So…lately i haven’t blogged…because it seems like i just don’t have time. I don’t have time to think…or write. And, i don’t really have anything to say.
So. I’m starting a new phase for a while. I’m going to start posting a photo blog every day. Several pictures that i’ve taken and that i’m proud of. There will probably be a lot of my students, who i’m proud of as well. I hope you enjoy the photos. If you need some photos taken, let me know.
Phase 1.
So, today is Becki and I’s (eyes?) anniversary. We’ve been married for 3 years. We’ve been together for six years, and it’s been a great 6 years.
So, we are too poor to buy each other gifts…and we have church tonight, so we can’t go out and celebrate. But that’s okay…we don’t need anything big. We have each other.
So…I’ve been looking forward to seeing this movie since the first preview…and we saw it yesterday.
KUNG FU PANDA!!!!!!!!
It was awesome. We took Eden, and it was the first movie we’ve taken her to…and she did pretty well. About halfway into the movie she fell asleep, which is okay. At least I got to see the movie. It was quite funny…it’s like they said, Jack, just do your usual thing, and add in some kung fu. Very family friendly, and a pretty good story. Go see it.
So, there as been a long time battle in the church, and it is one that i struggle with in college. It is a Biblical argument that has split evangelicals. It is the argument of predestination vs. free will. Well, Romans 9-10 are good chapters to take a look at when trying to figure it out.
Paul starts out the chapter by saying that he wishes he could give up his salvation, just so his brothers (the Jewish people) could have salvation. See, he’s saying that they are his brothers in the flesh, meaning DNA, to them, the Jews, belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. The Old Testament tells of all that has happened – God’s provision and love for – the Jews. From them came the Messiah, Jesus. But Paul says that ‘not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham…” They might be descendants of the flesh, but all of that (the covenants, the giving of the law, etc.) was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. take it or leave it.
That brings us to the issue. Does God love some, and hate others? Paul says “BY NO MEANS” , which is a favorite expression of Pauls. He uses it, like a million times in the letter to the Romans. In modern day language it means, “NO STINKIN WAY!” God said to Moses “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” It also says that God hardened Pharoahs heart so that his power might be made known. That doesn’t seem fair. You can ask, How can God still find fault in us? Who can resist God’s will?
Has God made vessels of wrath? Those whom he has chosen to for destruction in order to show his glory to others?
The answer to those questions come in chapter 10. Paul says in verse 9 – if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that god raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Everyone. So, really, the question to US is no longer, if God has predestined or not. Only He knows that. We are now faced with this:
“But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? and how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news’”.
Our job is to tell people about Jesus Christ. If they believe and confess, or not, that is up to them and the leading of the Holy Spirit. We need not be wrapped up in arguing over what we don’t fully know or understand about God. We need to be completely wrapped in what we do know – what he has revealed to us – and that is that Jesus is the way. And EVERYONE who believes will be saved. So, lets start telling.
So, i just stumbled upon this…pretty funny…hope you enjoy.
Studying Romans chapter 8
Something that I think we as everyday Christians when we read the Bible is take each chapter or section to be completely unrelated – when, those who wrote it usually didn’t mean for them to be broken up that way. I have a hard time not ’switching mindsets’ whenever i see a new subtitle in my Bible.
This is something that i had to fight while reading Romans 8. It’s long, and i encourage you to read it before reading this blog.
Paul mentions that we have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, which means we are heirs. We are heirs of God, and fellow heirs with Christ. Fellow heirs with Christ: provided we suffer with him in order to be glorified with him. We must first die to self in order to be heirs with Christ. This goes back to chapters 6-7 when it talks about putting to death our old self. With this new life, we are now heirs with Christ…heirs of what? well, nothing we can see…it’s a hope of Future glory. An heir doesn’t immediately receive his inheritance. That comes later…for us, it is after death in this life. So we are waiting for our inheritance…but what is our inheritance? money? no. fame? no. a DC Talk greatest hits cd? no. Our inheritance is restoration/ life together with Christ/ perfect. But we not only wait for it: Creation waits for it, too. Creation waits for freedom and redemption…because it was once perfect, but then it was subjected to sin through mankind, and now it is fallen. CREATION GROANS for the redemption of the HEIRS – because only then will it be made perfect and new. Creation Groans.
But we, the heirs (Christians) are groaning – waiting to be redeemed. We are on THIS side of restoration. We are still corrupted with sin. We are looking towards redemption from the standpoint of one who has always known sin – always commited sin. We groan for redemption. Christians Groan.
The Holy Spirit helps our weakness – he intercedes for us with groanings that are too deep for words. He is on THAT side of redemption. He, who has never known sin, who has never lived in sin – who knows the perfection and beauty of THAT SIDE, groans for us. He groans because he knows that we aren’t there yet. He groans – intercedes because he longs for us to know redemption – free of sin. 
His groaning is ‘empathy’ for us to be on that side with HIM.
Knowing this, how can we not believe that God has predestined us to be glorified in Him.
And Paul, boiling it all down says this: If God is for us, who can be against us? Who can seperate us from the love of God? This God who has made us HIS children – heirs – and groans FOR US, who predestined us to be GLORIFIED in him…
It’s like a tree:
We are heirs Creation Groans we groan Holy Spirit groans
\ I I /
predestined to be glorified who can seperate us from the love of God
\ /
if God is for us, who can be against us?
of course. duh. how awesome is that. God loves us. He’s done everything to redeem us. Now he waits for the time when we can inherit his glory.
No, i haven’t changed my profession…
I was reading Romans 7, which is a confusing, yet beautiful chapter of scripture. It is long, so i’m not going to copy/paste it here, but i encourage you to read it before you read the rest of this blog…
I’ll wait…
Okay, you have 2 more minutes to finish reading. When you are done, look up so I know when everyone is finished.
Okay, so you’ve read Romans 7.
Paul is trying to explain just what he means when he says “Free from the law” – which he needs to explain, because on the surface it sounds like he says the Old Testament, the guidelines that God has given us, are no longer relevant. That’s a bold thing to say – so he has to explain what he really means.
We were MARRIED to the law – bound to it, until death. He explains it like a woman married to a man. If the man dies, she is no longer bound to him and can marry another. But if she runs off with another man while her husband is still alive, she is committing adultry. We are bound – held accountable – married to the law. But, just one chapter before, in Romans 6, Paul explains that our OLD MAN has been crucified with CHRIST. The old man is dead – so we are no longer bound to the law. The NEW MAN is brought into life with CHRIST – we are now MARRIED to CHRIST (hence the term, the Bride of Christ).
Paul explains that the LAW is not a bad thing, and it is still relevant – but the law points out our sin. It points out our need to be crucified with CHRIST. The law doesn’t save us – it just shows us our need to be saved. Salvation doesn’t come from the law, it comes from FAITH in CHRIST (the fulfillment of the LAW).
In verse 19 – Paul says, “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.”
He hits the nail on the head. Paul, a man, a sinner just like everyone else, understood what it means to STRUGGLE with sin. He understood that throughout our lives we will wrestle with the OLD MAN.
BUT WAIT! Didn’t we say the old man has been crucified – put to death? Yes. Then what do we wrestle with? We fight ghosts of the old man. The new man verses the old man – a constant rematch. We are haunted by our past – our old man. Late at night you can sometimes hear the rattling of the chains which once held you captive. Sometimes when you are alone, or scared, or defeated, you start ’seeing ghosts’ of your old life, and if you aren’t strong enough, that ghost will overtake you. Oh, sidenote: no one is strong enough on their own…that’s where Christ comes in.
Christ is our ghostbuster…okay, sounds cheesy, but isn’t it true?
Psalm 6 / Romans 6.
“O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath. Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing; heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled. My soul also is greatly troubled. But, you, O Lord – how long?” Psalm 6:1-3
“I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping. My eye wastes away because of grief; it grows weak because of all my foes. Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.” Psalm 6:6-8
So, I understand that David was talking about physical pain (my bones are troubled) but I can’t help reading this to mean both physical and spiritual. How often have we come before God – guilty and ashamed – but also in complete agony over our sin – asking God to be gracious, because we have been punishing ourselves with the grief and guilt of what we’ve done. We say,” Lord, i’m in complete agony over my sin.” The spiritual pain leads to physical pain.
As a parent, i’ve seen my child come before me, knowing that what she did was wrong. I know she knows it’s wrong, because the whole way to me she was crying. One Sunday night, i was in my office preparing for Bible study. Becki and Eden drove seperate, and when the walked into my office Becki said, “Daddy, Eden just bit mommy because she was mad.” (Not saying that biting when you aren’t mad is okay.) I looked at Eden and said, “Come here.” and during the entire time it took her to walk from there, around my desk and to me, she cried – really cried. She knew that she had done wrong. When she got there, i picked her up, pulled her close to my face, so that she could see that i love her, and calmly corrected her.
I can imagine David being the same way with God. I’m also reminded of Job – how he went through agony, both physical, mental and spiritual – and his friends and family giving him wrong counsel. His response, “depart from me, workers of evil”. I wonder if David read Job during this time to comfort him.
Romans 6 – are we to sin so that grace may abound? NO STINKIN WAY (new david translation)
Are we to sin because we are not under the law? NO STINKIN WAY.
Paul uses this kind of phrasing often, which i can kind of imagine how he would say it. In mind mind, it would have been equal to NO STINKIN WAY. Why does he say it this way? It’s because he’s disgusted by the thought. The fact that he even had to address it means that somebody was thinking it. We can see even today that Christians ‘get saved’ and then use it as an excuse to feel good about doing whatever feels good. Paul points to the importance, the cost. We are to DIE with Christ. we are united with CHRIST in death first. Death to our old man. Our old man is CRUCIFIED to the cross with our sin. Only through the DEATH with Christ can we have the LIFE with Christ. No longer enslaved to sin.
He breaks it down – point blank – you are either a slave to SIN or a slave to CHRIST. you can’t be both. The beauty is that we can find joy in being a slave – when we are slaves to righteousness.
When we were slaves to sin, we ate the fruit of death (verses 20-23). I wonder if it looked anything like a pineapple…all prickly.
But when we are slaves to Christ, we eat the fruit of life/righteousness. How cool. Sin came into the world through eating fruit…but now we can eat fruit of righteousness…
enjoy.
So, yesterday after church i drove to Jacksonville, NC to play at Enon Chapel Baptist Church. October82, my band played for the first time in about a month (maybe more). We had 45 minutes to practice before we played. But it went really well. We messed up a little…but over all I had a really good time, and it was really fun to be playing again. We sold a bunch of cds and t-shirts, which is always good.
That title sounds like something off a motivational poster
If you are wondering which man i’m talking about it’s not any of the guys in the boat. I was just reading Psalm 5 and Romans 5.
In Psalm 5, we read that David is going through more turmoil. The chapter doesn’t say when the psalm was written, but as i read, i got the impression that is was written around the time of 2 Samuel 2. Saul and Jonathan are dead, David is made king (finally after 20 years) and Saul’s friend Abner goes and makes Saul’s other son, Ish-bosheth, king. This is a problem…because God has made David king. It’s a beautiful psalm and i think that if you read it along side 2 Samuel 2, you might see a connection. Especially in Psalm 5:7, where David talks about ‘But i WILL enter your house,etc.’
But where I got stuck (in a good way) was in Romans 5. One of the most beautiful chapters in Romans. What do we see here?
1.) in verses3-5 we see this picture: rejoice in suffering. why? suffering leads to endurance, which leads to character, which leads to hope IN GOD. good stuff.
2.) in verse 6-11 (some of my favorite verses) we see: we were weak, and Christ died for us. It’s understandable when you see someone die for the innocent, or the good – which is still a hard thing to do. But God shows HIS LOVE that while we were guilty- sinners, Christ died for us.
But here’s the verses for the title: verses 12-21. To sum it up:
By one man, ADAM, sin came into the world – resulting in/effecting all mankind – brought death.
By one man, JESUS, salvation came into the world – resulting in/effecting all mankind - brought life.
amen.
