Are you baptist? I am and I can tell it most of the time on Sunday mornings. Lets face it guys and gals. The baptist church gets an "A+" for all of our gossip. We love to talk about the people we worship with. Everyone is guilty of gossip. I think that the biggest problem is that we fail to really look at ourselves or even better we don't want to see our faults.
How much easier is it for us to load up our guns with words to fire at other people instead of at ourselves. Facing our faults and short coming is not easy. It is so much less complicated to look at the person you saw yelling at the K-mart cashier over bad service then it is to realize that you shouted out "Learn to drive" at the car that cut you off by about three car lengths and then didn't pull out going 45 mph making you have to slow down. How dare them! You get my drift.
This weekend we had a visitor at church. Ken Freeman was in town and he was bringing the word. He used the following scripture....
" Examine yourselves, whether
you are in the faith; prove
yourselves (emphasis added)."
2 Corinthians 13:5
When is the last time that you used that scripture? Not read it, not spoke it, or not even taught on it but actually lived it out like the word of God. EXAMINE YOURSELF!
The Baptist guidelines seems to read like this....
"Examine your neighbor. Make
fun of them. Laugh at their
flaws. You know you want to!"
Baptist 1:01
I am also guilty of this. I love to laugh and sometimes it is at the expense of the none knowing fellow Christian and a few others who are not Christian. It is wrong. No matter who it is. We laugh at jokes that seem harmless but I thought about it. Would I tell these guys about the jokes I am telling? What would they say? How would I feel about it. Would the apostles have followed Jesus had He made fun of them for being some stinky fishermen? No! I needed to examine myself and get right with those who don't even know that I have sinned against them.
If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around does it make a sound. Yes it does. If you joke about someone and it doesn't make it bad to them is it wrong even though you know you were joking? You bet it is. Trying to deliberately tarnish the image of another is cruel, rude, and a sin. Jokes are more capable of the same thing.Gossip is gossip. Examine yourself when you feel the urge to gossip and if you still feel good enough about yourself to laugh at them then you can go ahead. I doubt you will though.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Are you banned?
For awhile now my friend has been baned from China's world of blogging. I have recently been inducted into this list. To find out of you are banned in China go to...
Great Firewall of China
Great Firewall of China
Need vs Want (link to a another blog)
My good buddy over at Swap Blog posted a beauty of a post. It is called Need vs Want. I strongly encourage you to go over and take a look at it and his other post.
I cannot currently link to a page with just the post so you will have to scroll down four or five post.
I cannot currently link to a page with just the post so you will have to scroll down four or five post.
Web Site Watch!
Do you have a good vocabulary? Do you want one? Want to see how much you know? How about doing this while feeding the hungry? Sound good of course it does! To my atheist reader they are not a Christian site.
At FreeRice.com you play a game. The point of the game is to attempt to answer the questions you are given. The questions are all about vocabulary! You are asked to define the word you are given. If you guess it right the people who operate it have it set up so that they can donate 10 grains of rice. You may be thinking 10 grains of rice?! That isn't enough? Picture this. 100 Grains of rice is a plate. If you answer 30 of these questions correct then you provide three meals. You get smarter(according to our standards which base IQ off of vocabulary) and people get feed.
I am asking that you help to promote this site. It is legit. I assume they fund their rice through ad sense has it is clearly visible at the bottom. Me and my Psychology teacher are in a completive grid lock. I cannot get past having 25 points. She is at 41 and stays between 41 and 39. So go have fun, learn, and help to feed somebody.
At FreeRice.com you play a game. The point of the game is to attempt to answer the questions you are given. The questions are all about vocabulary! You are asked to define the word you are given. If you guess it right the people who operate it have it set up so that they can donate 10 grains of rice. You may be thinking 10 grains of rice?! That isn't enough? Picture this. 100 Grains of rice is a plate. If you answer 30 of these questions correct then you provide three meals. You get smarter(according to our standards which base IQ off of vocabulary) and people get feed.
I am asking that you help to promote this site. It is legit. I assume they fund their rice through ad sense has it is clearly visible at the bottom. Me and my Psychology teacher are in a completive grid lock. I cannot get past having 25 points. She is at 41 and stays between 41 and 39. So go have fun, learn, and help to feed somebody.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
I think I am saved?!
A friend of mine stopped by yesterday a couple of hours before I went to school. The guy lives right next door to me. He has been to church with me a few times and even spoke to me that he was saved.
He had something on his mind. He said that he goes to sleep at night wondering what would happen if he died. He asked what happens in the rapture. We spend about an hour and a half going over things he was unsure of. This was going in a great direction. He seemed to understand who God was and what the Bible said about and more importantly what he said in the Bible. Until I asked a question...
"Who is Jesus?"
His response...
"A guy who died so that we could go to heaven."
That prompted me to ask the question of "what do you know about Him?"
He died on a cross. That was his answer. Now some people might say ty is correct. I am not content with it though. There is more.
When Jesus died on that cross it was not the sign for the ticket punching to begin. It meant we were just getting started. Jesus didn't only die so when we died we could go to heaven. He died for us to be able to have personal, passionate, living relationship. Salvation is not just heaven. Salvation is the freedom to go and talk with God anytime.
Did you know that at one time people could not do that? Yeah it's true. At one time we had to go find a holy man (priest) to go talk to God. Even then he could only talk to God through a huge curtain . Once Jesus died on that cross the curtain was ripped from the top down to the bottom(another post in that itself). The separation was gone. We can now walk up to God and tell him for ourselves what we have done, our love for Him, give His praises, and just as important talk to Him about our day.
There is so much more than okay I will make it to heaven. The expansion of heaven starts here. It starts with the relationship. Building a strong bond between God and ourselves. I never spend more time on telling people about salvation from hell has i do salvation from being unable to communicate to God.
I told him that he needed to be 100% percent sure. He did pray, he didn't let me pray with him. He said he wanted to be sure that he needed to. The last thing I said to him was be 100% sure. This is to serious not to be 100% certain. Get right with God. If you think your saved you better fall to your knees and make sure that you relationship with God and the acceptance of His Son Jesus is understood and known. It is too serious to risk going to hell.
He had something on his mind. He said that he goes to sleep at night wondering what would happen if he died. He asked what happens in the rapture. We spend about an hour and a half going over things he was unsure of. This was going in a great direction. He seemed to understand who God was and what the Bible said about and more importantly what he said in the Bible. Until I asked a question...
"Who is Jesus?"
His response...
"A guy who died so that we could go to heaven."
That prompted me to ask the question of "what do you know about Him?"
He died on a cross. That was his answer. Now some people might say ty is correct. I am not content with it though. There is more.
When Jesus died on that cross it was not the sign for the ticket punching to begin. It meant we were just getting started. Jesus didn't only die so when we died we could go to heaven. He died for us to be able to have personal, passionate, living relationship. Salvation is not just heaven. Salvation is the freedom to go and talk with God anytime.
Did you know that at one time people could not do that? Yeah it's true. At one time we had to go find a holy man (priest) to go talk to God. Even then he could only talk to God through a huge curtain . Once Jesus died on that cross the curtain was ripped from the top down to the bottom(another post in that itself). The separation was gone. We can now walk up to God and tell him for ourselves what we have done, our love for Him, give His praises, and just as important talk to Him about our day.
There is so much more than okay I will make it to heaven. The expansion of heaven starts here. It starts with the relationship. Building a strong bond between God and ourselves. I never spend more time on telling people about salvation from hell has i do salvation from being unable to communicate to God.
I told him that he needed to be 100% percent sure. He did pray, he didn't let me pray with him. He said he wanted to be sure that he needed to. The last thing I said to him was be 100% sure. This is to serious not to be 100% certain. Get right with God. If you think your saved you better fall to your knees and make sure that you relationship with God and the acceptance of His Son Jesus is understood and known. It is too serious to risk going to hell.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
GODISNOWHERE!
God can seem confusing(though He is not). It is not always easy to see what He is saying. Much like the title of this post-GODISNOWHERE.
Now most people will see this has saying….
God is nowhere
Others however will see it has saying…..
God is now here
We may not always really get what God is saying to us so, before you make a choice on what you believe God is telling you to do. Then look closely and ask yourself is this what I see for myself or is what God showing me.
This is an older post of mine that I enjoy. I saw the GODISNOWHERE some where a long time ago and cannot remember where. I thought it was brilliant to see put the words together and see what people see. In this I also see the atheist who says God is no where, and the Christian who responds God is now here. Both have something they can stand on. The saying can be converted to mean which ever the other one wants. Maybe it is being bias. Maybe it is having an understanding of God. Knowing that He is here is a complex thing that is simple. You stick with God. If you are touch by Him and know that He is real, then you stay true to Him. In time you will begin to gain understanding, faith, and stronger relationship bonds between you and God. You other option is to go explore manipulated bones. Use tools that have been found to be inaccurate, yet the are kept because it is all they have right now. You may even be prompted to learn a fallacy or two so that you can try to crush Christians with you great God rejecting mind. Chose your side. Make a smart, safer, non-selfish move. There are four places most people believe you can go and only one of them is joyful. There is option for me. It is with Jesus Christ.
Now most people will see this has saying….
God is nowhere
Others however will see it has saying…..
God is now here
We may not always really get what God is saying to us so, before you make a choice on what you believe God is telling you to do. Then look closely and ask yourself is this what I see for myself or is what God showing me.
This is an older post of mine that I enjoy. I saw the GODISNOWHERE some where a long time ago and cannot remember where. I thought it was brilliant to see put the words together and see what people see. In this I also see the atheist who says God is no where, and the Christian who responds God is now here. Both have something they can stand on. The saying can be converted to mean which ever the other one wants. Maybe it is being bias. Maybe it is having an understanding of God. Knowing that He is here is a complex thing that is simple. You stick with God. If you are touch by Him and know that He is real, then you stay true to Him. In time you will begin to gain understanding, faith, and stronger relationship bonds between you and God. You other option is to go explore manipulated bones. Use tools that have been found to be inaccurate, yet the are kept because it is all they have right now. You may even be prompted to learn a fallacy or two so that you can try to crush Christians with you great God rejecting mind. Chose your side. Make a smart, safer, non-selfish move. There are four places most people believe you can go and only one of them is joyful. There is option for me. It is with Jesus Christ.
The Trinity. Do you get it?
The Trinity. Yes , yes what a lovely bunch of mess. I spent many night attempting to figure out who can this be. I will never fully understand and nor do I believe that you will. at least not in this life any way. How ever is what I did come up with...
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Three separate forms of the same person. Confusing yes. However this is not really all that uncommon to relate to at times. Lets look at time. We have three states of time. Past, present, and future. Now we look at that and it is easy to accept that they all are time. In different form but they all are time. God is like that. 3 separate forms but all are really the same thing. I know that one is sort of shaky but it helped me. Okay, so maybe your a sports fan. Maybe you like Micheal Jordan(who doesn't). Michael Jordan is seen in three forms...
A baseball player, a basketball player, and a golfer. Now all though he expresses himself in three forms does that change who he is? Nope, not at all. He is still Michael Jordan.
Now with God we have the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Just because God choses do act in different forms do not mean He is not God in all aspects.I hope that maybe this helped to but it into reality for you.
God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Three separate forms of the same person. Confusing yes. However this is not really all that uncommon to relate to at times. Lets look at time. We have three states of time. Past, present, and future. Now we look at that and it is easy to accept that they all are time. In different form but they all are time. God is like that. 3 separate forms but all are really the same thing. I know that one is sort of shaky but it helped me. Okay, so maybe your a sports fan. Maybe you like Micheal Jordan(who doesn't). Michael Jordan is seen in three forms...
A baseball player, a basketball player, and a golfer. Now all though he expresses himself in three forms does that change who he is? Nope, not at all. He is still Michael Jordan.
Now with God we have the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Just because God choses do act in different forms do not mean He is not God in all aspects.I hope that maybe this helped to but it into reality for you.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Isn't that Catholic(linked post)
I found a pretty good read over Paradoxology.
It's been five years now that our congregation has been observing Ash Wednesday and the Lenten season. Although our noontime service is rather brief (30 min.), those who attend always find it to be thought-provoking and personally meaningful, including the imposition of ashes.
There have also been a number of other, older, faith-practices which we have introduced into our weekly worship gatherings.
To read the rest of this post click here.
It's been five years now that our congregation has been observing Ash Wednesday and the Lenten season. Although our noontime service is rather brief (30 min.), those who attend always find it to be thought-provoking and personally meaningful, including the imposition of ashes.
There have also been a number of other, older, faith-practices which we have introduced into our weekly worship gatherings.
To read the rest of this post click here.
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Medicated in Church....
Last night I had take a short trip to the hospital. I had managed to get an infection on my finger tip. It runs at the tip of the index finger and runs slightly under the nail. First of I never knew that an infection would hurt like this does. The infection has made the finger very tender and it is times like this that you realize how much you use you finger.
After I left the Tennessee game I noticed the infection was large. Prior to this I thought that I had cut the nail too short and that was the reason for the tenderness in the finger. How ever now it was evident that it was something else that needs some attention. The fine staff at SMHS immediately confirmed what I had thought. It was an infection. So they write me a prescription for salfameth and hydrocodone. Now normally i would ask for non narcotic but if you have ever been to the doctor you know that waiting to get you prescription is what most of the wait is. So I just chose to take it this one time. Now I am not a fan of narcotic drugs and I believe that treatment is possible without using more addictive drugs when less addictive substitutes are available.
So I woke up this morning and took my pills like a good little patient. I am not a drug user and therefor it doesn't take much to give me a little buzz. My legs were more limber than normal and I had some free mind wandering. My words had to be thought out little more than normal. Now has we were driving there I couldn't help but think this is so morbid. I didn't like not feeling inspired to worship. Going through the motions with out any real focus on God.
That got me thinking. How many times do I just not get it. Do I go to church on Sunday morning and just go through the motions? Is it like this every Sunday? Well, no. However I am not on fire like I should be. I am luke warm. How many Sunday's do I go to church and not give my all. Probably close to 90 percent of the time. I don't want to be slightly medicated. I don't want to be in an altered state of consciousness. I want to be focus and ready to sing a sweet song to the Lord. I have to make a change here. Things cannot be luke warm in this department. My desire for God has to be all or nothing. It has to be 100 percent. I pray that the Lord will help to set my soul on fire for Him. I don't want to be a medicated Christian.
After I left the Tennessee game I noticed the infection was large. Prior to this I thought that I had cut the nail too short and that was the reason for the tenderness in the finger. How ever now it was evident that it was something else that needs some attention. The fine staff at SMHS immediately confirmed what I had thought. It was an infection. So they write me a prescription for salfameth and hydrocodone. Now normally i would ask for non narcotic but if you have ever been to the doctor you know that waiting to get you prescription is what most of the wait is. So I just chose to take it this one time. Now I am not a fan of narcotic drugs and I believe that treatment is possible without using more addictive drugs when less addictive substitutes are available.
So I woke up this morning and took my pills like a good little patient. I am not a drug user and therefor it doesn't take much to give me a little buzz. My legs were more limber than normal and I had some free mind wandering. My words had to be thought out little more than normal. Now has we were driving there I couldn't help but think this is so morbid. I didn't like not feeling inspired to worship. Going through the motions with out any real focus on God.
That got me thinking. How many times do I just not get it. Do I go to church on Sunday morning and just go through the motions? Is it like this every Sunday? Well, no. However I am not on fire like I should be. I am luke warm. How many Sunday's do I go to church and not give my all. Probably close to 90 percent of the time. I don't want to be slightly medicated. I don't want to be in an altered state of consciousness. I want to be focus and ready to sing a sweet song to the Lord. I have to make a change here. Things cannot be luke warm in this department. My desire for God has to be all or nothing. It has to be 100 percent. I pray that the Lord will help to set my soul on fire for Him. I don't want to be a medicated Christian.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Shadow of the Cross
A little while ago my buddy Rob left the church we attend to go where he believed God was leading him. Rob is a stand up guy. He works hard to see that the Lord's work is accomplished. His journey has taken him to Wichita Kansas where he now helps with the ministry know has Shadow of the Cross.
Shadow of the Cross is a unique ministry in which the team is unlike no other. Rob is goth and is using that to reach other people who are goth. When I first meet Rob I had no idea what kind of man he was. Rob goes about doing the work of God like no other I have ever meet. The links provided in the post will take you their ministry home page where you can learn about some of the good things that they are doing. It is still early in the ministry but I fully believe that God will bless them and is already blessing them.
If you are like me your first thought was goth and God? That sort of goes against each other. Not really. The way we dress has little to do with being goth or involved with God. I see him reaching out to a group that I could never reach out to. Remember that just because someone isn't the image that you expect to see sitting in the pew beside that no way reflects the relationship they have with God.
Shadow of the Cross is a unique ministry in which the team is unlike no other. Rob is goth and is using that to reach other people who are goth. When I first meet Rob I had no idea what kind of man he was. Rob goes about doing the work of God like no other I have ever meet. The links provided in the post will take you their ministry home page where you can learn about some of the good things that they are doing. It is still early in the ministry but I fully believe that God will bless them and is already blessing them.
If you are like me your first thought was goth and God? That sort of goes against each other. Not really. The way we dress has little to do with being goth or involved with God. I see him reaching out to a group that I could never reach out to. Remember that just because someone isn't the image that you expect to see sitting in the pew beside that no way reflects the relationship they have with God.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
