the sweet life

New Site

2007-09-21T07:21:00.001-06:00

Since everyone has decided to use wordpress I had to also. I am such a crowd follower. Check it out at www.jhill8855.wordpress.com

Life

2007-09-06T17:26:00.000-06:00

I know it has been a long time since I have posted but here is a rundown of what is going on in my life.

1. I have been married now for 19 days!!!!!!!! It is amazing!!!!!!!! Being married is much more fun than being not married.

2. God is doing some really great things in my life and speaking to me in some really cool ways. ("really cool ways" meaning what God is saying but all of it has been through His Word.)

3. Being married has made me realize how unspiritual I really am. I am not as selfless, loving. compassionate, etc...... as I thought I was.

4. I was called a false prophet by someone who doesn't understand their Bible the other day. It was funny. They called me a false prophet because I told someone that if God was calling them to do something they needed to do it regardless of whether or not they knew what job they would have, or where their next meal would come from, but that takes too much faith for the person who called me a false prophet, I guess.

5. I am reading the book of Hebrews, and man it is soooooo deep. It is awesome.

6. Dwelling on Jesus being our High Priest will really make you cry "Holy, Holy, Holy" and lead you to confession and repentance.

Well that is it for now but things are getting back to normal so I will be posting again soon.

I love you guys.

Alcohol?

2007-07-20T09:31:00.000-06:00

Well after being told to study the subject above in Scripture I have started to do just that. I ask you a question; "Is drinking alcohol wrong?". I will attempt to begin answering.

First, you must know that I am not anywhere near done studying the subject and have yet to come to a definite conclusion.

The answer to the question "Is drinking alcohol wrong?" is both yes and no.
"Strong drink" is forbidden in Scripture except when given to a person who is dying to ease their suffering. However, wine is not forbidden. Now what is strong drink, so far I would conclude that anything with alcohol added in addition to the natural fermentation process would be considered "strong drink".

So drinking most wine and or beer is ok in moderation but most everything else is not.

Tell me what you think.

I love you guys.

Oh and by the way, since most of what I have been taught has turned out to be wrong this is just another thing to add to the list.

And no I am not going to start drinking.

And this will be funny to read for some of you who I have had previous converstions with pertaining to the subject.

"TAKE HEED UNTO DOCTRINE"

2007-07-05T13:05:00.000-06:00

“We’re not going to be a church that’s going to bury you with doctrine and theology and talk about things that really don’t pertain to your life,” he said.

This statement came from a "pastor" who is doing a church plant in North Carolina. I hope none of you think that this statement is ok.

I wish we would go back to the Bible to find out how we should do ministry. Here is what Paul said about our ministry.

"preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction"

But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine.

SPEAK THE THINGS WHICH ARE FITTING FOR SOUND DOCTRINE.
This is not what we see in our ministries today. We see a lot of this though

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,

The statement made by this "pastor" is horrible. The sad thing is this is just about all we see nowadays. This pastor will probably have a really "successful" church and will have "reached" a lot of people but it is because the people of that community will have their ears tickled by the teacher that the town officially loves.

LETS BE DIFFERENT AND SEPERATE FOR HIS GLORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What are you preaching?

2007-06-29T10:23:00.000-06:00

Galations 1:1-10

1Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead),
2and all the brethren who are with me, To the churches of Galatia:
3Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,
4who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
5to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.
6I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel;
7which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
8But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!
9As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!
10For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.

Please I beg you to read this with caution. Many of you who will read this and say "Amen" are the very ones distorting the Gospel. I love you all.

The New Covenant

2007-06-25T10:24:00.000-06:00

Jeremiah 31:31-34

31"Behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,
32not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them," declares the LORD.
33"But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD, "I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
34"They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."

Furtick and Osteen

2007-06-20T12:01:00.000-06:00

So on June 4th a pastor named Steven Furtick wrote a post that was titled "Please stop pickin on Joel" in which he pretty much told everyone to stop talking negatively about Joel and his preaching. Then I saw leaders agreeing with him and posting a link to it on their stuff. I have a few problems with what Mr. Furtick said. (Keep in mind while you are reading this that i often read and enjoy his blog but i hated this one.)

1. He called Lakewood a church which it is obviously not. It is a place for a bunch of lost people to get together and feel good about their lives.

2. While i fully agree that we should not be mean-spirited and that we should do a lot more walking than we do talking. We should publicly expose Joel for being a false teacher, which is what he is.

3. Pastor Furtick said that he was impacting Houston. Which is true except he forgot to mention that the impact he has is that he is an instrument of deception.

4. Who gives a crap that this man preaches to 40,000 people weekly if they are only there to feel really good about themselves. Oh and Steven, the reason why i could not get 40,000 people to come hear me weekly is because the Jesus I preach (which is the One from the Bible) is an offense to unconverted sinners.

Again I agree that everything we say and do should be out of love, and that we should be doing before we begin talking, but that is all most of us are doing.

We should expose Joel Osteen for what he is because people need to know.

Be doers of the Word.

J.R. Lee

2007-06-14T13:38:00.000-06:00

Well what to say? Just kidding.

I want to say thank you to J.R. for a few reasons.
1. I have learned a lot from you.
2. I get better at sports when i play them with you
3. you have given me more stuff than anyone else (except my parents, but thats a given)

Anyways man. I hope God blesses you. This sounds like a goodbye but its not.

I just read this post and it is the weirdest one i have ever written.

J.R. I love you man. Later

Women

2007-06-04T11:48:00.000-06:00

I have been appalled on several occassions at some women that attend my church ( not all of them, but a few) and now more than ever (I think) see why God created the order of leadership in the manner that He did.

On one occassion i was at a horribly unbiblical meeting that was called at my church by some lay people that do not study their Bible very much from what i gathered. Every time a man would begin to say something, some woman would interrupt so that she could hear herself talk for like 15 minutes. This happened over and over again. I must also say that some fault does fall on the men for two reasons.
1. The men were doing something, by having the meeting, that was HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!!
2. The men were acting like cowards and would not take the floor after being interrupted.

Last night there were at least two (very loud) women that were acting in a terrible manner as well. I cannot go into detail because everyone who attends my church would know exactly who i was talking about.

Read these verses in 1 Cor.
34The women are to keep silent in the churches; for they are not permitted to speak, but are to subject themselves, just as the Law also says.
35If they desire to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home; for it is improper for a woman to speak in church.

For the women reading this blog. If you are acting like a woman should then may God bless you to continue being like Christ.
If you are not then please take Scripture to heart and if you have questions ask your husband. Do not waste everybody elses time.

For the men. STOP ACTING LIKE COWARDS. Be a man!!!!!!!

Also, for the men. Biblical leadership in the household means that you are to lead on behalf of your wife and not as a tyrant. In not being a coward please still act as Christ does toward His beautiful bride.

The Sinfulness of Sin

2007-05-30T12:04:00.000-06:00

I am currently reading a book by John Bunyan called "The Pilgrims Progress" and it is incredible. It is said to be the greatest allegory ever written and since it is the first allegory i have ever read i think i will stop after the best. I would hate to be dissappointed.

Anyways, God showed me something while i was reading this book the other day. Read this:

"CHRISTIAN: Sir, what think you? Is there any hope? May I now go back, and go up to the wicket-gate? Shall I not be abandoned for this, and sent back from thence ashamed? I am sorry I have hearkened to this man’s counsel; but may my sin be forgiven?
EVANGELIST: Then said Evangelist to him, Thy sin is very great, for by it thou hast committed two evils: thou hast forsaken the way that is good, to tread in forbidden paths. Yet will the man at the gate receive thee, for he has good-will for men; only, said he, take heed that thou turn not aside again, lest thou “perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little.” Psalm 2:12."

What evangelist says to christian here is so crazy to me. When you and i sin we just count it as one little thing but what if every time we do something wrong we have committed more than just one sin against God.

We have become so numb to sin that we neither recognize it nor are grieved by it. Pray that God will give you a sensitivity to sin like you have never had before. I am not talking about things like murder and rape, i am talking about things like watching movies with cursing or music that does not glorify God. Remember that if you are not sensitive to sin then you are lost according to 1 John.

WALK IN A MANNER WORTHY OF THE GOSPEL.

I love you

Are you truly born again?

2007-05-18T12:46:00.000-06:00

3By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.
4The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him;
5but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected By this we know that we are in Him:
6the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.
7Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard.

Persecution

2007-05-15T12:35:00.000-06:00

2 Timothy 3:2
12Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

I just read a story at The Voice of the Martyrs website. Five muslim men walked into a Christian institute of somekind and killed three Christians because of their hatred for Christ and His Church. Two of the men who were killed were converts from Islam and the other was a missionary from Germany.

The church in Turkey (which is where it happened) wrote a letter to the Church abroad. The pastor of the church said this "Please pray for the Church in Turkey. “Don’t pray against persecution, pray for perseverence,” urges Pastor Fikret Bocek".

THIS IS REAL CHRISTIANITY!!!!!!!!!!!

How much do you or I cherish Jesus Christ. My heart is broken over the condition of the American Church.

PLEASE PRAY for our brothers and sisters in Christ that face this kind of opposition every day. There is so much we can learn from them.

God has been good

2007-05-15T06:32:00.000-06:00

For me it is too rare of an occasion to stop and take a look at my life and thank God for how good He has been. God has blessed my life in more ways than I could count but here are a few.

1. I am engaged to the most wonderful person in the whole world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It still blows my mind that God would bless my life with Carmen Ann York. She is my baby.

2. I have the best job ever outside of ministry. I help kids with terminal illnesses and i get to work with mice and other animals. Get mad all you want to all of you PETA members. I would kill ten thousand mice to save the life of just one HUMAN child.

3. I have two of the most wonderful parents in the world. They have never failed me that i can remember. My mom has always been so great and thank you dad for showing me how to selflessly love my future wife.

4. God is growing me in His Word through His Spirit.

5. God chose to save me. Because He first loved me now I give everything i am to Him forever.

6.He has never failed to keep His promises.

7. I am surrounded by some incredible people who love Jesus with all their heart.

That is all that i have time for but read this verse.

Ephesians 3:20
20Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,

Our God is AWESOME.

Romans 8:33-39

2007-05-10T08:34:00.000-06:00

33Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies;
34who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.
35Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36Just as it is written, "FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED."
37But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.
38For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
39nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is )in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Persecution

2007-05-08T12:44:00.000-06:00

The Bible has a lot to say about the subject of persecution, mainly that christians will have to face it. This verse is awesome. It is in 2 Timothy.

12Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

I have one question. Are you, in some way, being persecuted for the sake of the Gospel and because of your desire for holiness. If not then it is obvious that you do not truly desire to "live godly in Christ Jesus".

I exhort you to do one thing. "LOVE JESUS AND BE HOLY"

Jesus

2007-05-04T11:51:00.000-06:00

Well when in doubt look to Jesus. After all He is everything. This passage in in Mark 4.

9And He was saying, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
10As soon as He was alone, His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables.
11And He was saying to them, "To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables,
12so that WHILE SEEING, THEY MAY SEE AND NOT PERCEIVE, AND WHILE HEARING, THEY MAY HEAR AND NOT UNDERSTAND, OTHERWISE THEY MIGHT RETURN AND BE FORGIVEN."

There is no taking this out of context. This whole chapter is astounding from a theological perspective.

Matthew 24
22"Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.

24"For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.

More Scripture

Proverbs 21
The king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD;He turns it wherever He wishes

Malachi 1
3but I have hated Esau, and I have made his mountains a desolation and appointed his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness."

Romans 8 (radical depravity)
7because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,
8and those who are in the flesh cannot please God

Daniel 4 (irresistable grace)

35"All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But He does according to His will in the host of heaven And among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can ward off His hand Or say to Him, 'What have You done?'

John 6

64"But there are some of you who do not believe " For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him.
65And He was saying, "For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father."

2 Timothy 2
24The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged,
25with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth,

Romans 3 (definite atonement)
25whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;
26for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

John 10
26"But you do not believe because you are not of My sheep." Notice: being a sheep enables you to become a believer, not vice versa

john 17

9"I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours;

Ephesians 1(unconditional election)

3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
4just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him In love
5He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
6to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

For more on this look at previous posts and read romans 9

I will address passages like John 3:16 and many others later. I am at work and i have to go.

John Piper on free will

2007-05-03T07:25:00.000-06:00

IV. The Place of Free Will
Verse 16 draws the obvious inference from verse 15. Whether a man receives mercy from God or not does not depend on a man's willing or his running (=efforts) but solely on God. In other words, God's merciful treatment of anyone is never initiated by or in any way ultimately influenced by the person's will. This is a necessary inference from verse 15: The all glorious God whose glory consists in his freedom to choose whomever He will cannot be determined by or obligated by anything outside himself.
If free will were defined as the native power in a man to determine his own destiny, this text shows that there is no such thing in the entire world. It not only shows free will to be non-existent, it also shows that to demand free will is an offence against the righteousness of God. For in Paul's understanding the inability of man by his willing to elicit God's mercy (9:16) is a direct inference from the glorious freedom of God (9:15) which in turn is the ground of his righteousness. If God's righteousness consists in his maintaining the fullness of his glory, and if an essential side of that glory is his absolute freedom in election from human willing and running, then to insist that man's will ultimately determines his destiny is to offend the righteousness of God.

The verses are in Romans 9

Does God elect some?

2007-05-01T06:22:00.000-06:00

13Just as it is written, "JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED."
14What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be!
15For He says to Moses, "I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION."
16So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.
17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH."
18So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.
19You will say to me then, "Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?"
20On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like this," will it?
21Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?
22What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?
23And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory,
24even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.

I could not add even one word but none of you can deny what we are taught in the Scriptures here.

48 Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.

What about this verse?

10 Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

Interesting.

Please do not say that this is not enough proof. It is in Scripture. There are many more.

Life

2007-04-30T11:32:00.000-06:00

Well life is just crazy sometimes. A lot of people seem to be dying or be on the verge of dying and it hasn't really soaked in yet. Carmen had her great grandma die on Monday. My whole family minus me left abruptly for St. Louis to see my grandma because it could be the last time my dad gets to see his mom. We just found out that my grandpa (my moms dad) has alzheimer's and right now, it doesn't look good.

On a much, much happier note, I got to see my favorite preacher in the world speak this past Thursday and it was incredible. Paul Washer is by far the most Godly preacher I have ever met. Most preachers do their thing and then leave because they are tired or need to spend time with their family( not that their is anything wrong with spending time with your family. In fact biblically, your family takes priority over everything but God Himself) but this man was very selfless. After he spoke he took a group of us into a small room and hung out with us for two and a half hours. It was awesome. He told us if he needed to he would stay there all night.

Also on a brighter note, the interim pastor at my church has resigned. (PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!!!) I hope that we have someone who will really preach the Word of God come to take his place.

That is all for now.

God rocks my world, literally

2007-04-20T12:10:00.000-06:00

God has made me realize or caused me to think about things differently over the past several months. Here are a few examples.

1. A great number of people who claim to be saved are not truly born again. This is something that I should have realized a long time ago because there are many Scriptures that talk about this like this one in the book of Hebrews chapter 6.

4For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit,
5and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,
6and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.

2. I glorify God most when I am most satisfied in Him. God wants to conform us to the image of His Son. That is why He saved us. This is where we will be most satisfied because the more we are like Christ the more intimate we will be with God.

3. When seeking God people put their circumstances before Scripture. This is very foolish because circumstances can be very misleading. For example, (this one happened like 8 months ago but i remember it pretty well) My fiance' and me were talking to a young lady who said that she was called of God to marry someone in ministry. Carmen asked this young lady how God had spoken to her through His Word about this and she said He hadn't but that she just knew. That is unbelievable but not uncommon in our churches. Most people that I have ever talked to about how they knew God was speaking to them about something said very little, if anything, about Scripture and a whole lot about how they "weighed the pro's and con's" or how"I cannot deny all the things that are coming together that point to this" or how "I prayed over it" (I am not trying to take away from the importance of prayer at all. I also believe prayer to be an improtant part when trying to discern God's will but this person said nothing about Scripture along with their praying). This brings me to the next thing I have learned.

4. God speaks, primarily, through His Word. If you want to know God's Will, read His Word and until you hear from Him through His Word forget about your stupid circumstances.

5. God loves His glory

11"For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; For how can My name be profaned? And My glory I will not give to another

6. God has given me a new view about my future marriage. I will love her with everything I am because God has called me to lay down my life for His precious daughter.

7. There is no greater truth than the Gospel and everything in our lives should be centered around that truth.

Pray for our leadership

2007-04-13T13:21:00.000-06:00

Please pray for the leadership of our country. Many, many of them are having to make really hard decisions and/or fight to make sure that people have a right to life...etc. Right now the Supreme Court is hearing a case that might give federal funding to conduct embryonic stem cell research which is nothing more than the destruction of human life. It will pass, and the President will have to use a veto.
I encourage all of you to keep up with what is going on around our country and i encourage you to pray for our leaders, and pray that God gives us a decent choice for a President in the up and coming election because right now all of our choices suck!!!!!!!!!!! Good ole Hillary(that is a scary thought), Obama, Giuliani(his views on abortion and many other issues are jacked up), Romney(HE IS A MORMON), Mccain(he is weak, we can't have him run our country during a time of war, or any other time for that matter). Just pray hard. Just pray hard. Just pray hard.

God is awesome!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-04-11T11:20:00.000-06:00

God continues to rock my world every single day!!! He is showing me so much in Scripture and it is very exciting when God is the one doing that.

Many of you don't really know how this whole journey started out. I thought i was saved on Oct. 17, 2001 because I prayed a prayer and my life was outwardly different but i soon found out that it doesn't matter very much how the outside looks if i wasn't changed inside. Then I heard a message on March 17, 2004 and again prayed a prayer and again thought i was saved. (this pray a prayer thing can be very misleading)and (the prayer of salvation wasn't even around until the 1950's- interesting that Paul and John and Jesus did not do this.) Anyways, after a couple of years i began to get really frustrated about my supposed relationship with God and i prayed that God would help me have a desire for Him and for His Word. The next morning i woke up changed, God had done a miracle in my life and all of a sudden I desired to know God and had a deep desire to read His Word. This is one of the main things that has caused me to question my old view of salvation and God's sovereignty. I made no decision, God simply did a work in my heart.

Then God began to show me things in His Word and things have been very different since then. That is the first time that i had any real assurance of my salvation because God showed me that 1 John was written so that i may know and that the only way to know that you are saved is to examine your life by Scripture.

God has turned my entire world upside down. He had to. I had to throw out a lot of things that i had learned from many teachers and allow God to reveal truth to me. All of that to say that our God is awesome and He still is changing lives.

Election

2007-03-30T12:39:00.000-06:00

It is becoming more and more apparent that most people in churches today, including the pastors, are almost totally ignorant of the things of God. Now before I go any further, just know that the statement I made might seem a bit prideful but I assure you that God is breaking over this fact and I take no credit for what God has shown me in His Word, to God be the glory, without Him i am nothing.
I have been taught my whole life that to say that God pre-ordained some for heaven and some for hell is not Biblical. Let's look into this together. On my last blog if you will remember we looked at Jesus when He said "You do not believe because you are not of my sheep" and this is a totally different statement than "You are not of my sheep because you do not believe". You do not become His sheep by believing, you are His sheep pre-destined before the foundation of time and that is why you now believe. Now with that in mind let's look into verses like John 3:16 "For God so loved the WORLD that he gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life."(emphasis added) What does God mean when He says "the world" and "whosoever"? We are going to use Scripture to interpret Scripture which by the way is the only real way to get an accurate interpretation of Scripture. Acts 15:17 says "So that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, Even all the Gentiles who are called by My Name" This verse is referring back to the book of Amos in chapter 9. Look at how God said "the rest of mankind may seek the Lord" We know that the rest of mankind cannot mean every single person so what does it mean? "The gentiles who are called by my Name". What does the world mean in John 3:16, it is trying to get across the fact that salvation was not only for the Jews but also for the Gentiles.
One last thing. People always quote the verse in 1 Peter that says "God is not willing that any should perish but all come to repentance" in support of the fact that God wants all men to be saved. This is a very foolish argument. If it truly is God's will that all come to repentance then he is a failure and we should immediately stop worshiping him. Not only do some not come to repentance but more do not than do and if it is his will that all men be saved then satan has been victorious over him. This is not Calvanism this is the Bible. Our God is not a failure and nothing can stand in the way of His perfect will. Satan does not win when someone goes to hell. It was God's will and He still reigns victorious. Just read your Bible and stop taking all the stupid things you hear from the pulpit seriously. If you will truly study His Word and meditate on His law and His work He will reveal Himself to you believer. That is my encouragement to you, chase hard after God so that you may know Him and enjoy Him.

you are not my sheep

2007-03-26T07:29:00.000-06:00

In the book of John Jesus is talking to a crowd in chapter 10 and Jesus says in verse 26 "But you do not believe, because you are not of my sheep". Now if that were written today by most evangelist it would say " you are not my sheep because you do not believe". There is a major difference between these two statements mainly that one is right and one is wrong and of course Jesus is right. It is not that you believe and then you become His sheep. Could it be that we are predestined to be His sheep and that is why we have believed. John 10:15 says "As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep." Could it also be that only God's wrath toward the sheep was satisfied on the cross. Think about it, if God's wrath toward all men for all time was satisfied,knowing what satisfied means,then no one would go to hell but God's wrath has not been fully satisfied has it? God sovereignty goes beyond Him just knowing all things it is that He is directly involved in making everything happen. Our God is awesome and our doctrines about His salvation are very weak and we must be very careful. I am not doing away with will i am simply saying this " God regulates all the movements of men so that they still have the exercise of their will" I know that this is not fully conceivable. I want to know what you think.

95% correct/ discipline

2007-03-20T08:47:00.000-06:00

I know that it has been like a million years since my last post but I am back.

Recently i have had to ask myself some big questions that have had a major impact on my life and i will pose one of them to you. Should you and i be involved in something that is 95% correct when it comes to Scripture? I realize this is a much more difficult question than some may think because nowadays it seems like it is hard to find anything that is even 80% Scripturally correct. So is it ok and i really am asking for some advice because it is impossible to find.

I am not saying that we cannot make mistakes but Scripture says that God will discipline us and we will fess up to it and move on to greater holiness and i do not see very much of this either.

To give an example, lets say that i cussed in this blog and in doing so i made a pretty good point. Was it wrong for me to cuss? Only an idiot would say that it was not. So then i receive many e-mails from people condemning what i had done and so a few days later i come back on this blog and try to back up what i did with Scripture saying that people in the Bible made offensive statements and so that is all i did. Is there a difference between saying something that may offend someone and unwholesome talk? Of course there is, the gospel is an offense to some but it is definitely not unwholesome talk, while cussing is. What person would condone what i did? I hope that none of you would. Would you consider me a role model for holiness?

God and Carmen

2007-01-25T12:20:00.000-06:00

i just want to take a moment and tell you how incredible my fiance' is. Carmen is amazing, i have never met a girl who was so in love with Jesus. I have also never met a girl with such a great and correct understanding of Scripture. Carmen wants our life to be about God as much as i do and that is very exciting. Her convictions are very solid and she has them because of Scripture and what God has spoken into her life. She is a huge encouragement to me as it pertains to my walk with God.

God is so awesome and He blows my mind. I want all of you to know that there is so much to who God is and His character, i encourage all of you to chase hard after Him and to forsake everything else. i have been reading a lot and there is a verse in the Bible that tells you and i to "purify ourselves". a lot of people should hear what i am about to say but God says that we should be striving after holiness. also in 1 john the bible talks about how if you really are a true christian then your life will be marked by an interest in the law of God and conforming yourself to that law. i hope that all of you "freedom fighters" who talk about grace but never talk about the law of God will begin to realize that there is a Scriptural balance between the two and that you are called to observe God's law under grace. For those of you who do not care about the law of God, I pray that God shows you grace and reveals this to you and births in you a desire to live a holy and set apart life.

two in a row

2007-01-23T11:47:00.000-06:00

This is my second day in a row posting. You should all be very proud.

God is so awesome. He continues to work in my life in a mindblowing way. Let me encourage all of you who are christians to follow after Him with everything that you are and have.

Read Isaiah 53:10 it is an incredible verse.
i have got to go

Yesterday

2007-01-22T15:08:00.000-06:00

Alright, well yesterday was Sunday and of course i went to church for another great time of storytelling but i tend nowadays not to hear a lot of hardcore biblical truth. So instead of paying attention i did what i usually do now and i read Scripture and tried to take something away from my time there. God, however is much more than just a good storyteller, (which makes me happy) I found some great stuff in the Bible. I showed up not expecting to teach Sunday school at all but i ended up teaching 2 classes. I do not remember everything we talked about but it was great. I am not at all a great teacher, i think i would be a better preacher or something. Not a pastor but a preacher. I wanted the guys there to walk away with two things yesterday. 1. never take anything that a preacher says as truth until you have examined it yourself with Scripture. 2. There is so much more to our God and His Word than you could ever imagine and you better start learning now.
I hope that God takes the mess i put in front of them and either brings them into a relationship with Himself, or gives them an unending passion for knowing Jesus intimately.
I also must thank my friend J.C. Thompson for his kind words that he posted on his blog today. I love you man.

life

2007-01-18T12:07:00.000-06:00

well, it has been a long time since i have posted a blog but hopefully things will get back to normal here soon... I have not posted because life is so crazy sometimes. I am currently facing at least two decisions that will impact my life dramatically. every free moment i have i am reading the Bible or praying and seeking God. I am really scared that i might screw things up big time, and i here so many different things about how to seek God that i still have no clue what i am doing. I wish there was someone who could give me a completely clear answer about anything. in the midst of everything though, GOD IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! God is using these situations in my life and even though i don't have all the answers i am having to cling to Him for dear life.
I hope that i can begin posting on a regular basis but for now i will go. I am at work and break time is almost over.

Last night was crazy!

2007-01-02T12:25:00.000-06:00

Last night I asked Carmen to marry and she said yes!!!!!! I am so excited about our future. For those of you that do not know me personally, I chased Carmen for like two years and now as of yesterday we have been dating for three years and are now engaged to be married. We will probably get married in June of 2008 so be looking in a few months for an invitation. Sorry, I have got to go call my fiance. bye.

a response

2006-12-29T12:15:00.000-06:00

There were a couple of comments that people have left concerning my latest post. There were a few things that I believe people have misinterpreted. First, I never said that in order for someone to be saved they must understand the Holy Spirit's role in salvation. I simply said that when we preach the Gospel we tend to leave out some very important parts and yes, that does cheapen what we preach and yes, sometimes I believe when we preach that way we can easily help condemn someone rather than lead them to Christ. When we preach the Gospel we must help people to understand that they must come and die and take up their cross in order to follow Christ.

where is the Holy Spirit

2006-12-22T12:20:00.000-06:00

Where is the Holy Spirit? Why has the name of God been blasphemed among every lost person in America? I truly beleive that a lot of this is the churches fault. When God moved in the Old Testament in the life of the Jews the nations stood in awe of God and the power in what He had done. Now we, just like the Catholics, declare unchanged people to be saved (to the delight of the lost world) and they say "where is the power of your god"; and they have every right to do so.

We need to remember that God not only has the power to change lives but He also has the power to cause people to act like their lives have been changed. I have found something very interesting in Ezekiel 36:20-38. When God does a work of salvation He does it for His own glory and for His names' sake. Where is the Holy Spirit and the work of God when we preach the Gospel. I have been taught many things in my life that now, as I study my Bible, am finding them to be false. For instance, I have been taught that the Holy Spirits work in salvation is to reveal that you have a need for God but that is not the whole truth it is just the part that is easy and gives us a bigger number of people coming forward. There is a doctrine that I had never heard of before until recently. It is the doctrine of regeneration. The Holy Spirit not only shows you that you need God but He also causes you to esteem the God that you were an enemy of and causes you to despise the sin you once loved. I had never heard that about the work of salvation, only have I heard it when someone was talking about the work of sanctification. We, in part, have become just like the Catholics. I pray that we stop trying to make things easier than the Bible teaches in order that our numbers might increase. God has chosen to use us as His instruments, lets work wisely and Biblically.

proof of faith

2006-12-14T12:22:00.000-06:00

What have we made faith? If everyone claims to have faith and we know that they don't then how do we know that we have faith? The Bible tells us to examine ourselves in light of scripture in order that we may know that we have eternal life. So what and where is the test? There are several like the entire book of 1 John, or James, or Galations 6, just to name a few. People make a profession of faith and then that is it, and everyone seems to be o.k. with it.

One more question, if you don't find the sinner's prayer in scripture and if Jesus never walked up to someone and asked them if they would like to ask Him to come into their heart, then why do we do it. Is it that we have made this whole thing so easy in order that our numbers would increase? It is not so easy and I don't believe Jesus intended for it to be so easy. In order to be saved you have to give up everything and follow Him. Why is this not being preached anymore. We lead them in a sinners prayer and a lot of times condemn their souls to hell. I am so sick of this. They are people, not numbers, and if you want to make it to Chili's then you can forget about leading people to Christ

The Gospel is a Gospel of power and I think that many people have forgotten that.

faith

2006-12-12T12:08:00.000-06:00

What is faith? Hebrews tells us that faith is the evidence of things unseen and the substance of things hoped for. So this is placing your trust in something you know to be real but you cannot see it? Take the Holy Spirit for example, I know He is real because of His presence in my life but I can't point Him out to others and say "look there is the Holy Spirit."

So what constitutes as a great act of faith? Some might say moving mountains or raising the dead but I think there is an act of faith greater than these. If you were to discuss the subject with a charismatic he or she would probably say that the greatest act of faith is raising someone from the dead, but, I think that the greatest act of faith is something that seems much smaller than that. I say that the greatest act of faith is to look in the mirror of God's Word and see all of our filth, sin, and unholiness and still believe that God loves us exactly the way He says He does.

So many times we fail and we end up feeling so far from God but this is a very wrong perception. God has not moved at all and He is not angry with us because He sees His perfect Son Jesus when He looks at us. God wants to discipline us and make us more holy , but discipline isn't like getting in trouble, it could more be described as grace than anything else.

Our God is an awesome God and there is none like Him

decisions, decisions

2006-12-07T12:30:00.000-06:00

I am at a time in my life where I have to make a lot of decisions and many of them will be life altering. I am 20 and on monday i will turn 21. The past few weeks have been pretty hard on me because i know what i want to do with my life but i am not entirely sure how to get there. I also do not know how to hear from God which is scary because what if i make a decision and it is the wrong one and i found out the hard way because "now my life is jacked up". Sometimes i wonder why life has to be so hard and i am pretty sure i will never know but despite all the frustration i am also very excited about the future

just another day

2006-12-05T11:56:00.000-06:00

so yesterday was a very depressing day. Nothing really bad happened or anything but it was just weird. Last night i was thinking about how in the Bible it talks about how older men in the church are supposed to train and mentor the young men in the church. Oh how i wish that i knew a man with the one exception in my life that i would even trust to do this. I have never seen this happen, i may have seen a couple of attempts but i have never really seen it and the attempts that i have seen have always ended in failure. Why aren't the men in the church willing to sacrifice and do this. My old pastor talked about how he had a man that memorized scripture with him and really held him accountable and this same man would stay up every friday night, all night long, and they prayed all night and this man taught him how to read and memorize scripture, pray, study, and walk with some integrity.

Sometimes i feel so lost in my reading of scripture and my prayer life, and i know this is mostly my fault, but i have never had a man take me and show me how to read scripture and pray and most of all really seek hard after God. I hear all the time about how you have to sit still and hear and listen for God to speak but i have never been shown how to do that. It almost makes me angry that i don't know of one man that would or even could show me.

I am commited to not be just another male failure in the church. I really want to make a difference. I think, at least in part, we are too focused on gathering big crowds and getting 25 professions of faith, when in reality most are probably still lost, and we have lost the significance in making a difference in just one individual life. I know that the bigger the crowd, the more chance you may have of reaching just one person, but, i am mainly talking about making a difference in someone who is already a christian's life.

For those of you who are reading this and are christians please pray that God would bring someone into my life who will be willing to help me in a big way with this.

the great disaster

2006-11-30T08:36:00.000-06:00

For those of you who do not know me i am a christian, i go to crosspointe baptist church, and i lead worship for the senior high students. Last night will, at least in my mind, be known as the Great Disaster. Everything seemed to be just fine until all of a sudden while we were rehearsing our sound board blew up which created a number of problems like we had no sound and we had to find a sound board quick (it blew at about 5:45 and the service starts at 7:00)!!! To make a very long story short we finally found a sound board, but then the nightmare began. At the very beginning of our first song the sound completely left again so i had to restart the entire song and because of all of that all of a sudden the lyrics to the first song left me during the entire first verse so there were a lot of la's and mmm's, it was absolutely ridiculous. Everyone in the end told us it was not that bad and my band got a lot of laughs out of it so it is ok. Sometimes we all need God to humble us a bit!!

hello

2006-11-29T12:24:00.000-06:00

Hello blogging world!
It seems to me that everyone i know with the exception of about two or three people have began writing a blog and since i feel left out, here i am. Since this is my first blogging experience i am not entirely sure what i am doing, but i tend to be a fast learner so with the exception of this first entry, this should be interesting, so just keep reading.