to our Savior who loved us to the point of death on the cross. Think about this many of you may spend 20 hours a week watching T.V. but only spend 4 with God. If you going to have relationship with somebody you must spend time with them. God is most of all worthy of your time! Give it to him and you will enjoy fellowship with your Savior,

If you are not in the Bible daily already I simple plan I suggest to help get you in everyday is to read one Chapter of the New Testament a day. That is no major time commitment (under 15 mins) and will have you in Bible everyday. Plus you will have the New Testament read in under a year. Then as you may feel led spend more time with God as realize it is not really that hard and it is time well spent!

John Babri Returns

2005-06-24T18:37:00.000-07:00

I know many of you were wondering hey where is John? No emails, phone calls or new blogs for a week! I can hear the devastation... Well I was gone wth my Church on Mission Trip to Brookville Oh.

What did I do? Well my Church with a group from Mississippi came together to help build Sycamore Ridge Community Church. This is a Church God has been clearly blessing and expanding to new building. The Mission Trip was with Builders for Christ, a group that brings teams from SBC churches together from around the country to work together to volunteer time, people, and resources to build churches.
Check out the Church's website here http://www.sycamoreridge.org/
They have pictures of the building process there. Not many with people strangly but good photos of the building. And to prove the blogosphere is every where the church has blog that speaks about the work being done their http://ridgebuilding.blogspot.com/ My church worked on electricty, siding, and a backyard Bible club.

Anyway I just got home a little bit ago and am pretty pooped so I have just a few reflections:
1) People from Mississippi can cook
2)Nothing can stop Pastor Keith's desire for Starbucks
3)Its awesome to the body of Christ at work together
4)Puppet Ministry is actually a fun Ministy when there are kids watching
5) Do tons of praying when its time to drive home
6) I am not called to be a construction worker

Trash For Treasure

2005-06-12T19:38:00.000-07:00

EDITOR'S NOTE: This post is being republished. It was orginally posted Feb 9 2005. I am republishing it because I have not written anything new for the Blog for awhile. Enjoy.

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Matthew13:44 (ESV)

What is salvation? This one verse describes it. This verse is a picture of someone finding the kingdom of heaven. It does not say that the man “asked Jesus into his heart.” He also does not appear to have his eyes closed or his hand raised.

What does he do? He sells everything and buys the field! That seems a little extreme. He sells everything. How could someone part with everything? Who knows what the guys had maybe a nice house, car, good job, wonderful family. So why sell all that for something else? He completely sold out. Probably because he was completely sold out! What he found was obviously greater than what he had. It was worth it all. Not just parts of his life but all of it. It was a no-brainer to give himself up completely to something greater. It may look hard but the equation is simple. Kingdom of heaven > everything I have. He also made the transaction with joy once he found the treasure! It was a bargain! And that is a gross understatement. He got to sell something so much lesser for something so much greater.

So what does salvation look like? It is realizing God offers so much more than anything you have. It is then gladly trading in all you have for what is greater. So why not trade what you have for the greater thing? Or would you rather keep something you have? But I assure you it is not worth it. Go back to the equation and look at it. Kingdom of God equals more than what I have. Don’t miss out. Don’t let your lesser rob you from perusing what is higher. Don’t worry about what you have to lose, it does not compare to what you have to gain. But here is the question: Will you be sold out or will you be content in the lesser things not fully giving yourself to what is infinitely greater?

Cross Training: Is Jesus the Only Way

2005-05-29T16:59:00.000-07:00

Cross Training: Is Jesus the Only Way

Are Christians crazy for thinking Jesus is the only way to heaven? What do you commonly hear other people say are ways to heaven or to God? Why would God only make one way?

Jesus said in John 14:6:I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

That s pretty exclusive! No one comes to the father but by me! Jesus himself said he is the only way! Lets start by investigating Jesus. If Jesus is not God than it does not matter what he says but if he is then that is the difference between Heaven and Hell.

Lets talk about Jesus. Many people say many things about him like he was man, good teacher, an ancient Gandhi type character, a prophet, etc.. The success of the Da Vinci Code shows that the idea that people have many views about him. Other religions even have different views on Jesus. For example Islam believes many of the same things we believe about Jesus but they don’t believe about God. What have you heard people say about Jesus?

Sometimes you will hear talk of the “historical Jesus” as some figure was turned into the Christian Super Hero of Jesus. Suggesting that the “real” is something different from the Jesus we believe in. I don’t want to spend much time on that but quickly say there is no way to know Jesus was apart from the scriptures. So if we want information on Jesus we need to go to the Gospels. If you want to know more about the debate about “historical Jesus” see me later. Just remember scripture is the only reliable source for anything on Jesus.

The is though it does not matter too much what others have said about Jesus or other people’s views what really matters is who did Jesus say he was? Some “religious people” who have read the Gospels say that Jesus himself never claimed to be God? Is that true let’s look at some key passages:

Turn in your Bibles to Mark 2:1-12

1And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. 3And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. 4And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. 5And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "My son, your sins are forgiven." 6Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, 7"Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" 8And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, "Why do you question these things in your hearts? 9Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Rise, take up your bed and walk'? 10But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins" --he said to the paralytic-- 11"I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home." 12And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, "We never saw anything like this!"
Do you see how Jesus is claiming his deity? The scribes in the crowd where a 100 % right only God could forgive sins. Sin is ultimately an offense against God more than anyone else (Romans 6:23). So only God can forgive sins. Jesus was claiming not only did he claim he also proved it by the healing the paralytic.

Lets look at John 8:58
58"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" 59At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds. That is big for a number of reasons especially to a Jewish audience. Abraham was the father of the Jewish people, the father of faith;,we are blessed with the covenant he is blessed in Gen 12. Not only did Jesus say he is existed before the Abraham back in Gen. He said I AM. This the covenant name for God that God used in Ex 3:14 when God met Moses at the burning bush. Here Jesus is saying that he is Jehovah God! Jesus definitely left no room for ambiguity on whether he thought he was God or not. Again notice the reaction of the Jews they get ready to stone him for blasphemy.

We can even go back to the verse we started out with in John 14:6 when Jesus says
I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.How can someone make that statement with out claiming to be God. God is the only real source of truth that’s nothing any person could say. Or life no human is the life. All humans die and finite creatures. Way?!? No human is a way to anything.

Jesus claimed to be God! So that leaves us with three options. C.S. Lewis puts it this way Jesus was a Liar, Lunatic or Lord.

Let’s briefly take a short look of these claims

Liar – Most people Christian or non Christian believe that he was a “good moral person” every one basically accepts that. No one really believes that Jesus was villain. It would be like calling Mother Teresa or Gandhi evil No one believes would be highly unlikely that some one who preaches love for others, and preaches against hypocrisy and evil would really be history greatest deceiver. It just does not add up.

Lunatic- Well if he was sincere could he be self deceived. Josh McDowell in his reiteration of C.S. Lewis’s Liar, Lunatic, Lord, notes that someone who thought they were God would be deluded or self-deceived; like Napoleon for example. McDowell says that no psychologist really has reason to think he was schizophrenic or had any imbalance. The depth and skill of his teachings also show that he is clearly sane.

Note: These two arguments have been heavily abbreviated and simplified and simplified for the purpose of tonight’s lesson. To see this more fully articulated read More Than a Carpenter by Josh McDowell.

This naturally leaves the only sane choice of Lord.

Two other quick things reason to believe Jesus is Lord

-The reality of the resurrection
1 Cor 15:1-10
-We can personally know Jesus today!
That’s not just theology but Hallelujah it’s the reality of Christianity.

This was a brief and quick overview on how we know who Jesus is. There is so much more to it. See me if you want more resources.

Ok well we know that Jesus is who he says he is why is right in saying that he is the only way? If you know the Gospel you know already know the answer! Jesus the only one who can do what he did!

The real question is not how can I get to heaven but what separated me from God. Lets first take a look at why the universe was even created in the first place. Turn in your Bibles to Col 1:15-20
15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through him and for him. 17And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Did you see it? The purpose statement of the universe! Not only was the universe created through him by it was also for him. To show off his glory! In everything that he might be preeminent the universe is the stage to show how great God is! How great Jesus is! The universe is to display the glory of Jesus. The universe was created to say great and awesome God is. Everything that exist is to glorify God!

Now the problem Romans 6:23 and Romans 3:23
Sin entered the perfect universe in Gen 3. The first time imperfection entered the world. This sin is the problem it is what is what separates us from God. That why people don’t naturally have a relationship with God. Not only that we inherited sin from Adam (Romans 5:12) and we ourselves daily commit sin

So theres the problem! The universe was created to glory for God. Everything that exists should but lets go back to Romans 3:23! We all fall short and that is the problem and it is no little problem either!

Lets look at the magnitude of the problem. Lets go to Romans 3:9-20

9What then? Are we Jews[any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10as it is written:
"None is righteous, no, not one;
11no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
12All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one."
13"Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive."
"The venom of asps is under their lips."
14"Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness."
15"Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16in their paths are ruin and misery,
17and the way of peace they have not known."
18"There is no fear of God before their eyes."
19Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20For by works of the law no human being[ will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. That is scripture’s description of us. That’s not faltering is it? Notice its says None is righteous, no, not one! That’s true of us. There is no fear of God in our eyes! Look it says the whole world is accountable to God. Now think of the purpose of the universe! Due to our sin we are ugly stain on the Mona Lisa! And that’s a complete and total understatement! God is 100% completely holy and perfect and pure. Then there is us the complete opposite. See the problem is not that we are not good enough! The problem is how bad we are. People think that their good out ways their bad. That simply not true because the bad is still there it does not wipe it clean! In Evangelism Explosion I learned this analogy suppose we were making an omelet and we were making the omelet with 3 good eggs and 1 rotten egg could we serve to a friend. No even if the omelet was most good rottenness of the other eggs make unfit to be served. It’s the same way with us we can not take the good in our life and the bad mix it all together and serve to God. Let face it with out with out Christ we are rotten egg! We can not know God is perfect and holy we fall short. That is why we are separated from God!

Now let us spend some time in another text to so how much we can do about it. Lets flip over to Eph 2:1-3
1And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2in 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-- 3among 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.
That says a lot! But the part I want to focus in v1 We are dead! In our sins people are basically spiritual zombies. We are spiritually dead! Now I am not a biology major but who here knows how much dead people can do for themselves? Not a thing! Nothing! Dead people have no power whatsoever to change their condition!

So lets review we are basically sinful, wicked, evil, people and threes nothing we can do about that. Now contrast that with God’s holiness and perfection we are completely separated! But luckily that is not the end of the end of the story!

Lets now look at some beautiful verses!

Some one quote John 3:16

Now some one look at Isaiah 53:6 and read it.

All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned every one to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

Lets looks at 2 Cor 5:21
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Now can some one answer why Jesus is the only way! Jesus Christ took away our sins which separated us from God and we so completely enable to do anything about! That’s why Jesus is the only way. No other “way” can deal with your sins. No one else could have died for you. Mohamed, Buddha, John Smith, Confucius and any other religious leader can not do a thing to help you in fact they all dead in there sins. Only Jesus was God’s perfect sacrifice that could bridge the gap between God’s holiness and our sinfulness. That is why Jesus is the only way! Most other systems you try to work your way to God only Christianity will let you be holy like God and have a relationship with him. It is completely Christ alone. We know it can not be works that does nothing to erase our sins. As most of you know all we have to do is accept what Jesus did for us. There is no way around your sins! But what through Jesus did for you on the cross! The cross is the reason Jesus is the only way!

Romans 10:9,10 says
9that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Doctrine Divides!

2005-05-28T10:55:00.000-07:00

Doctrine Divides! Everyone who cares about sound doctrine has heard this. For some reason though people say that in some sort of derogitriy way against doctrine. As if it is the cause of unnecessary strife and division. Saying something like if we did not have to worry about doctrine we could all just get a long. After all isn't that what Jesus wanted? For all of us to just get along.(then why did Jesus say I did not come to bring peace but a sword Matt 10:34)

Well to the people who say doctrine divides. I got this to say. Yes it sure does! To quote someone who wasn't seeker freindly but right "Doctrine divides the beleivers from the heretics." Honestly, unfortunately I do not remember who said that but it is true! Doctrine could be the line between heaven and hell! Lets say you have doctrine of works and I have one of faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone, for the glory of God alone and scripture alone. You see the importance of doctrine? It so misguided and foolish to see all the different points of views out there get frustrated and through your hands up in the air and say "Doctrine divides, lets not worry about it and all just get along!"

Well lets see what scripture has to say about doctrine. The Bible expects us to have doctrine. Look at 2 Tim 3:16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for DOCTRINE, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, We are supposed to have a doctrine and its supposed to come from scripture. If our doctrine is not from scripture then we can lay it aside but doctrine itself is not bad especially if its scriptural! Notice too how the Bible presupposes that we are to have doctrine! The only source of sound doctrine through can be from Bible. Anything else is folly and heresy.

Lets look at another example. Titus 2:1 You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. This one concerns a warning about doctrine. It’s clear that there are bad doctrines around but Paul acknowledges that and says YOU TEACH SOUND DOCTRINE! We are expected to have doctrine and our response to bad doctrine is to teach what is sound. Not put aside doctrine.

This reminds me of another verse. 2 Tim 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; This time is now! A time full of different doctrines where people want doctrine that makes them happy. The scriptural response is not to cater to their wants! The response to the problem is the verses before it! 2 Tim 4:22Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching Don't give up! Stand firm on the word and don't budge set forth the standard of the word! Is what the scripture is saying! Thats the response not compromise!

Lastly was Jesus concened about doctine? If he was not why would he so often say beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees (Matt 8:15, Matt 16:6,Luke 12:1..the list goes on)? Scripture then confirms that he is speaking about doctrine. Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees(Matt 16:12). Speaking of leaven..Should we put up with just a little bad doctrine? Well what do we know about just a little leaven does?

Finally, I want to say gaurding sound doctrine is not just the job of Pastors, Sunday school teachers, and church leaders. The promotion of sound doctrine is seen in how you live. Live out your doctrine! Let people see your doctrinal statement should be visible in your life style. "What do mean." you may say. Well do you beleive in Evangelism? How often do Evangelize? Do you believe scripture is God's word? Do you treat it that way? Do you read it? Do you submit yourself to it? Do you believe God is good? Does your life then look like you are offering yourself in service in gratitude? Thats what I mean when I say live your doctrine. The only way doctrine can be dead is if you "believe" it but don't live it! If you live it you are teaching it to a watching world that needs it! But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves (James 1:22)

Editor's note: Some of the material in this is a reduplication of what I put in the comment of someone else's blog; where I was putting my thoughts on doctrine. This is definately not a personal attack on that person. That person definately believes in sound doctrine. That got me thinking and I added to my thoughts and hence this blog post.

FBCA's Photo Scavanger Hunt

2005-05-22T19:59:00.000-07:00

Tonight was FBCA's photo scavanger hunt we did as a an outreach. I thought I'd share some of the fun by letting you see a few of the pictures below. I had the privlege of having Ryan,Abbey,and Lisa on my team. Thank you to all the youth who came tonight! And thank you to the Youth Staff who were drivers tonight. Enjoy the pictures!

2005-05-22T19:57:00.000-07:00

Ryan as Pastor Keith-Looks just like him with a Bible in one hand and Starbucks coffe in the other!

2005-05-22T19:54:00.000-07:00

Darth John kinds scary huh...

2005-05-22T19:53:00.000-07:00

Lisa, Abbey and Ryan bagging some groceries for a stranger.

2005-05-22T19:52:00.000-07:00

Ryan helping me put on some lipstick

2005-05-22T19:51:00.000-07:00

Ryan, Lisa, and Abbey striking a pose on a dumpster!

Eph 2:1-10

2005-05-14T21:24:00.000-07:00

This is my outline for the Sunday school lesson for May 15. It also contiues which the book of Ephesians which we were doing for the Kent State Bible Study( which ended with the semseter).

Ephesians 2:1-10

SAVED BY Amazing GRACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Introduction: These ten verses show a sharp contrast. The contrast is our deadness, sinfulness, depravity and complete indebtedness to God to God‘s glorious riches he has bestowed to us in Christ. We can thank God that his love bridged the gap between our deadness and his life.

V.1-3 The Picture of our spiritual deadness
V.1 Before Christ we are dead! The verse says we are dead in our trespasses and sin. This is consistent with of course what we know from Romans 6:23 and 3:23. We are all sinners and are dead spiritually (that is the unregenerate man who has never been born again. The unsaved are walking corpses though their outer man is alive but the inner man is dead. Also note the ability dead people have to change their condition. They can not! This adds to the idea of depravity we looked at earlier. Dead people can not make themselves alive with out being raised from the dead by God! Without Christ we are spiritual zombies in desperate need of help we can not get from ourselves.
V.2 We walked according to the course of the world. No matter what state we were in before our conversion it was according to the deadness of the world. We were conformed to evil mold the world gave us. We were sons of disobedience. We are not all naturally children of God like the wants us to believe but until our conversion we are sons of the devil. Compare this verse with 1 John 3:8
V.3 This verse explains our actions during our time of spiritual deadness. Our motivation was fulfilling the lust of the flesh. We were only seeking the pursuit of self. This is the polar opposite of seeking the glory of God. Naturally then we were children of wrath. We were rebelling against the perfection, holiness, and lordship of God.

V4-10 Identification with Christ and God’s Rescue
V.4 This verse gives the God the agent of rescue from complete and total depravity. It describes his characteristics that allow him to come to rescue. He is rich in mercy. These riches were bought for us by Christ death on the cross. He spent his mercy on us because of his great love us! AMAZING! Question to ponder was it his love for himself or us or both. Consider Romans 3:22-26. It continues with which he loved us. This describes not him loving us but how he loves us. With his great love the phrase before says.
V.5 God made us alive in Christ when were dead in our trespasses. There could be no other way knowing our depravity. We saved when were “ready” because we were never ready due to our depravity. Yet God saved us when we were dead in our trespasses. Our salvation is completely dependent on God. Then Paul notes: for by grace you were saved. This should be obvious because there is none thing that we could have done to undo our deadness. It is not anything we have done. It was only grace that could save us.
Compare this verse to Romans 5:6-8. Also note how we made alive with Christ. His perfect life has been imputed to us 2 Cor 5:21. His death was our death and his life now ours. We are made alive. This refers to our regeneration. We now have to ability to have spiritual life because of Christ. We have been raised from the dead.
V.6 This verse continues to explain the benefits we have once are identified with Christ. Notice the tense of the verb. In English it is past tense In Greek it is an aorist meaning an already completed action. So we are not waiting to be sitting in the heavenly places we are already positionally in Christ.
V.7 The purpose of salvation is not man centered but God centered. God is getting the glory in our salvation by putting the riches of his grace on display. We are extremely blessed to be a part of God glorifying himself; in the process we have great benefits.
V.8 Our salvation is entirely due to God’s grace and him lavishing his riches on us. Note it is not our faith that saves us but grace. Faith is a gift of God that allows us to experience his grace. It does not say by faith you have been saved but through faith. Our salvation is dependent on God’s grace. It is completely a gift of God. The gift could only be given by God. It could not be earned due to our complete depravity and the necessary punishment for sin
V.9 This verse reinforces what we have seen earlier. It is obviously not of works. No work pays for sin. We were spiritually dead and unable to save ourselves. We had no room to boast we contribute nothing to our salvation. The only thing we can boast in is the cross of Christ.
V.10 This gives us God’s perspective on us. We are not people with out purpose walking aimlessly in life. We were hand crafted by Christ himself for specific purposes that God has ordained us to fulfill. Again, this points to the fact that we and our salvation are not for ourselves but for God and his glory.

Wrap Up and Review: Having looked at these ten verses we see that we are much like Lazarus raised from the dead by Christ. We were dead and completely unable to change our deadness. But God intervened! Hallelujah! God’s love rescued us and gave life and the life of Christ with all its benefits. Lastly, it was all by God’s grace! It is more than winning the lottery without buying a ticket. Let us now live our life in gratitude of the amazing gift we have been given, let us walk in the good works that God prepared us to do in gratitude and humility giving glory to God.

Cross Training: The Existence of God

2005-05-01T13:11:00.000-07:00

Cross Training: God

One of the most talked about, argued, debate, fought about topics in the history of the world is the subject of the reality of God. There could be no issue of greater importance than knowing if there is or really is not a God. The implications are staggering and the stakes are high. If there really is no God then we are in big trouble. This is for a great many reasons. The primary reason is with a creator of the universe there is no real reason to believe anything or anyone in the entire universe of any value. If there is no God then universe some kind of weird cosmic fluke but with out any meaning. It has no purpose all it is one big thing to house a bunch of little things with no reason for being what so ever. It is like have a huge mansion furnished with everything but really no one to enjoy it. It just exists for no reason. If there is no God we really have no reason to think there should be any kind of after life. We are no than any other thing that exist we are dust in the wind. We come from nothing and go back to nothing there is no reason to think our lives has value or reason we are just another part of the great cosmic accident that is existence. If there is no God there is no difference between right and wrong because who is to say it is really one person’s opinion versus another. If there is no God there really is no real purpose in this life because nothing we do will be lasting importance. Even the word importance loses all meaning if there is a God nothing really matters.

Thankfully this is not the universe we live in! We live in a universe created by an all wise creator. Who made the universe for a purpose as well and everything else and he is the source of all meaning who we can be thankful we know in a person way.

Tonight we are going to be looking at how we know that there is in fact a real, personal God and how he has made himself known to his creation.

The real question is not is there a God? But has God revealed himself and how can we share that with people who may say that there is no God.

God has revealed himself in two ways lets take a brief look at Psalm 19 to see how God has revealed himself to his creation.

Psalm 19:1-4 Says the heavens declare the glory of God. Notice all the verbs in the opening 4 verses! All speaking verbs. Creation is not neutral on the existence of God.This how God has revealed himself to all of mankind. This is called general revelation.

Now lets look at verses 7-9 they all talk about God’s word. The second way God has revealed himself is through his word this is called special revelation. This how we know specific things God wants us to know.

Also note the Psalmist response to God’s revelation. Our response should mirror his.

God has spoken ! He certainly has not left in the dark concerning his creation!

Not only has God revealed himself to his creation he says he has to see more on that lets flip to Romans. Lets read Romans 1:18-25
Especially notice Romans 1:20
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. Notice how God said people would know about God! IN THE THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN MADE!!!!! That goes back to general relation God showing his existence to every body. The scripture continues with
they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
The reason someone does not believe in God in not because they don’t have reason to its because their sin nature chooses idols instead of God! See Romans 3:10-18 for more on that.

So if scripture is true that God is revealed through creation we should be able to see that from creation. Philosophers and Theologians through out history have come up with a number of ways of realizing the existence of God through creation This is see through the Cosmological Argument. The Cosmological Argument for the existence of God goes like this. Things exist. Things can not come into existence by themselves therefore there must have been cause to bring things into existence. The ultimate first cause of things must be God. Or put simply creation must have a creator! This argument has taken many different forms through out history and in different cultures. This helps show that it is truly general Revelation.

Lets look at a few of these Cosmological arguments:

Thomas Aquinas was a Dominican Friar who was born in 1225-1274 who came but ways for seeing the existence of God through creation. We are going to look at 3 of them.

The First is the Argument from Motion which goes:
1) Nothing can move itself.
2) If every object in motion had a mover, then the first object in motion needed a mover.
3) This first mover is the Unmoved Mover, called God.

The Second Way is the Causation of Existence
1) There exists things that are caused (created) by other things.
2) Nothing can be the cause of itself (nothing can create itself.)
3) There can not be an endless string of objects causing other objects to exist.
4) Therefore, ther must be an uncaused first cause called God.

The Third Way is Argument of Contingent and Necessary Beings.

1) Contingent beings are caused.
2) Not every being can be contingent.
3) There must exist a being which is necessary to cause contingent beings.
4) This necessary being is God.

Another Form of Cosmological Argument is Paley’s Teleological Argument aka The watchmaker argument. Paley’s argument goes something like this: If we were to take a walk in the woods and in the middle of nowhere we find a watch. We would then pick it up and examine it. Looking at the we could only naturally assume due to the complexity of the watch and that it looks like it was fitted together it must have an intelligent watch maker. Then we look at the universe and notice how complex it is and how everything works together just right we must assume that it too had a creator. It we look at a watch and know that it had a watch maker it must be logical to conclude looking at the universe that for something infinitely more complex the universe must have had an intelligent creator. This is also the Intelligent Design Theory.

Before we move on lets talk about the Big Bang Theory. Did you know that the Big Bang Theory actually does much more to show that it is necessary for there to be a God then no God at all? This because Big Bang theory says the universe came into existence. Secular Scientist used to say that universe always existed the Big Bang Theory proved them wrong. So the big question is then if the universe did not always exist how it came into being. Obviously from something outside the universe that could only be God.

Is there other ways than creation that show that God has revealed his existence? Then answer is YES! Let’s flip back to Romans now in chapter 2 lets look at verses 1-16. That says a whole lot! We all know we accountable to God because we judge other but for tonight lets focus on 15-16 It says : 14For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus. This says that people who do not know the law (any one who does not know scripture) have the law on there heart. How can this be true? It must refer to the fact that everyone has a conscience. Everyone in all cultures through out time have an understanding that there is a difference between right and wrong. How can this be with out God giving this law to everyone? C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity Uses this as argument for God. The reason there is also a difference between right and wrong is because of God’s standard. If right and wrong were made by man then it would be arbitrary and have no real meaning! Who when then really say what makes something right or wrong? It would all be relative to the person so no real difference. But own conscience says that not the case! Why do we get angry when so one is mean to us? Or why do feel bad when we have been mean to someone else? It shows that God put a moral law in each of us!

God has definitely given us a lot ways to know he is there? Yet on hand isn’t funny to be discussing ways we know God exists when our existence is dependent on him. In Ecc its says God put eternity in the hearts of men. Romans 1:21 says this 21For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. This shows that everyone is already programmed to know God and that it is our hard hearts that would want to argue with that! Going along with that idea is we don’t need to prove God’s existence. Some things are perfectly rational to believe with our having proof. For example to ever feel like you have to prove that you have thoughts to know you have thoughts? It is almost impossible to do. Alvin Plantiga came up wit the idea that God is has designed us to know him and that believing in God is “properly basic” this makes sense with what know in Romans 1:21 This shows that it is rational for believing in God with out trying to put God in a test tube. It also can be used to show the unbeliever that he has no grounds attacking our beliefs.

So how can we show lost word the reality of our God? The answer is found in Matthew 5:13You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.
14"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."
This says the world sees gives glory to God by seeing the reality of your faith! If we are living in such a way that shows we are truly different that is the best way to show the world the reality of your faith. So to show the world that our God is real we must live like our God is real! Remember the reason people are not saved is not a intellectual but spiritual one! Our life needs to match our faith and facts!

You know you might be a little too Reformed if....

2005-04-26T20:36:00.000-07:00

You know you may be a little too Reformed if...

You say good providence instead of good luck.

You have a bracelet that says W.W.J.C.D and that stands for what would John Calvin Do?

You think the movie Luther makes the perfect sequel to the Passion.

Your idea of a good time is finding the largest Catholic church in town and nailing your own 95 thesis to the door.

You don't care what score you get on an exam as long as you get 5 points.

You call the good things that happened in your day common graces in normal conversation.

You know your ability to enjoy a glass of coke is only through Christ's atonement on the cross.

You know that Jonathan Edwards is not a former vice-presidential canidate or the wierd guy from "Crossing Over"

You say the only informed view is the Reformed view.

You get your date TULIPs instead of roses because they are more theological correct.

You would never date an Arminian. Not because of the obvious bad theology but because you know they would have no idea what commitment in a relationship means.

You think any of theses are funny.

Cross Training : Introduction to Apologetics

2005-04-24T18:00:00.000-07:00

What is Cross Training?
FBCA's small group Bible Study for youth!
To any youth who may reading this here is the outline I used tonight for our first night of "Cross Training"! Thank you everyone who was there tongiht! I hope you guys had as much fun as I did.
-John

Cross Training:
Apologetics: What is it? Josh’s Mc Dowell’s answer: Its facts that support the faith. Since Christianity is true there are obviously facts that support it. If it was not true there would not be anything to support but luckily that is not the case with Christianity! Webster’s dictionary calls Apologetics a branch of theology devoted to the defense of the divine origin and authority of Christianity. Apologetics comes from a Greek word that meant answer.

1 Peter 3:15 says Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks of you to give the reason for the hope that is in you.

The context of this was Peter explaining to the persecuted church that they had an opportunity to share why they had hope in a when the were enduring persecution. There hope was testimony to the world. Our world is a little different and context is different but we still need to be ready to answer for the hope that in us to answer questions like why we believe in God, or that Jesus is the only in a world that isn’t even if truth exists.

Apologetics is tool too help you do that. Remember that people’s separation from God is a spiritual problem and not a intellectual one so we are not going to simply win people to the Lord by winning an argument or giving them other knowledge they may be lacking. Apologetics is tool that one can use to show that their faith is real, the bible can be trust, and you can have rationally reasons for believing God is real.

So why study Apologetics? Does it matter if we can not show that we have reason to believe? Why or why not? Paul used Apologetics! Lets look at 1Cor15:1-19. He says if our faith is not real we are men to be pitied!

In a world of many options the main thing that Christianity has going for it is that it is the truth. Imagine if we lost person just trying to pick a religion and hope it was the right one. Which one would we pick and why? Certainly not Christianity its too hard. You have to put down your will for others, turn the other cheek, be last when you may want to be first, be a servant to all. The beauty of Christianity is that is the truth. Apologetics is a tool that helps show that we have truth!

More reasons truth is important! Jesus Christ said I am the way, the truth, and the life! Truth is a person. Jesus Christ! If we don’t believe in truth we will always be separated from Jesus Christ!

The idea of Truth could be an apologetics lesson in itself! But I am going to show you how the idea of no such thing is silly concept. It just good for a consumer driven-have- your-way type of Post Modern world. It is self referentially incoherent That just big word way of saying that it doesn’t make any sense by its own definition! If some were to say There is no such thing as truth that they would obviously be wrong because wrong because if that statement was true then it would be you see? So obviously truth exists! In our 5 weeks of Cross Trainging we will be looking at a number of issues that we face everyday and have to do with pointing to the truth of Christianity!

1 God. Is there a God? How do we know? How many different ways are there to believe in God. What options are there when it comes to God? What is Theism what is atheism what are problems with atheism? What are arguments that suggest the existence of God

-Cosmological argument

-Teleological argument

-Ontological argument

- The Moral argument

- Plantinga’s idea that God is properly basic.

Responding to critics

2. Is Jesus the only way?

Are we prejudice when comes to religion? Are we just biased for the home team or do we have a reason for saying that Jesus is the only? Why do not all religions lead to God. If God is loving God how can they only be one way? Is not being a good person enough?

Who was Jesus really? Was the historical Jesus different than the Jesus we know?

3. Science and Scripture?

Why does it seem like they disagree?

Are the scriptures really perfect and with error? How do we know?

What about science? Is science ever wrong?

Creationism vs. Evolution?

- am I blindly believing in Creationism because I am supposed to because I am a Christian? Is the Theory of Evolution truly scientific?

4. Is Christianity Different?

There are some many religions out there what makes Christianity different? Is it different? Do all religions teach the same thing. How about other Christian groups are they really Christian? Can we call Catholics Christians? How about Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses? How do we know what makes some one Christian?

Having looked at these issues and seeing what Apologetics are I hope you can see the importance of Apologetics. I also your appetite is wetted are will be coming thinking, ready to learn, and questioning!

Justice Sunday

2005-04-23T14:03:00.000-07:00

Justice Sunday

WOAH!!!!!!!!!!! Justice Sunday! Have you guys heard about this?!?!?! Apparently this Sunday tomorrow at 7:00PM- 8:30PM there will be simulcast at Highview Baptist Church
( http://www.highviewbaptist.org/) on trying to engage Christians concerning the filibustering by democrats in the Senate concerning appointment Bush’s judicial nominees This is amazingly interesting that it going to be a simulcast to address Christians on the issue! I am still not exactly sure how I feel about this, but I know this is big news for Evangelical Christians and for people who care about the cultural war going on in this country!

Making things more interesting Senator Bill Frist is going to be on the show. If you check out yahoo news you can see people are already upset saying that he is mingling Religion and Politics. You know the next liberal war cry will be violation of Church and State! He is being accused by the left of “pandering to the religious right”. Not only that he is being a sent a petition by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee not to politicize faith. I actually confess I do not know much about Frist and can not make informed opinion on what I think about him but I think its interesting again how the left are saying disassociate yourself with religion! That is the thing that he and others are taking a stand on! That strong personal beliefs should not disqualify you from public service! That is just plain prejudice and bigotry to say you can not have certain job because of who you are and what you believe!!!!! It is amazing how some in this country want to twist the concept of freedom of religion to mean you can not express religion! That is why freedom of religion was so dear to the United States and our American history and heritage! It is completely amazing to me how the same people who preach universal tolerance of absolutely EVERYTHING are so completely intolerant when it comes to people having strong convictions and faith! We are not talking Jesus Christ, or Sola Scriptura, or One Way we are talking about something as general as people acting on convictions! It seems like the left is saying we don’t want anybody with CONVICTIONS because that makes them biased! How incredibly intolerant is that! From the same people who preach that the only sin that exist is that of intolerance! And they call religious people hypocrites!

It is an interesting it major battle in the culture war in the country. It is also nice to see Evangelicals standing up against the religious discrimination in the government. I still have a few reservations if this is the right way. It is interesting too that it is in support of a Catholic nominee showing that it is not about an evangelical agenda being pushed! This is something that we need to have our eye on for so many reasons. Never before has a filibuster been used this way to block a nominee! What happens next will be interesting. Democrats are already threatening to respond by shutting down the government like the Republicans did back in the day during the Clinton years. So if we are able to end the filibuster for blocking nominees then what? Will some one just make a law against all filibustering how will this change the political landscape? Will it give the party in power too much power or does it do something necessary to end needless road blocks for accomplishing the will of the people in the legislature?
Another issue that must be dealt with is what is the Christian response to something like ‘Justice Sunday’. Honestly, I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand I am happy to see Evangelicals taking a stand and engaging the culture and a nation. But here is what scares me is this Conservative Christianity making an alliance with a certain political party? It seems like they are just standing up against judicial tyranny and religious discrimination that has been too prevalent in the government. But can we do that with out making an unholy alliance with a political party? I seriously want to know what you think. Please leave a comment on this or anything else from this blog.(btw anyone can post a comment you don’t have to be blogger since I know a few were wondering) It raises another question how can Christians responsibly engage the political world with out making God a political party member? How do we engage the dirty world of politics while keeping ourselves clean and not tarnishing our faith as we do it? It seems often like our choice is always the lesser of two evils in politics how can we avoid endorsing any evil big or small.(theological yes I know no sin is bigger than the next so that intensifies our problem of not supporting anything evil even if it is “lesser”) Like I said I don’t think this is an alliance of the Republican party and Christianity but you know what that is not how the rest of the world thinks of it! They often view the religious right as group of people that are being used by Republicans. So what is our response to that?

Lastly, I want to ask as Christians with Justice Sunday in the news do we realize it is an Evangelism opportunity. There is going to be all kinds of liberal backlash to what is going on. People will probably be angry with the religious right for trying to interfere with politics and the direction this country is headed. As a Southern Baptist I can imagine trying to explain to people why people like Al Mohler are involved and why is the simulcast being broadcasted in a church going to churches. That gives Christians lots to explain. You know you will hear things about the “separation of church and state.” It is an opportunity to remind people that it was Christians who came up with idea of the separation of church and state and that was not because any secular state said so. It is an opportunity so say why we believe what we believe. That people should not be denied a job because they have convictions! We can also be ready to explain why we have convictions. That there is a difference between right and wrong. Not a subjective difference that is culturally produced but an objective difference that we can know by the law given to all mankind by a sovereign, authoritative Lord of all creation. Truth too is not relative. Truth is really knowable and that truth is a person. His name is Jesus Christ! (John 14:6) 1 Peter 3:15 says …be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you the reason for the hope that in you… Peter was telling this to the persecuted church during the Emperor Nero‘s reign to be ready to explain to the world why they had hope when the rest of the world would think they should be sad wretches due to their persecution. The world at that time thought they should have no hope. Can we explain to the world that thinks we should not have any convictions or real reason to believe in an objective understanding of right and wrong as we well as truth when it goes against the flow and may cause us not to agree with everyone, or be politically incorrect or make any sense in the world’s eyes? To the world that can not discern their left hand from their right.

For More on Justice Sunday see:
Family Research Council
https://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=EV05D03
or from Highview Baptist Church
http://highviewbaptist.org/
or yahoo news
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?

a Joke

2005-04-20T20:16:00.000-07:00

For some reasoning I was sitting through my Personalty Psychology class and I remember a joke that Josh Haus told back in the day awhile ago. Its kinda silly but also kinda really funny for those who will get so here goes:

Who is Free Willy's favorite theologian?

Jacobus Arminius

New Bible Study On Ephesians

2005-04-17T10:08:00.000-07:00

Hey! Now that we ended our Bible Study on 1 Peter we will now go into Ephesians!!!!!! To any Kent Stater who goes to the Monday Night Bible Study the outline is a little different. Remember how my outlines for 1 Peter were more like a commentary?(so much so that if you double spaced them they'd be 5 pages for a single outline and if you were to put them all together you'd have The John Babri Commentary On 1 Peter) Well, I am doing things a little different now. The outline will be a true outline. It won't be nearly as detailed or complete. The upside is it leaves more room for notes and it won't take me 1 hour and half to go through 14 verses. Anyway enjoy:

Ephesians 1: 1-14

v.1-2 Paul’s greeting to Ephesus. For a quick background on Ephesus look at Acts 19 and Revelation 2:1-7. For problems Ephesus was dealing with look at 1 Tim1:4, 1:7 and4:3

I. v.4-6 God’s Redemptive Plan for the World from Eternity Past

V.4 we were chosen to be holy
V.5 we were chosen to be adopted sons of God
V6 we were chosen to be to bring God glory

Lets look at Col 1:15-18. Why do I include that here? What does this tell us about Christ and the universe? Can we see why the universe is here in theses verses Lets look at Romans 3:9-20 What do these verses say that should make us more grateful for God’s plan for us?

Others places that deal with God’s election of his people are: 1 Thes 1:3,4 2 Thes2:13, 2 Tim2:10 and Romans 8:29, 9:11.

When talking about salvation why does Paul here emphasize God’s election of us? What point was he making? According to v.5 and 6 why is anyone predestined?

II. v.7-11 Our Benefits our God’s Plan for Us Now

V.7 describes the riches we have according to God’s grace what are they? Why are they ‘riches’ of God’s grace?
V.9 God has now made know to the mystery of his will. What is the mystery? What is the will?
V.11 Here its says we have obtained an inheritance. How does one receive an inheritance? Compare this verse to 1 Peter 1:3,4

Lets look at Romans 5:6-11. How does this compliment what we see here?

III. v.12-14 The Future Benefits of God’s Plan

V.12 this verse says that we who trusted in Christ should be to the praise and glory of Christ. This word implies purpose. What is our purpose?
V.13 The rest of the chapter dealt with our salvation from God’s perspective what does 1 verse say we did as part of our Salvation? Bonus question: what is wrong in my last question? How could I have better stated it to be biblically correct? Once we get saved we are sealed with the Holy Spirit. What role does the Holy Spirit play in our salvation? How does this verse run against other people’s idea that you ‘get’ the Holy Spirit sometime after salvation?
V.14 The Holy Spirit is called the guarantee of our inheritance. What is our inheritance and how is the Holy Spirit our guarantee?

Some themes from this passage are inheritance, promise, and guarantee? Does this remind you of anything for the Old Testament? Lets compare our promise and inheritance to that of Abraham’s. For a summary of the promise made to Abraham lets looks at Gal 3:15-18 and to see the promise made to Abraham look at Gen 12:1-3. What do we have in common with Abraham? What is different? How does it all work together to point to one redemptive plan for the world?

Application Questions: Can we describe from this passage the role of each member of the trinity in God’s redemptive plan? What can we praise God for in this passage? What can we take comfort in? How would this theology here presented by Paul encourage the church at Ephesus? What problem do you think Ephesus was dealing with that lead Paul to start out his letter this theological look at God’s Redemptive Plan and our salvation. How is that relevant to today? This passage is packed with awesome theological truth but that does mean it is not practical! All theology is! How does a having a clear understanding of theses truth impact us in our daily lives?

A Few Of My Favorite Things!

2005-04-16T12:19:00.000-07:00

Hey I am putting this post up so no one will think I am neglecting my blog now that I've started my internship. So I decided why not put up links to a few of my favorite things...(whos singing the song....)

Lets start with Blogs so you will have something good to read when you are reading mine.
http://www.mullinsmusings.blogspot.com/
this is by Dave Mullins. Awesome Awesome Awesome guy. I first met as the Program Director at Skyview Ranch and was able to become good freinds with him. Definately a person God has used in my life to shape me in understanding of ministry, value and application of the Bible, as well as helping me become a disciple of John MacArthur. He is now part of the Pastoral Staff of Emmaneul Baptist Church in Toledo (http://emmanuelbaptist.com/). His blog is kinda like having a discussion on theology.. or politics.. or both.. Enjoy.

http://www.thornyisemerging.typepad.com/
This is by Chris Thornesberry another dear freind and brother in Christ. He used to be the Associate Pastor of my Church now hes a student at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Hes been a good and faithful freind. I also now sit in what was his old office which kinda weird. Any his blog is cool you can find videos of him on his blog discussing how to engage the post modern culture from a Christian perspective. Enjoy.

http://www.albertmohler.com/
This is Al Mohler's homepage with links to both his blog and his radio show I highly recommend both! Especially if you never heard his radio show check it out! He is also the president of the school I ll soon be going to!

Ok now moving on to non blog related links
http://www.fbcaurora.org/
This is my church! Where I am doing my internship! My picture is not up there yet but its still worth a look. I love my church. God has certainly blessed me with First Baptist

http://www.skyviewranch.org/
Skyview Ranch I am going to miss the place. This is where I spent the last 3 summers of my life as a Counselor. Its a place where many come to meet the love of their life........... Jesus Christ.

http://www.sbts.edu/
Thats my school! I'll be in class Aug 15! Its also where Al Mohler is president! Without making him an idol hes one of my heroes. I actually asked myself once "What would Al Mohler do?"

http://www.gty.org/
Grace to You! The Bible teaching of John MacArthur. Its also is the way Dave Mullins ends his emails.

http://www.alliancenet.org/
If you have not seen this before you have to see it now. Its kinda like the "Superfreinds" of true Evangelical Christianity.

http://www.charityministries.org/tapeministry/index.cfm
This links you to the tape ministy of Charity Gospel Ministries they are an Ana-baptist group so they are little diffent but very good. Try to listen to a Sermon by Denny Kenaston or "brother Denny" as we affectionately call him.

http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=Skylight112
This is Jason Milich's Xanga. I almost did not put the link here just because its Xanga (hence its not with the other blogs) But Jason is one of my best freinds so there you go. It also looks like he might soon be a Youth Pastor in West Virginia! So lets pray for him every now and then.

Ok well enjoy.
-John

Bible Study on 1 Peter 5

2005-04-10T23:49:00.000-07:00

1 Peter 5

Introduction and Big Ideas: Peter concludes his epistle to the suffering and persecuted church with a number of practical and instructions after spending the beginning of the book to redirecting the church to the goodness of God evidenced by his great gift of salvation. Then Peter tells the church how live and standout in the unsaved world through glorifying God through submission. Next Peter went on to explain the many benefits of suffering and then reminding the church that they can rejoice in their suffering and that it is not in vain. Peter concludes the epistle with exhortation to elders, reiterating the theme of submission and humility, resistance to devil and finally the reminder that God works all things for good even in the midst of suffering.

V.1-4 Instruction and Exhortation to the Elders
V.1 Peter now turns to encouraging the elders who like the rest of the church are probably in great need of encouragement during persecution. Peter encourages them in 3 ways: 1 Identifying with them 2 reminding them there suffering is for Christ. 3 reminding them that they are a partaker of the glory that will be revealed. The Greek word here that is translated ‘elder’ is presbuterous where we get our English word Presbyterian. The use of this word helps make it clear that Peter is not just talking about old people in the church but the office of elder. The same Greek word is used in 1 Tim 5:17. For more on the office of elder see 1 Tim 3:1-7, 1 Tim5:17-20, Titus 1:5-9
V.2-3 After Peter encourages the elders he then tells them both how to and how not to shepherd the flock. Things to do: shepherd willing, eagerly, being examples to the flock. Things not to do: shepherd under compulsion, for dishonest gain, lording over those entrusted to the shepherd. Also note the Peter is instructing the elders how to shepherd the flock this is another clue that the kind of elders Peter is referring to is the office of elder and not just older people.
V.4 This describes the reward of God’s faithful shepherds. When the Jesus the chief shepherd appears he the over-shepherd will reward the under-shepherds with the crown of glory which does not fade away. This was another way Peter encouraged the elders of the persecuted church by reminding them that their work is not unnoticed and will not go unrewarded.
Application Questions: What can we biblically expect from those who shepherd over us? How can we encourage our shepherds?

V.5-7 Humility and Submitting to God
V.5 In v. 5 Peter turns his attention to those under the elders by telling them to submit to the elders. Then Peter takes the theme of submission and says all of you are to be submissive to everyone and be clothed with humility. Then Peter quotes Prov 3:34 showing that humility should be what characterize a Christian and that is what God rewards.
V.6 Since God opposes the proud we should humble ourselves under God. The verse says the mighty hand of God this carries the idea that the one we humble our self under is the mighty, sovereign Lord who should rightly and logically humble our self under anyway. The end of the verse tells us how God will at the right time reward those who humble themselves at the right time. Again this is great encouragement to those who are going through persecution that the Sovereign Lord in his timing will exalt them for their humility. The principle that those who humble themselves will be exalted is all through out scripture. See Luke 14:11 The converse is true too that those who selfishly exalt themselves will be humbled.
V.7 This verse tells us to cast our care on God for he cares for us. This is encouraging for any believer at anytime but especially true to the persecuted church Peter is writing to. We can have calm and peace in the midst of all of life’s trouble knowing that the Lord of all creation cares for us. Compare this to Phil 4:6, 7 and Matt 6:25-34
Application Questions: What does humility look like everyday in our Christian walks? What happens when we humble ourselves? Who will oppose us if we do not humble ourselves? What can we have confidence in when we go through times of trouble?

V.8-11 Resisting the Devil and Edification in Suffering
V.8 Peter tells us to be on guard and alert because we have an enemy ready to pounce on us whenever he has an opportunity. Picture a zebra in the wilderness constantly aware of the presence of lions in the jungle. This is also a reminder to the church that their suffering and persecution is part of the on going spiritual warfare that is in the world.
V.9 The method of resistance of the devil is by standing fast in the faith. This is done by abiding in the word and obeying it. To quote John MacArthur “as the believer knows sound doctrine and obeys God’s truth, Satan is withstood.” Going back to the zebra analogy a single, lonely, isolated zebra is likely to become lion food. But a zebra traveling in herd as it should, will have a much greater chance of not getting picked off by the lion. The same is true of believers a loner believer with out sound doctrine can more easily be pounced on by Satan then a believer with sound doctrine surrounded by a church for protection. The end of the verses reminds the church that the trials they are going through are not unique to them but common of all believers everywhere. This helps them to know they are not going it alone and to preserve through trials. See James 4:7
V.10 This tells the believer though on the one hand they are going through suffering on the other hand Christ is working on you. He is perfecting, establishing, strengthening, and settling you in the midst of it. Remember that God works all things together for good to those who love him to those who are the called according to his purposes Rom 8:28. God brings good out of what may at the times only look bad to us.
V11. This verse ends this section with praise to Jesus for how he works his purposes in his ways even in our trials.
Application Questions: What attitude should we have knowing the Satan is real and ready to oppose us because we stand for Christ? How is the enemy resisted? Why can we rejoice when we are going through trials what does this practically look like?

V.12-14 The Conclusion:
V.12 Apparently Silvanus was the one who Peter dictated the letter to and delivered the letter. Silvanus is mentioned in Acts 15:32 and Acts 16:37. Peter reveals his purpose for writing the letter to exhort the church and to tesitify to them about the grace they stand in. Another way of putting it to encourage them and show them the spiritual reality of what they are blessed with and how they can apply it.
V.13 Babylon here does not refer to the nation in Mesopotamia but to a church in Rome. They probably took this code name to avoid persecution and danger to the church. The elect together with you is a reminder that all church are tied together and have in common their relationship to Christ though election. Mark is the spiritual son as Peter and the author of the Gospel of Mark.
V.14 Greet one another with a kiss of love.. I am going to let you make your own interpretation and application of this verse. Keep in mind Scripture is inerrant and God wants you to obey all his commands. The way some Anabaptists groups practice this is by men kissing men and women kissing women during the service maybe that is how it was done in ancient times. Many of Paul’s epistles also end with this same instruction. The last line of Peter’s epistle wishes peace to the church that has been experiencing anything but peace in their persecution.
Application Question: How does what we know about in V.12 help us to interpret and understand the rest of the book?

Wrap Up and Review: Having gone through 1 Peter what we now know about the nature of salvation and all the benefits of suffering should change the way we react to it. We all have suffered at various points in our lives and will at times in the future we also know people who may be suffering now. Let us now be ready to glorify God in all that we go through and exalt and magnify Christ no matter what may happen to us. Let us not waste an opportunity to glorify the Lord. Specifically from this chapter we now know what to biblically expect from those who shepherd over us. Will we hold them accountable to God’s standard? Will we willing submit to their leading? How about the always constant theme of humility and submission? Will we let any pride stand in our way of obeying and glorifying God? Are we prepared for the spiritual battle of life? If not why not? How will you change to get prepared? Lastly, can we always remember and recognize that God is always good no matter what we go through? Think how are we going to let these truths change our lives? The 3 steps of Bible study of observation, interpretation, and application. What steps do you need to take to complete your bible study with application?

2005-04-10T12:18:00.000-07:00

Three Great Thelogical Minds: John Babri, Al Mohler, and Chris Thornesberry. At Southern Baptist Theological Seminary during the 2002 Collogiate Conference

My Bio!

2005-04-08T21:28:00.000-07:00

Hey, If you have not yet heard I am now the Pastoral Intern of my Church! I am so excited! God has been so gracious and good to me!
My Pastor asked me to write my biography for the Church bulletin so I decided to share that here.

I was born in Detroit Mi and grew up Northeast Ohio. I was not raised in a Christian home and was void of any spiritual influences until God in his grace rescued me out of my devout atheism. Christ entered my life four years ago during my senior of high school. God revealed himself to me as the answer to the void of meaning in my life. God first cracked my hardened heart though the testimony of creation and then brought me to a saving knowledge of him through the hearing and understanding of the Gospel. Meeting Christ then radically changed my life from the inside out. I went from a life characterized by the despair of only knowing the vanity of life to a life marked by the joy knowing the living and real God who created me. After my salvation I then grew to develop a love for the word of God which allowed me to get know and have fellowship with my new found Savoir.

After I graduated from Stow-Munroefalls Highschool I started attending Kent State University. This would both challenge and strengthen my faith. During my time at Kent I developed a burden for my campus and then got involved with many Campus Ministries and would lead a number of small group Bible Studies. I started my time at Kent studying International Relations and with a minor in Russian. Responding to God’s call in my life I changed my major to Conflict Management with a minor in Religion Studies to prepare me for a Seminary education and ministry. I graduate from Kent State this summer using my Pastoral Internship to fulfill my Conflict Management Internship requirement.

My summers were spent as a Counselor at Skyview Ranch, a Christian camp and retreat center in Millersburg, At Skyview I was responsible for evangelizing and disciplining campers of all ages. During my three summers at Skyview I was able lead 24 of my campers to Lord. During my time at Skyview God confirmed to me his calling in my life showing me that he will use whoever is willing to be used. God also did much to equip for ministry during my time at the Skyview.

I joined First Baptist in the fall of 2003. I was first drawn to First Baptist through the love shown to me by members of First Baptist through Crosswalk Colligate Ministries. I am thankful for the church family I have in First Baptist.

I am currently planning on attending Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in the fall. I am very excited about serving as the Pastoral Intern. I count it privilege and honor to be serving First Baptist in this way as well being trained and invested in by the church for future ministry. I thank God for his extreme goodness and unmerited graciousness to me!

Bible Study on 1 Peter 4

2005-04-04T14:47:00.000-07:00

1 Peter 4

Introduction and Big Ideas: In Chapter 4 Peter continues the theme of the suffering. Yet is not a sad thing! We can arm ours selves in spiritual battle with suffering, We can expect suffering, and we can gladly rejoice in it and be partaker of Christ’s suffering!

V.1-6 Arm Yourself With Christ’s Mindset of Suffering!
V1. Peter’s first instruction is to be armed with the same mind of Christ. In this context that is referring to Christ’s mind as being a suffering servant! To we are to arm ourselves with suffering like Christ! This instruction comes right after explaining to the power of Christ’s suffering (1 Peter 3:18-22 as well as a constant theme all through out 1 Peter) That why Peter says v1 Therefore since Christ suffered… We are to arm ourselves with Christ’s example of suffering. We have seen from Christ example and first 1 Peter 3:18-22 the power of suffering. Through Christ achieved from his suffering the redemption of the world, conquering of sin and death, defeating the power of Satan, etc..(the list of benefits of Christ atonement far exceeds this list). Therefore we too are arm ourselves with suffering. Arm obviously caring the connotation of getting ready for battle. Suffering in not merely something unfortunate that happens to us as we live the Christian but something that can be used a spiritual weapon against the world because the testimony of Christ is clearly seen in it. The rest of the verse concludes he who suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. I looked 3 different Bible teachers comment on the verse and came up with 3 different explanations. My simple interpretation is that when you are suffering righteously for Christ you will not be sinning. So it is better so know that in your suffering for Christ if you are suffering truly for Christ you can not be anything but righteous. Compare this with Phil2:5 about having the mind of Christ.
V.2-3 Theses verses describe our former life style and contrast it with the new life we should be living now v 2no longer living in the flesh …but for the will of God. The contrast is that when we in flesh we lived by the flesh doing the will of the Gentiles such as lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties and abominable idolatries but now we should be seeking the will of God. v3 That is our past life time and we are no longer to walk that way. See Romans 6:1-14 on living the new life in the spirit versus the old life in the flesh.
V.4 This verse explains how the world will react once we no longer join them in their sinful behavior. The result we can expect is that they will speak evil of you.
Application Question: can you think of time when you did join in with the world any longer in their behavior and then had to explain it? If not why not?
V.5-6 Though the unsaved currently are sinning they will have to give account to God who will judge both the living and the dead. V6 Then says for this reason the gospel is preached. What reason? 5 That the living and dead will have to give an account to God. Without Christ there is no way to pay your account to God. The dead in v.6 does not meaning that anyone is preaching the gospel to corpses or the spiritually dead. But to those who have died before the writing of the Epistle that is but were alive when they heard the gospel. That is the only way they could be live according to God in the spirit, though judged by men according to the flesh.

Serving God Remembering the End is Near V7-11
V7-8. Peter reminds us that the return of Christ is imminent. We want to be ready to meet him. We then receive many instructions from Peter on wow to do this: Be watchful in your prayer, have fervent love for one another, be hospitable without grumbling minister with your spiritual gifts. In v. 8 Peter quotes love covers a multitude of sins citing Prov 10:12 Note the difference important difference between covering sins and atoning for sins. Christ is the only atonement for sin.
Application: what does it mean to let love cover a multitude of sin? How do you do that?

V.9-11 Peter now tells us how to be proper stewards of our spiritual gifts. These verses show that we have received different spiritual gifts as believers. Each are to be used for the glory of God. v.9 Says we are to use our different gifts to minister to one another. Not that gifts are given by the grave of God. These are gifts not earned or achieved. Which are gifted for specific ministries God has designed us to do (Eph 2:10) For more on spiritual gifts see 1Cor 12 for more on spiritual gifts the different varieties and uses of.

Expect Suffering and Rejoice In It
V.12-16 These verses once again let know the blessing in suffering. In v.12 Peter says no to think it strange when you suffer. But to the contrary when you are suffering you must being doing a good job because you are being a partaker with Christ in his suffering. v.13 reminds the suffering Christian that he will have great joy at meeting Christ do his faithfulness. v.14 Moreover when you are reproached for Christ you have reason to be glad since you have God’s approval since the Spirit of Glory rest upon you. Note v.14 on the difference between the blaspheme of Christ when they reproach you but the glorification of Christ for your Christ-likeness that brought the reproach. Remember what Jesus said in Matt 10:24
V.15-16. Peter says let the Christian suffer like a Christian and not be ashamed and so glorify God in his suffering and not suffering like sinner listed in v15. A Christian needs to evaluate his suffering. If it is for Christ he has reason to rejoice!
Application: When you suffer will you do gladly? Do you have reason to rejoice? Is your suffering because you reflect Christ to hostile world? Or is because you somehow rightly brought upon yourself? If it is the former you can rejoice and not be ashamed knowing that you were counted worthy to be a partaker in Christ’s sufferings.

The Contrast of the Judgment of Godly and Ungodly
V17-19 Peter reminds the persecuted believers and us that there is a judgment and this world is not the end of it all. Peter contrasts the suffering of the Godly and the judgment of the wicked. The reminder is that God purges the Church he loves how much more God’s fury will be to the unbeliever. Peter cites Prov11:31. This is an encouragement to the persecuted church that God is not indifferent to those who are causing them to suffer. They will at their appointed time get their judgment. God does not merely call to Christian to suffer while the ungodly continue to sin without accountability. The chapter closes with the instruction to let those who suffer to do it to the will of God entrusting themselves to their creator. Interesting to not that sometime God was his people to go through suffering to their benefit God the creator knowing what is best for his creation and with the right to deal with his creation as he pleases.

Wrap Up and Review: With the theme of suffering continued the value is clearly seen in 1 Peter 4. Something that may be thought to be put us on the defensive can will put us on the offensive in the spiritual battle to exalt Christ. The world will also see that we are different by the way we react to it. What does our reaction to the world about Christ? Does the world see someone who is serving a higher cause the obedience to and glorification of a sovereign and almighty God? Can you rejoice in your suffering and know that you were counted to worthy to be a partaker of Christ’s suffering. Peter constantly warns not suffer as sinner but to be not ashamed in it. This is true can be true if you are disciple taking the suffering that comes from reproach from serving the master. Is it true of you? Are you so countercultural that reflect the master more than the word? If it is continue serving hard know that your trials are your badge of honor that reveal who you serve and with devotion you serve him with!

Bible Study on 1 Peter 3

2005-03-26T20:43:00.000-08:00

1 Peter 3

Introduction and Big Ideas: In the third chapter of Peter’s first epistle Peter continues the theme of submitting and suffering during persecution to exalt Christ. Peter picks up where he left of in Chapter 2 by continuing the theme of submission but now how it is applied in family live v.1-7. In this section Peter also gives instruction on the different roles of the husband and wife as well as give instructions on what Godly adornment is. Next Peter calls the Church to love one another and to live in unity v8-12. In v 13-17 Peter explains how a Christian enduring suffering points the world to our hope in Christ. Finally in v18-21 reminds us what Christ’s suffering achieved for us as well as point out how the story of Noah points us to Christ’s redemptive work on the cross.

Submission and the Conduct of Godly women V.1-6
V.1-2 In these verses Peter continues the theme of submission. In chapter 2 we saw how we were to submit to our civil authorities and in the work place (slaves to masters). Now the theme of Godly submission is applied in family. The different roles of men and women in a marriage relationship are seen here. Peter instructs women to be submissive to their husbands to win those who are not obedient to the word. This probably then refers to women be submissive to their unsaved husbands. This is because Peter is trying to motivate their submission in order to be a good testimony to win their husbands to obedience to the word. If the husband was saved then the woman would have a different motivation for submission. It would be to be a picture of Christ and the Church;the woman being the Church and submitting to the headship of Christ (see Eph 5:22-32). Peter’s instruction of wives’ submission to unsaved husbands makes sense in the greater context suffering and submitting to shine Christ to the world which is what Peter has been talking about all throughout the epistle to encourage the persecuted Church.

V.3-4 Next Peter describes how women are to adorn themselves. There is a contrast of physical adornment a spiritual adornment. Peter says do not be only concerned about your outward adornment but more importantly inner adornment of character which is precious in God’s sight. V.4 talks about having an incorruptible beauty. This is a reminder that physical beauty fades and that the less corruptible inner beauty is to be more valued and is less vain (see Prov 31:10-31 especially note v30). Peter says the women are to put on the adornments of a gentle and quiet spirit. 2 Tim 2:8-14 has more on how woman are supposed to adorn themselves as well as their role in the Church.
Application question: Which is more visible to the world your physical adornments or spiritual? When people see you do they see someone trying to attract the attention to their outer beauty or their inner beauty? What does your actions show which is truly more important to you to be seen as precious in the sight of man or God?

V.5-6 Peter then instructs women to follow the example of Godly women who came before them. He uses Sarah as an example.

Instructions to Husbands v.7
v.7 Husband likewise must submit but in a way appropriate to his role as the leader. This includes taking care of the needs of his wife. This is includes being a servant-leader to her like Christ was to the Church. Eph 5:25-31 has more on a how a husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the Church. Interesting to note that the way a husband treats his wife affects his prayers. Peter warns the husband that his prayers could be hindered if he does not honor his wife. It is likely that Peter is referring to the prayers for an unsaved wife and that the husband’s bad testimony could be what hinders his prayers for his wife’s salvation.

Questions for Discussion: Do these passages have any significance on for the Christian single? Why or why not? Should these Biblical marriage roles affect the behavior of the Christian single?

Called to be a Blessing and to Inherit a Blessing
V.8-12 Here Peter encourages the Church to love one another and live in unity. We are to be of one mind, having compassion for one another, love as brothers, being tenderhearted, courteous, Returning blessing for cursing and not evil for evil. This principle is seen all through out scripture such as in the Sermon on the Mount in Matt 5:44. Peter reminds us that were called to love one another because we called to be a blessing and to also to inherit a blessing. He then cites Ps 34:12-16 as evidence of this. This section of the Psalm provokes our motivation to righteousness knowing that the Lord’s eyes are on the righteous and his ears open to their prayers. The Lord blesses those who seeks him in righteousness but opposes those who do evil.
Exercise: Let’s review Psalm 34. Why would Peter use it here to motivate unity and love? How and why does this Psalm motivate us to serve the Lord?
Application Question: What does it look like in a church when the body of believers are loving one another in unity and not repaying evil for evil? What is the significance of Peter telling the Church not to repay evil for evil when it is going through persecution? What can we learn from this?

Suffering for Righteousness vs. Rightly Suffering
V.13-17 Peter here contrast suffering for good and evil. Saying that you are blessed when you suffer for righteousness’ sake (again possibly quoting the Sermon on the Mount Matt 5:10). He also says not to fear suffering for the sake of righteousness quoting Isaiah 8:12 knowing that you do not need to fear people when you fear the Lord. In v.15 says sanctify the Lord in hearts. This is necessary when going through suffering to worship the Lord no matter what you go through. Then he says to be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in you. How will people know that you have hope is the way you act during suffering! That points to Christ! People will wonder how you endure and Peter says to be ready to answer them with meekness and fear. Finally Peter says do not let your suffering be in vain by suffering for wrong doing.
Application Point: The way we respond to suffering reveals whether we have hope and what our hope is in. If we can still glorify God in our suffering the world will wonder why which gives us an opportunity to share that the hope we have in Christ. Can people see the hope that is in your life? Are you ready to explain it when you have the opportunity?

Christ’s Suffering and Noah’s Ark Pointing to Christ
V.18-21 This is difficult passage to interpret especially v19. In v.18 Peter again points us to value of suffering by reiterating that Christ suffered for our sins and that brought us to God and made us alive by the Spirit. Then v19 talks about preaching to spirits in prison who were disobedient in the days of Noah. John MacArthur offers the explanation that this refers to Christ proclaiming his triumph over the fallen angels with his death. This makes sense because Christ would not be offering salvation to spirits in prison. Then Peter goes on to explain how the story of Noah’s Ark points to Christ. In the story of Noah we have a few being spared God’s judgment being saved through water. This is an antitype (NKJV) to Baptism that saves us from God’s judgment now. This is baptism in Christ not the literally water, Peter makes this extremely clear in v21b. v22 Tells us that Christ in now seated in power at the right hand of God having made everything subject to him. The story of Noah helps emphasizes that Christ’s suffering saved the world from judgment helping us understand the magnitude of the Christ suffering. This all fits nicely with Peter’s theme of enduring suffering to exalt Christ.

Wrap Up and Review: Peter is constantly reminding us of two ‘S’-words we don’t want to hear: submission and suffering. Yet both are unavoidable for the Christian. So will we do each to the glory of God? Will we willing submit when we may not necessarily want to? Will we let God shine in our unsaved world through our submission to authorities? How about our adornment? Are we more concerned with making the outer physical adornment or the inner adornment which is precious in God’s sight? Finally how are we going to react when face with suffering? Are we going to realized we are blessed when we are suffering for the sake of righteousness? Will the world see that we have hope as we go through the troubles of life? And if so will we be prepared to share that hope with them? Let us make the most out of two unpopular words: suffering and submission in order to exalt our a great ‘S’-word; that is the Savior!

Alistair Begg

2005-03-22T17:23:00.000-08:00

This is the first time I am writting about my day and not a reflection or Bible study. It so exciting I can't help myself. Today I met ALISTAIR BEGG!!!!! Here the story. I am on Spring Break and did not have to work today so I decided to do some exploring. I needed to go to Christian Book Store but I decided to go to Parkside's Book store since today I had the time and did not want to go to closer one. So I decided to finally go to Parkside. I always wanted to go having heard Truth for Life on the radio.

(this first paragraph that is above I wrote Tuesday the day it happened but the next two I added tonight since I didn't finish the post)

Anyway I go to the store which was amazing in itself. Definately one of the best Christian bookstores Ive been in. They had stuff on Theology, Church History and academic stuff it was not all Christian Living like most Christian bookstores. Anyway as I was leaving in walks Alistair Begg along with 5 other guys in business suits! I was like holy cow! I can't believe it! Its Alistair! Really for a second I did not know what to do! I was star struck. He is definately a man I greatly admire for his Biblical expository skills. Part of me was like I can't meet him I too nervous. Then I am like NO I got to. But I am like what do you say to Alistair Begg? So anyway I walk over and introduce myself and tell him that I listen to him on the radio and appreciate his Biblical teaching. Then Alistair and I had a breif bit of small talk. He was so cool! I must have been a dork. Picture a star struck fan meeting a big celebrety and that was basically me. Anyway he made small talk with me about college basketball(he likes U of Kentucky because UK looks like United Kingdom). Then he ask me a few questions about me like where I am from and what I do etc. He also invited me to the good friday service (which I did end up going to which was awesome) I was really impressed with him and how he made a little bit of time to have small talk with me when he was clearly in the middle of something. What a cool guy! Meeting him was definately the highlight of my Spring break!

It was funny driving home I called all my freinds to let to let them know I met ALISTAIR BEGG!!! Then I had to laugh at myself realizing how star struck and excited I got for meeting a Pastor. It made me wonder how many other people would react that way to meeting a Pastor. Anyway that I guess I can add him to the list of famous preachers and great expositors of God's word that I met. The list so far is Al Mohler, Alistair Begg, Dave Mullins, Chris Thornesberry, and Keith Missel.

Bible Study on 1 Peter 2

2005-03-13T23:29:00.000-08:00

1 Peter 2

Introduction and Big Ideas: Peter having redirected the persecuted church’s attention back on the greatness of their salvation in Chapter one now instructs them on how to live it out. In chapter 2 Peter reminds them that they are a holy and separated people. Since they are holy they are to act that way. Peter shows them that obedience is a way to show Godliness. Important things to remember from this chapter are growth and maturation through the word of God v.2. We are a holy people v.4-12. We are to submit as did Christ v.13-25.

V.1-3 Peter tells us to grow by desiring the pure milk of the word that we may grow by it. He also says to put away sin (malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, slander)
Application: To grow as believers we need God’s word just as a babe needs milk. As well as taking in milk to grow we need to get rid of the things that may stunt our growth. Like in Peter’s list of sins to put away. Think Milk does the body good so does the word our soul. Smoking will stunt a teen’s growth so will sin our spiritual growth. Got Milk?
Other verses to look at when consider the extreme importance of scripture to a believer are: Psalm 1, Psalm 19:7-9, 2 Tim 3:16,17 and Heb 4:12

V.4-8 Christ is the living stone. He was rejected by men but accepted by us and is our corner stone and we are like him. See Eph 2:40. The stone that is Christ causes two reactions either it will be a stumbling block to those who do not believe but to those who believe in it will not be put to shame. In this section Peter reminds us that we are holy and separate by our reaction to stone. He also says that we are like the like the living stone built together for a spiritual house to be a holy nation. Peter here sharply contrast us from unbelievers because we are living stones placed on top of the Cornerstone fitted together for a temple to be a holy priesthood in. The unbeliever on the other hand is not joined together with the Cornerstone but stumbles because of it. In v6 Peter is citing Isaiah 28:16 and in v7 he is citing Ps 118:22. This contrasts the holiness of the believer to the sinfulness of the unbeliever and motivates us to as believers to live holy so that contrast is seen in the world.

V.9-10 These 2 verses describe how we are changed people. We were changed by God’s selection of us and his mercy given to us. We are a chosen race, royal priesthood, holy nation, a people for God’s procession. All these new things that we are in Christ all have the clear Old Testament parallels to what Israel was to be to God. All this that we might be witnesses (“proclaim the excellencies of him who called you”).

V.11-12 These 2 verses are the application last two. Since we are holy nation and separated people we are supposed to act like it. We are not to live by the flesh like the Gentiles but make our good deeds known among the unbelievers that they may glorify God. Also see Matt 5:14-16

This next section of the focuses on submitting from 1 Peter 2:13-17 focuses submitting to the government. 1 Peter 2: 18-25 focus on slaves to their masters and 1 Peter 3:1-7 spouses submitting: Wives to husbands and husbands to Christ. Submission allows us to be a humble suffering servant like Christ (see Isaiah 53 and Phil 2) It also allows to be blameless to the world and its authorities allowing us a better witness.

V.13-17 Here Peter tells us for the Lord’s sake to be subject to human institutions in every level of government. See Romans 13:1-7. We do this knowing their authority comes from God. In our submission to the government silences would-be critics. Keep in mind Peter is telling them this in light of Roman persecution. In v16 we have the reminder to limit our liberty for the purpose of being a greater servant. In v17 we have 4 short instructions to follow to help achieve this:
1. honor everybody
2. Love the brotherhood
3. Fear God
4. honor the Emperor (keep in mind he is persecuting them)

V.18-25 Now the idea of submission is applied to slaves to their masters. This is a hard thing to do but Peter reminds us this is what we have been called to do. He also says it is no credit to one who sins but it is a gracious thing to suffer unjustly in the sight of God. Peter says this what Christ himself did when he died for our sins when he himself was completely innocent (see 2 Cor 5:21). Here Peter is also quoting heavily from Isaiah 53 describing how Christ was suffering servant. Submitting gives us the opportunity to be Christ-like when Christ who did not need to submit to anyone ( 1. He is God and sovereign over everything and 2.was sinless so his submission to suffering was not for his own punishment). Submissive suffering spotlights the special super Savior. (a little alliteration to help us remember what submission can do).

Wrap Up and Review: 1 Peter 2 calls us to holy living to glorify God and letting that shine in an unsaved world. This chapter gives us 3 things do to be the type of Christians that affect a lost world: 1) In order to do that we need to be a growing believer we need to avoid sin and to be taking in the milk of the word. Stop and check yourself. How often are you taking in scripture? Remember milk does the body good! It is something we need daily to have a strong spiritual body. 2) Also remember we are holy and set apart and therefore need look and act like we are. Can those around us tell we are a holy, royal, priesthood? 3) Lastly, as Savior submitted, so we are to submit to point to our Savoir and to be blameless in the world. Can people see that when we are purposely limiting our freedom it is because we are obeying God and not man? Applying these three truths will help mature us as believers, bring glory to God, and help us shine in the darkness of a lost world.

Standing Outside the FIre

2005-03-10T20:24:00.000-08:00

“Life is not tried, it is merely survived If you're standing outside the fire”
-Garth Brooks

I love the Bible and like Country Music! And if you are anything like me you think about the spiritual implications of Country Music!

I hear these lyrics by Garth Brooks every now and then and it always makes me think of my walk with God.

This chorus reminds me of the truth that walking with God is not always easy. But when we see him the most glorified is when are going through the hardest things. And this scripture comes to mind: 1 Peter 1:6-7 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith--more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire--may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Fire hurts! It burns and its hott! Hotter than John dressed like a cowboy! But look what its does! It shows you the genuineness of your faith! And it may be found to result in the praise and glory and honor and at the revelation of Jesus Christ. That’s something to get fired up about! Truly life is not tried its merely survived standing out side the fire.

But fire hurts…it also takes faith to jump in it. So we tend to avoid it. Taking the risk of going through the fire scares us. We are afraid we are going to get burned! So we tend to play it safe. It kinda makes sense too. Who wants to get burned? But is that the way you want to live your life? Afraid of the heat? When you see Jesus do want to hear: “ Adequate job, fair and mediocre servant. You played it safe.” I don’t think so. We only get one shot at this and I do not want to get by with a C because I stood outside the fire to save myself some burning.

But when life gets tough what do we do? We often run but then we miss out on opportunity to glorify God. But if we endure we have a much greater reward. Speaking of Fire lets go to our old friends in the Veggie tales. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, talk about being thrown into the fire!(Dan 3) Well we know the story. They were thrown into Nebuchadnezzar’s fiery furnace for refusing to worship the Golden Image. But what happened? They were not consumed! Not only that they had an encounter with God in the furnace! And God was glorified in a pagan nation!

Guess what? Shadrach, Meshach and Abedengo are not the only ones who get to experience God in the fire. In my own life I know the fire has often been a meeting place with God. That’s where we experience his glory the most and take him for granted the least. Then all who around you seeing how you endure the fire will also like Nebuchadnezzar also realize it was the hand of your God that brought you through! And just like Shadrach, Meshach and Abedengo we also will not be consumed by the flames of life when we have our faith in the God who will deliver us. Isaiah 43:2,3 confirms this :When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the LORD your God,the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

So are you ready to see God glorified in a new way in your life? Fight the fear of flames with Faith and turn up the heat! When if comes to God don’t sell yourself short and be left out in the cold.

Garth Brooks was right when he said:
“Life is not tried, it is merely survived If you're standing outside the fire”

Bible Study on 1 Peter

2005-03-07T19:33:00.000-08:00

Hey to Anyone in Kent area you should really come to this cool Bible at Mondays 7PM in the Student Center.

Heres the the outline I made for the Bible Study we did on 1Peter1. If you can not go then just enjoy the outline. Oh yeah and feel free to pray for it that it would be a good witness to the campus. Anyway here it is:

1 Peter1

Rejoicing In Suffering!

V 1,2 Peters’s greeting and audience. Audience: persecuted gentile believers. Probably during Nero’s persecution
Note: stress of election in opening. Foreknowledge and to the elect.

V3-9 Rejoicing Salvation during and though persecution.

V3-5 Reasons to rejoice
We have a inheritance from God’s mercy that is
Imperishable -
Incorruptiable-
Undefiled-
Does not fade away-

6-9 We have trials with a purpose!
V7 Purpose of our trials

V 10-12 We Have An Amazing and Special Salvation!
we live in a time were we see what salvation is. This is a blessing not even the old testament prophets fully new though they wanted to.
-Why does Peter mention this here?

V 13-20 In Light of this Great Salvation don’t Be Discouraged but Be Holy!
In this section Peter tells though we suffer in light of our salvation we should not revert to our pagan life style but continue in holiness and glorify God.
Application Points:
1 Be prepared for action
2 be sober minded
3 set hope on the grace that is to be revealed to us
4 Be holy as God is holy

V22-25 Born Again Not of Perishable Seed But of Eternal Seed!
V22 Love one another our of a pure heart since:
Ours salvation is built on the living, eternal, word of God. We have a secure salvation that enables us to love, be holy, and rejoice.

The Blessing : 1 Peter 1 shows us that through persecution, trials, and sufferings we have reason to praise Christ because of our salvation. We also know our sufferings are temporary and have a purpose.

Studying Suffering

Suppose a Christian could be a perfect Christian would they still suffer?
See 2 Tim 3:12, 1 Peter 4:16, Luke 9:23 taking up your cross hurts
Matthew 10:16-24 serving Jesus may bring suffering
Heb 11:36-39 suffering will come to the faithful

The Good news In Suffering

-Phil 3:10
Suffering helps us identify with Christ

-2 Cor 12:7-10
Reveals the sufficiency of God’s Grace and the Power of Christ

-1Peter 1:7
Reveals genuineness of faith

-James 1:2-5
produces steadfastness, gives wisdom?

-2 Cor 1:3-7
helps us be prepared to minister to others who suffer like us

-1 Cor 4:7-12
The life of Christ is seen

Suffering is Temporary!!!!!!!
1Peter 1:6 a little while
2Cor4:17 our afflictions are slight and momentary

Other thoughts:
Suffering is not outside God’s sovereignty
Romans 8:28

Finals Thoughts:
As Fire refines gold so does suffering our faith. Though suffering hurts, it is very short compared to eternity. Suffering provides an opportunity to glorify God through faithfulness resulting in a closer walk with Christ, and matures us and prepares us to serve others. Suffering will come but will take the opportunity to learn from it and glorify God in it or will it be wasted on us in lack of faithfulness?

My Books

2005-03-03T13:33:00.000-08:00

What are my 4 books you might be wondering? Well, I hope this is review but I am happy to tell you and give you a short discription.

Random Theology
-This is will be my first book Its Random Theology as opposed to systematic theology. The main feature of this book is my theological and biblical research, obsevation, interpretation, and application of the precurse curse which is found in Gen2:18. Other chapter include: So we are going to marry a lamb, The Errors of Despensationalism, and My Sixth Point of Calvinism.

Kids Are Stupid
-In this book I recall my experiances in my three years of Counseling at a Christion summer camp. I try to understand why kids think its logical to see if an electric fence is on by touching it and how do kids mistake a bunny for a Coytote.

The Interpretations of What Girls Say and What It Really Means
-This book obviosly is very theoretical. But I have found that when girls say something it often has nothing to do with its common meaning. For example I explain why "freind" is the worst "f-word" in the book.

My Refections on Life
-This is my newest book. It also doubles as my first country album. It has my general observations and reflections on the vanity and frustrations of life. Think Toby Keith meets Solomon's Ecclesiastes. The most interesting chapter and first number 1 single is "When A Persian Goes Country You Know Something Aint Right. Its Awesome!" The tittle of the one may get shortened to the "Balad of a Persian Cowboy."

Ok there are my 4 books. So tell me which you want to know more about? Just leave a post and what ever gets the most interest I will post an except from that book.

My books will some day will be found at all good book stores and most bad ones too. Oh yeah and I am pretty sure the precurse curse is what Ill do my disertation on. It will also probably make an appearance in my 3rd book as well as first.

Old Reflection

2005-02-21T15:08:00.000-08:00

Hey is an old reflection I found that I wrote last semester. It was when I was going through some rough stuff (so rough that I even read some Max Lucado anyway..)Anyway since I have not posted anything for awhile I decided to post this. so here you go:

So I was pondering life. I realized that theres a whole lot I don't know. I realized too that Ive made mistakes. Many. But thats part of living. Though my errors show I am not perfect not even close, I need them as stepping stones to perfection. I am not going to get there any time soon. Yet, I am going still try and with every mistake step a little closer. My mistakes are my stepping stones to wisdom. Little by little I am going to advance and be stronger for it. I am not going to hate myself for my mistakes. If I did not make any it would show that I am not even trying with life. That would mean I am stuck and scared, but I am not. I am going to keep on going and if I have to walk a path of stepping stones made of mistakes I will. I rather advance that way then not move at all. So I am going and I am going to press on step by step in forward motion. I am on my way from potential to actual and that road is paved in mistakes.

2005-02-09T18:12:00.000-08:00

Johnny Bronco

Trash for Treasure

2005-02-09T14:13:00.000-08:00

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Matthew13:44 (ESV)

What is salvation? This one verse describes it. This verse is a picture of someone finding the kingdom of heaven. It does not say that the man “asked Jesus into his heart.” He also does not appear to have his eyes closed or his hand raised.

What does he do? He sells everything and buys the field! That seems a little extreme. He sells everything. How could someone part with everything? Who knows what the guys had maybe a nice house, car, good job, wonderful family. So why sell all that for something else? He completely sold out. Probably because he was completely sold out! What he found was obviously greater than what he had. It was worth it all. Not just parts of his life but all of it. It was a no-brainer to give himself up completely to something greater. It may look hard but the equation is simple. Kingdom of heaven > everything I have. He also made the transaction with joy once he found the treasure! It was a bargain! And that is a gross understatement. He got to sell something so much lesser for something so much greater.

So what does salvation look like? It is realizing God offers so much more than anything you have. It is then gladly trading in all you have for what is greater. So why not trade what you have for the greater thing? Or would you rather keep something you have? But I assure you it is not worth it. Go back to the equation and look at it. Kingdom of God equals more than what I have. Don’t miss out. Don’t let your lesser rob you from perusing what is higher. Don’t worry about what you have to lose, it does not compare to what you have to gain. But here is the question: Will you be sold out or will you be content in the lesser things not fully giving yourself to what is infinitely greater?