Hard to keep up with Life!

I have noticed as of late how hard it is to keep up with life. Tons of stuff is going on and I continue to try and accomplish everything on my todo list. One of the things that I would like to get better with is actually trying to keep up with my blog.

With all the business of life I forget to take the time to Embrace the God in Heaven that wants time with him. Sometimes, because of not spending time with him I make bad choices and it is because of a lack of the face to face time that we so badly need with him. It is time that I start to think about what needs to be done and first going to God about it first. If he wants it to be accomplished than he will make a way for it to happen.

Just a reminder that all things are possible, through Christ how strengthens me. I just got to get that in my head and rely on him to make my schedule.

0

My Testimony!

I was seven years old when I first experienced God. I don’t know that I remember too much about it except that there were no tears and no angels around with bright lights and a chorus in the background. I had just made the decision that I was going to follow Christ. At the time I probably was more afraid of going to hell than I was in having a relationship with Christ though, but it was a start on a somewhat long journey to embracing the God I love. 

My mother took me to the Nazarene Church. This was the type of church that if you even started to have a hint of singing during worship you might disrupt what God was doing. Unfortunately He wasn’t doing much, because the church really wasn’t letting Him move in their lives. I did in some way learn how to respect God even in my silence. I was a step closer.

Then we moved to Wyoming. They did not have a Nazarene Church there so we decided to go with my Aunt to an Assembly of God Church. I went from a silent reverent church to a no holds barred (well to a degree) church that scared the behebees out of me. One night a woman decided that God was speaking and spoke in tongues then everyone waited for the Interpretation. I looked up at my mother and told her that that lady was talking funny. In a way I was waiting for the men in White Jackets (You know the ones from the funny farm) were going to bust in and take her away. I was a little creeped out. Fortunately, this is something that happened from time to time and I learned that God could be in everything that we do. I grew stronger and continued on my path to find the path that God had set out for me to do.

It was some time later that I went into the army and found myself pulling away from God. I started to do things that today I look back at and wonder what I was thinking. It was my skeletons that were coming to surface and went down the wrong path for a long time. But eventually God called me back home and gave me a drive to follow him. This time through AMWAY. Yes AMWAY! They told me that if I wanted to grow my business that I would need to find God again. They didn’t care which one, they just thought that it was good practice. I am not doing it anymore but it brought me back to the Church again. 

That is when I met Pastor Bob and Pastor Fowler. Through the love that they showed me and the strength that they possessed they slowly brought me back to see God and learn to embrace him again. I owe much to them for showing me the love that Christ has for me through their actions towards me. 

Now I am married and going to a Baptist Church. Christ has driven me down a path to a destination that only he knows but that I am confident is the right path. I have been a part of the reverent, the raughty, and the rough, and he has always been with me even when I was not with him. He never forsook me. I have now completed a degree in Seminary, and have been looking at the wonderful ways that he has been working in my life and I see evidence all around me of His existence. It is not something that I can prove per say, but some things just cannot be coincidence. He is with me, I can see it in my life. That is another blog for another day. If you want to know him please follow these steps and welcome to the family. 

http://www.go2clbc.org/templates/System/details.asp?id=31036&PID=243802

0

About Blogging

I have been thinking a bunch about blogging. I haven’t quite quit, I have just been doing it more on my personal blog. You see, I created a blog that is just between me and God and that is where I do my prayers. Many of my own personal prayers without my wife anyway. It is funny because I seem to do better when I am writing it all out. I feel as if when I hit the send button that I am lifting my prayer up to him. I can get personal with him. I can praise him. I can intercede for a friend. Not necessarily the conventional way of doing things, but it is an avenue that helps me to connect with God. I wonder how many other ways there are that someone can connect with him that isn’t the mainstream norm.

I am glad that I have a God that will listen to me. I don’t have to do anything special. I don’t have to do it way too cerimonial. I can just sit and gaze into the heavens and know that he hears me and listens to me. What a mighty God we serve. I thank him for all of his loving kindness, grace and forgiveness. There is no other like him. He is my God!

Praise Be To God, Christ the redeemer, and the Comforter of all.

0

The difference between Luck and Providence

I have been thinking alot about luck recently. Some would say that there is no such thing as luck, but I actually believe in it. It is hard to deny it when one person can call up the radio station and never even get to the operator, while another has won more than one time. Luck is the lottery winner that has won twice. Luck is even being bit by a shark or struck by lightening, I mean what are the odds of that. I have never understood why someone would be luckier than someone else; for good or for bad. Today I was contemplating the difference between luck and God’s Providence and I think that I have come to a conclusion. Luck is fleeting while providence is forever. Think about it! It is commonly known that many that win the lottery, are sometimes worse off after. Some have gone bankrupt because they don’t know how to handle that kind of cash, while others just become different people. Even winning a gift is fleeting, or just in a moment. Providence on the other hand is God providing for your every need. You may not win the lottery and get through the telephone to the radio station, but your needs are always taken care of. Providence is making sure that the right thing happens at just the right moment – God is in Control. So I don’t need luck, even though it would be nice now and then; what I need is the providence that God gives and I can be content in the life that he has given  me.

Just a thought. It may not be too enlightening, but it struck me as something important. The next time I see someone that gets the glory or luck of the draw, I can look back at all what God has done for me and realize. He is my all, and all that I need. Thank God for his Providence, there is nothing in the world that can compare.

0

It has been Awhile

So I have been out of the loop for a little while. Hopefully life has slowed down enough that I can do some posts on here. My plan is to try to set up a discussion question regarding the Book Study we are doing at our house. Hopefully it will spark some good discussion. The First Question, I hope to have up by sunday. We will see, after all I have defensive driving to take this weekend, but I should have at least the introduction down for the class.

0

Robbing God

I am taking a class this Semester with only a few students in it. It has given me a chance to talk to some of them on a more personal level, which is really great. I met Ralph, a pastor at a nearby church. He said that at the end of last year he was thinking that the church was going to close the doors for good in the coming year. The budget had dwindled and they were not sure what was going to happen. Many of his congregation came to him and told him that they didn’t want to go anywhere else because he taught the word as it should be taught, with Authority. To make a long story short, he got up one Sunday and told the chruch how it was. The Statement went something like this, “If you guys don’t stop robbing God, we will close the doors on this church at the beginning of the year.” It is amazing how God can turn things around with just a simple statement. He said that the church is now serving God in so many different ways and they are not “in the red” on their bank statement anymore. Even in these tough times, it is important that we do not take what God has given us for granted. After all it is really ALL his anyway, and He only askes that we give our Church only part of it. I think sometimes we all need a “kick in the pants” to get back on track with what God has for us.

Scriptures:
Malachi 1:12-14
12 “But you profane it by saying of the Lord’s table, ‘It is defiled,’ and of its food, ‘It is contemptible.’ 13 And you say, ‘What a burden!’ and you sniff at it contemptuously,” says the LORD Almighty. “When you bring injured, crippled or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?” says the LORD. 14 “Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the LORD Almighty, “and my name is to be feared among the nations.

Malachi 1:12-14
6 “I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD Almighty. “But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’ 8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’  “In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.

0

Repent – For the Kingdom is at hand

 1 Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” – Matt 3:1-2 (NASB77)

These are the first words recorded in Matthew of John the Baptist, however, do we  really understand what it means to repent?

As Christians we talk to unbelievers as if we are talking another language and still expect to connect with them. In many cases, I believe that many Christians do not understand the concepts them self, let alone try to explain it to someone else. With many churches embracing a selfism or consumerism “what is in it for me?” mentality, it seems that repentance is getting the second seat; if any seat at all. It is the only way through Christ that leads to the saving grace that is given by God to us. It is not about us, it is about Him!

Repentance needs to be a focus for the Church. After all John the Baptist (Matthew 3:2), Jesus (Matthew 4:17), Peter (Acts 2:38), Paul (Acts 17:30), The Twelve (Mark 6:7-13), and many others all began their ministry with this message. You would think that we would get the hint of how important that the message of turning to God is. Jesus was even more concerned about the soul of a paralytic, then from his ailment in (Mark 2). Repentance should be a big focus of our churches today.

Basically repentance means, to turn 180 degrees. Pastor Fowler from Christ Church Assembly of God used to say, “You cannot turn 179 degrees and expect to end up in the same place. It may work for a while but eventually you will be way off track.” I always think back to this sermon when I think about repentance. However, it never really sunk in until recently when I took a class with Dr. Rodney Woo for “New Testament 2” at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, what true repentance is. 

We talked about the difference between Godly Sorrow and Worldly sorrow. It is discussed in 2 Corinthians 7:9-10 followed with the seven marks of true repentance.

9 I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, in order that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. 10 For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation; but the sorrow of the world produces death. 11 For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter. – 2 Cor 7:9-11 (NASB77)

Understanding the difference between Godly sorrow and worldly sorrow is the key to repentance. It is Godly sorrow that brings repentance that leads to salvation while worldly sorrow only brings death. Here is the difference:

  • Worldly sorrow is self centered and could be summed up with the statement, “I am sorry because I got caught.” However, worldly sorrow doesn’t bring real repentance because there is no real want for change. Most of the time, when it does deal with changes, it is because they don’t want to be caught again. Worldly sorrow cannot sustain itself because it doesn’t have enough gas or energy to have any staying power. It is always looking for a way out, or how close to the line they can get without getting into trouble.
  • Godly Sorrow is God centered. David said it beautifully in Psalms 51:4, “Against you and you alone have I sinned.” The sorrow is a sort of “soul anguish” because of the hurt that we place on God by our disobedience. The difference is that this kind of sorrow bring about real change because we don’t want to hurt our heavenly Father. It produces “repentance without regret, leading to salvation.” Real repentance only happens when we realize the hurt we have done to God.

I believe this is why so many people can come to Christ, live years trying to do the right thing, but ultimately lose their faith. It is because they never truly repented. Fruit is not about what we do, it is about who we are. It is time that we learn that repentance is brought about by Godly sorrow through the action of changing our mind and heart to reflect that which God has intended: a life fully devoted to him. That is basically the definition of a disciple and it shows in the fruit of change in our lives.

0

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑