inadequate

in general, people never stop talking. they are always telling something to someone about something that happened somewhere. yet in all that talking, there is little substance, in general, and if there is substance, is it really good? 

the most eloquent of writers and speakers could relate the most beautiful of messages about our great God, yet they would not come close to touching the magnitude of His great glory. they could spin the best of lines in such a way so as to stun an audience, yet it would shine as dimly as a candle compared to the sun. there is nothing that man can do or say that could ever possible hope to communicate the vastness of the power of our magnificent God.

so the next question would be, why do any of it? why talk about Him, why write about Him, why praise Him? because we are commanded to, for if we don't, the very rocks will cry out with the praises of our King. we can do Him no justice, yet we will spend all eternity trying to, and we will love doing that, and love Him for allowing us to, and in return, He will love us for He created us. oh that we have a merciful and gracious Redeemer that care for what He created, or else we would be little more then dust and ashes. glory be to God

faithful servant

matthew 25:29, to those that God has given to, more shall be given if they are faithful to multiply what they already have, however, if you do nothing with what you have or dare i say squander it, then all shall be taken from you. this is a good promise to remember, cuz even if you don't have a whole lot of ability or whatever, if you use what you have, God will bless it and use it and then give you even more. though it is also a warning in that if you do not use what God has given you and do not invest time in to work and study, then you will mess up your life and God will not work things to bless you, though He may still use you to bless others and such, though you may not get the blessings from it as you would have if you would have worked for Christ instead of something else. 

all is profitable

in numbers 26 there is a census listed. now generally, these tend to be quite boring to read yet if you look at them as something that could lead someone to Christ, then that makes them kinda cool. to think that someone could be lead to a saving faith in Christ by the simple listing of people in the bible that all points to the birth of Christ, that is cool.

so remember that even when it could seem like they are boring, all scripture is profitable, or else God wouldn't have written in all down. so read it

be ready

matthew 24:42-51 talks about how we are to be ready for when Christ will return. we must be living our lives now how we think we ought to when Christ comes back for we do not know when He will return so we should live as if He is returning now. 

would you live your life the way that you are now if Christ were to come this very night? if yes, then either good job, or i'm sorry that you are going to hell. for either you are living for Christ as you should, or you don't care for Christ and will burn in hell forever.

now, if you are not living your life as you should be and you know it, then change. i know this is not as simple as it is to say, but we still must do it. we've got to. we are called to this. 

go out and bear fruit and multiple the kingdom

authority

our current postmodern age is one that hates all authority and would rather do without any of it. it would rather have everyone make up their own standard so that everyone can do what ever it is that they want to do. as a person of the Word, we are to be people of authority. this is actually to pastors. pastors are to teach with authority, similarly to what Christ did, though slightly different. Christ preached with His own authority, while we are to teach with his authority and not our own. we get our authority from Christ. with this authority, we must know what we are teaching and the only way to know that is to study the Word. so we must study to Word to know what it says so that we may teach with the authority of Christ. we can do nothing until we know what the Scriptures says and if we don't know, then we should say that and then get help so that we can know what it says so that we can have the authority of Christ so that we may teach those that are under us. this is no small matter. Christ condemns the scribes for this for they taught with no authority but would rather make the text of scripture say what ever it is that they wanted it to say. this is terribly wrong. however, i am sure that no one who is going to read this would dare make stuff up with scripture, so i won't say any more on this :)

study the Word, everyone, so that even if you are not teaching, you may know if the teacher is actually teaching the right stuff. teachers, study and then teach. you have a holy occupation that is of the greatest of importance and it should not be taken lightly.

steak and potatoes

while this meal is generally referred to the heartiest of meals, what i am getting this week is better. it is just plain awesome. while this week is awesome though, what happens when i get back home? how am i going to be getting fed then? well, you might say church, but i think that you are wrong. to keep with food, church should be the coffee at the end of the meal and not the meal itself. we should all be eating throughout the week, eating good, heavy meals so that when sunday and church comes along, it is not our only meal, but our way to enjoy the meal better.

have you ever had a couple of cups of coffee after you eat a big meal? guess what it does to you? a couple of things:

first, it compliments the food. it doesn't really fill you up any more, though it does make the rest of the meal taste better. it you go to church on sunday after a good week of bible study, reading and prayer, church is just an enforcement and encouragement to your walk, something to inspire confidence as you become more like Christ.

second, coffee helps to start digestion. when you eat a big meal, your stomach kinda starts to hurt and such cuz there is so much food in there and it just isn't made to handle it all that well, coffee helps to generate some stomach acids to help with that. church is the same way, it should help us to understand scriptures all the more so that during our own time of study, we will be able to better understand what we are wrestling with, it promotes bible study.

and lastly, coffee helps to energize. after a meal, your body sends all the blood to the stomach to help with digestion, this causes some sleepiness in the person, turkey coma is a common term around thanksgiving. coffee helps with this with it's great amounts of good caffeine. this is the fellowship part of church. while we may have a hard week with work or the family or kids or school or whatever, church will be there at the end of the week to help encourage and excite you for the week to come, even though it may be the same and you know it to be the same. this came, however, only come if you are studying the word and that it is active in you. this one only comes if the other two are present. a believer who is in the word should love church and be excited to go to church and should leave even more excited and encouraged and more ready to go out in to the world and show off Christ all the more after church. 

so go out and eat some good meals and then go and get the coffee, it is the way that it is meant to be and it works oh so much better cuz coffee doesn't do well on an empty stomach, it will eventually erode the stomach lining which isn't very pleasant. this might not happen with church, but it doesn't actually with coffee.

day 1

well, after finishing the first day at shepherd's conference, i would have to say that it is an awesome experience that everyone should get to have at some point and to some extent in their lives. people talk a lot about the singing, the the teaching is what is really impacting me. in this, i shall try and convey some of the things that i have learned today.

session one, taught by john macarthur was called, "why every calvinist must be a 6 day creationist" his reasoning is because it is clearly in the bible in genesis 1, so just read it and it makes perfect sense. also, that we must not be enviromentalist. so, "step on grass, kill and deer, and drill for oil, now". that is actually what he said in the message. he did not stress to much about being stewards of the earth, but i think that is because we are already way to concerned about that to the point that it is hurting human life, so he didn't stress it to much, though he did mention it a little.

the next one was about how to preach the Old Testament, and that mostly just went over basic bible study techniques that are forgotten and overlooked when studying the Old Testament.

the next one was about how the church is the epicenter for our christianity. we must build the church on the correct foundation and the only way to do that is to know what that foundation is and the only way to know that is to study the Word day in and day out. we must know the truth so that we can teach it to others. there is no excuse. we need to build the church as if we are building God's temple, because the church is God's temple. each believer is where the Holy Spirit is so that is God's temple. this is no small task but one that should be taken with all seriousness. the end result of this life is all the same, everyone will the bowing down to God, praising and worshipping Him, the only difference is where we will be when we are doing this. this life is on loan from God, should we not be doing what we will be doing after our death for the rest of eternity, which is praising God? so start doing what you should be doing so that we may bring God all the more glory.

the last session was again by john macarthur and it was mostly about his life and what his thoughts about the church are. all of his thoughts about the church though come from the bible, from scripture. there are things in this life that he will not budge on, in his life and in his church. we must make up our list of things that we will not change no matter what. the thing is, that this list should not change at any point in our life. it should be the same through out, for it should all be from scripture, and since scripture doesn't change, neither should our list. so make a list from scripture and follow it.

stumbling child or falling brother

well, we arrived in california today safely. it was a good trip down though quite long. during the ride, i was thinking about sin and how it grieves God. to get it so that my mind could comprehend, i dumbed it way down. i compared actually sin with the analogy of a child and brother. if a baby were to walk up to me, not knowing any better, and punched me, it wouldn't really bother me at all that he did that. however, if a brother were to come up and to do the same to me, i would be hurt and annoyed by what he did. this is not because what the brother did to me hurt more but because he did it knowing full well what he was doing. he was not ignorant and innocent like the baby. 

how does this relate? well, a pagan sins because he doesn't know any better, while when the believer sins, it is completely against what God tells him not to do and he knows better then to do it. he is, in fact, hurting him Father, which is something that we should not want to do.

so, stop grieving the Father. strive to live for Him. 

friends

john 15:15 "no longer do I call you slaves, for a slave does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you."

this verse is a great comfort in that we now know what we are to do and that it is in fact what we are to do. Christ has revealed to us through Scriptures all that we are to do. all that the Father has told Christ He has told us, and since Christ and the Father are one (jn 10:30) then Christ knows all that the Father knows so He has in fact revealed to us all things. this does not mean that we can comprehend everything or that we have the capacity to know everything, but simply that all is revealed. so the more that we study Scriptures, the more we can learn, know, and apply but this can only come through the study of Scriptures for Christ reveals Himself to the believers today through Scripture. 

the term "friend" also denotes closeness. we are not just mindless slaves as we once were to sin but we now have a relationship to Christ as a brother, companion, friends, leader, shepherd and mediator. He is the high priest who can sympathizes with us for He knows all that we have gone through for He has gone through it all as well. He has gone through the worst of things in life, suffered the most horrible of deaths, and was tempted in all manners without falling. He is the perfect friend to have, for He gives perfect advise for He has already gone through this life without fall. advise is best when coming from an informed source and what source is better informed then that of the source that created everything. 

(i  know i missed a few post which was dues to no internet. i won't be making those up though cuz i'm a little busy and tired and still kinda sick right now.)