Well, I haven't blogged in a while. I have been keeping up with everyone elses blogs, though. My life right now is just kind of normal. Working, spending time with friends, etc. No concerts Kara! Angie and I did go and see "Meet the Robinsons" on Friday. We didn't realize that it was in 3-D. It was my first 3-D movie. It was a good movie, funny and enjoyable. It was also the first time that Angie and I went to a movie. I had made a point of not going to a movie, because I wanted to get to know Angie, not the people on the movie screen. But this was a movie that we both wanted to see, and I know Angie pretty good now! :)
Yesterday was the Immanuel Bible Church Olympics. I participated in 5 events: Ping Pong, Volleyball, Horse Shoes, Basketball, and Settlers of Catan. I medeled in 4 of the 5 events. It was an enjoyable day. Angie, James, Jose and I also spent a little time hitting a chasing the softball in the wet field at church. It was good for me to be able to see how my arm felt hitting the ball. Not bad! Everyone hit well and we had fun!
The day ended with a pig roast dinner. Yummy!! Several people helped clean up afterwards. I want to specifically thank Angie for helping clean the windows in the church. She knows that I dislike that job and she just did it without any prompting from me. Thank you Angie!! :) Lyle McAuley also helped clean in some of the rooms. Lyle is always willing to help out, thanks Lyle!
All in all it was a good day!!
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Overflow
For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.
Matthew 12:34b-35
How important it is to fill our heart with the good from God's Word!!
Matthew 12:34b-35
How important it is to fill our heart with the good from God's Word!!
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Acquire the Fire
Well Pam is right. I did have a busy weekend. It all started Friday - Saturday, when Angie and I went to Acquire the Fire at Ford Field in Detroit. We went with her home church's youth group, in Caro. 34 kids and 6 adults went. This was a fun event, interesting because I didn't know any of the kids, but as the weekend progressed I got to know several of them. Angie and I ended up spending a lot of time with one particular girl who has Downs Syndrome. This was cool for me, a new experience that I enjoyed.
Acquire the Fire is for high school students and is run by Ron Luce. Ron Luce uses music, preaching, video, and drama to share who Jesus is and why we need Christ in our lives. There were 36,000 people there!! (See the pics.) Thousands went forward on Friday night to give their lives to Christ or to renew their commitment. It was very moving.
Here are some pictures of the event.
Acquire the Fire is for high school students and is run by Ron Luce. Ron Luce uses music, preaching, video, and drama to share who Jesus is and why we need Christ in our lives. There were 36,000 people there!! (See the pics.) Thousands went forward on Friday night to give their lives to Christ or to renew their commitment. It was very moving.
Here are some pictures of the event.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
God's Will Continued...
Here is a simple prayer that each of us can do during our daily quiet time.
Pray for a renewed mind that discerns how to apply God's Word!!
Pray for a renewed mind that discerns how to apply God's Word!!
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
God's Will
The verse at the top of this page is an encouragement to me as it should be to you. I have been working through how to determine God’s will in my life for the past few months. I pray that God will show me His will and that I will do it. My grandma sent me a card at Christmas that got me thinking about this topic. She wrote a quote in it from an unknown author which said,
“The greatest knowledge is to know the will of God; the greatest accomplishment is to do it.”
I’ve thought a lot about this quote and as I tried to figure out what God’s will is for my life. I searched out some help for this question on John Piper’s web page, http://www.desiringgod.org/. I found an article called “What is the Will of God and How Do We Know It.” I urge you to go to this website and check out this sermon, it is based on Romans 12:1-2. I’m going to share the last part of the sermon here, but you really need to read the whole thing to understand it all.
Piper shares that there are 2 kinds of God’s will. The first is the will of decree or sovereign will and the second kind which is the will of command. The will of command is what Piper focuses on although he does define both. Here is the last part of the sermon.
Three Stages of Knowing and Doing the Revealed Will of God
There are three stages of knowing and doing the revealed will of God, that is, his will of command; and all of them require the renewed mind with its Holy-Spirit-given discernment that we talked about last time.
Stage One
First, God’s will of command is revealed with final, decisive authority only in the Bible. And we need the renewed mind to understand and embrace what God commands in the Scripture. Without the renewed mind, we will distort the Scriptures to avoid their radical commands for self-denial, and love, and purity, and supreme satisfaction in Christ alone. God’s authoritative will of command is found only in the Bible. Paul says that the Scriptures are inspired and make the Christian “competent, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16). Not just some good works. “Every good work.” Oh, what energy and time and devotion Christians should spend meditating on the written Word of God.
Stage Two
The second stage of God’s will of command is our application of the biblical truth to new situations that may or may not be explicitly addressed in the Bible. The Bible does not tell you which person to marry, or which car to drive, or whether to own a home, where you take your vacation, what cell-phone plan to buy, or which brand of orange juice to drink. Or a thousand other choices you must make.
What is necessary is that we have a renewed mind, that is so shaped and so governed by the revealed will of God in the Bible, that we see and assess all relevant factors with the mind of Christ, and discern what God is calling us to do. This is very different from constantly trying to hear God’s voice saying do this and do that. People who try to lead their lives by hearing voices are not in sync with Romans 12:2.
There is a world of difference between praying and laboring for a renewed mind that discerns how to apply God’s Word, on the one hand, and the habit of asking God to give you new revelation of what to do, on the other hand. Divination does not require transformation. God’s aim is a new mind, a new way of thinking and judging, not just new information. His aim is that we be transformed, sanctified, freed by the truth of his revealed Word (John 8:32; 17:17). So the second stage of God’s will of command is the discerning application of the Scriptures to new situations in life by means of a renewed mind.
Stage Three
Finally, the third stage of God’s will of command is the vast majority of living where there is no conscious reflection before we act. I venture to say that a good 95% of your behavior you do not premeditate. That is, most of your thoughts, attitudes, and actions are spontaneous. They are just spillover from what’s inside. Jesus said, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak” (Matthew 12:34-36).
Why do I call this part of God’s will of command? For one reason. Because God commands things like: Don’t be angry. Don’t be prideful. Don’t covet. Don’t be anxious. Don’t be jealous. Don’t envy. And none of those actions are premeditated. Anger, pride, covetousness, anxiety, jealousy, envy—they all just rise up out of the heart with no conscious reflection or intention. And we are guilty because of them. They break the commandment of God.
Is it not plain therefore that there is one great task of the Christian life: Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. We need new hearts and new minds. Make the tree good and the fruit will be good (Matthew 12:33). That’s the great challenge. That is what God calls you to. You can’t do it on your own. You need Christ, who died for your sins. And you need the Holy Spirit to lead you into Christ-exalting truth and work in you truth-embracing humility.
Give yourself to this. Immerse yourself in the written Word of God; saturate your mind with it. And pray that the Spirit of Christ would make you so new that the spillover would be good, acceptable, and perfect—the will of God.
“The greatest knowledge is to know the will of God; the greatest accomplishment is to do it.”
I’ve thought a lot about this quote and as I tried to figure out what God’s will is for my life. I searched out some help for this question on John Piper’s web page, http://www.desiringgod.org/. I found an article called “What is the Will of God and How Do We Know It.” I urge you to go to this website and check out this sermon, it is based on Romans 12:1-2. I’m going to share the last part of the sermon here, but you really need to read the whole thing to understand it all.
Piper shares that there are 2 kinds of God’s will. The first is the will of decree or sovereign will and the second kind which is the will of command. The will of command is what Piper focuses on although he does define both. Here is the last part of the sermon.
Three Stages of Knowing and Doing the Revealed Will of God
There are three stages of knowing and doing the revealed will of God, that is, his will of command; and all of them require the renewed mind with its Holy-Spirit-given discernment that we talked about last time.
Stage One
First, God’s will of command is revealed with final, decisive authority only in the Bible. And we need the renewed mind to understand and embrace what God commands in the Scripture. Without the renewed mind, we will distort the Scriptures to avoid their radical commands for self-denial, and love, and purity, and supreme satisfaction in Christ alone. God’s authoritative will of command is found only in the Bible. Paul says that the Scriptures are inspired and make the Christian “competent, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16). Not just some good works. “Every good work.” Oh, what energy and time and devotion Christians should spend meditating on the written Word of God.
Stage Two
The second stage of God’s will of command is our application of the biblical truth to new situations that may or may not be explicitly addressed in the Bible. The Bible does not tell you which person to marry, or which car to drive, or whether to own a home, where you take your vacation, what cell-phone plan to buy, or which brand of orange juice to drink. Or a thousand other choices you must make.
What is necessary is that we have a renewed mind, that is so shaped and so governed by the revealed will of God in the Bible, that we see and assess all relevant factors with the mind of Christ, and discern what God is calling us to do. This is very different from constantly trying to hear God’s voice saying do this and do that. People who try to lead their lives by hearing voices are not in sync with Romans 12:2.
There is a world of difference between praying and laboring for a renewed mind that discerns how to apply God’s Word, on the one hand, and the habit of asking God to give you new revelation of what to do, on the other hand. Divination does not require transformation. God’s aim is a new mind, a new way of thinking and judging, not just new information. His aim is that we be transformed, sanctified, freed by the truth of his revealed Word (John 8:32; 17:17). So the second stage of God’s will of command is the discerning application of the Scriptures to new situations in life by means of a renewed mind.
Stage Three
Finally, the third stage of God’s will of command is the vast majority of living where there is no conscious reflection before we act. I venture to say that a good 95% of your behavior you do not premeditate. That is, most of your thoughts, attitudes, and actions are spontaneous. They are just spillover from what’s inside. Jesus said, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak” (Matthew 12:34-36).
Why do I call this part of God’s will of command? For one reason. Because God commands things like: Don’t be angry. Don’t be prideful. Don’t covet. Don’t be anxious. Don’t be jealous. Don’t envy. And none of those actions are premeditated. Anger, pride, covetousness, anxiety, jealousy, envy—they all just rise up out of the heart with no conscious reflection or intention. And we are guilty because of them. They break the commandment of God.
Is it not plain therefore that there is one great task of the Christian life: Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. We need new hearts and new minds. Make the tree good and the fruit will be good (Matthew 12:33). That’s the great challenge. That is what God calls you to. You can’t do it on your own. You need Christ, who died for your sins. And you need the Holy Spirit to lead you into Christ-exalting truth and work in you truth-embracing humility.
Give yourself to this. Immerse yourself in the written Word of God; saturate your mind with it. And pray that the Spirit of Christ would make you so new that the spillover would be good, acceptable, and perfect—the will of God.
Friday, April 06, 2007
Wisdom
Have you ever asked God for Wisdom?? I ask all the time. Wisdom that comes from God is much more powerful and effective than my own simple wisdom. I was reading James 3 yesterday and verses 13-18 talk about 2 kinds of wisdom.
Verses 14-16 talk about wisdom that comes from the devil is full of bitter envy and selfish ambitions. 16 says, "For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice."
Verse 17 really stood out to me, it says, "But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere."
If you compare these two kinds of wisdom they are very different. God's wisdom is obviously the better, but many times we ask for wisdom out of selfish motives and do things out of selfish ambition and call it God's wisdom leading us. The definition of God's wisdom in verse 17 doesn't say or imply anything about being selfishly motivated, but is full of unselfish, unenvying things.
James 1:5-8 says, "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does."
God gives wisdom to those who have good motives and to those who believe and don't doubt. What are your motives for asking God for wisdom?? If they are selfish you will be disappointed, if not you will be greatly rewarded!!
Verses 14-16 talk about wisdom that comes from the devil is full of bitter envy and selfish ambitions. 16 says, "For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice."
Verse 17 really stood out to me, it says, "But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere."
If you compare these two kinds of wisdom they are very different. God's wisdom is obviously the better, but many times we ask for wisdom out of selfish motives and do things out of selfish ambition and call it God's wisdom leading us. The definition of God's wisdom in verse 17 doesn't say or imply anything about being selfishly motivated, but is full of unselfish, unenvying things.
James 1:5-8 says, "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does."
God gives wisdom to those who have good motives and to those who believe and don't doubt. What are your motives for asking God for wisdom?? If they are selfish you will be disappointed, if not you will be greatly rewarded!!
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