Good Enough?

Earlier today I was driving and saw a bumper sticker that read, "Born OK... the first time". Now, I've seen this before and my typical reaction is to cast the thought to the side, not really caring about their atheist beliefs. But today there was a different thought process when I came upon this bumper sticker.

I began to think about this statement, "Born OK... the first time," and I thought of the horrifying reality of the people in this world that believe that. Not only atheist, who believe in no afterlife, but many studies and surveys have shown that most people believe in heaven, in one form or another, and many believe that generally "good" people go there. In my own experiences, I've met many people who believe in God, and that as long as they don't kill anyone, I hear that the most, that they are going to heaven. No mention of Jesus or the fact that all man is sinful.

From the atheist to those that believe in some type of God, people think that man is generally good. The fact of it is, everyone has the capacity to be evil, and when left to their own devices, out of the public eye, we revert to this in one way or another. In this we see that man is sinful, born into a world that tries to rationalize the fulfillment of fleshly desires, slowly deceiving us as we creep further into it. This has been shown in social experiments, such as the Stanford Prison Experiment. The reality of sin is so prevalent in our world, yet people try to rationalize it to say they are good people.

Always remember the truth of scripture. That in Christ we are saved, not by anything we have done to try and be good enough, but through his sacrifice our sins are atoned for.

"And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,..." - Colossians 1:21-22

Check This Out - St. Patrick

Being that this is one of my favorite holidays, I wanted to point everyone towards a great article on the real man, Saint Patrick. I wanted to make my own post on St. Patrick, but why when someone else has already done a fine job of it. The article, written by Mark Driscoll, highlights the missionary to the Celts. Take a look at the man who's namesake is our Americanized holiday where we pick on old Irish stereotypes, or if you are like me, it's a good day to look at your heritage (that being the reason it's one of my favorite holidays).

I am a servant of Christ to a foreign nation for the unspeakable glory of life everlasting which is in Jesus Christ our Lord. – Patrick


http://theresurgence.com/Vintage_Saints_St_Patrick

Check This Out

A great article explaining the "New Calvinism" by an Acts 29 Pastor in Texas, Jonathan Dodson.

A good quote from the article, "There is much more continuity between the New Calvinism and John Calvin than with some of his followers. However, what essentially remains the same is the soteriological core—God's sovereign grace in redeeming broken sinners, which has been popularly captured by the TULIP acronym: total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints (limited atonement appears to be more negotiable among the New Calvinists)." The last statement being true in my case.

http://theresurgence.com/message_of_resurging_calvinism

A Word to the Wise

Wisdom…, it’s something we look at, strive for, yet few seem to grasp what true wisdom is. The end of James 3 teaches us that true wisdom is “first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.” This is the wisdom from above, or from God in other words. James also teaches us that there is another type of wisdom in this world.

“But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.” – James 3:14-16

See, many leaders in our world feel they have wisdom, but take a quick look at their motives. Many, though not all, have some selfish motive behind their so-called wisdom. This is shown throughout history in many different stories of corruption. Countless occasions of people not doing what is best, but most profitable for themselves. People often rely on their own discernment, revealing the corruption of the flesh, rather than discernment from above, which is always good, as described in James.

Another aspect of Godly wisdom is the comprehension of the things of God. So often we try to engage our minds, striving to understand the mysteries of God. Scientists try so hard to understand the workings of nature, developing theory after theory. We as Christians even try to understand things that may not be fully clear to us, though the Bible teaches us that we should try to comprehend these things by the wisdom of the spirit, not of the wisdom of the world.

“For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. ‘For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.” – 1 Corinthians 2:11-16

"The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him…" That statement right there sums it up. When we try to comprehend the things of God by our own understanding we fail, but through the spirit God reveals them to us.

Time and time again I find myself learning more and more. Even when I begin to feel I have some understanding, God reveals through his word new thoughts and ideas and I am completely in awe of the vastness of God. Strive to seek out the wisdom from above, not the so called “wisdom” of this earth, for not only understanding, but discernment in all things.

D-Now 2010 in the CLV

This past week, Wednesday night thru Sunday morning, was “disciple now”, or D-Now as some know it, for many of the churches here around Clarksville, Tennessee. The set up was new; pulling together all of the churches for two worship services, the first and last night. The theme was ID3NTITY, and knowing your identity in Christ, not the world. I enjoyed seeing Sam and Jonathan, as well as forming some new relationships with the rest of the band. For me, even though I was running sound and helping out all weekend, God was present and speaking to my heart.

Our speaker, for the city-wide sessions as well as ours here at First Baptist, was Jamey Crosson. We got to know him and his wife over the time this weekend. The message that God had to bring through him was impactful and deep. He talked about diagnosing the root problem of sin, that being, believing in lies that Satan puts in our heads. When we work so hard to combat a sin in our lives, we believe the lie that the sin has some type of power over us. Christ has paid the price, he has broken the power of sin, and if we are in Christ, sin has no hold over us. We must strive to glorify God as we are called, and created, to do, rather than continually trying not to sin. Don’t combat the sin because we can do nothing, but seek to glorify God, and Christ through you will overcome the sin. We must not only read, but believe what is stated in Galatians 5:1. Do not submit to the bondage of sin for in Christ it has no power over us.

“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” – Galatians 5:1

I could go on and on about the message that God brought through Jamey, but I fear I would run out of room, so I digress.

I enjoyed seeing some friends from back home, making some new ones, helping out with the fantastic students here, but most of all worshiping the Savior and being shown the truth in His word.

Wonder and Amazement

“Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love; here's my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above.” – Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing; 1757

Man, I am continually in life amazed at the gift of music that God has bestowed upon us. Words of worship to pure and Holy Father are timeless. We have used music for centuries. Music is a medium by which we express emotion and adoration. Ever since we have harnessed this raw power of nature that God has given us, this set of melodic tones; we have used it as a means of expression.

There are so many things about music that amaze me. For starters, just the simple nature of sound frequency, or melodic tones, and how our ears and brain process those tones, carefully working so we understand the sounds. Our ears work as a super powered microphone, transducing the sound to electric signals to our brain. But, not to show too much of my nerdiness, I digress from that.

“When we arrive at eternity’s shore, where death is just a memory and tears are no more. We’ll enter in as the wedding bells ring, Your bride will come together and we’ll sing You’re beautiful!”- Beautiful; 2007

In worship we communicate to God. Like I said before, we communicate emotion, passion, and adoration through the songs of worship we sing. And again, the words we sing in worship are timeless. Worship of the Father is not constrained by our musical preference, and we too often our caught on that issue that it becomes sinful in the way our churches operate. Whether we are singing a song written in 1757, like “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”, or written in 2007, like “Beautiful” by Phil Wickham, the words exceed our preferences. Both songs are two of my favorites. Not because of the style of music they are played in, but because of the truth in the words that I sing.

“When we arrive at eternity’s shore, where death is just a memory and tears are no more,” or “…here's my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above.” Two lines from different songs, written by different people, in two different millennia, are true regardless of time, style, preference, or any other worldly constriction we try to put on things. They are true then, now, and forever. Whether the songs are written by John Newton or Hillsong United, truth is just that, truth.

Music is such a brilliant gift and we sometimes overlook the miracle that it is. The physical side of it and the way we can somehow harness nature, by the grace of God, and put our emotion and feeling into a true art. My purpose in this post is not to debate musical styles of worship, but to step back, and see the beauty in the things God has given us. Music is great part of my life, and I praise God for the blessing.

True Joy

This is a devotion I wrote for the student ministry I intern for here in Clarksville. I figure I will also post it here since I've gotten a little lazy at late with the new semester starting and all.


“But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you. For you bless the righteous, O LORD; you cover him with favor as with a shield.” Psalm 5:11-12

A picture is painted in these verses, as well as the full Psalm of David that they are contained in, and that picture is a life of joy. “But let all who take refuge in you rejoice,” that statement, in and of itself, is an amazing description of what we have in Christ. In Him we rejoice and have joy in life.

Throughout time, we have always had the instinct to search for something more in life. Specifically in today’s culture, we have continually searched for joy and happiness in money, fame, recognition, power, and so much else. We search high and low for something to fulfill our lives, but time and time again we have been let down or pushed aside and eventually are back at square one. The problem we have run into is that we are always eventually unfulfilled in our own efforts.

I remember during my junior year of high school I had a substitute teacher in chemistry one day. As the class went on that day I became increasingly frustrated by his, for lack of a better word, “preaching” of “success and money equal happiness” to our class. It was a bit ironic in my mind though. I couldn’t figure out where he was in his own plan, being a substitute teacher as a relatively older man. The problem I had with what he was saying was that so many times I’ve seen that way of life fail people, yet others keep on trying.

One of my favorite quotes, one that I’ve had posted on my facebook for about a year now, is by C. S. Lewis. In it Lewis says this, “God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.” The truth of the matter is that, apart from God, we are miserable. In all of our failed attempts at happiness we are miserable. Without God there is no reason in life, but with God, through Christ, we find meaning. “But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy,” I can’t not say that with anything but joy in my voice because of Christ in me. There is nothing apart from God that will fulfill our lives.

So take refuge, and rejoice, even when times seem rough we have the true bringer of joy.