Colossians 1:1-3

    So you may wonder why the title of the this post  is  the first three verses of the New Testament Epistle to the Colossians written by the Apostle Paul. The answer is twofold, first where I am attending graduate school our theme for the school year is "New Creature Living" taken from Colossians in the third chapter. Secondly, our chapel speaker yesterday Dr. Jim Berg spoke about meditation and scripture memory. Dr. Berg, spoke on using the MAP method of meditation and scripture memory (to find out more see his website or contact him through Bob Jones University). Out of this message I was challenged that my scripture memory is severely lacking and I have decided to memorize the book of Colossians. So to begin I am working on the first three verses.
     Colossians 1:1-3
       1 "Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God and Timothy our brother"
       2 "To the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae:"
       3 "Grace to you and peace from God our Father."

    So you may be wondering what is basically the salutation line of an ancient letter of teaching (an epistle) have that is profitable? Doesn't Paul tell us in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that all scripture is profitable but how can an introduction be profitable? Well today for me verse one was especially close to my heart. Today is much like last Friday in that I had a bad attitude about going to school and was annoyed at myself for not getting enough done and that I always feel like I have to much to do. I was feeling really glum for myself then I went to my first class which we call Friday Preacher Boy's. Today Dr. Bob Jones III spoke to us from Ezekiel and one small thing (not even his main point) that Dr. Bob said struck at me, that if Ezekiel had not been sure of his calling that he would not have ministered to Israel as he did. We are in a day much like Ezekiel with a nation that is sinful and stubborn, who do not want to hear the Word of God. This point of assured calling and my poor attitude made me cry out to God in silent prayer asking for confirmation of my calling. Then I remembered the words of Colossians 1:1 "Paul and apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God..."

   Yes I may be feeling sorry for myself and have a bad attitude and I should not, because as overwhelming and oppressive feeling the responsibilities now are, I have assurance that I am not called to the task now or future tasks by my own will but by the will of God. I can remember the day in which I was called by God to be a proclaimer of His word (no I did not have a vision), I can remember the evening of brokenness at camp where I   re-submitted myself to God's call, and I recall the multiple times God has reaffirmed His call through times of ministry and the joy brought by being in the will of God. Now I take comfort in a sure call by God knowing that it is His Will that I am here today studying, and He is with me as He promised and I can say with Paul "I can do all things through Christ Jesus".

May Jesus Christ be Praised


[Scripture from the  ESV]

Feeling Like Jonah

Have you ever felt like Jonah? You know what God wants you to do but you don't feel like doing it, it feels inconvenient and hard and all you want to do is stay in bed and at ease. However, having the experience of Jonah given to us in Scripture we know the consequences for not doing what you know God wants us to do and we grudgingly get out of bed to face God's will. Yet in our hearts we are still rebelling though outwardly complaint, at the same time we we are missing out on the joy of doing the will of our Creator, Redeemer, and King. This is exactly where I was this morning not wanting to move out of the comfort of bed to face the will of God by going to school. I could make all sorts of excuses and within my mind and heart I did, even to the point of I don't feel well. Then I arrived in at school and my first class where God in his divine omniscient used that very class to strike my heart and convict me of my horrible attitude. Yes school my be challenging and at time down right insanely hard but I can still and should have joy even in the difficulty.  So when we start to feel like Jonah remember the lesson of Jonah, that true joy only comes in willingly obeying the will of God.

Need for today

This week I have attended Bible Conference @ Bob Jones University where I heard powerful and pertinent preaching. But alas have we not had powerful preaching before? What are we lacking then to effect change in us which will spread throughout all true Christianity and the world? The answer is Practical Theology, simply the practical application of the doctrine we are taught. This all seems so high and out of reach but for a few to attain but really the key basis to Practical Theology is simple obedience. However, because of our sinful flesh obedience is not at all really simple within us wars our sinful desires in rebellion to Holy God versus the Holy Spirit. The question remaining is who will you let win?

Ruby on Rails

Beside being a Christian if you have seen some of my previous posts I have a web hosting and development business servicing small business. Currently I do most work with LAMP and Drupal based in PHP and HTML/CSS. However, I have done some work in Ruby on Rails and have a new customer who requires ROR so I am diving back into the world of ROR and plan to post my re-acclimation journey here.

Yet to Come

Have you thought about what lies beyond this mortal flesh? Do you realize that we all will one day stand before Jesus Christ? After time is declared no more all will be judged. Now there are different judgment seats listed in the Scripture but in simplicity all will be judged. My question is on what basis do you want to be judged? Do you want to be judged on your deeds? Have we not all failed? Is anyone perfect? God tells us that His standard of entrance into His eternal presence is perfection. Okay how many of us have stolen? Lied? Been angry without cause? With only three questions of the many we could ask I dare say all of mankind is included in this list that would exclude all from perfection. So if we are not perfect and God's standard is perfection do you want to be judged on your works? Or would you rather be judged on mercy? Scripture tells us that their is mercy with the Lord, yet so many want to stand on their own, and stand on their own they will before God Almighty at which time they will receive the judgment of God and be cast into everlasting torment. I on the other hand would rather stand before God with Christ so that before the Almighty pronounces judgment upon me for my sinful failure and wickedness Christ may say "I have paid for his sin with my blood" with which the complete realization of the mercy of God will be realized for me and instead of everlasting judgment Almighty God will say "enter into my presence, my son." I am not perfect even after accepting the mercy of Jesus Christ and His payment for my sin however, their is mercy with my Lord Jesus Christ. What will you do? Will you stand alone, or will you stand in mercy?

Speaking Lightly of Sin

I am listening to "Guard Your Heart" as sung by Mac Lynch on the cd My Son Give me Thine Heart. In the song it states "never ... speaking lightly of our sin." I wonder where would the Church and even our country if we as Christians would not speak lightly of our sin; whether with each other or even as internally we excuse our sin. I have been reading portions from the gospels and the OT Prophets and I keep finding the recurring emphasis on any sin is to much. Now I know that none of us will be perfect until we see Jesus Christ face to face however, Paul has taught us in 1 Corinthians 5:6 that any hint of leaven (sin) leaveneth (makes the whole sinful) the whole lump of bread dough. We must be on constant guard to prevent any sin from entering our lives and taking root defiling us entirely. Guard Your Heart

Mark 7:6-7

"This people honors me with  their lips, but their heart is far from me; vs7. in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men" Mark7:6b-7.
In this passage Christ quotes the prophet Isaiah on talking about the people of His day. But, if we survey the landscape of the church could we not see the same thing. Indeed we have many that merely pay lip-service to Jesus Christ and their lives are completely void of any sanctification induced holiness. On the other extreme are the law only crowd who teach their standards as Scripture neglecting the most needful thing of fellowship with Christ in an effort to have external holiness. In both cases and even those who lay coldly in the middle all our hearts are far from God. Is it any wonder that we have worship wars going on? What would happen to Christianity as we know it and all the divisiveness if each one of us got down on our knees and started repenting? Maybe then our worship will not be in vain.

Obedience

I am reading the Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges and it is so convicting when what connects us to God's holiness is simple obedience to His Word the Bible.

Why Can't I just fix it?

For those who may actually read this blog and don't know me personally I am married. You may think that is not unusual news but what you also don't know is my wife has a long term illness. To give you some background 3 months before we were married my then fiance got sick which was unusual but mimicked flu like symptoms and what the doctors thought was the early onset of Arthritis. Well the Arthritis thought was not great but not morbid or cataclysmic. However, the doctors missed some of the symptoms thinking they were nothing but the flu and my fiance (at the time now my lovely wife) kept getting sicker. To make a really long story shorter this all culminated in a trip to the ER which went into CCU and a couple weeks later came out with hope, some healing, and the burden of long term illness. My wife has had ups and downs but has been progressing on the healing path but because of the illness has days that are not so good. Or if she is having a good day but then does an involved activity, it wipes her out. For instance my loving wife today went grocery shopping while I had my brain turned into more mush by grad school. For her endeavor to take care of me and our house she is totally wiped out and exhausted. At this point she struggles to be anywhere near sociable or even approachable and many times need to rest. Now comes the reason for the title, me I am an on the go person though most of the time I wish I could stay at home. I usually maintain 2 - 3 jobs plus active ministry and being in the National Guard. With all of this I have a go until you completely collapse mentality and when she has to rest I must fight my urge to think why can't you keep going, then the Lord is gracious enough to remind me that she is the weaker vessel and needs my care. Then with that prodding of the Spirit another desire embraces me of "Why Can't I just fix it?" In my typical man mentality I can fix coffee makers that go on the fritz (even when it is inconvenient) and I can fix cars, houses, and even computer that people manage to literally cook or obtain 88,826 virus infections. So even thought I am not Mr. Universe or Superman I can fix many things why can't I fix this and make my wife healthy. I see her tired, worn out and hampered by disease and my heart hurts because I desire to make all things right for her. But, this is where I must trust in Jesus Christ who is the Creator and Sustainer of all things, about whom the Apostle Paul says works all things for good to them that love Him. So in my desire to fix things for my wife I must make sure I am fixed on Jesus Christ and the I am actively loving Him knowing and trusting that He does do all this for my good. One day maybe I can look back and see all the reasons for this burden but today I must trust. This is my struggle, having the one I love carrying the burden of sickness and though I cannot take the burden away as much as I may wish I can get under and help her carry it.

Adore

I am sitting here on this Valentine's day studying for a test and listening to the Soundtrack to the movie Sheffey put out by Bob Jone University. One of the Songs is an adaptation of Brethren We Have Met to Worship. In the words of the song it states that we (as brethren in Christ) have met together to Adore the Lord our God. Today is the commercially agreed upon day to show love, whether purely superficially in order to satisfy lust or to truly show love (self-sacrificing). In terms of love we often use the word "Adore" to speak of our devotion and our attributing worth to someone. I can say I "Adore" my wife and though there are times that it is not as well evidenced I can truly say that I place her on the so called "pedastool" and devotedly attribute worth to her. But the question stemming from the song on this proclaimed day of "love" is when was the last time you did such a thing, devotedly attributing worth to God? Can your worship either corporate or personal be described as Adoring God or is it dead, or maybe it is superficial to satisfy your "I am all right" meter? When have you last Adored God. The challenge take some time away from every one and everything else and get alone with God through prayer and reading His word. Just as it takes time to "Adore" the special someone and have a relationship with them so to does it take time to do the same with God.


Additionally posted at: www.faithbaptistreidville.org