9 posts tagged “bible”

Hey all. If you're reading this, thanks.

For the remainder of this blog, it matters not who you voted for in the recent elections. What happened, happened. I can't say it's the will of God, because I simply don't know it was... God wanted to lead Israel, but they wanted a king, so God gave them a king after their own heart, and it ended up being their downfall.

But that's not the point I'm trying to make in this Blog.

If you're a Christian, you've been instructed by the Lord "that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence" (1 Tim 2:1-2). Why, you ask? "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 tim 2:-3-4).

So, regarding that. I've invited most of you to this event on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=50987482352

It's called "Pray for Barak." Simple enough. (also, please invite your friends as well...)

I assume the date for this event is correct...if it's not, the correct date wins. ha.

If you'll notice, the date of the event is set from monday Jan 19th at 12AM to Tuesday Jan 20 at 12AM. That's obviously a 24-hour period... and it's hard to think that one person can pray for 24-hours.

So here's my suggestions, and I'm breaking it down by places my friends (YOU GUYS) are.. so here's my ideas:

24 hour prayer event:

- LCHOPpers: You know what to do.. get to it!
- Josh and the OUHOPpers - I'm confident you guys are ready to pull this off. Contact me/LCHOP buddies if you need some help organizing
- people in Savannah/Statesboro - I know we'll probably all be in class by then, but if possible I'd like to combine forces (Jarod, your ZEAL group with the RUF @ SCAD, and others as well) and do a 24-hour prayer session. simply put, if we have 24 people, each agreeing to pray for 1 hour in the same room, this would be great, and would pave the way for future long-format prayer meetings (totally NOT expecting people to pray for like 5 hours on end.. )
- Michael and SCAD RUF - I know this might seem daunting and maybe weird, but I'd like to try it.. if it utterly fails, we'll put it on the shelf for a later date. But i"ll need help getting the word out and also organizing. anyone with the gift of administration? I got the mobilization!

- others of you in the US, but outside of the GA area, I encourage you guys to gather your friends and organize some sort of 24-hour meeting.. if not that, try to get together with friends and pray before, during, and after the inaugurational speech.

- and finally, my international friends - we need you on this one... I've heard it said before, "as america goes, so goes the whole world." meaning that america, in a way, paves the way for a new cultural shift in the world. Pray that america would not lower the cultural standard bar, but in fact raise it. I really appreciate every prayer you guys say for this country! I only wish I could say I was faithful enough to do the same. Forgive me for not.

My closing statement I guess... GIVE ME FEEDBACK!

Let me know what you guys are planning, and what you need help on. Get most of this planning done over the winter break, so that way you can have solid plans to give to people while spreading the word around your campuses/workplaces/churches etc come january!

I guess that's it everyone... Bless you all!!!

rg

Okay. so I was reading in Psalms 105-107 today, and when I was in psalm 107, it reads in verse 6:

16 is pretty sweet it exemplifies how we should live: UNASHAMED of the Gospel!
And 5 is good too concerning grace, because it qualifies us to be apostles, given we are obedient to His Word: "Through Him [Jesus] we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name..."

I wanna focus on 3-4 before I got on to 21-32.

I got a revelation on verse 3, then realized a couple days later that the revelation was in verse 4. In life, we all have "two lives" that are lived parallel to each other, and are directly affected one by the other, and vice-versa. we have a life "in the flesh" or "according to the flesh," and we have a life "in the Spirit" or "according to the Spirit." These lives are essentially one and the same. 

Jesus also lived the same way. What I thought was cool was that John put it this way, that Christ was just "born", according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit (of holiness), He was the Son of God (get this) with POWER. that's amazing. it shows us that Jesus did not receive His power by His own might, but by the might of the Father. that's tight!

Concerning verses 21-32, A. W. Tozer claims that it was a low view of God that caused the worship to turn from the Creator, (who is blessed forever, AMEN) to the creature. 

It's interesting. Look at verse 21: "Because, although they knew God, they did not *glorify* Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened."

That's powerful, guys. Look at it (my comments in brackets): Because they knew God [with their minds], they did not glorify Him [worship Him] as God [with their hearts]." Essentially, they knew ABOUT God, but they were not in a RELATIONSHIP with Him! how sad! 

Therefore, they "became futile in their thoughts." I looked up the word "futile" in the dictionary, and it said "incapable of producing any useful result; pointless." KJV says "became vain in their imaginations." that leads on to the next verse, but I wanna look at the words "became vain." The greek word for that is "mataioō" (ματαιόω). It's also translated as "To make empty, vain, foolish; were brought to folly in their thoughts, i.e. fell into error." That's deep. They fell *INTO ERROR*. That's why it is VITAL, as Christians, that we do not let our view of God slip to anything less than the truth.

Then comes the next error. verse 22: professing to be wise, they became fools.
Old Testament parallel: Job 36:26 - BEHOLD! God is great, and we do not know Him." The more we know about a subject, the more we realize we don't know. 

for the sake of your time, I'll move on. :p (love you guys!)
23 says "They changed the Glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man." Remember all the golden Idols from the OT? that's a similar situation, and whether we know it or not, it goes on today. we think of how God is without ever really checking our ideas with the Word. They then break one of the 10 commandments: "You shall have no other gods before me." The "image" of Him that we make is a lower view of who HE really is, therefore, it's not really Him. we then begin to exalt and worship a lesser god. Bad idea guys. REAAALLLY bad idea. Because when we don't keep our worship on the TRUE God, and our focus on Him, we begin to worship and serve other things, similar to that of verse 25.

finally, 29-31 mentions all the things that a debased mind does. several of those things we are still seeing today. But the kicker is in verse 32: Who, knowing the righteous judgement of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death **not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them."

this is not saying that those who don't practice the sin are cleared of guilt. If you sit there and say "I wouldn't want to do that, but I"m not gonna enforce my beliefs on someone else" (aka "it's okay for them to do it, but not me"). that person is just as guilty of the sin. Now that some of you guys are really worried... it doesn't mean if you sit by idly letting the sin happen, disapproving of the action, you are guilty of that sin. That is a whole different topic on sins of commission and omission. that's for another time. 

I hate how I've ended this on what the world would call a "negative" note. but I think it's good for us. Because it makes us see that we can't live by ourselves. we MUST call on the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost to help us live our everyday lives, and God must also help us to think rightly and highly of Himself. Doing so will prevent a multitude of other sins.

If this is something that's really sparked something in you, I'd Totally recommend reading the Bible (of course). but some other VERY good sources are A. W. Tozer's book "Knowledge of The Holy," and Corey Russel's "Pursuit of the Holy." Corey Russell quotes a good bit of Tozer's book in his, and they are both great books to make sure you're on the right path to Knowing God as He IS, not as we have formed Him to be. 

any other thoughts on romans 1?

Oops! forgot to put yesterday's up! here's the first 3 verses!

Okay. so I want to begin sharing Psalm 119 with everyone, so here's the verse of the day! Let me know if I should take the verse and tell you what it means to me. this first one is pretty self-explanatory 

2 Timothy 3:1-5:

"And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself." (NLT)

- James 3:6

Okay. so this weekend I watched Mike Bickle teach on how your speech can affect your personal life, and this is what I got out of it.

In my life, I have known several people, (and i myself was guilty of this at one time) who called themselves Christians, but then go about their lives using offensive language, telling dirty jokes, bragging about nasty and obscene things. it wasn't this verse that convinced me that this wasn't a right way of living, but these verses, I believe, give a good reason to change your speech habits. 

First, we look at James. Hew says that the tongue can corrupt the whole body. not only is that your physical body, but also any group you are a part of (i.e. family, friends, church, school, work, etc.). James also says that it can set your WHOLE LIFE on fire because the tongue itself is set on fire by hell. That's totally not cool. Mike Bickle mentioned that when you speak corruptly you are attracting evil to your life. He later mentions that speaking good, in the same sense, repels evil, and attracts the Spirit of God. 

Okay.. so we see what is the cause of said behavior, In ephesians, we can see an alternate way to live our lives to further glorify our God:

"Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them." (NLT)

"Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers." (NKJV)

- Ephesians 4:29

Don't use foul or obscene language. Ok.. so that's understood, but sometimes it's easier to look at what we should do, instead of what we shouldn't do. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear it. I like how the NKJ puts it... "necessary for edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers."  That it may impart GRACE! what a word. grace.. that's kinda like a blessing, in a way. We are to speak as though every word we say would bestow a blessing on everyone who hears it. Ephesians 5:4 puts it another way:

"Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God." (NLT). it says let there be thankfulness to God in the things you say!  

So my challenge to you is if you find yourself doing any of the things mentioned in the beginning of Eph 5:4, try to clean them up. decrease their presence in your life. I guarantee that if you do, God will meet you. He will draw you near to Himself. it may not be instantaneous, but I promise you He will send the Holy Spirit and visit you. This, of course is only one of the many steps to becoming a better Christian. The rest of them can only be found in the Bible.

I hope this encourages some of you guys!

Good night, and God bless!

rg