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Limited Atonement

2010-01-31T11:49:00.000-08:00

We have hopefully established the fact that God has chosen those whom He has saved and that He did this, not according to any merit of the individual, but "because of the great love with which He loved us." If, therefore, God has chosen who would believe in Him and have eternal salvation, will God not also make a way for those to be redeemed? Will God establish a new covenant with His elect through the blood of Christ?
These questions are obviously rhetorical, but bring another question to mind. Is the blood of Christ sufficient? If so, is it also efficient?

The first question is for another blog.
We will focus on the latter question for the time being.
Is the blood of Christ efficient?
What was the purpose of the cross? Why the blood shed? Why did Christ come to earth to be slaughtered and hung on a cross to die?

Hebrews 9:11-15
But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent not made with hands, that is, not of this creation he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

Romans 3:19-26
Now 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. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

We see here that the purpose of the cross, indeed the purpose of Christ's coming to earth, was for the propitiation for sinners. Christ came to endure that wrath of God for the sins of the elect, that they might be seen as righteous in the sight of God and could enter into the new covenant with God. He came that men might be saved. Undoubtedly, the work of Christ in his life and death earned the righteousness of God for the elect, but how efficient was His death? Did his saving work atone for the sins of all, or just of the elect?

As seen numerous times in the Scriptures, God calls certain men to Himself and hardens the hearts of others. We will hold this to be true all times for all people. So Christ's death and conquering of sin was an act done once and for all for the propitiation for the elect, not for everyone.

How does this effect me?
It makes me evermore grateful that Christ grabbed me from sure death and destruction, endured the wrath incurred for my sins, and, for the sake of His name and His glory, adopted me into His family and shares his inheritance with me as a child of God! Praise be to God!
I pray that these blogs pull you closer into the arms of our dear saviour, instead of hardening your heart to the truth of the Bible.

Unconditional Election

2010-01-26T19:33:00.001-08:00

This is part 2 of a 5 part series entitled, "The 5 points of Calvinism." This point is unconditional election.
This idea is basically stating that God, in his divine wisdom, elected certain people to be part of his family and that he did not choose them based on anything that they had to offer, but simply because he wanted to.
Pretty self-explanatory. God didn't elect me because I had anything to offer him, but because he wanted to. God is fully capable of doing whatever he wants to do because he is God.

Total Depravity

2009-10-17T19:52:00.000-07:00

The following is taken from "Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine." By Wane Grudem. It can be found in chapter 24, on page 497.
"In our natures we totally lack spiritual good before God: It is not just that some parts of us are sinful and others are pure. Rather, every part of our being is affected by sin - our intellects, our emotions and desires, our hearts (the center of our desires and decision-making processes), our goals and motives, and even our physical bodies."
"In our actions we are totally unable to do spiritual good before God: This idea is related to the previous one. Not only do we as sinners lack any spiritual good in ourselves, but we also lack the ability to do anything that will in itself please God and the ability to come to God in our own strength."

As I write this, I feel the weight of it. God is holy and perfect and pure and righteous and glorified and I am so far on the other end that I war against those things. I was created perfectly and in relationship with God for the purpose of bringing glory to Him, but because of sin I broke that relationship with God and was no longer able to be in community with Him. In my state of death and destruction, I was not even able to see my need to get out of death and destruction. I was ruining myself with a downward spiral of sin that would eventually lead to death and eternal wrath as a punishment for my sin. This is total depravity.

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

Doesn't sound good does it? This is scary. I was by nature a child of wrath. In my state of total depravity, I was so unable to love God that I was living in the passions of my flesh, completely disregarding God and his purpose for me and my life.

Romans 3:10-11: "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God."

Even as I talk through this I understand my depravity better. I am learning from me telling my wife what total depravity is. Even in my understanding of depravity I am depraved.

I don't write this to discourage anyone, only to encourage Bible-centered beliefs which will lead to right action and the glory of God. If you are discouraged by this please call me and I would love to talk to you, or post a comment and I will respond. Also, if you don't understand or agree with this, let me know and let's talk about it. I always desire to learn more and more about how God operates because it always leads me to a great appreciation of who he is, which brings him more glory.

What I Believe...

2009-09-10T15:56:00.001-07:00

Life as a Christian is an interesting one. I have been reconciled, restored, renewed, saved, and am being sanctified through the persistent work of the Holy Spirit to bring me into a closer relationship with God, thus better reflecting His glory through my life.
In this process, God has revealed certain things about Himself that have given me a better understanding of His character and have given me more love for Him.
A big controversy in the history of Protestant life, has been Calvinism. I believe that John Calvin had an awesome understanding of conversion and how God works. I also believe that many people today write off Calvinism as something crazy either because they have been a victim of a "Calvinist," or they simply don't understand what it is.
I will attempt to convey the five points in five blogs that will hopefully give us a better understanding of our creator and stir up our affections towards Him.

The next 5 blogs will be:

Total Depravity
Unconditional Election
Limited Atonement
Irresistible Grace
Perseverance of the Saints

I only ask that you be patient and graceful with me as I am still trying to understand these points better. I would love to hear from you on your beliefs as well. The goal of this is simply to discuss spiritual things in hopes that our love and affection for God will grow and change us, drawing us closer to Christ.

Not on my own

2009-08-14T20:33:00.000-07:00

Sometimes life seems like a game. I fight and fight to get ahead, then something happens that takes everything I fought for and I start all over again. I then dust myself off, clean myself off, and go at it again. The same thing happens again. I have tried and tried to figure this thing out but for some reason I can't. When I view life through the lens of my own glory and refuse to see the world like Christ wants me to see it, I repeatedly fail at life. It seems like some people are gifted at getting on top of life, but I am not one of them.
I think my problem lies not in my methods, but in my goals. I battle with myself, going from living life for me to living life for God and then back again. When I seek my own gain, my main desire seems to be money. Not for the sake of having money, but so that I can provide for my family. When it seems like I am getting close to reaching this goal, God reminds me that this life is lived for His glory and not my own, so either He pulls my feet out from under me, or I sabotage myself and go the opposite direction. I then find myself in some awesome God-time, walking closely with Him. Life feels great. Unfortunately, this doesn't last long. I'll get a bill that I don't think I can pay, and then I'm back in the rat race again, trying to plan ways to make money.
I had breakfast today with my pastor and realized what I need. I need to die to myself and let Christ rule in me. I need to realize that I have been bought with the price of Christ's blood and I am now the property of an awesome God who gives more joy than any earthly thing can bring. I need to let go of the things of this world and cling to my Saviour with everything I have. The only problem is, I can't do it on my own. I need God to do it for me. I am so helpless and I love it.
Praise God for loving me enough to do everything for me so that His name might praised and His glory might be made known in my life.
I know this is kinda rambling, but that's what a blog is for :)

Here we go!

2009-07-14T06:40:00.000-07:00

Last night I, with the help of my wife and John, folded, addressed, signed, stamped, and stuffed a ton of letters. This letter is not just an ordinary letter, but is my first support letter for the Australia church plant. This is kind of a big deal for me. Up until now, all that has happened for the move to Australia was talking. This is the first actual step towards getting to Australia and planting a church. I'm super excited to get the wheels rolling and can't wait to see how God is going to bring people alongside us as we journey on towards the works he has prepared in advance for us to do. I am so very thankful for all of the people who have come alongside me and supported me through all the growth that has happened in my walk with God, and am equally thankful for those I haven't even met yet who will help me grow more and more. Australia gets me excited. Not just because it's Australia, but because God has called me and a small group to bring the Gospel to those he will redeem in Geelong! It's amazing being a part of what God is doing in the world!
On a side note, I got up at 5:30 today and went for a swim. I am really tired and a little sore and disappointed at how out of shape I am.

Life in Pearland

2009-07-09T16:46:00.000-07:00

We recently moved to Pearland, just outside of Houston, where we will be learning as much as we can about church planting, then we are off to Australia to plant a church in Geelong, just outside of Melbourne.
So far, Pearland has been rough on us. There are many reasons that being here is so difficult, but the hardest thing about being here is the people we miss back in central Texas. I miss my small group. I miss Grace Bible Church. I miss my old pastor, Dave Mac. I miss people at my old job who became friends of mine. I really miss my old Chris.
Being away from people who genuinely love me and know how to really love me makes life difficult. Even as I write this, there are tears in my eyes. I miss having a best friend. I miss lunches that are too short to talk about all we wanted to say.
I have definately learned from all of this. I can't do it alone. I cannot chase after God without someone chasing next to me. Maybe there are people who can pursue God on their own, but I'm not one of them. My relationship with God has suffered recently. I'm not blaiming it on someone else, but my relationship with has taken some hits lately.
I guess this is just an encouragement to find someone who will come alongside you as you attempt to journey towards God and worship Him. If your relationship with God matters to you, and you wish to see that relationship grow, find someone who will be willing to speak harsh words when they need to be spoken, and who will hug you when you need a hug. I understand why Barnabas was so important to Paul. I can see why Jesus immediately grabbed 12 guys to do this thing with him. We are built to be in relationships with other believers. We are made for community.

It's A Boy!!

2009-05-12T19:18:00.001-07:00

My wife and I went to the doctor today for an ultrasound and found out we're having a son in October!! When the lady told us, Laura cried and I got super excited. I almost shouted. I am so happy to have little girls, and I would've been pumped to have another one, but I am amazingly stoked to get a little boy. About 5 seconds after I almost shouted, I started to realize what had just happened. I have to raise a man. I am going to raise a son who will one day lead his family. I don't really know what to do with a boy. I have learned a ton about how to parent daughters, but I don't know anything about parenting a son. I have a lot to learn. Luckily, God is in control and is going to help me raise this little one, and He is hopefully going to pull this little boy out of death and destruction and into the family of God. My biggest prayer for this new one, as well as for the ones who are already here, is that he will be redeemed. I pray that God would snatch him out of death and bring him into life. I also am praying that God would teach me how to raise a son. Boys are very different than girls, and I am praying that I will be able to parent my kids accordingly. I don't really know what to think right now, but I do know that God is in control and is going to teach me how to love the crap out of this little man.

Stress

2009-05-11T12:48:00.001-07:00

This last month has been absolutely crazy! I finished my classes at the university, so we are now looking for a job and a home in Houston. I have been to Houston once a week in my search and have so far been unsuccessful. Houston is expensive. To get a similar house in a similar neighbourhood as the one we're in now, I am going to have to pay $400 more each month! And that doesn't include the fact that electricity is more expensive in Houston. In my search for a home and a job, some faith issues surfaced. Turns out I don't trust God as much as I thought I did. For me, it's easy to say I trust God when everything is relatively stable, but when things start getting crazy, my true level of trust comes out and I am ashamed to say it's pretty miserable. I spent a day praying over the whole situation and that I would trust God more. It helped. At the end of the day I really felt God saying that he has always got me through everything and he's not going to stop now. I am beginning to gain some trust, but still nothing has happened. I still don't have a job and I still don't have a house, and I will still be moving in 3 weeks, but I know that God has everything worked out just right.

P.S. We could really use some prayer that we would find a house and I would find a job and that we would continue to trust God more and more.

Fear

2009-04-21T08:38:00.000-07:00

I decided long ago that my priority in life is God and the pursuit of knowing Him, whatever that means. I am discovering that fear often takes over my decision making abilities. On the flip side, I am a passionate guy who goes all out or not at all. I believe that if something is worth doing, then I am going to give it all I got. If something isn't worth doing, I'm simply not going to do it. This has sometimes made my marriage difficult. I will decide that I am going to get involved in something, then I'll spend money and time I don't have on whatever it is I decided I'm going to do. I have spent too much money on things I don't even use anymore. For example, I spent about $150 on a bowling ball, a bowling ball bag, and bowling shoes, which I used for about two months and haven't touched since. I was into MMA, so I bought some nice MMA shorts, which I still wear because they are the most comfortable shorts in the world, some great MMA gloves, training gloves, mouthpiece, and a membership to the Grappler's Lair where I trained sometimes 5 days a week. Don't get me wrong, I had a blast getting beat up everyday, and met some good friends and got the chance to injure a cop, but this was all wants and desires rather than needs. Anyways, having decided that the pursuit of God is number one in my life, I am moving my two kids and pregnant wife to a suburb of Houston where I will hopefully learn a little bit about how to start a church. As soon as I have a good grasp on it, or after I've been there a year and a half, I will move my wife and three children half way around the world to a land we've never been to with people we don't know in order to learn as much as I can about God. The biggest difference between pursuing God and pursuing my own little interests, is that pursuing God has the authority to change everything. As I pursue God, I am willing to go where I need to go, do what I need to do, and change what I need to change all for the benefit of knowing Him more. As I pursue wants and desires, they do not have the authority to move my family, impoverish me, set me up for failure, or take away from my end goal in life, "To glorify God by enjoying Him forever." Not to say that this always happens perfectly. Being a selfish person, I naturally seek my own gain rather than the gain of the God I am seeking to know more. I constantly have to confess to God my lack of single-mindedness, and must take hold of the grace He has freely given me through the cross of Jesus the Christ.
Anyways, fear creeps in constantly in this journey to God-closeness, and I have to remind myself again and again how much He loves me and how He is molding my life into Christlikeness. I have to remember that even though circumstances might be difficult at the time, God is still here and still loves me and will finish the good work He begun in me. I am scared of moving to a country that is not my own. I am afraid of failure in another part of the world and no means of getting home. I am afraid of my own lack of faithfulness in this journey. I am fearful of being hated by people. I am terrified that in my own pursuit of God, I will unknowingly put my children in an unsafe place and something will happen to them.
I have to remind myself that God has called me to Himself and has a plan for my life and it is not for my bad, but His good.

Confession

2009-04-15T11:53:00.000-07:00

I had the awesome pleasure of hearing one of my spiritual heros present a great talk on his new book, "God Next Door." The book, and his personal philosophy on ministry, is all about seeing your neighbourhood as a place of ministry and mission. His whole presentation focused on how we have decentralized community and no longer love our neighbours. In today's society, the home is no longer the center of our communities. Back in the day, the neighbourhood was the place of community and fellowship, and now we don't even know our neighbours.

This hit me in the face. I really want to be on mission in my neighbourhood, but I am extremely horrible at it. I have talked to my neighbours, but I don't really know them. I haven't tried to have my neighbours over for dinner, I haven't reached out to my neighbours, I haven't shared the Gospel with my neighbours. I have failed at community within my neighbourhood. I have failed at loving my neighbours. I have removed the people who live close to me from who I consider neighbours.

Father, put in me a deep desire to honor you by loving my neighbour. Help me to live as Christ and not care about anything else in this life. Teach me to love.

Good vs. Great

2009-04-14T11:42:00.000-07:00

I had a discussion with a great friend of mine and I thought I'd share a little bit about what we decided.
He had brought up the idea of good vs. great a couple of months ago when talking about songwriting. He said that if we as songwriters get stuck on something good, like a good melody or a good guitar line, we will never find what is great. He was telling me that if I like a song and have something good, to throw it out and write something great. I took the principle and applied it to life as a Christian. So many times I settle for good when God offers me great. Let me explain what I mean. As a follower of Jesus, I have offered to me the greatness of knowing God. He reveals himself to me as I love and serve him and that is his desire for my life. John 17:3 says that eternal life is knowing God. The Bible says that God desires to give us abundant life, which is knowing God and walking in His grace and mercy and getting to be a part of His greatness and glory. As a weak, small little man, I often trade knowing God for doing good. I determine that rather than sinking into God and who he is, I will just be good and do the right things. That's fine, but it's not what God wants for me. He wants me to know Him and to walk everyday in his love and mercy. He wants me to delight in Him and in return he will give me the desires of my heart. He wants me to draw near to him and in return he will draw near to me. He wants his grace to be enough in my life, so that I don't need anything else.
We were applying this concept to our local church. How often we settle for good: nice Sunday morning service, good music, we look good from the outside, we are morally good, we dress up, we are growing in numbers a little bit, we have a few baptisms a year, occasionally a small group will get too big and have to split; when God wants GREAT for His church: people coming into the family daily, the love among us to be so great that people come into our body in droves, the city we live in to be changed by our love for God and his love for us, transformation in the lives of the church, the name of Jesus to be proclaimed boldly and gracefully, a deep and passionate love for the lost that Jesus' name might br praised louder in Killeen. We sacrifice going after greatness for staying in goodness. I'm not saying we're not doing things right, because we are doing somethings right. I'm just saying I want more. I want to have to plant churches all over Killeen because we can't find a building big enough to house all the new believers. I want the city of Killeen to be known for its love for Jesus. I want every new soldier that comes into Fort Hood to be totally and completely loved by this community. I want Killeen to grow because everyone wants to be a part of this community of love. I want God to be glorified and praised in everything we do.
Why settle for good when God wants great?

Knowing God

2009-03-29T13:22:00.000-07:00

God has really been working on me this week. He has hit me with some huge realizations about the Christian life, and even more about a life as a pastor. I have been convicted about my lack of passion for the Word. If I'm going to be a pastor, I have to be as awesome pastor. By awesome, I mean that I have to know the Bible because I will be held accountable for how I teach it. If I am to be an awesome pastor and really know the Word, I must dig into it with a ferocity I have not yet grasped. This week, through a couple different things, God confronted my laziness in regards to digging into his Word, and has renewed my mind through his Word. He showed me just how important knowing him is. "Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent" (Jn 17:3). I guess it's good that right now I'm reading "Knowing God" by J.I. Packer. Hopefully God will continue to pull me closer and closer to him as I begin to dig into his word and get to know him better

Co-Labourers

2009-03-26T17:47:00.000-07:00

Last week I went to Canada with my church planting class. We went to the baptist seminary in Cochrane which is just outside of Calgary in the province of Alberta. The purpose of the trip was to learn about church planting in Canada, and to learn more about God's grace. I think the mission was accomplished.
We arrived at the seminary late Saturday night and went to sleep pretty quickly. Early Sunday morning, James Hoskins and I left for Lethbridge, a city of 80,000 people 3 hours southeast of Cochrane. We attended A Place Called Hope (http://www.aplacecalledhope.ca), which is a southern baptist church. The church meets in the gymnasium of an elementary school there in Lethbridge. In Lethbridge, about 40% of the people attend some sort of religious service on Sunday mornings, and about half of those are Mormans. The percentage of born-again evangelical Christians is estimated between 7 and 10%. The church is about 3 years old. Having been born and raised in bible belt Texas, I have developed a very small world view, and have a hard time believing the numbers that people claim about Christianity in the world. I don't understand how there are parts of America that don't have very many Christian churches, and that there are places in America where the name of Jesus isn't proclaimed out of love. Going to Canada gave me a fresh glimpse of the difficulties of planting a Jesus-loving church in a place where so few other Christ-followers live. Pastor Scott Dollar left his job here in the States to move to a city where I believe he is the only Baptist church, and one of the few evangelical churches in the city. He moved to a city where he knew the Gospel would meet resistance. He chose to move his family to a different country with a different culture because he believes that Canadians need Jesus just as much as Americans do. He left behind everything he knew to proclaim the Gospel in a place where, at many times, he would be the only one doing so. I thank God that there are people out there that are willing to say, "Yes!" to God. People who are willing to go no matter where He sends them, and proclaim the Gospel to the dark parts of the world. I pray that my life will be reflective of my Saviour, and that all I will know in this life is Christ and him crucified. "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few." There are workers out there, loving Jesus in the darkest places of the globe.

On a different topic, one of the highlights of the trip for me was when James and I drove down a rocky road that was heading towards the rocky mountains and a snow storm. While we were driving down this road, we spotted a moose grazing. It was beautiful.

An Ode to Chris

2009-03-10T14:03:00.000-07:00

26 years ago today, a little squirt of a boy was born, and his parents named him Christopher.
He wasn't anything special right out of the gates, just a normal, homeschooled boy.
As he grew,
Some people knew
That he might be different.
Some people laughed while others got on board.
Soon he had a fan club, even though it never got bigger than 4 people.
He kept on growing,
the world not knowing
that he might be different.
As he entered the strange land of high school/college/home school, things started changing.
His hair started falling out, his guitar skills got crazy mad, and he fell in love.
People started to see a man forming out of mushy stuff and muckyness.
Those around him began to admire the great words of wisdom that came out of his mouth.
He would say things like, "What's that over there?" and, "If God were a pretzel, what shape would he be?"
We didn't understand, but we thought it was funny, so we laughed.
Then, only a few days shy of his 26th birthday, that's right, just a few days ago, he had a son.

I know this ode to Chris is not all encompassing for the man many of us know and the rest wish they knew, but he means a ton to me and so I wanted to show him some love with an ode.

Chris. I love you, and will be walking right beside you for the rest of your life, even though we probably won't live on the same continent and we'll never see each other except when we iChat. You've been there for me when I needed you and I will do my best to always be there for you.

Happy Birthday!!

The Joys of Life

2009-02-12T20:32:00.000-08:00

I learned something today!! Actually, I think I re-learned something. But we'll pretend.

I read through the first half of Matthew 7. Jesus was not at all like I tend to picture him. He was a call-it-like-it-is kinda guy. He presented truth in a way that I haven't heard truth presented very often, plainly. In my church planting class this week, we had a guy who works for the Baptist General Convention of Texas. He is heading up the organic church movement in Texas. I think that means he goes around and educates people on what the organic church is and why it is necessary. One of the things he talked about was how we always want to jazz-up everything. We see stories of people, like Jesus, who simply present truth plainly to those who will hear, and leave the rest in the dark. We state in out doctrine this idea that God is the only one who can initiate change in the hearts of men, then we beg and plead with men to change. We say that God's truth is the only thing that can penetrate the hearts of men, then we power point the crap out of things trying to make it appealing for anyone who might possibly be listening. Jesus wasn't about that stuff at all. He just went out and told it like it is to people who would never have had a chance to hear it from anyone else. He went places he wasn't supposed to go, and did things he wasn't supposed to do, and didn't care about what anyone else thought about it. He knew the truth, was the truth, and knew his purpose in life. We look at the disciples and at the 1st century church and wonder how is Christianity supposed to look in our lives today. We look at real discipleship, which involves spending every day with a younger Christian and teaching him everything you know and showing him everything you do as a Christian, and then wonder why our weekly meetings don't go so well and we aren't seeing the results we had hoped for. We have lost our joy in God and replaced it with joy in doing things for God.
Anyways, I just thought I'd share what I got from spending a little time with God this evening. I do love how God is bigger than my circumstances. No matter what's going on in my life, God is still working.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Granddad

2009-02-12T04:53:00.000-08:00

Yesterday my 86 year old granddad went home to God. I've been trying to figure out how I feel and how I'm supposed to feel, if there is even such a thing. I genuinely prayed that God would take him home because he wasn't living anymore, but I really miss him. He was truly an awesome man. The chaplain came in and was talking to my grammy and asked what the secret is to being together for 62 years, and she said, "There needs to be more men like my husband." Wow! What a testament to his life. Sure, he wasn't perfect, but he did a lot of things better than most people. He loved his family. Getting the fam together at holidays or random days gave me some of my best childhood memories because my family is amazingly wonderful. I credit most of that to Granddad. He knew how to love people. I have heard story after story these past couple of weeks about people whose lives were touched many years ago by Granddad, and they will never forget him. That blew me away. I knew that he was an awesome man, but I didn't know how far his influence reached.
All in all, I really miss him, but I think I'm more excited for him and where he is. He knows what Jesus looks like! I can't wait to see him again!

Also, I would really appreciate your prayers for Grammy. This is the first time in 62 years she's been without a husband. Pray that she would still find joy in this life, and that this whole thing will pull her even closer to God.

A Litle Pick-me-up

2009-01-21T05:43:00.000-08:00

Psalm 118:1
"Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;
His love endures forever."
Psalm 107:1
"Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;
His love endures forever."
Psalm 106:1
"Praise the LORD.
Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;
His love endures forever."

Why do so many of the psalms start out this way?

We forget over and over again that God loves us, and we live our lives in such a way that fails to show others the love of God. The psalmists wrote this as a praise to God, and for others to remember that we can always rejoice and we can always give thanks to the LORD because He loves us and always will. I am beginning to understand how Paul found joy in all situations. Paul understood one simple truth: God is love. He knew that whatever mess he found himself in, whatever beating he took, that God still loved him and that's how he had joy that surpassed all understanding.

Remember today that God loves you. Let this fact shine so brightly through life that it touches someone else today.

What is Love?

2009-01-20T19:14:00.000-08:00

Webster's defines love as an affection or feeling towards someone or something.
The Bible defines love as laying down one's life for another.

What does this mean to us? Even if we do figure out some way to define love, how do we do it? How can I love another person? How do I love God?

I am a prideful person. I think of myself as someone who has things pretty much figured out. I am smart, athletic, tall, and posses many qualities seen by the world as good qualities to posses. At the same time, I know that by myself, I am nothing. I am not bad, good, or anywhere in between, I am just nothing. Without the saving knowledge of Christ and Him crucified I am absolutely nothing. Without Christ, nothing I ever do will ever mean anything, nor will it amount to anything of any significance or importance. On the flip side, with Christ everything I do is meant to have eternal significance and importance. I am centering my life and career around this fact and hope that God will use me in some manner for His glory and for the furthering of His kingdom here on Earth.

All that to say that I find myself at times looking at other people who have such a skewed view of God and judging them. I think somehow that I am better than them because God chose me, when in reality, I did nothing to earn this salvation, and I am no better than anyone else ever. God chose me because He wanted to. I did nothing to earn His favor or His grace, He simply loves me and called me to be His son. I am writing to confess my pride and ask that you will pray that somehow I get it through my head that God is everything and I am nothing. I am asked to do things for God and that is what I do. He tells me to love, not judge, so that I what I need to be doing.

That being said, how do I love someone who has such a skewed view of God? Do I simply love them and live my life out in front of them hoping that they will see the truths about God lived out in my life? Do I talk to them in a kind and understanding way about why they believe what they believe? Do I, like Jesus, turn over the tables of their wicked ways and call sin what it is?

In talking this out, I see my pride coming through and have discovered what I need to do. I need to throw myself on the grace and mercy of Christ and pray that God will pull me closer and closer to Him, and that through my getting closer to Him, He will shine through me in ways I can't quite comprehend.

What is love? Love is submitting my life to Christ who called me out of the ashes and letting Him love through me.

Friends

2009-01-15T22:36:00.000-08:00

We had some old friends over last night and it was awesome. There are so few people in this world that we really click with instantly and bond with and the Howers are some of those people. Brock and Heather Hower are missionaries in Mexico running a camp and conference center. We have known them for a few years now and have been to their camp a couple of times. They were in town for a day on their way back to Mexico from their home in New Orleans and just had a couple of hours to spend with us, but we loved it. They brought their youngest two kiddos, Rueben and Annie, which was awesome because they are around the same ages as our kids, so they had fun playing with each other. Talking to the Brocks (as I often refer to them) was refreshing because we are so like minded. We both love God and desire to serve Him in a culture other than our own. I love how God gives us people like them to come along side us and rejuvinate our spirits as we make the long journey toward Heaven.

On a crappier side of things, I had my first classes today and it's going to be a rough four months.

Vision

2009-01-13T20:14:00.000-08:00

What is vision?

I started reading a book with a buddy of mine called "Visioneering." The book is pretty awesome so far. It helps me put words to a lot of thoughts I've been having. This book's goal seems to be to help the reader understand what having a vision for life is and how to discern that vision through the lenses of Christ in one's life. I will definitely write more on my vision as we progress in the book, but for now I am going to try my best to blog everyday. It may not be great, but it will be from the heart and will hopefully be an encouragement to all my reader.

Today I learned about humility. I tend to be a proud man. I have some really cool skills (like numchucks) and gifts, and a lot of the time I tend to rely on my own gifts to get by in life instead of recognizing that I am really nothing and Christ is the only way anything in my life will have any impact on anything. As I was having a conversation over lunch, I began to see why I'm not ready to be a pastor. I hate it, but the guy I was talking to was right. He told me how I need to be humbled leading adults to understand how to lead. I didn't want to hear it at the time, but I do desperately need humility in order for me to get out of the way of God in my life. I saw this again tonight at my small group Bible study. We were talking about prayer requests and I began to think to myself, "I'm way closer to God than all these guys." In reality, I've been somewhat depressed lately because I haven't been spending time with God reading and praying and meditating on Him because I've been too wrapped up in video games and movies. God smacked me in the face tonight. I can only hope and pray that I will learn from this experience and that God will continue to teach me that I am nothing without Him.

Thanks for reading

Feel free to leave comments (in other words, please leave a comment)

Update

2008-12-24T06:09:00.000-08:00

To all my reader out there, I've been really busy lately with finishing this semester and working a ton and trying to get some sort of ministry in that I haven't had time to write. I am still learning and still doing whatever I can to further the Kingdom of God in this world, although it feels as though other things have snuck up and taken priority. I know this is wrong, but it's what I'm dealing with at this time in my life. This next semester, I will be attempting to graduate college so I will be taking a ton of classes and I will also be attempting to put food on the table at home so I will be working a ton of hours, so I'm sorry in advance for not writing much over the next few months. That being said, I have had some awesome opportunities to share Christ with a few co-workers, although it hasn't turned out like I wanted it to. I also have an awesome opportunity to preach this week at my church, Grace Bible Church, here in Killeen, TX. I will be talking about John the Baptist, specifically in Matthew 3, and examining his life and ministry. I appreciate your prayers and love during this stressful season in my life and also for my preaching, that I would get out of the way and let God speak through me. Anyways, I'll try to write as much as I can.

What do they say?

2008-10-26T22:29:00.000-07:00

Working in a restaurant I hear a TON of people talking about other people when those people aren't around, and it made me think. What do people say about me when I'm not there? I believe that people would have nothing but nice things to say about me. I don't know if I like that or not. I'm pretty sure that when Jesus was here, everyone talked about him when he wasn't around, and I'd be willing to say that most people talked pretty bad about him. He was stubborn, rebellious, insubordinate to the religious leaders, and he broke a lot of rules. He also loved people whom no one else loved. It would've been cool to be there and listen to what people said about Jesus.
I also think it's fair to say that people didn't talk that nicely about Paul when he wasn't there. He was ignorant, uncontrollable, and you never knew what he was going to say, because he spoke from the heart no matter who was there to hear it. He was 100% committed to God no matter what the cost, even people talking bad about him behind his back.
I want to live a life of love, both for God and for people. I want to speak truth all the time, even when it hurts to hear. I want people, when they talk about me, to talk about God, and how crazy it is that I live my life entirely relying on God. I think if a non-Christian could say that about my life, then it would mean I'm doing something right.

What do you think people say about you when you're not there?

Mediocrity

2008-10-23T19:44:00.000-07:00

I desire to be something great, and to do great things, but lately I feel doomed to a mediocre life. Right now, I am in the midst of preparation for some truly awesome things, but it seems as though these things will never come to pass. I have always been pretty good at everything I've done. I was one of the smarter ones in school, I was always one of the more athletic kids, and even in church I have been put in leadership roles, but I feel as though I've never been great at anything. I desire to find what I am great at and then use that gift for God in whatever manner I can. I have tried and failed at a number of different things, and it's starting to get frustrating. I keep asking God where I am supposed to be and what I'm supposed to be doing, but I can't seem to figure it out. So I just keep on failing. I will keep on failing until one day I find greatness, not for me but for God. I am not taking away from God what is rightfully His, the power to govern my life and decide what I will or won't do, and I'm also not replacing God with doing things for Him, but I feel at a stand still. I guess the devil is better at what he does than I originally thought. He has been hitting me from every angle since I let go of everything I wanted and sacrificed my life for God's will. Every time something seems to be headed in the right direction, something comes up that takes me back a step. Maybe it's just called sanctification, and it hurts. I talked with a friend just today about how we continue to work out our salvation and it will continually hurt, but I just wish that, for once, things would go as planned. I will not give up, though. I will continue to fight for what I know God is calling me to, and I will continue to fight to be closer and closer to God. I just don't really know where to point my sword at the moment. Maybe I'm just lying to myself by telling myself that I am meant to be great, or maybe I just need to shake off my immature Christian dreams of changing the world. I feel as though I owe it to God to do all I can do to increase the size of the kingdom by as much as I can, and yes I know it's really not me but God using me and allowing me to be a part of His work, but sometimes I wish there were something in it for me here on Earth.

It's a constant battle, hints the name of the blog, fighting my sinful and fleshly desires and reaching up to the hands of God always ready to take me where He can best use me.

"You never said it would be easy. But You said You'd see me through the storm." - Mark Schultz

My Cross to Bear

2008-09-25T23:25:00.000-07:00

Luke 9:23 Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."
- Jesus

"I'd like to find the guy who called this an easy life and call him the liar that he is, cause by now I've lived long enough to know it's uphill in the snow and barefoot most the time.
They cast it like a lure with TBN brochures and say, "Your troubles are behind you." But they lie, it's not that cut and dry, they falsely advertise, covering up the truth."

"I wish they'd show me where it says my cross to bear is really just an illustration."
- Andy Gullahorn "The Broken Places"

Far to many "Christians" today are forgetting that the Christian life is not promised to be an easy one. In fact, we are told that if we want to be true Christians, we will deny ourselves every day, carry the cross with Christ, and forsake everything else to follow God. That is what a real Christian is, someone who chases after God no matter what the cost. I am tired of pansy, fake religion, claiming to be Christianity. If John the Baptist came to America's churches today, I think his words would be much harsher than, "You brood of vipers." If Paul came to visit our churches on Sunday morning, I would bet that he wouldn't let the service last longer than 10 minutes before he started tearing down the walls and calling people out. And if Jesus were to sit down in a pew in the USA, he wouldn't sit longer than 3 seconds before he became so infuriated with "Christians," and he would be much more angry than when he turned over the tables in the Temple.

What happened guys?

Where is our passion?

How did we go from tons of Christians dying every day to a watered-down form of religion that says it's ok for Homosexuals to serve in the church, that says Christians are supposed to be nice people and not offend anyone, that is afraid to share the Gospel, which is the power of God for salvation, because we don't want to "turn people off from God?"

I am certainly not pointing a finger, as I too have failed to live up to my calling as a child of the Almighty many times. I am simply stating what I see as Christianity's biggest problem today. We have lost our first love. We are so caught up in our clothes, cars, houses, decor, you name it. We have let go of the greatest commandment, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength."

We have lost our first love.

Uncle Cam

2008-09-14T20:51:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading about a truly awesome man, William Cameron Townsend! For those of you unfamiliar with Uncle Cam, as he was known, he was the founder of Wycliffe Bible Translators/ SIL. Today, they have translated at least parts of the Bible into over 1000 different languages!!! I love reading about people who got it. People who understood that this life is about nothing more than loving God and loving people. Uncle Cam got it. He lived his life to the fullest knowing that this is only a short transition into eternity, and now he's up in Heaven partying with God! As I rapidly read through the pages of this exciting book, my prayer for my life is that God will use me to change the nations and get people excited about God. I pray that I will not allow anything this world offers me to get in the way of spreading the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth. I pray that my life will be a reflection of God's love for everyone, and that people will be able to see Jesus through my actions and hear Him in my words. I pray that through me, God will bring a revolution in a quickly dying church, and that He would catch people on fire with the Word. I pray that God would move in the lives of Christ-followers all over the world to reach out to those around them and let people know the good news of Christ and Him crucified. I pray for courage for those who face death everyday for being proud of Christ. I pray for conviction for those "Christians" who have let the world and its vices become more important to them than the almighty creator of the universe. I pray for wokers for the harvest God is preparing. I pray for Christians to catch a global view of God's love, and commit themselves to sharing Christ with the whole world. I pray for everyday Christians to knock on the door of their neighbors and share the hope that they have in Christ Jesus. I pray for passion among Christians to see the WHOLE WORLD WORSHIPPING THE ONE TRUE GOD!!! I beg God for the souls of the lost. And most importantly, I pray for the glory of God to be seen and praised in churches in every nation, by every tongue, from every person.

To William Cameron Townsend,
I will see you in Heaven with plenty of stories to share about how God used a simple man like me to accomplish His will in this world. Thanks for setting an example for the rest of us on how to be truly used by God to show His love to the world. Heaven is bigger because you let God use you.

Mission

2008-09-05T06:57:00.000-07:00

What is mission? What is missions? What is the difference between the two?

Mission is described as the special task or purpose for which a person is apparently destined in life. Your mission is your goal, your purpose. As Christians, our mission is to "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." Matthew 28 18-20. Also, I believe that God designed each person with a specific mission in mind. "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11. With that in mind? What is my mission?

My mission has to do with missions? Being a missionary can still mean a lot of things. I know missionaries who live here in the States. Missionaries have all sorts of different tasks and goals. Most of the time when we think of a missionary we think of an international missionary, which is what God has called me to do.

We should all live with a mission in mind of reaching the lost and strengthening the found. We should live lives worthy of the cause for which we have been called in Christ Jesus. And in doing that, God will show us where in the body of Christ He wants us to serve.

That being said, my wife and I feel a very strong call to minister to the body overseas somewhere. We are both excited and scared at the same time. I was sitting at a stop light the other day and thinking to myself, "When we go, we're not going to get to see any of our friends or family. I can't just call up my pastor here and meet him for a cup of coffee whenever I please." This thought really scared me. Then I was reminded of the fact that these plans are not mine, but God's. When God places a call on someone's life, He will give the strength it takes to complete the task at hand.

Just thought I'd share that with you. Please be in prayer for us as we begin the process of looking at missionary organizations, and as we continue praying for a specific destination.

Barbarian Way

2008-08-25T18:54:00.000-07:00

I feel that I should start this blog by telling you that I have not been much of a reader growing up. Even now, it's been hard to pick up a book and start reading. That being said, I understand that there are people out there that have more insight and widsom about God than I do right now simply because they've been experiencing God longer than I have. I recently had some time to kill away from home, so I stopped in my local Christian bookstore to graze the "Christian Living" section for something that looked exciting. I am learning to be a bargain shopper, because I don't have a lot of money, so I was looking for something on sale. I wasn't looking for a cheap book because I believe that you usually get what you pay for, but I didn't really want to pay full-price for a book. Almost immediately a book's title caught my eye. It was The Barbarian Way, by Erwin Raphael McManus. In the past, when I did read I would usually stick to the few authors who I have come to respect as great Christian men, but I have been on a big "adventurous" kick, so I picked it up. The next thing I saw on the cover was "2 books in 1 volume." This got me really excited! I was getting a book on sale, and it was 2 books in 1. Anyways, I decided I'd give it a shot. I paid for my book, got in my car, and drove to where I needed to be in an hour. When I got there, I rolled down my windows, propped my feet up on the dash, and began to read.

The Book

At first, The Barbarian Way seemed just like other books from John Eldredge and Mike Yaconelli. I thought, "Great. Another writer making money off of the same ideas everyone else writes about." I wanted something new and fresh. Something that I could really sink my teeth into, and tell all my friends about. Anyways, I kept reading. The more I kept reading, the more I wanted to hear. Now keep in mind that I'm not much of a reader, and I haven't read a whole book in a long time. I finished the book in 3 days! I was reading it in the morning after my time in the Word. I was reading it when my girls were napping. And I was even staying up late at night to read (which is very strange because I don't usually get a lot of sleep). That being said, I don't think I would put this book on a must-read list or in my top 5, but reading this book was definately not time wasted. My favorite thing about The Barbarian Way was the fact that there is someone else out there who gets it. McManus understands that when we spend our lives chasing after the one who created us and loved us enough to send His son to die on the cross for our sins, we don't fit in with this fallen world. When we seek after the Lord of Lords, we often come across as barbarians, and radicals. We don't care what people think or say or do to us, because we know without a shadow of a doubt that we are in the will of God and that's all that matters. I desperately desire to soar through this life with reckless abandon, not caring about anything other than my savior and my Lord. Period. My biggest prayer in life, is that God would use me to change the world. Not just my little sphere of influence, but the WHOLE WORLD!!! And I believe HE can do it through me and others like me who are willing to throw all caution to the wind and chase after God. Another thing I really like about McManus, is his differentiation between civilized "Christians," and followers of Christ. The church today, especially in America, has lost it's zeal for God. We have forgotten that the 1st century church was a group of rebels. They were thrown out of their cities, beaten, stoned, thrown before lions in arenas for everyone to watch. They were being killed in droves. I have to say, that if the 1st century church was made up of a bunch of today's "Christians," I don't think there would have been any problem. Christians back then weren't worried about being nice people, or kind neighbors. They were passionately seeking their freedom-giver. They understood that to know God meant they had to tell everyone else. Not just those who wanted to hear them, but EVERYONE!

Paul

Paul from the New Testament is one of my favorite people in all of the Bible. I love his passion. Here's how I envision Paul from reading the NT.

Paul goes into a city. The leaders of the city know who he is and what he wants. He wants to preach Christ as Messiah and they will have nothing to do with him. They say to Paul, "Listen Paul. We know who you are and we know what you do. You can't preach here. If you do, we're going to beat you with rods." Paul says in response, "I understand. You gotta do what you gotta do. But just listen real quick. Jesus loves you and he died for your si......." They start hitting him with sticks, and leave him for dead outside the walls of the city. Paul heals up and comes back a few days later. Again they tell him, "You're not welcome here. Leave or we'll stone you." Paul says, "Cool, just listen real quick. Let me tell you about Jesus." They start throwing rocks at him, and leave him for dead outside the walls. Paul comes back a few days later, looking a little bruised. "Paul, we don't want you here. GO AWAY!!" He responds, "Ok, just let me tell you about Jesus real quick." This time they up the ante. They give him the ultimate punishment, the 39 lashes. They don't hear from Paul for a little bit. They think they finally got rid of him. He comes back a week and a half later, walking with a limp. He says, "Let me tell you about Jesus."

How many people to you know who have been beaten for their faith. How many "Christians" do you know who have faced any kind of persecution at all. Hard to think of very many. Christians in America today are weak. We have forgotten who it is that we serve, and how powerful He really is. We have forgotten the call to take up our crosses daily and follow Him. We have forgotten that we share in the death of Christ. We have forgotten that our God is an all-consuming fire. It's time to step up and take back what is rightfully God's, the souls of the world. God has a mission for you. He calls you to go to the ends of the Earth, introducing people to the King of Kings, and inviting them to encounter the greatest being of the universe. Will you go?

The Blog

2008-08-24T21:05:00.000-07:00

I have decided to start writing down what I am learning/ experiencing in my daily life with God. I am not looking to do anything other than simply write down my thoughts, prayers, struggles, and anything else God lays on my heart. I hope and pray that through this blog, you will be able to learn something new about God and gain excitement about the fact that we serve the most loving being in the universe.