Justified or Incarcerated

The question we want to ask ourselves, "how does God speaks to us?"  We (humans) do want to know if there is God, and if he is real, does he speaks to humans? The answer we get from Titus 1:1-3: "Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior." In other words, what Paul is saying here is God speaks to people when he (Paul) preaches—preaching that he was commanded to do by our God the Savior. But at the beginning of this paragraph, Paul calls himself a servant linking preaching as a way he serves. He obeys God, he serves God is when he preaches God's word. And Paul does that for the faith of the elect and their knowledge of the ...

Couple practical questions by Dave Harvey in the book  "When Sinners Say 'I Do:'"  "Remind yourself that your greatest enemy is “the enemy within”—your own sin. We covered this in chapters two and three.  When you’re not in a conflict, ask each other the question, “What behavior of mine expresses anger or a lack of love for you?” Take your spouse’s answer and attempt to do the opposite when you feel sinned against.  Learn to love in the style of 1 Corinthians 13 by being “patient, kind, and not resentful.” Resist being a defense attorney in your mind. Fire the “prosecuting attorney” within—it’s nothing but an expression of the sin of arrogance.  Memorize and apply this wise advice from James, “Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness that God requires” (James 1:19–20). Applying this one verse in the heat of conflict can have an amazing effect on where the conflict goes....

I was asked in my  english class  to write something that changed me, something that had an impact on me, where I later volunteered to share it before the class for five extra credits.  I sat for a minute to think about what really affected my life? what had an huge impact on me that changed everything that I do?  Which I decided to write about my relationship with the Bible—since nothing more had that much of affect on me as this book.  I do have to say, I felt a little awkward after no one wanted to applaud when I finished sharing, as applause came for the others students before me.  But inspit that, knowing the bible really gave me a perspective of life, it changed everything.  My view of goals, plans, priorities, the way I talk and the way I listen.  Basically everything that I think and do is links to the scripture.   Later that day, I listened to an interview  of   Larry Woiwode by John W...

Community: Taking Your Small Group off Life Support from Crossway on Vimeo .

"I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me.  There was a little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it.  But there was found in it a poor, wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man.  But I say that wisdom is better than might, though the poor man's wisdom is despised and his words are not heard.  The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools.  Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good."  (Ecclesiastes 9:13-18)

The September 11 came as a shock to most of the Americans, but it was not a surprise to the United States government.  “The attacks shocked the nation, but it shouldn’t have surprised the United States" says CNN. "The United States government was aware that al-Qaeda had had several attacks on the US overseas.  The government should have seen some kind of attack coming and should have prepared before the attacks happened.” I was 16 when I heard the news, it was in one of my classes that I remember watching the television with classmates seeing the scenes that I probably wont forget now.  The words “terrorist” “al-Qaeda” moved into our terminology as people were talking about who was behind this attack.  I remember the people who were different color of skin and who wear turbans on their heads were bulled by others, people looked down upon them.  Let’s just say, what happened on September 11, changed the world in how we view life—this even costed the Un...

Did you ever asked yourself why Jesus is the one who is being identified as a messiah?  We know for sure that there was a prophesy about a messiah coming to his people (Israel) to save.  But why Christ is the one who is being identified by millions of people that he is the one.     The answer is in what Christ did: healing, raising people from the death, and speaking the truth.  John disciples heard about Christ, told John about it, where John decides to send a message to Christ seeing what does Christ himself has to say about this, about if he is the one (messiah)?  and this was Christ answer: " And he answered them, 'Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.  And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.' ” (Luke 7:22-23) The solid answer about why Christ is the messiah is in the ...

The Arctic Light from TSO Photography on Vimeo .

A good friend of my told a poetry that I thought worth posting on this blog; I hope you guys enjoy as I enjoyed hearing him speak this well though through literature piece.    A Youth and His Case for Truth By Yaro Chebunin “Truth,” they say, “simply does not exist! It is far too outrageous, and vague like a mist.” “Well I beg to differ,” says the fearless teen, “It surely exists, and can really be seen!” “But how can you see it? `Tis not even a thing, Surely not a true object... Like a telephone’s ring!” Yet the fearless Youth, being all the more brave, Stands up for the Truth and will fight to the grave. “Let me propose a new journey for you, Come with me, World, your lies I’ll undo.” With a sigh full of doubts, it simply agrees, Not wanting the Cure for its deadly disease. The journey begins with one declaration, The Youth makes a stand and lays the foundation. “So you claim to say that all is subjective, That there can't ever be just one...

I was talking to a guy after camp about what he is going to do next.  The conversation was circling around the camp topic "Worldliness" and how can it be less influential on us?  I Spoke to him that it's important to surround your life constantly with the sermons in our days, like www.gty.org or www.slovo.org, so it could continue shaping our lives day after day.  I suggested to get in the habit of reading books by good Christian authors.  I also said that being accountable to a godly man should not be an option, these people massage our thinking in the view of the scripture. After explaining what should be his life and how this life is a blessing to me, his words were:  "well, then I would have to restructure my whole life, I have to live differently."  And that is exactly what I wanted him to see.  Like one of the preacher from camp said: "we don't have the gospel come and fit our life, bu...