I was talking with someone about singleness earlier on today, and as they went through it, they nailed and hit all of the scriptures on the biblical teaching of single adulthood, and how to perceive those of the other gender and the benefits and the value and the reason why God allows for a time of singleness, whether they realized it or not. I was just thinking (before I get in the Word and hit the hay, because it's 4:19 in the morning :-Z), 1 Tim. 5:2 commands me to treat all younger women as sisters given all purity. Really, the value of that is immense because Jesus said when He was teaching in Luke 16:12 passage, "And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?" The women in my fellowship that God's entrusted me with fellowshipping with - most of them will eventually be wives. Right now, I'm fellowshipping with women that will eventually be married to other men. I mustn't single one of them out and look at her as my 'potential wife candidate' because I need to be faithful over what is another man's. God will give me what is my own if I remain faithful to think of these women strictly as my sisters in Christ, because the one giving me my own wife someday is that one who knows my heart. I want to, from the heart, truly follow His commands. That's all for tonight! Peace.

It's not easy to be pure in contemporary society. Covers of magazines in bookstores and supermarkets are designed to stir up lust. All around us people use filthy words and blasphemy in everyday speech. Movies, billboards, magazines, revealing clothing bombarding our eyes with things that God considers abominable. There certainly is, as the Bible says, "corruption in the world through lust."(2 Peter 1:4) So, what should we do-live in a high walled monastery? Of course not. We instead are to let our lights shine in this dark and sinful world. And we can do that by walking in the fear of the Lord, with tender consciences toward God, and by being true and faithful witnesses of Jesus Christ. So, keep close to the Lord, and make sure you reach out to this sin-loving, blind, and Hell-bent world today. There goes another minute. Gone forever. Go share your faith while you still have time.

I was spending some time in the Word just now and I had to come and type this down. I was reading 2 Chronicles yesterday and I came to 2 Chronicles 24:22 and I highlighted the last few words and put a star next to it, and in highlighter, wrote the name "Stephen."
Just this morning I realized why I had done this.

"Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but killed his son: and as he died, he said, 'The LORD look on it and repay!'" 2 Chornicles 24:22.

This is what a prophet, Zecharia who was the son of another Old Testament prophet Jehoida, said as he was dying under the Old Testament. Now, compare that to what Stephen said in Acts in the New Testament:

"Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, 'Lord, do not charge them with this sin.' And when he had said this, he fell asleep." Acts 7:60.

It's worth noting that this illustrates the nature of the New Testament. The Old Testament enforced the law, the 10 commandments, and their lives centered around it. Part of the life that Israel lead to was to keep the Mosaic law, which called for an 'eye for an eye,' a just repayment for transgression or bad things someone's done against someone. But, the New Testament reveals that the very heart of why the law was given was to prepare their hearts for the grace of God. The law was our schoolmaster, or tutor, to lead all of us to Christ, so that we can be justified by faith - it teaches us why we need a Savior (to save us from our sin, which we do when we break the law). But, after faith has come and the grace of God through faith (Eph. 2:8-9), we are no longer under a schoolmaster (Galatians 3:24-25), because by Christ the law for us is fulfilled (Matt. 5:17, Gal. 6:2, James 2:8).

But lets look at the hearts of the two people. They were both martyred after being called of God to deliver an important message. They both willing gave their lives to the work God called them to do. But, one was under the Old Testament, which was to lead to the New Testament grace of God. He cried out, Lord, look on it and repay! He demanded a repayment for what was done, which illustrates the nature of the Old Testament. But Stephen under the New Testament said, Do not charge them with this sin! He was having mercy on those killing him while the other demanded to be vindicated. The last point in scripture that I can think of that illustrates this so clearly was in Luke 9:54, when the Samaritans were rejected Jesus and His disciples said, 'Wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, like Elijah did?' They were raised Old Testament Jews and after that would be New Testament, born-again, believers, but what was in their heart was what was in Zechariah's heart. They wanted vindication. "But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of." Luke 9:54.

Thus, Jesus illustrates the very character and heart of the New Testament and the grace that we receive by faith. Jesus hadn't come to destroy, but to save (Luke 9:56). He came to offer the grace of God that He always has as the only begotten Son of God, but that we would never have known because of our sin. This is why we get such an illustration in our Lord's preaching on forgiving others  in the Gospels (Luke 17:3, Luke 6:37, Mark 11:26, Matt 18:21). Paul said to the Corinthian church that whoever they forgive, he would forgive (2 Cor 2:10) and it seems to me to be revealed in the writing style of his letters it migh t have been casual for them ask to be forgiven for something (2 Cor 12:13). So, it is comfortable for us as New Testament believers to ask God to forgive us our shortcomings and trespasses (NOT forgetting what it cost the Lord to pay for these sins, the value and the importance, which is revealed in the Gospel), and uniquely receive the grace and the compassion, kindness of God which Jesus died to give us on our behalf if we ask (1 John 1:9). Because we understand the Spirit of God through believing the Gospel, we can see in our Lord's preaching the nature of the New Testament and the grace we've received in Jesus teaching His disciples how to pray. "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." Matthew 6:12. And having changed hearts and continually changing minds we ourselves can forgive those who wrong us, daily, knowing the character and manner by which we have been saved as New Testament believers. We can cry out like Stephen rather than like Zechariah, and even though we do necessarily have the right to ask God to vindicate us and get revenge for us, we "know what spirit we are of."

Another interesting thing to note in that passage in Acts 7:59-60 is that Stephen is praying in Verse 60, 'Lord, do not charge...' Verse 59 shows Stephen talking to Jesus, saying, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' So, when he was asking for his executors' sins to be withheld, he was talking to Jesus. This is a prayer to Jesus, which is a somewhat concealed claim to the deity of Jesus, and how we understand it, that even though He was fully man, He remains fully God, having added humanity to His deity, and even now resurrected from death, retaining His physical body as a man though God. Mark 2:10 reveals Jesus forgiving sin even while He walked on the earth, showing that He retains His essential identity as God. 1 Timothy 3:16 - God was manifest in the flesh.

The greatest truths in all of human history are contained within the pages of the bible. The bible contains all the answers to all human inquiry. Its very important message about our Creator touches on every area of life, is in every human endeavor and employment, and informs our greatest philosophers and thinkers and questions that it is the answer theyt seek, to their ridicule. God, in His infinite wisdom, saught to make everything that man is his wickedness exalts as wise utter foolishness and in His brilliance made the preaching of the King of all Glory crucified on the cross the most important thing of humankind's existance. The Bible: to reject its truth is to accept foolishness and to absolutely scoff at it and be skeptical of its wisdom is to flirt with death, to be blind, to live in a dillusioned fantasy rather than to embrace the reality the Bible so correctly describes.

It would behoove us all to blow off the dust and crack that puppy open. But, if anyone doesn't have a copy, its available online, where you can even read the original Greek and Hebrew.

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Glory is 'doksa' in Koine Greek. The Glory of God is the awesome brightness of His perfections and the weightiness and significance of His eternal attributes. His radiance and beauty, and His being is His glory. So, how do I glorify God? I can't add to His glory. We glorify God by living as if the excellence of His brightness and perfections and the significance of His eternal attributes are in actuality as they are as serious and significant as they truly are, reflecting that glory.

I have to return to the centrality of the pursuit of the glory of God in my life. I could do this, except it isn't "my life." It's the life of Christ in actuality exuding within me as my life because I've died with Christ. It is no longer my life by faith by Christ's. The glory of God must be my supreme passion. To live in any other way other than by faith is to live for my own worldly, short-sighted, vain pursuits and not the exceedingly eternal, very important pleasure of God. It is foolish to take my mind off of this pursuit and pursue what's within the creation rather than the Creator of it and to make my Lord a means to an end rather than the direct object of all of my affection and servitude. It's serving self rather than God. It's a fleshly self-destruction, worthless, foolish, not eternal and God-honoring. I'm operating by faith. I want to see the Lord receive the glory due Him in all the earth, to its fullest.

I need to understand what is behind the 'glory of God' I speak about in this writing.Otherwise, it's just some flavor word I sing about and something I say blindly without really knowing what it means. This will need some prayer.

I go to men's accountability group and today was my first time teaching something to a group of men, ever. My group's group-leader was encouraging me to do the teaching after I suggested I run something off for just our small group. I spent the next four weeks fiddling with what I would hand to them on paper. It's now 12:18AM and I spent all night the following night working on it - went to bed at 5AM and got up at 8AM to go to school. Spent all day in prayer over it. It's called, "The Presence of Purity," after something I once heard Ravi Zacharias preach on. It was going to be on sexual immorality and pre-marital relationships. They said they would give me 2 weeks on it and so when I reasoned I wouldn't have enough time to talk about both in one go I worked just on the sexual immorality part of it. I tell you, I was adding and tweaking the whole length of the night, being moved by the Spirit. I didn't even edit what I'd written, it was just a constant addition and flow of what needed to go into the letter on how to deal with sexual temptation, sexual sin, pornography, etcetera. Though I'd written so much, I was so ill prepared to give a presentation on what I had written.

Well, I'd gotten back from school and bible study and everything and it was nearing the time when I'd have to present (5:30PM). I prayed furiously on what needs more attentiveness in the letter. I worked on it right up until 5:30 and I was late. I was supposed to get up at 6:30 but dinner started at 5:30. Then, my sister asked me to take her to dance class. So, I printed it out and I drove her. I then remembered how I forgot my guitar and the worship music I would have sung. I also saw that since I was so late, there would be no time to go to Staples and make copies. We prayed over the situation in the car and I dropped her off. Then when praying on the way back, I noticed my pronouns were bugging again! "Please keep me from failing. I'm ill-prepared. I might mess this up." Me, me, me! "For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." Phil. 2:13. I began praying in faith and saying to the Lord that I want to trust in Him. I wanted to trust in the Lord. Suddenly, I spotted on the right hand side of the road a brand new Kinkos just near the church. It was so new it wasn't even on the Kinkos website that I searched before I left. I swung the car around and went in. I had less than 15 minutes to get there. I handed the man the stack of 15 sheets and asked for as many copies that could be done in 10 minutes. I wanted to get 50, but since there were so many pages it would be $1.28 per packet, so I asked for 20. The efficient machine copied each page and stapled every packet.

So, he handed me the stack and I darted out. After some fancy Nissan maneuvers, I parked the car, got out, and ran inside. Just made it at 6:30! I started handing out the packets. There were just enough for everyone with 1 person left and all the late arrivals left without them which I want to get to next week. It was still warm from having been printed. I was then told that I could have gotten copies from the church office. Surprise, surprise! So, I handed them out, and started.

I spoke for less than a half hour (seemed like 5-10 minutes) on sexual immorality, with nothing prepared. I clung to the Holy Spirit and relied on the Spirit for every word, being ill-prepared. As I began to relate my struggles with sexual immorality and go through the packet with the men, I got some very diverse facial expressions. I felt horrible at this! What, is it with what I'm saying? What's wrong? People looked perplexed, grossed out, as if I was completely insane. One man's face was fixed that way. One person cringed and then started nodding his head. I expected stone cold expressions from the men, but not cringes and strange 'This guy's a nut' faces. I kept going. I finished, trying not to go over 7 o'clock. They clapped, and the leader said, 'We have a hidden teacher among us.' I felt so ashamed and horrible. I felt bad about this. I grinned and smiled and bore it, looking around the room. Then, my small group's leader stood up and addressed everyone. He said, 'You just heard Isaac's sermon. You heard how convicting that was. I know this is of the Lord, we need to start confessing in our small groups.' I didn't realize it, and was so concentrated on the delivery of the speech that God had been convicting the men of the whole room the entire time. They were like convicted over it. I didn't even think what I was saying was that important! I thought it was just the result of my ill-preparedness to prepare a speech along with what I'd written by God's grace and that I just barely scratched the surface of the important issues. But, apparently, the Holy Spirit was using what I'd said.

Afterward many people said, "Good job." Many shook my hands and were impressed with the size of what I'd written. This was feeding my pride-drive, so to speak, and I felt horrible. Why can't God just get all the glory?! I know they were complimenting compliments, but I was trusting not in my performance but God's power in a difficult time. I felt awful. Every compliment made me feel bad. I got to my small group and I just feel bad. Then, we talked about the message and deviated from our normal schedule for about a 1/2 hour. It was just on what I'd said. Then, my leader for the rest of the 2 hours or so in the group had all of the men freely confess their sins among each other and pray about them. But, they spoke about what was said (...through me...) :-( And I felt horrible. Someone said, 'Pastor Isaac.' Then, the leader said, 'Say, they're already calling you a preacher.' I put my hand on my face, cringed, and said, 'I hate that.' This made him feel bad, which I regreted. The Holy Spirit gave me a time to explain myself later on. I'd spent time in my old church and had bad experiences with the leadership there and felt horrible being called 'preacher' or teaching. God's humbled me and I took no pleasure in the act. I actually got up and walked off. I was going to go to my car and possibly leave, but as I got to the door, the Holy Spirit gave me the thoughts of me praying with the group, and I recognized that as important. So, I went back, and that's what they were doing. So, I prayed with them. I was under some sort of spiritual attack or something because I felt miserable. Little by little as the night rolled on, my spirit wasn't as heavy. Gene was reasoning with me how biblically I had done a good thing and not to feel condemned. I knew that him getting up and saying that in response to the message addressing the room at the time was of the Lord. I thank God for his small group leadership, I really do...

As I walk with God these new areas where I'm being confronted I pray will by the Spirit turn into areas where God's grace shines forth exempliary the greatest because those are areas where I surely am weak! The rest of the night was actually great. It ended with a lot of love from each other. I pray that next week the next message will be better prepare. Thanks, Lord!

Cheers,

Isaac D.

I bought a book by Wayne Grudem called Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine. I'll make summaries and journal a path through this book (or at least try to anyway).

Systematic Theology

Definition - The study of what the bible as a whole has to say about any given topic today. It differs from historical theology, philosophical theology, apologetics, and biblical theology (because biblical theology includes a study of how those doctrines may have been understood over time and gives attention to individual authors and sections of scripture).

Luke 24:27 - Jesus opens the scriptures and explains to them systematically about Himself, the Messiah.
"And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself."

Acts 18:28 - Apollos uses the scriptures to convince the Jews of Jesus.
"For he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ."

Acts 17:2-3 - Paul handles the scriptures systematically to prove that the account of Jesus was in prophecy.
"Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, 'This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.'"

Doctrine

A doctrine, then, is what the bible as a whole has to say about one particular topic. Therefore, the Doctrine of the Deity of Christ, The Doctrine of the Trinity, or the Doctrine of Salvation are all

Advantages to Systematic Theology

Because our time here is short, and we can't read the bible as a whole for each and every theological question, it's advantageous to have the specific passages on that particular question to examine ready. It's also apart of fulfilling the Great Commission of Matthe 28:19, '...make disciples, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you...' Jesus Christ embraced the Old Testament as the infallible revelation of God and the Holy Spirit supervised and authored the writing of the New Testament, giving us a clear basis to study God throughout the bible. It also overcomes bad ideas that we might have accumulated that sound scriptural, but aren't biblical, leading us to the truth the bible declares. Systematic Theology doesn't somehow 'improve' on the bible.

It was Christmas Eve at my mother's husband's house and I was there. I said hello to everyone there and spent the next few hours studying something I'd printed out of a Systematic Theology book. It was the beginning. Everyone was celebrating, laughing, eating, and telling jokes and things. And then they saw me there, studying, with my bible open. 'What's he doing? Reading his bible.' I'd hear. I kind of seemed anti-social to them, but it was okay. As my previous posts say, I'm struggling lately with a hardened heart toward the lost. Well, it kept me from being hardened or harsh towards anyone to have my nose buried in reading. This way I was comfortabley tucked away in some corner out of the way. So anyway, someone at the end of the night asked, 'So, what are you reading about? Tell us, we want to know.' Or something like that. Well, I said, 'Where do you want me to start?' because I had no idea what to say, but knew that this was of the Lord to say something to them. So, I started talking about the first thing in the systematic theology book - Revelation.

Then Marley said, Oh! That's right in line with what we were reading in the car! She read to me Romans 2 and 3, I think, while I was driving. Well, it went well, and I didn't have anything to say, but what came out was just an amalgum of an intellectual approach to the doctrine of eternal judgment - that God can judge every single human being validly because we have the law of God written on our heart. We have inner revelation through conscience and morality and outer revelation through creation to know not only that there is a God, but that we've done wrong and are awaiting a judgment. This should herald someone to seek after the grace of God. Though I'd started out in the realm of saying that these were questions that philosophers have reveled over for centuries, I told them that the definitive answers lies in the bible. The law of God is a schoolmaster to drive the sinner to Christ that they might be justified by faith.

The philosopher scales a mountain of ignorance only to find the theologians have sat on the other side for centuries. While their fleshly minds debate over the meer existance of God, God Himself has been saving fallen man and redeeming mankind person to person by the Holy Spirit throughout human history for centuries.

But, then it took a turn where I didn't make myself clear, or they didn't understand. I mentioned, 'Sodom had no Bible.' It's a title of one of Leonard Ravenhill's books. I first heard about it through a Keith Green sermon and since haven't read the book, but, what he said really got me started on this whole Revelation business: Sodom and Gomorrah had no bible! They had very little revelation of who God was. How could God judge them for their wickedness if they had no bible? Keith Green thought about the title for a while, and one day it hit him, Sodom had no bible!

Here we are with our Gospel TV shows, Gospel radio, Gospel message from friends who are saved, from books, on the internet, and everywhere these days with themes and messages springing from and leading to the bible and to salvation and Jesus Christ. What did Sodom have? Nothing. They may have had a prophet, like how Jonah was sent to Nineveh, but other than that, I don't think they had anything. They were a wicked town that did much evil and other nations cried out against it, and so God wanted to take it out! But we have sooo much more of a revealing (revelation) of God's message of mercy and reconciliation, and God pleading and asking us to turn from our wicked way so that, individually, He doesn't have to judge us for our wickedness. Yet we as a generation have hardened our hearts, and have only amplified our arguments, 'What about other religions?' 'I'm a good enough person already.' and so many others. Instead of thanking God that there is a way, we harden our hearts and say why can't there be more than one right way or religion, for example. Well, as Keith Green said, if God doesn't judge this generation for not turning, even after so much Gospel and salvation message, then He's going to have to 'apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah' so to speak, because they got no message of reconciliation and were destroyed.

It's not a lack of revelation, like, 'Oh, those poor [Africans, Indians, Eskimos] in their far off country, having never heard the name of Christ or had a bible, how can God judge those people?' Because even they have a level of revelation from God! They have creation, which points to the fact that they have a Creator. They have their sin, which points to the fact of judgment of sin.' These, and a few others, as the bible says, 'leave them without excuse.' It's us who have a greater revelation. God's abundantly given us an availability of knowledge of Himself, and access to God's message of reconciliation, 24-hours, yet we haven't repented.

When Nineveh received its Jonah, Jonah came saying, '40 days and Nineveh will be destroyed.' He didn't add, '...if you don't repent.' There was no salvation plan for Nineveh. But the king said something to the effect of, 'Lets humble ourselves, and perhaps God will turn from destroying us.' They didn't know. Nineveh, with only a prophet for-warning the people that God was going to judge them: no bible, no Gospel message, no message of sparing Nineveh or any form of salvation, and God was going to completely obliterate them off of the face of the planet, like Sodom and Gomorrah. They repented! They put on sackcloth and sat on ash, and fasted. They even made the animals fast and deprived them of food! It's an interesting read, only 4 chapters long. They repented at the preaching of Jonah, and God accepted their repentance, even though all they had was the message of judgement! If Sodom and Gomorroh was destroyed for wickedness, but they had just about as much revelation as Nineveh, then what's going to happen to us in today's generation, who have so much revelation and so much message of God's judgement and His salvation and grace, but we've hardened our hearts and minds. fleshly and int ellectually? But, the important part comes from what Jesus would say a little while later on...

Matthew 12:38-42  Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

The generation that saw Jesus physically asked Jesus for a sign. He told them exactly why God would never do that. It was like this issue of revelation! Number 1, they were adulterous and evil. So, Jesus told them what revelation HAD been given to them. The sign of the prophet Jonah. Jesus would be buried for three days after the crucifixion. This hadn't happened yet at the time He was telling them, but the nature of the sign was that it concerned Jesus as a person. The whole of the 39 books of the Old Testament including the Torah the book of Moses, the very thing the Pharisees asking Jesus this request were required to memorize, prophecied about Jesus being there at that specific time, and behold He was there and they still hardened their hearts! So He told them, One greater than Jonah is there, but they did not repent. They would have been like the tax collectors and harlots that Jesus sat with, and would have believed on Jesus, but they were afraid of God taking away their place and control over Judea (John 11:48), the nation of the Jews. God visited His people and they rejected Him. Their revelation was the Son Himself, the one all of scripture declares and talks about! And they rejected Him.

So it isn't that the African or Native American who's never read the bible's revelation of God is so small, it's that our revelation of God is so great!

So today, since we have the ministry of the Holy Spirit to illuminate scripture, and such a great revelation whereas the Son of God has spoken about our salvation and the message of the grace of God from sin and mercy on the day of Judgment, how much more will God judge us and destroy us since we have sooo much revelation? We have a bible, which systematic theology calls special revelation, as opposed to what we just talked about - the outer revelation of creation testifying to the existance of God and the inner revelation of conscience testifying to the coming judgment all are natural or general revelation. And so what's in it is what the apostles heard from Jesus, directly from God's own lips. So, we have the apostles declaration the Gospel message, the death burial and resurrection of Jesus, like a Jonah. This is what it says, "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;" (otherwise known as a bible). How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation, considering our revelation is so great?

Paul Washer said in one of his sermons Offering Your Bodies: "When someone walks into your house, do they sense the fragrance of Christ? The beauty of Christ? The loveliness of Christ? ...A living sacrifice...just a fragrance about a person. You can't fake it! You can fake so much stuff! You can fake good doctrine, you can fake that you know something, you can fake good preaching, you can fake everything just about but that one thing, you can't fake that. Because it only comes from God. It's kind of His seal, His stamp. 'This is really my guy, this is really my daughter here. This is a person truly walking as a living sacrifice. It is so, so very important."

You can't fake the real power and fragrance of Christ. I always think about the Pharisees - I sort of see them sometimes as walking around in these white robes. And then I think of Christ being transfigured on the mount, and how His disciples saw Him with clothes made of light, whiter than anyone could bleach. This cannot be faked! I don't want to fake kindness or fake God's love. So I'm praying for the Lord to empower it by the Holy Spirit. And to complete my understanding, so I can operate by faith.

Lately, I struggle with my own pride and inward dryness. I'm very cold to everyone at the register and I'm particularly being cold to my own mother. I've been broken over this. I so much want to reflect the behavior and disposition of Jesus so that they can see Christ and I so much want them to respond to the Gospel that I'm frustrated with them. I show kindness in my actions and I don't do anything wrong that would defame the name of Christ, but I don't show forth the name of Christ - There's kindness, but no grace. There's no brimming smile on my face like the first year I was saved even though there's nothing different from that year, but my understanding the Word is more clear and scripture in my mind is more magnified, I'd suppose. I feel bad that I'm not showing them 'tender mercy.' God has tender mercy (James 5:11, Luke 1:78, 2 Cor. 1:3), and we're called to put on tender mercies, as God's people (Phil. 2:1, Col. 3:12). But, here's the thing - not on our own power or strength. God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in or our hearts! He did this to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So, I guess when others see a saved person's face in God's power, they see Christ's reflecting the glory of God. We have this treasure in earthen vessels so that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us!

Because I can fake it! I don't want to fake it. I can be kind to people and kind to my mother, but it would all be out of and devoted to the flesh, because what's the source of that kindness? Myself. And I get the glory. I don't want to fake it because then I wouldn't shine the glory of Christ's face, but my own flesh's power. I want the excellency of the power behind my smiles and kindness to be of God, from the Holy Spirit within me, dishing it out. Otherwise, I'm just a fake.

It's like Paul - Paul said that he welcomed tribulations because of what they were. He endured hardships as discipline from the Lord. And when God disciplines, we partake of His holiness and righteousness! That seemed drab to me before, but now it's so awesome! I'm only beginning to find out what the implications of that verse are. Anyway, if I welcomed tribulations, like Paul, just to copy him, and welcomed tribulations the same way without understanding why I'm doing it, but just because Paul did it, it's no good! Because there's no understanding behind it! I'm just welcoming tribulations! I don't understand why I'm doing it! I need Jesus Christ. I need the Lord's help. I need His power, I need to understand why I'm to be kind, why the excellency of the power must come from God. I need to know why God needs the glory! (Because He deserves it!) Otherwise, I'm not operating in faith per se. I don't think it would be ignorance, because I know I'd be doing it to be like Christ, to follow the good examples of Jesus and the apostles, to be like God, to fulfill the call to 'be holy, as He is holy.' But, I wouldn't understand why tribulations were welcomed by Paul, and I'd just take a beating to take a beating. I wouldn't know why Paul was doing it. I want to understand!

I heard Todd Friel say on WOTM Radio - Read the Word, Ask God for power to apply it, and then do it. Read the Word, Ask God for help, and then do it. I'm praying that God will show Himself through me, and give me more understanding on this matter. Please pray for me.

Recently went to D. James Kennedy's website for the first time, after hearing of him and hearing many of his audio clips on WOTM Radio and when I got there I looked at his commentaries section and I immediately went to the Apologetics section. This concerns me because my main focus being saved isn't on the intellectual defense of the message of salvation, the Gospel, but on sitting at the feet of Jesus and hearing His good doctrine. Like, the Holy Spirit is training me to do evangelism I'm certain, but I know that the Spirit's intentions in that endeavor aren't to distract me from what He's teaching me about Christ through the doctrine of Christ... That He's showing me something, but it isn't the main thing He wants my heart on. He wants me to pursue God with all my heart, yes through evangelism, but also through fellowship, discipleship, worship, dcotrine, praise - with everything I am. I want to give the Lord my heart, soul, mind, and strength.

The Lord's discipline has been very hard. Proverbs says somewhere that the rod of correction imparts wisdom, and the Lord is definately straightening me out. It's easier to cry and for the tears to come when the Lord lays something on my heart.
Went to the Barber's to get a haircut today and I didn't notice at first, but my old Pastor from Old Landmark Cathedral was getting his hair cut there, too. He sat in the seat, and I waited for him to notice I was there, to see if he had anything to say to me. Well, he noticed, but he didn't say anything. After praying and telling the Lord first what I intended in my heart to say, I started talking to him. I told him about the piece of property that my mother was going to rent out to his church and that my mother was trying to get in contact with him. He didn't pay the first month's rent, even though a contract was signed, and never got back or tried to call-back the phone calls to my mother, which caused her great frustration and stress, which she then laid out on Marley and me. It was hard. He immediately said that he doesn't handle any of the business side of the church, but he's left that up to his mother and a few others, but if you need someone to visit someone in the hospital or know someone who needs saving. I told him that both of them were unsaved. He said, The great commission. After his hair cut was done, he got up and left without saying bye. Had nothing else to say to me. I was very distraught about his lack of care. There was no careful attention to the business of the church, no matter how small. No care.
I felt awful. I don't need him to be a good pastor, I need him to be a good Christian. I needed him to represent Christ. I wanted him to say that he'd at least talk to someone and try to help get in contact to see what was going on. At least an apology to my mother who is unsaved and took this out on the church and God... I told him I've been praying for my mother and her husband for a very long time. There wasn't even an fained interest in how Marley and I were doing since we left their church or where we are going to church now or anything... What's happened to the hearts of these leaders today?
I defended this man in arguments with my mother about how the church didn't come through and how she had to pay the mortgage on the house herself. When someone's unfaithful in the body of Christ, I know God always comes through, even if they're unfaithful. And I'm praying that the Lord will repair this crime because God's name's sake is being hurt.
Moreover I feel like a hypocrit because I haven't treated my mother right and have been a lousy witness. I pray that the Lord will redeem my poor witness and make everything work out for good. I so much wanted my mother to respond to the Gospel that I've been frustrated that she remains unsaved, but it's that God hasn't saved her yet. I can expect the lost to behave just like the lost and the saved as saved. So it was never anything I had in my head - I was walking by sight. But it's to the glory of God, that whether someone's in His wrath, or is saved by grace through faith, God remains faithful.

I'm praying the Lord can make me a better witness for Christ, and to represent Him always, even in the little things. The proud are far from Him, but the humble are the soft clay in His hands that He can use to form what withstands the fire.

There once was a great king who ruled all the land. He had much honor from all his subjects and was well respected for his great wisdom and judgment. He ruled well, and his subjects and his nations had great love and respect for him. One year, natural disaster struck the crops and there was a famine throughout the land. The king heard that his many people were suffering from the lack of food. He heard of their great distress and suffering. Determined not to sit idly by and do nothing about it, he determined to not say a word to any in his court that he would secretly disrobe and leave his throne in order to go and see how much the peasants were suffering with his own eyes. So, he snuck out, leaving his fancy clothes, jewels, palace, servants, and all his luxuries behind, and put on a begger's clothes.

He walked down the street of a town he owned. He turned the street when he suddenly saw a man with a knife threatening a man and his family who were backed into a corner. The King raised his voice, "Stop that right now!" The man, not wanting to get caught, immediately put away his knife and ran across town. The King made sure the family was alright, and not wanting to be identified, hurried away unto the next town. The family said,
"Wow, that gentleman looks like a begger, but he has the voice of a king!"

The King came to a very poor town, where there were many beggers lining the streets waiting for someone who came back from harvest to give them a little bread or some wheat-flour, or an alm to sell for food. The King had great compassion for his people. Still dressed in rags, he took out a pouch of gold coins of the royal currency and very quickly handed all of them out to each one. Each hurried away, running and rejoicing that the gold coin was more than enough to last them the entire length of the famine! They said amongst themselves, "No one but one who has the royal blood could ever afford to give us such a precious gift!"

As he was leaving the town, he spotted a blind man. He could not see. As he passed by, he got a whiff of the King's perfume. "Oh my - a king is passing by!"
Not wanting to be identified, the King said, "Who told you that I am a king - I look like a begger."
But the blind man said, "But you smell like a King. Only those who sit in royal palaces have the smell of Spikenard so strong. Though I cannot see, I know for sure that you are a king."
The King left at once.

When he arrived home, he was moved with compassion over what he saw. Because he was a great king, wanting to rid the people of the famine, he took account of everything that he had, wrote down its worth, and sold it to all the surrounding regions. He sold his entire palace and raised enough to buy food and grain to feed all the people. For the next 7 years the people enjoyed free grain, without price. The surrounding regions were so impressed with the king's wisdom and compassion that they gave him back everything he had sold. Even while he was in rags, appearing as a begger, and even having sold everything that he owned, it was still plain to the people that he was King. Word of that king spread and his reputation was even greater than it was before.

Thus ends the typological discussion of the free grace afforded us from God through the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus Christ, who saves us from our sins. To the glory of God.

I once did something sexual in high school in public with a certain woman I was seeing on a bench with traffic passing by. I did it out in the open where everyone could see. I freely confess it to anyone who reads this blog that I was once addicted to pornography. I can say that because I'm saved! Those sins are completely forgiven! They're covered by the blood of Jesus, and God's promised in the Word that He'll forget them. All there is is His grace to those who are now saved.

Went to Ybor today with my friend Nadia. I said I'd be there at 8:30PM so that we aren't out late, but I was running late. The front left tire on the Nissan I drive (thank you Lord!) was bald. I took it to Wal-Mart and they changed it. It cost me $75, which I had to put on a credit-card, unfortunately, but the tire's on. On Friday, I was driving home from dropping Orlando off when there was this black VW on the side of the road with its entire back half sticking out into the intersection. It was a 2-lane intersection commonly called 'malfunction junction' because traffic slows there all the time and there are frequent accidents around that area. I stopped to get out and give them a hand (I do my works before God, in private, but I didn't actually get to do a good work, so I'll tell you) - one guy was on his cell phone and the other was handing him a wad of cash, which looked suspicious. I ask them if I can give them a hand to get it out of the busy intersection, and he pointed to the front - his front tire was completely gone, the shock was smashed into the pavement, the front-end of the car was smashed into the rail-way, and the back had dents. That car wasn't going anywhere - couldn't move it. Some guy showed up and said he was a mechanic and he had a tow, and so I just let him do the good work. I handed him a tract, told him I'd wished I could do more, and kept going. Well, he told me that it happened because his front tire was bald. :-Z My front tire was bald! So, today I definately made sure I went to get it changed, and I was thanking the Lord for giving me such great safely, even though I hydoplained in the rain like 5 times and came close to accidents many times. Thank the Lord! Grace, once again!

So I met Nadia in Ybor and she was going through her purse. She showed me 'Save Yourself Some Pain' by Ray Comfort. She had a conversation with a man we met before. He has a rare disease that stripped him of his muscle-mass and left him skin and bones. He looks very frail and meek. He's homeless, and Nadia bought him a bite to eat once. We'd prayed with him once, and she got a chance to have another conversation with him again. It was a non-contagious disease, but I think he also said that it wasn't genetic, which is strange. We handed out gospel-tracts down Centro Ybor. They're these little cards with the Gospel message on them that say, 'What If.' The hands were very receptive! I thank God for that. It's illegal over there for anyone to hand out anything, but if it's considered prosyletizing then it's covered by a number of laws, I suppose, so the tracts are okay. Well, one time Nadia, Jason from church, and I were handing them out and the cops stopped us. There were two and they said, 'You know, it's illegal for clubs to hand out anything down here. It's a $250 penalty per card for handing them out.' Then one of us said, 'They're Gospel tracts.' And they said, 'Oh, okay!' And they left. I don't know how long that will be the case in this country, and in the world, but I thank God we have this time where we can share the Gospel without much fear of the authorities fining or punishing us, that God's protected this time by His sovereignty over man's laws, as it seems.

We had very few conversations - in fact, I didn't have any, and apart from the gentleman that was described earlier and a new Evangelist Nadia met, neither did Nadia. But, we handed out tracts, and we prayed over the people in Ybor. Ybor is a very traditional and old city, but that particular district and what makes Ybor Ybor is its night-clubs. People travel from Saint Pete and Tampa just to go to the clubs and play in the thriving night-life. There are a lot, and there's also a growing number of homosexual bars. As a man, I don't particularly enjoy having to battle so much enticement from women passing by - trying to provoke men, which I guess is apart of their night-life. They don't wear very much! God's given me through Christ power over the flesh, so no lust, and now a sexual advance is sickening to me and when I'm tempted, it's a disgust rather than ... a delight, or what it was before.

I was just thinking, like I don't even think the same thoughts I used to think. God's work on my heart has been so thorough that if I met myself before I was saved, I wouldn't know me anymore. Jesus says that those who profess the name of Jesus but yet they live a lifestyle that sent Him to the cross will come and cry to Him on that day and cry, 'Lord, Lord', professing His name, but He says, 'Depart from me you worker of sin, I never knew you.' Well, since this is true, I can look at myself before I was saved and say, 'Depart from me, I never knew you.' Those evil deeds that I hid from my mum and my family and kept in dark and in secret Jesus bore on the cross and paid my fine so that I can go free. I love the good news. :-) Praise God for what He has done! He's sooo good! And His mercy lasts forever.

The dream started out with me driving aroung in a black Lambroughini. It was real life-sized, but somehow, it wasn't really real and I was just driving around in my Nissan and the Lambroughini was a toy that was able to expand over the Nissan and make it look like a Lambroughini and then I came home and my sister Harriette and someone else were outside watching the police. They said that Toney, my old step-father, showed up and they could see his reflection in the window. And they couldn't figure out why he was itching so much. I told them he might not have taken a shower in a long time. So, my brother-in-law Billy popped out of nowhere and started talking. Then, I watched them take him away in hand-cuffs while he was itching around the cuffs. The house had like a side-street that you can drive into off of the main road that has this plot of land in the front where the front of the house is, sort of like near my friend in Tampa's house.

Strange dream...

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This is a recommended-listening-lis t from my buddy Joseph. I've had the opportunity to share the Gospel along-side of Joseph several times and he's definately a man who's listened to great preaching. I've listened to many of the men on this list and agree with Joseph. It's great stuff! I'd recommend them. Check it out:

Recommended listening from Joseph Pittano 
 

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

(2 Timothy 2:15.) 

Some paragraphs here endorse ministries as whole or Christians and not particular messages.

Sermonindex.net will be referred to throughout as a great mp3 resource library.  

1. Ray Comfort – livingwaters.com, wayofthemaster.com. Three messages in particular: “Hell’s Best Kept Secret,” “True and False Conversion,” and “Axe of the Apostles.” The first two of these messages are free and available through various forms like video, print and audio but the last is a recommended purchase. Ray’s teaching gets at the heart of the knowledge of the Gospel like no other teacher I’ve ever heard. His evangelical exposition ties together the Testaments in a seamless evangelistic reality. This is the Gospel to every generation. Ray has teamed up with Kirk Cameron (the former teenage TV star) to host The Way of The Master Ministries. Kirk has been marvelously converted and has become one of the most heartfelt ministers I have had the privilege of hearing preach. Both Ray and Kirk are splendid evangelists worth your time to hear. On wayofthemaster.com you can watch TV episodes and on both living waters and wayofthemaster.com you can listen to a number of other excellent messages not by name mentioned here.  

2. Ravi Zacharias – rzim.org. Ravi is a superb apologist. Roughly half of the book of Acts is an apologetic discourse defending either apostleship or the veracity of faith in Christ. Ravi is a lover of the Gospel engaged in a similar labor. He is well respected, even among his enemies, for his scholarship, brilliance, and gentlemanly discourse. He is frequently heard at large philosophically driven venues and debates around the world and is probably one of the most captivating minds in apologetics today. His doctrinal work was in the philosophy of religion. Ravi was born and raised in New Delhi, India and was converted as a young man to Christ. I urge you to bask in “The Uniqueness of Christ in History,” and “The Uniqueness of Christ among World Religions” both of which are lessons of more than one part. I also invite you to hear “Jesus As They Saw Him.” You can find these as well as hundreds of other lessons available from Ravi under the radio section of his site entitled “Let My People Think” or “Just Thinking.” These message titles seem to be re-used by him so you may see the same name more than once on a different date. Listen to this man.  

3. John Piper – desiringGod.org. John is a pastor. John loves the Bible over his church week in and week out. He is surely one of the biggest brains behind the pulpit today and has caused me no little grief in his teaching. He is a lover of Christian history and doctrine and contends to preserve the precise declarations and creeds of Christianity from those who would vainly attempt to pull out its foundations. He has written over thirty books on Christian living and doctrine and gives his gifts to Christians in poetry, writing and speaking. His website is a large collection of grand works and he also has almost two hundred enthralling sermons available on sermonindex.net. Go here folks, listen and learn; get out of the twenty-first century for a bit I beg you. On Sermon Index under audio sermons you’ll find a number of John’s superb biographies detailing the lives, faith and works of some of the saints of old. Listen to these biographies, there is much preaching and historical data throughout. Listen and honor God for His great saints like Brainerd, Calvin, Luther, Spurgeon, Edwards, Augustine, Owen, and Bunyan just to name a few. These bios are recorded at Piper’s yearly pastor’s conference and make up an ongoing series entitled Men of Whom the World Was Not Worthy which title is of course borrowed from Hebrews eleven. They make for great listening. Shut the shop down, make ready for reflection, curl up on the couch with your Bible and listen about the lives and events of Christian men outside of your generation. It will bless you I promise you! I also commend to you the “Desiring God” series of messages that get to the Bible demanded task of setting God and God alone at the center of all things. This series is Piper’s theology.  

4. John Macarthur – gracetoyou.org. John is a pastor, a scholar and a theologian. Every sermon he preaches seems to contain twenty years of reflections, conclusions and facts. He has great clarity in his communication and truly is a blessing to the body of Christ. John has a sermon that rocked my understanding of Catholicism. I mention it and recommend it because it hits so close to home for many in America today. I’ll say no more here but strongly recommend all of you to the message called “The Pope and the Papacy.” It is one of many on the subject that he has preached. This message is mp3 downloadable on the Grace To You website for a few bucks but is also available on wayofthemasterradio.com for free in two parts. To get it on WOTMR go into the website’s previous shows and pod casts link to November 9th, 2006 and be sure to get both hours one and two. Listen well! John’s messages are truly masterpieces of Christian exposition. John has a talent for saying much in little space. He is a puritan preacher if ever I’ve heard one. Go to his website, purchase his stuff. He also has messages available on Sermon Index. I recommend his two part sermon called “The Character of Scripture” as well as “The Sufficiency of Scripture.” Also see “How Can We Witness if We Don’t Know What the Gospel is”? John Macarthur has been seen on Larry King Live and is called upon in matters of Christian concern because he has been known for his accurate dealings of Christian faith for well over forty years.  

5. RC Sproul – Ligonier.org. RC Sproul was a seminary professor for most of his life, but was commanded to the pastorate of late. RC, like all true shepherds, would say that his ministry is as much for the strengthening and equipping of the church as it is for taking the Gospel to the unsaved. He is a passionate man with great softness and skill as a teacher. I go to him for systematic theology. His teachings on theology and the history of the church have been staples in my understanding of the reformed faith and Biblical orthodoxy. RC really enjoys teaching and it reverberates in his voice and manner behind the pulpit. He hosts a Christian radio program called Renewing Your Mind that is available on his website in archives and I highly recommend it. With all my heart for your benefit I also highly recommend you purchase the 2007 Orlando Contending for the Truth Conference CD or mp3 set of messages. The conference includes the teachings of several of the ministers recommended here in my list. These messages are like assets – they only increase value with age so you can’t lose. RC shares two messages during the conference called “The Resurrection of Christ” and “The Task of Apologetics”. These two messages alone are worth the purchase of the whole series. If you click on the series itself and scroll down you can buy the messages individually if you choose. The mp3 version of the conference series is in his store under the philosophy and apologetics link and is currently on page three of those resources. Check to be sure you have the right date. Check out all of RC’s books or sermons for solid and clear Biblical counsel. He’s also hilarious by the way. 

6. Todd Friel – wayofthemasterradio.com. Todd was a stand up comedian and got saved. As I understand it he was on his way through a seminary when God revealed in him that he was not a Christian. His mix of personality and brilliance makes for terrific Christian talk. He really is a scholar and a theologian though I strongly suspect that he’d deny it. He hosts a daily Christian radio talk show. This show makes for great listening. Todd is an evangelist, but the nature of his station on this battleship called Christianity makes him to function as a scholar. I love his take on the faith and his presentation of the Gospel. Todd is a refreshing breeze whenever I listen to him. He has a sermon series available for purchase called “Herman Who?” which is a teaching on Biblical hermeneutics (the art and science of interpreting scripture,) doesn’t that sound awesome? Well, it is. I recommend Way of The Master Radio wholeheartedly. Scroll through the archived messages under previous shows and pod casts and read the descriptions of any given day’s broadcast and let one catch your eye. Listen and repeat. The radio show is archived and all the episodes are available on the site for free. 

7. Leslie Hale – lesliehale.com. I owe an unknown amount of thanks to this rather obscure pastor. His sermon outlining the book by AW Pink called The Attributes of God absolutely rocked my faith in delightful ways that I loved to hate if that makes any sense. Leslie’s sermon that I call the most pivotal in my faith is called “My Concept of God.” I heard it years ago and only have it on cassette tape now. I don’t know much about Leslie except that he is a strict Irish preacher from Belfast. I thank God for bringing this man into my life and that his teachings assisted my rescue from the corruption and wickedness of the word faith cult movement. I am certain that it would be nothing but an email and any gift amount to his ministry to get “My Concept of God” on tape mailed to you; it is worth it. It literally is THE sermon that changed my life forever. God is majestic and holy and this sermon approaches Him and describes Him as He is. This message changed me in many ways. Just one message from someone you’ve never met. I cannot but marvel at the power of God to change the heart, and that is why I have this list in your eyes right now. He also preached a sermon on Christmas entitled something like “The Christmas Story as you’ve Never Heard it.” I had no idea the true immense power behind the Nativity Story and also had no idea how wrong holiday gift cards were. If you can get it, go through the trouble and get these two messages especially the first one mentioned. On his website there are many free messages that look promising and I wholeheartedly endorse Leslie’s ministry. Thank You God for this man.  

8. Leonard Ravenhill – ravenhill.org. The late Leonard Ravenhill was a preacher of a different breed. He has a heavy Methodist influence in his teaching. I love Leonard’s teaching on prayer. Prayer, to him, was the highest Christian duty. He has inspired me to pray hard and seek the truth of the position of a Christian on his knees before his God. Leonard is not a theologian; by his own definition he is a preacher. I relay that because I believe he is. There was one sermon video that captured my heart and just blessed my socks off from the man. It was a video called “Judgment Seat of Christ.” I really enjoyed the video as well as many of his other sermons. This video is available, along with many other Ravenhill messages on Sermonindex.net. Look for the video, and be specific in the words in the title. Leonard to me is iconic of an age of preachers long since gone. This man would walk through England, sleep in churches to preach, and hold revivals for weeks at a time wherever the Spirit led him. He died a modest and humble saint dearly missed by many. Leonard was a true preacher and his work was heart work. I thank God for his ministry and his love for holiness and fire in Christ. I don’t know too much about Leonard and strongly suspect that we would differ on many doctrinal points, but I can make the distinction for such a clear and loving man who was known to weep in the pulpit and travail for the honor of the Gospel he was born to proclaim.  

9. Walter Martin – waltermartin.org. The late Walter Martin was awesome. I like this man because of his exhaustive examinations of the cults and false religions. He teaches on many false religions and is a trustworthy authority in such studies. He was a scholar and a lover of the precision of the Greek language. If you want to learn about false religions, which I hope you all do, here is one great source. He has a large and hugely influential series of messages called “The Kingdom of The Cults.” On his website you can listen to hours of teaching on false religions like the Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, Scientologists, Christian Scientists, etc. Walter was well hated in his day as a Christian, which in his case means he was doing something right. Walter was the founder of the Christian Research Institute which is still available online.  

10. Paul Washer – heartcrymissionary.com. Paul is a gentle giant. Spending most of his life in the mountains of central and South America, Paul is a little different than what we normally hear here in the states. Paul’s message “A Sermon That Has Angered Many - Examine Yourself” was something very real for me. It is available on sermonindex.net. Following a man like Paul Washer in his teaching is of the type that automatically weeds out the fake. Paul is the type you are drawn to fellowship with whether he’s in the pulpit or the prison. Paul is a humble servant of his Lord and I love the man very much.  

11. Mark Cahill – markcahill.org. Loving a man like Mark is easy when you love the Gospel. His messages “Lukewarm No More”, “Engaging the Culture” and “It’s Not Blind Faith” are pumped full of his ideology on sharing the faith with strangers. He ministers a lot with youth in churches in America. Mark has many interesting stories of how Jesus has put him into the ears of famous people in his life and he freely shares of his failures and successes in those encounters. Mark has written several books and is involved and supportive of a great number of ministries in the country and around the world. He is without a doubt primarily an evangelist. Mark’s fire as an evangelist is, as Ephesians four says, for the equipping of the church.  

12. Alistair Begg – truthforlife.org. Alistair is a pastor. He is a lover of sound doctrine and a terrific shepherd. I recommend any teaching that may catch your interest in its title. He’s also got a really cool accent.  

13. Ken Ham – answersingenesis.org. Ken is a creation scientist. He teaches, as do all Christians and even just people who have a clue about the stupidity of Darwinian Evolution. Ken has wonderful resources available in both written and media form on his site. I have listened to several messages of Ken’s, but I don’t wish to recommend any specifically. I’d like to recommend this ministry because of their dealing with scientific issues. You can search their database with pretty much any question relating to creation. Ask them a question about science as it relates to the Bible and I hope they will answer your questions as well as they have mine.  

14. D James Kennedy – coralridge.org. The late D James Kennedy Has many interesting messages archived and available free of charge on his website called Truths That Transform. He shared on a lot of interesting topics and guest speakers to his programs have impacted me greatly. Pick a topic and search for it. You may find it with Mr. Kennedy. 

15. David Guzik – enduringword.com. David literally sprang up out of nowhere in my life. His teaching on the Old Testament was unlike any other teaching I’d ever heard. Often I just hated that his messages had to end at all. If you’ve not been well versed in a lot of Old Testament books like I and II Kings, I and II Samuel, Daniel, Isaiah, etc, let him walk you through them in the multitude of messages available on Sermon Index. This is expository preaching through most of these books. He also does a lot of great teaching on church history all the way up through the Reformation and beyond. He is an awesome preacher and one I highly recommend.  

Just some other names and men I’ve heard and loved of the past and present.

1. Adrian Rogers

2. Charles Spurgeon

3. Jonathan Edwards

4. Chuck Missler

5. James Walker- watchman.org. His message Unmasking Mormonism is awesome. James was a former Mormon.

6. Paris Reidhead – His message on Sermon Index called Ten Shekels and a Shirt may start out slow, but it is awesome.

7. James White

8. Josh Mcdowell

9. Keith Green

10. Eric Meyer

11. Me – Biblecia.com. Boy is this on going work, bear with us. On the site you can listen to my audio sermon oddly enough entitled A Letter to a Stranger. I don’t know how an audio message got called a letter but we managed to pull it off. It is a general Christian apologetic and Gospel presentation. It originally went to a bunch of scientists and skeptics but is directed to any general audience. On this site you can see me and my young friend Isaac interview people on the streets on camera. The website is a work in progress… 

I could recommend so many more and I’m sure I’m not remembering everybody I’d like to list right now but one thing is certain: All of these messages and/or Christians listed above in God’s glorious and merciful ways have contributed to my death in Christ. I thank them all for that and pray that as I submit them to you they might bless you as they have blessed me.  

Grace to you in Jesus name. Listen to these resources and get their truths in your bones. Contend for this faith and do not lose heart.  

“For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

(2 Corinthians 4:6.)

Noteworthy is that the fact that the Bible reveals God as triune sets it apart from other worldly sources that claim a similar revelation. The uniqueness of the one true faith that sets it apart from anything that names itself as thus is that its vision of God is nothing like the 'gods' of false religions or cults.

As proven in the other two posts: There is only 1 God. God is 1 Being.

The Son is God.
The Father is God.
The Holy Spirit is God.

Yet, there are not 3 Gods, but 1 God, because God is one being (Mark 12:29, Deuteronomy 6:4). Each of the three is God, without there being 3 beings, but 3 persons of 1 Being, who are distinct, yet 1.

The Father is Not the Son, The Father is Not the Holy Spirit, The Son is Not the Father, The Son is Not the Holy Spirit, The Holy Spirit is Not the Son, The Holy Spirit is Not the Father - but God eternally exists as 3 persons, yet 1 being.

Also important to note is that since they eternally exist as 3 persons, not one person comes or came before another. If you could talk this way about God (because the Creator, by nature being the Creator, is uncreated) - The Son didn't come or exist before the Father, The Father didn't come or exist before the Son, and the same with the Holy Spirit. The uncaused, uncreated, self-existent God eternally exists as 3 persons - and has always for all of eternity. And so the Person of the Son, pre-existant who became flesh (John 1:14), has always been with God the Father as God, fully who He is now, having never been created or formed. An earthly analogy is to say that Jesus is the 'son' of God rather than the Son of God. What I mean by this is to carnalize the view of the Son and say that the Father had to create or give birth to the Son - Jesus Christ has always been with the Father, pre-existant throughout all eternity. Verses that illustrate this are John 1:1, John 1:14, Revelations 19:13, 1 Timothy 3:16, Hebrews 1:8-12, Psalm 45:6-7, John 20:28, Isaiah 9:6, Phil. 2:5-8, Col. 2:9, Matt 22:44, Psalm 110:1, to name a few. The death of the Son - this is possible because He had a dual nature - not only is He fully God, but He's also now fully human - God displayed attributes of both natures, yet was without sin.

More reflections on this later (hopefully).

Found this on a helpful site. www.allaboutGod.com/

What does the Bible say about being a living sacrifice unto the Lord?

Sacrifice is defined by Nelson's Bible Dictionary as "The ritual through which the Hebrew people offered the blood or the flesh of an animal to God as a 'substitute payment' for their sin." Then what is a living sacrifice? How are we to offer our lives as a sacrifice to God?

The following verses describe what the Bible says about being a living sacrifice unto the Lord:

Romans 12:1-2 says, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will."
1 Peter 2:1-5 reads: "Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, the living Stone - rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him - you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."
Ephesians 5:1-2 says, "Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."
2 Corinthians 4:6-12 reads: "For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you."
Hebrews 13:15-16 says, "Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise - the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased."
Psalm 51:17 declares: "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise."

God is far away from any man who's heart is proud, or establishes his own goodness before His goodness. He says, 'Well, I'm not that bad of a person, really,' and they make justify what they do see as bad by saying, 'Well, everyone else does it. My friends do it, so it must be okay.' But, God sees not only the outside, but the heart - when you think, 'well, deep down, I really don't mean wrong,' when the heart is deceitful and deceptive, and doesn't want to see itself in truth! Really, consider yourself the way God wants you to see yourself. Look into the mirror of what you're going to be judged by on Judgment day - the law, or 10 commandments. Have you committed adultery? The bible so clearly declares that the thoroughness of the law isn't only to your actions, but the thoughts and intents of your heart - Jesus said in Matthew 5:27-32 that if you've even looked at a woman to lust after her, you've sinned against God and you'll be judged as an adulterer (or fornicator if you're not married), on the day of judgment. Please, lets see ourselves in truth.

To the Christian who is struggling with pride - God wants us to clothe ourselves in humility and patience and kindness of heart, which is how God is. What children don't resemble their father? Since we're saved by God's grace and mercy through faith on the Son of God, lets examine ourselves - do we have pride in our heart? Who have we really been serving lately - God? Or ourselves? If you're serving yourself, you're not serving God. Lets turn our hearts from the worldly, ungodly attention, turn off televisions, stop reading romance novels that have us dwell on our lustful imagination, and turn our hearts and attentions to God in His Word. Scripture isn't just inspired, written by God, but it's revelation of God - when you open the Word, God is teaching. If you want to heart the voice of God, read your bible out loud.

To whomever reads, get to know Jesus better! Be a man (or woman) of one man - Jesus. Follow in His footsteps. When it gets hard, lean on His broad shoulders, because He carries our burdens.

Here are some verses on pride and humility to help you, whoever you are. God loves you, so I loves you, too!

Pride:
"The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God; God is in none of his thoughts." (Psalms 10:4)
"Though the LORD is on high, yet He regards the lowly; but the proud He knows from afar." (Psalm 138:6)
"The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate." (Proverbs ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microso ft-com:office:smarttags&q uot; />8:13)
"When pride comes, then comes shame; but with the humble is wisdom." (Proverbs 11:2)
"By pride comes nothing but strife, but with the well-advised is wisdom." (Proverbs 13:10)
"Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." (Proverbs 16:18)
"Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD; though they join forces, none will go unpunished." (Proverbs 16:5)
"A man's pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit will retain honor." (Proverbs 29:23)
Psalm 103:11-12 says, "For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us."
Ephesians 4:32 says, "Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).
Colossians 3:12 says, "Since God chose you to be the holy people whom he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience."
Philippians 2:3 says, "Don't be selfish; don't live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself."
1 Corinthians 4:7 says, "What makes you better than anyone else? What do you have that God hasn't given you? And if all you have is from God, why boast as though you have accomplished something on your own?"
Philippians 2:5-8 says, "Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not demand and cling to his rights as God. He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. And in human form he obediently humbled himself even further by dying a criminal's death on a cross."
1 Peter 5:6 says, "So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and in his good time he will honor you."
Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. - Proverbs 11:2
Fear of the LORD teaches a person to be wise; humility precedes honor. - Proverbs 15:33
Haughtiness goes before destruction; humility precedes honor. - Proverbs 18:12
True humility and fear of the LORD lead to riches, honor, and long life. - Proverbs 22:4
Pride ends in humiliation, while humility brings honor. - Proverbs 29:23
You younger men, accept the authority of the elders. And all of you, serve each other in humility, for "God sets himself against the proud, but he shows favor to the humble."*1 - 1 Peter 5:5

Some of these I got from www.AllaboutGod.com/

Trinity

1. The Bible says that there is only one God: Deuteronomy 6:4 (cross ref. Matt ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microso ft-com:office:smarttags&q uot; />12:29), Isaiah 43:10, 44:6-8, 45:5,14,18,21,22, 46:9 (and an indirect reference in 47:8).

    

2. The Bible also names 3 persons as God:
   
   

    

   1. God the Father – 1 Corinthians 8:6, Ephesians 4:4-6
      
      

       

   2. God the Son (Jesus Christ, the Word) – John 1:1-5, 1:14 (cross ref. 1 John 4:2-3), John 8:58 (cross ref. John 8:24, Exodus 3:14), John 10:30-33, 20:28, Col. 2:9, Phil. 2:5-8, Heb. 1:8,6, also Phil 2:9-11 (cross ref. Isaiah 45:23).
      Note: Jesus is worshipped several times throughout scripture, whereas worship is commanded only to be given and received by God (Matt. 4:10, Luke 4:8, Exodus 20:5,6).
      
      

       

   3. God the Holy Spirit (or Holy Ghost) – Acts 5:3-4, 2 Corinthians 3:16-17 (cross ref. Exodus 34:34), Isaiah 63:10

       

3. God in the Old Testament talks about Himself in the plural.

    

   1. Gen. 1:26 – Let us make man in our image…

       

   2. Gen. 3:22 - …become like one of us...

       

   3. Isaiah 6:8 - …and who will go for us…

       

   4. Psalms 45:6, cross ref. Heb 1:6-8 – God said to my God – The context is the Father speaking and since it is requited in Hebrews 1:6-8, the New Testament reveals that God the Father was calling the Son God, illustrating an agreement between the persons that each individually is God, yet there is but one God

       

   5. Malachi 3:1-2, Hosea 1:7 - God is speaking about the Lord, speaking of another person who is called Lord in the third person, who is God Himself.

       

4. The Pre-existence of the Son – The Second Person in God's being added humanity to His deity - Psalms 110:1, cross ref. Matt. 22:44, Mr. 12:36, Luke 20:41-44, Heb 1:13 – Jesus quotes Psalms 110:1 where Jesus says that this is a direct reference to Himself, the Christ, in the Old Testament. The Christ is called Lord here, and is with God, pre-existent to His appearance on earth in the New Testament. Also, it is noteworthy that Jesus quotes Psalms 110:1 in a dispute with Jewish leaders, the Pharisees, in Luke 20:41-44, proving and showing them from the psalms that the Christ is not only pre-existent and not of human origin, but the Lord of the Old Testament that spoke to David who would be both God and man.

    

5. The Person-hood of the Holy Spirit - The Holy Spirit in several passages such as these is spoken of as a personal, living, thinking, feeling individual, like the Father. For example, the Holy Spirit can be grieved (Ephesians 4:30, Isaiah 63:10), can teach and is referred to as someone separate from Jesus (John 14:26), can speak (Acts 13:2), and intercede or be sent (Romans 8:27), and many other examples.

    

   1. John 14:26 Jesus says that the Holy Spirit will teach us – teaching is an activity that is personal, and this passage also refers to the Holy Spirit as the Comforter, or Helper.

       

   2. John 16:13-15 refers to the Holy Spirit as distinct from the Father and the Son and the Son says that the Holy Spirit will guide us.

       

   3. In Acts 16:6-7, the narrative of the passage talks about the Holy Spirit telling Paul and Silas not to preach in one area and directing them to another – some translations have 'the Spirit of Jesus,' which is another reference to the Holy Spirit.

       

   4. In Acts 10:38 – 'How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power…' – if the Holy Spirit were just the 'power' of God or some force, it would read differently, such as, 'with the power of God,' but passages such as these show how the Holy Spirit and the power of God are different (1 Thess. 1:5, and the ones above show how the Holy Spirit is not impersonal, but a person of God (for example, in 2 Cor. 3:17 we find that, like Jesus, the Holy Spirit is called Lord).

       

6. The Three Persons mentioned together – The bible mentions them together over 60 times

    

   1. Here are some: Matt 3:16,17, Matt 28:19, 2 Cor. 13:14, Ephessians 4:4-6, Titus 3:4-6, John 14:26, John 3:34, and many others.

       

   2. Think of when Jesus was baptized in Matt. 3:16-17 – The Father spoke from heaven, Jesus was being baptized, and the Holy Spirit descended from heaven – all 3 appeared, and all 3 were distinct from each other, yet there is but 1 God. This then occurs in all 4 gospels: Mark 1:10-11, Luke 3:22, and John 1:32.

       

7. 1 Cor. 12:1-6 – This passage shows that there is a pattern in the New Testament where the Greek word for 'Lord' (kurios) is usually applied to the Son and the Greek word for 'God' (theos) is generally applied to the Father, but as we have seen, these are divine names and titles that directly refer to each person being God.

    

   1. The Greek word Lord (kurios) is applied to Jesus. The Hebrew equivalent refers to the person of the Son over 6,800 times in the Old Testament. It is one of the Old Testament names for God: Spirit, Lord and God (3 persons).

       

1. Examine this passage: 2Co 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.
   Here, the Son is called Lord, the Father is called God, and then there is the person of the Holy Spirit.

    

2. Examine this passage: John 1:18 No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known. (NIV) Psalm 110:1

    

3. Examine these: