Have We Heard?

Look at all the lonely people
So the Beatles say
And where are we today?
Have we seen the lonely people?
Have we listened to the cries?
Do we point them to the steeple,
To the one it signifies?

So many prophets have prophesied
So many watchmen on towers cried
Have we heeded their desperate cries?

Do we find ourselves asleep in the light
Have we simply given up the fight
Can we rouse ourselves to do what’s right
Or just resign our souls in this sinful plight?

Look at all the lonely people
So the Beatles say
And where are we today?
Have we seen the lonely people?
Have we listened to the cries?
Do we show them to the steeple,
To the one it signifies?

Looking through rose-coloured stained glass windows
Have we seen the slowly dying souls
Can our laziness allow all those
To lie out there and die in their throes

Look at all the lonely people
So the Beatles say
And where are we today?
Have we seen the lonely people?
Have we listened to the cries?
Do we show them to the steeple,
To the one it signifies?

Tell me why are we so isolated
If to those in Christ we’re related
Why is our Christian love debated?
Our witness has become so jaded

Look at all the lonely people
So the Beatles say
And where are we today?
Have we seen the lonely people?
Have we listened to the cries?
Do we show them to the steeple,
To the one it signifies?

Jesus said to love one another
Poor unsaved, enemy or brother
Can we really love God our Father
If we can’t even love each other?

So many prophets have prophesied
So many watchmen on towers cried
Have we heeded their desperate cries?
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Thanks to Keith Green, Petra, & Servant as prophets that have gone before, as messengers of God to wake a sleeping church.

T.U.L.I.P.

I was recently asked to consider the five points of calvinism. I find them to be in error compared to the scriptures, and therefore do not accept them. The five points are most often remembered with an acronym, TULIP:

Total depravity
Unconditional election
Limited atonement
Irresistible grace
Perseverance of the saints
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T - total depravity
Of the five points here, I think this is the most plausible one -- I don't think it's correct, but of the five, I think it's likely closest.

I find it incorrect because it doesn't work logically with what I find in scripture: (1) if it is true, then it means that God creates sin, because He is the creator of all men; (2) if it is true, then we cannot, even after we are saved, serve Him in "holiness and righteousness all the days of our life", as He promised to our father Abraham; (3) if it is true, and we still sin in thought, word, and deed daily...what has God done for us? we're still miserable wretched sinners who continue to disobey Him – “the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.” – now, if we continue to do the works of the devil, has Jesus accomplished His purpose? And (4) if it is true, then Jesus had a sinful nature, since "verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." -- if we have a sinful nature, Jesus must have had one -- since we know that Jesus had no sinful nature, why must we suppose that we have one?

I would also note that I do not believe that man is inherently righteous. Sin and righteousness consist in our choice to obey or disobey God, not in an inherited trait of our human nature.
___________________

U - unconditional election
This is the doctrine that God has already (from eternity past) decreed who will be saved and who will be damned.

This means that some people have no opportunity for salvation -- they are damned, period. This does not accord with scripture, for "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." The way of salvation is open to ALL (not only some): "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." The Gospel is given to all -- to "whosoever will" -- and is not restricted to any select group.
_________________

L - limited atonement
This is the doctrine that Jesus blood was sufficient only to save the elect.

It is wrong because it contradicts scripture. "And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." Jesus did not provide propitiation only for the elect, but for the whole world. If the atonement is only sufficient for the elect, then God is insincere in offering salvation to all, since He made no provision for all to be saved.
_________________

I - irresistible grace
This is the doctrine that if God has elected you to be saved, you cannot resist His saving grace, and will (regardless of whether you want to or not) be saved.

It is incorrect because it means that we have no choice in the matter of salvation, when salvation is the one matter that it is of utmost importance to have a choice; it is this matter in which God himself demands a choice on our part: "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live" and "As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?"

If God's grace is irresistible, God's admonishments to "Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings" could never be disregarded -- and yet, we find that they are.
_______________________

P - perseverance of the saints
This is the doctrine of "once saved, always saved", that those who are of the elect will persevere until the end. In short, that it is impossible to turn away from salvation.

This is false because it is backward from what Jesus said. Jesus did not say that those who are saved will persevere, He said that "he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. " Salvation is, in some sense, the result of endurance; endurance is not the result of salvation.

Also, there are a host of dire warnings against turning away, or making shipwreck of our faith, or of falling away. If there is no possibility of our turning away, all these warnings are pointless. Some passages to consider:

Ezekiel 3:20; 18:20-28
Matthew 18:23-35; 25:14-30
Luke 12:42-47
John 15:1-6
Acts 8:9-24 (esp. verses 9 & 18-23)
Romans 11:13-23
I Corinthians 8:10-11; 9:26-27; 10:1-12 (esp. 10:12)
Galatians 5:1-4
I Timothy 1:19-20; 4:1; 5:8
Hebrews 2:1-3; 6:4-8; 10:26-31; 10:35-39; 12:15-17
James 5:19-20
II Peter 2:20-22
Revelation 2:4-5
_____________________

Other things I have noted about the calvinistic system:

One, that it works quite well with itself (all five are interlocking, and together comprise a complete system); if it is taken in totality, there is little contradiction within itself. However, the problem arises when it is compared to scripture, since, while it is logically coherent, it is not consistent with what scripture says.

Also, most churches that I have seen do not believe all five points -- generally keeping "T" and "P" and discarding the other three. This is an appealing course of action (since "U", "L", and "I" are the most offensive three of the five); however, it is logically unsound, since the five points all support each other, and the system falls apart if even one is removed.

Sacrifice

On sale now! Buy your very own home altar!

Now, when people ask, "What did you get your family for christmas?" you can have an answer that will really pique their interest! "Why, now that you ask, I found an awesome deal on an altar! No longer will we have to use our barbeque as a makeshift one -- we've got the real thing!" "Honey, where did you put that lamb that we were going to offer up as a burnt offering?"

Why bother having someone else sacrifice, when you can do it yourself and know for sure that you are doing it wholeheartedly before your god? Now THAT is something to really get fired up about!

________________

Ps. 51:16

Change the World!

As Christians, we need to live according to the God that we serve - not conformed to the world's standards - we are to conduct our lives in righteousness and true holiness; if we would just do this - "shine" as righteous children of God in the midst of our sinful world - the gospel would be half-preached without us saying a word.

Yet, as my friend Sarah notices, most "Christians" are merely living by the world's standards, sullying the holy name of our Lord Jesus by their selfish actions, and refusal to live a life like the one they say they believe in.

True Christians, STAND UP!!! If we don't stand up, we will surely perish in the judgement, for it will begin at the house of God.

EVERYONE who is a true Christian ought to be unmistakeable because of their total committal to God and those around them... if people have to say "I always suspected that you were a Christian..." then you have failed as a Christian - everyone that knows us on a level beyond "Hi, I'm Andrew" should be able to say "I knew you were a Christian - it came out in everything you did."

LET'S GO CHANGE THE WORLD!!!!!! this is no ideal that we can try for, but never reach...this is the whole point of Christians being on this planet. God has commanded it, God has supplied everything we need, all that is lacking is OUR CHOICE TO GO DO IT!!

YOU, the Christian reading these posts, need to do this. If you want to just hang back and stay where you don't have to get out of your "comfort zone" -- FIND ANOTHER RELIGION, because to serve the Living and True God takes more than Sundays and Tuesday nights. Christianity means that your entire heart, soul, mind, and strength are devoted to God, and that the people you meet are just as important as you are. There is no room for selfishness with God - it is all or nothing; this doesn't mean that we cannot have a good time, it simply means that GOD IS MOST IMPORTANT.

I repeat - LET'S GO CHANGE THE WORLD!!! We will not regret any moment spent in the service of God and our fellow man.

A Bible

I am my neighbour's Bible;
He reads me when we meet.

Today he reads me in my house,
Tomorrow in the street.

He my relative or friend
Or slight acquaintance be,

Yet he is reading me.
___________________________

A friend shared this with me -- I have no idea who the author is.

"Depressing"

In class tonight, we listened to a lecture on the state of the U.S. economy by Paul Krueger, given about a month ago. He described the different factors that contributed to the economic crisis that we are in today, and how depressing the economic situation was. As I was listening to the lecture (about halfway through), I realized that rather than hearing about the failure of the economy having a negative effect on my mood, my morale was improving!

Now almost completely distracted from the lecture, I wondered why my mood would improve while listening to the news of bad things happening to our country's economic system....and I figured out why:

Repeatedly over the last month or so, I have been able to see how extremely important it is for God's church to be a living, righteous, pure, and holy witness of Him -- and that that means that each member of the body MUST live their lives holily, justly, and unblameably before God and men. Holiness is NOT optional. Unfortunately, I have had to see this through encountering, confronting, and being confronted by people who claim to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, but who urgently insist that sin and iniquity are to be the normal life-principle of Christ's people. Not merely an isolated few people, but fellow students, leaders in the church, and friends.

In addition, I am faced with the situation where the pastor of the church that I attend insists on putting the church in the place of partaking in the use of pagan symbols as part of their celebration of our Lord Jesus Christ -- and I am absolutely terrified at the prospect of standing before the entire congregation and decrying the christmas tree as a morally indefensible practice for worshippers of the One True God to use, and then demanding that it be removed from the building.

My realization was that the problems posed by the failure of our economy are petty and insignificant in comparison to the problems facing the body of Christ. How can I be worried about the things of this world, when those who name the name of Christ are not departing from iniquity, but are instead departing to iniquity?

I Will Stand Up

And the LORD spoke unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying,

"Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan; Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images and quite pluck down all their high places: And ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein: for I have given you the land to possess it.

And ye shall divide the land by lot for an inheritance among your families: and to the more ye shall give the more inheritance, and to the fewer ye shall give the less inheritance: every man's inheritance shall be in the place where his lot falleth; according to the tribes of your fathers ye shall inherit.

But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell. Moreover it shall come to pass, that I shall do unto you, as I thought to do unto them."

-Numbers 33:50-56
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Like the Children of Israel, we were once wandering in the wilderness of Sin, but we are come to the land of promise -- let us therefore enter in with boldness and drive out EVERY inhabitant...leave none, lest they be pricks in our eyes and thorns in our sides; lest God do to us what He thinks to do to those who fill up their sins alway, in their forsaking His commands.

I will stand up and declare unto you all, as Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh did, that we ought to "go up at once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it." I will tell you how the land - the life promised to us "is an exceeding good land. If the LORD delight in us [and He does, hallelujah!], then He will bring us into this land and give it us, a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not."

Will you go with me to possess the land in righteousness, or will you turn back and say "it is too hard for us, the nature of the people is too strong for us"? Will you drive every inhabitant out and live in the good land of rest, or will you go in only half-heartedly and leave them to torment you and be your downfall?

Low Expectations

Recently, there has been a movement gaining ground in the church regarding the low expectations for teenagers (the major proponents being the Alex and Brett Harris, through their ministry, The Rebelution) and how those low expectations lead to low achievement levels; as far as that goes, I believe it is altogether true. I would say, however, that it is not merely that adults have low expectations of teenagers, but that it is farther-reaching than that...people have low expectations all around - even adults are not expected to stand up and say "Yes, by the grace of God, I can and will live like God wants me to live, shunning sin, and actively obeying His will!" Instead, we have an "Oh woe is me, I'm a miserable wretched sinner, and I'll never live up to God's will for me!" kind of Christianity. This attitude is insipid childishness, and ought to be laid aside along with all the other weights and the sin so that we can run our race in righteousness and true holiness.

Reminds me of the Newsboys song "I'm Not Ashamed"

"What are we sneakin' around for -- who're we tryin' to please?
Shruggin' off sin, apologizin' like we're spreadin' some kind of disease
I'M SAYIN' NO WAY...NO WAY..."

The life of groveling as a miserable (yet saved) sinner is easy, because sin does not have to be given up - merely confessed...and those who are thus wallowing in the mire will try their hardest to drag down any who would truly take the Saviour's hand and stand out of such a vile existence - which makes it even harder for us who desire righteous, godly living to stand, since everyone around us is doing their best to make us fall back. We must therefore do as Paul instructs Timothy, and be as warriors,taking the whole armour of God and remaining untangled with the affairs of this life, in order that we may fight the good fight and receive the prize that awaits those who endure to the end.

Perhaps I am just rambling to no effect, but I hope to God that I am not. I only desire to provoke my brothers and sisters in the Lord to follow after holiness, without which, not one of us shall see the Lord.

The Rudest

My brother-in-law was discussing his job at Costco, and he made the comment that the best day to shop there is on Sunday before 11:30, which is when the traditional church service gets out. That in itself was reasonable, but it was his next comment that was very interesting (and depressing)....he said that the church people who come through are "the rudest customer base of the week."

What kind of witness is it when those who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ have that kind of perception of the people who profess to have been changed by the power of the true and living God? The gospel of Christ is so powerful that Christians can do anything, including having the reputation in the eyes of the community as the rudest customers in town. God forbid!


"Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity." II Timothy 2:19
"Abstain from all appearance of evil." I Thessalonians 5:22

All There Is

When I look around
And I see the sights and sounds
The people in the pews
Seem to be so glad
But it seems so sad
How many hear the news?

So very well they know
Jesus really loves us so
Is that all there is?
Say only a prayer
Heaven, you’ll be there
What is there to miss?

Chorus:
God said be perfect, be holy too
Give you the power, show you what to do
To let Him work, that’s what he needs
So our every hour, we do his deeds

Bridge:
Didn’t Jesus say something about
Having faith in him and living it out?
To come and pray
To worship in song
On Sundays tides us over
But isn’t it really wrong
When God says “give it over”
To keep on going our own way
And say:
I can’t help it, my old me
Makes me sin so constantly

God said be perfect, be holy too
Give you the power, show you what to do
To let Him work, that’s what he needs
So our every hour, we do his deeds

This might be news to you
Are you sitting in the pew
In the same routine?
Here is the good news
His strength you can use
Your life can be clean

God said be perfect, be holy too
Give you the power, show you what to do
To let Him work, that’s what he needs
So our every hour, we do his deeds
_________________________

Matthew 5:48; Romans 6:1-2; I Peter 1:16

Unstoppable

As I was sitting at a table at school with some of my acquaintainces recently, one of them remarked that he was unstoppable. I, trying to maintain some level of maturity in the conversation, replied, "No you're not."

He rejoined by saying, "If it wasn't for law enforcement and physics, I would be unstoppable."

My reply was simply that "If it wasn't for law enforcement and physics, you wouldn't exist."

After that point, the conversation quickly degenerated into a discussion over whether or not it was possible to exist without physics -- relatively pointless, and irrelevant to the point that I am making here.

That evening in Bible study, we read in Hebrews chapter 7 that Jesus Christ is made our high priest "after the power of an endless life." Now, it seems like the concept of immortality lies at the heart of what it means to defy physics -- since the most rigorously tested law of physics is that of entropy (everything breaks down over time) -- if I cannot kill you, there is not much that I can do to stop you.

The other concept that we saw in the book of Hebrews was that "the sceptre of his kingdom is a sceptre of righteousness;" which, when compared to the passage in I Timothy chapter 1, that "the law is not made for a righteous man," shows how the law had no hold on Jesus. Because he had never sinned, there was no way that any law enforcement could possibly have any claim on him.

So, while the guy at my table was by no means unstoppable, the God I serve is exactly that -- unstoppable. And even better than the fact that God is unstoppable, is the fact that He has graciously allowed us the opportunity to become partakers of His unstoppable power and nature (II Peter 1:3-4).

An Hour a Day, That's All

Last monday, after practicing patient assessment as part of our explorer scout program, the advisor of my scout post thought that we evidently needed more practice in that area (we did). He told us that it would be great if we could have the sheet that outlined the process (steps to take, questions to ask, decisions to make, etc.) by the next meeting. This was kind of unexpected, but not that unreasonable, as we probably should know the steps to go through in order to figure out what is wrong with someone. It was his next comment that I took especial note of -- he said that if we spent an hour a day reading over it and practicing going through it, we would have it down perfectly.

As I was driving home from school a few days ago, I was pondering the "hour a day" suggestion and suddenly had a thought -- do I spend an hour a day studying and practicing my relationship with God? How long do I actually spend studying the Word of God? Bible study is certainly far more important than studying patient assessment procedures: if it is good to spend an hour a day studying for explorer scouts, how much more time ought we to spend studying and building our relationship with the God of the universe? I figured that I average about 1 1/2 to 2 hours per day in Bible study (not including church meeting and Sunday school).

How much time do you devote to building your relationship with God?

I Just Wanna Know

Life's too short for small talk,
So don't be talking trivia now.
Excess baggage fills this plane:
There's more than we should ever allow.
There's engines stalling and good men falling,
But I ain't crawling away.

I just wanna know--am I pulling people closer?
I just wanna be pulling them to You.
I just wanna stay angry at the evil.
I just wanna be hungry for the true.

Folks play follow the leader,
But who's the leader gonna obey?
Will his head get big when the toes get tapping?
I just wanna know are they catching what I say?
I'm a little too young to introspect
And I surely haven't paid all my dues,
but there's death traps lying in those woods,
Most of 'em already been used!

I just wanna know--am I pulling people closer?
I just wanna be pulling them to You.
I just wanna stay angry at the evil.
I just wanna be hungry for the true.

Search me, Father, and know my heart;
Try me and know my mind.
And if there be any wicked way in me,
Pull me to the rock that is higher than I.

I just wanna know--am I pulling people closer?
I just wanna be pulling them to You.
I just wanna stay angry at the evil.
I just wanna be hungry for the true.
_________________________________

Jesus open my eyes
To what you would want me to be.
Make me worthy to carry your name,
Though the world may put me to shame

Give me love in my heart
For those who hurt me, make me cry,
For they’re the reason why you died
And it was you who first loved me.

Give me a smile, make me happy all the while,
And give me the strength to see it through.
And give me success if you feel I should be blessed,
I want to give it all to you.
I want to give it all to you.

Jesus open my eyes...
_________________________________

After all the things that you have shown me,
I'd be a fool to let them slip away
In doing things I know I shouldn't do.
But I don't want to fall away from you,
From you.

After all,
I've only grieved Your spirit,
And then I don't know why You stay with me.
But every time I fall, Your love comes through,
And I don't want to fall away from You.

When the light is gone
And good times are getting old,
There's no one left to count on
And all my friends are cold:
When I thirst for love, oh Lord,
You're a fountain to my soul
My soul
My soul Oh Lord
My soul

In a way my life is full of burdens,
But in a way You carry them from me,
Jesus.
'Cause no one understands the way You do.
And you know Lord,
I don't want to fall away from You.

Well every day I pray to start anew,
'Cause I don't want to fall away from You.

No Lord
I don't wanna fall away from You
No Lord
I don't wanna fall away from You

From You...Lord
_________________________________

[Thanks to Steve Taylor, Dave Mattson, and Keith Green for putting into words what I could never say so well.]

A Guideline

Having resolved to quit every activity that does not work godliness, I am now continually faced with an evaluative process. To be precise, I must determine in each case whether that activity works godliness or not.

The question then becomes: How do I know if something works godliness or not? What guidelines can I have in place to evaluate my activities against? In other words, I need a way to say "This is not okay because..."

What is it that pushes an activity "over the edge," so to speak, from acceptable and godly to a state where it is not advancing the work of God?

I can set a standard for myself (and have), of certain things that I refuse to do -- but without an absolute principle behind it, the set of rules is really meaningless. The key is to find the principle; once the principle is made plain, I can then take it and apply it to whatever situation I find myself in.

Sermon Topics

I have been wondering over the last few days about the ministry of preaching the Word of God. How does a pastor, evangelist, preacher, or teacher choose a sermon topic? How do you select the passage of scripture or subject to expound, especially week after week?

I think I understand the mechanics of how to preach or teach on a given section, but how do I choose which topic to deliver?

Sorry

When I was young, well, younger, after I had done something wrong, Mom would make me apologize. Often, in order to emphasize the attitude changes that should be occurring, she would ask, "What does 'sorry' mean?" So there was no mistake, she would tell us: "'Sorry' means that you don't do it again."

I think it works the same way with God. When we come to our senses and realize how much wrong we have done God by disobeying Him, we have to apologize, both to Him and to the people we have been ungodly towards. We tend to want to say it in more words, but essentially what we say is "God, I'm sorry."

My question is, are we sorry? Do we really give up what we were doing before, never to do it again? If we are, there should be a definite and distinct difference in both our attitude and our actions. When we are sorry, our outlook shifts from our own justification to being focused on what is right for the other person; our actions also reflect this -- we are willing to repay (when before we weren't), we place ourselves at their mercy (so they can exact whatever will propitiate them), etc.

Is this how we are toward God, letting Him take whatever He wants? How are we toward others? Do we take what we think is fair, or do we put their happiness first?

Spots

"Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless." -- II Peter 3:14

If we are to be found without spot, what must we do? First, and most obvious I think, is that every individual who is looking "for such things" must give all diligence to "do these things" that Peter outlines in the first chapter (in verses 5-11).

Second, however, Peter also points out that there is a larger sense in which we must beware of (and thus also take care to eliminate) spots. He says, speaking of false teachers and their followers: "spots they are, and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings while they feast with you..." (II Peter 2:13)

So, in a corporate sense, as the body and bride of Christ, we must take great care to be alert to the existence and/or entrance of such people into the church -- and then remove them from the body. Thus, He may "present [us] to himself a glorious church, not having any spot or wrinkle, or any such thing." (Ephesians 5:27)

Fire!

Thou Christ of burning, cleansing flame,
Send the fire!
Thy Blood-bought gift today we claim,
Send the fire!
Look down and see this waiting host,
Give us the promised Holy Ghost,
We want another Pentecost,
Send the fire!

God of Elijah, hear our cry:
Send the fire!
To make us fit to live or die,
Send the fire!
To burn up every trace of sin,
To bring the light and glory in,
The revolution now begin,
Send the fire!

'Tis fire we want, for fire we plead,
Send the fire!
The fire will meet our every need,
Send the fire!
For strength to ever do the right,
For grace to conquer in the fight,
For power to walk the world in white,
Send the fire!

To make our weak hearts strong and brave,
Send the fire!
To live a dying world to save
Send the fire!
O see us on Thy altar lay,
Our lives, our all, this very day,
To crown the offering now we pray,
Send the fire!

--William Booth
______________________________

Lord,

Whether you send the fire or not, I will serve You. But oh, see these around us, who need to be drawn to the fire, to be cleansed by the fire, and to be set on with the fire for You. Send the fire, Lord Jesus!

Act II

No, it's not popcorn...

My second "official" act under my resolution was to purchase a notebook -- I'm keeping a log of the things that I do for a whole week, so as to better be aware of the activities that I spend my time on. By Saturday, I will have a week's worth of notes, which I will then review and see what needs to be changed, added, or removed from my life.

Also, I would like to know, along the same lines as I asked regarding Facebook: For those of you who talk to me online, what has my conversation been on instant messenger (whether it is Facebook chat or MSN Messenger)? Am I really being useful, or do I just make interesting conversation? Do I "provoke to love and good works," or do I talk about whatever is interesting at the moment?

Resolution: August 13, 2008

While contemplating my life direction recently, I thought about some of the things that I do and how they are related to God's service. There are a lot of things that we do while hardly taking any thought as to whether they are really something we should be doing: for example, how often do we sit down to watch a movie at the end of the day while neglecting to take the time to do more in-depth study of God's Word, or simply starting a conversation with Him?

All this to say that I believe it's really wrong to live parts of our life without taking thought to the effect of those activities on the state of our relationship to God. I also think I need to do something about it...so to start anyway, I resolve:

To quit doing any and every activity that does not work godliness. If it be what I watch (movies, videogames), what I read (novels, websites, other books), what I say (online discussion, face-to-face conversation), what I do (games, work, leisure activities), what I spend money on (food, gifts, projects, music), what I choose to listen to (music, speeches, comedian monologues), or people I associate with (classmates, acquaintances, friends).

So, my first action under this resolution is to ask you all -- what have my actions on Facebook been?

Have they been entertaining?

Or have they provoked you to godliness?

Or have they been pointless?

Or have they been informational?

Or...


I'd seriously appreciate your thoughts.

The Rebelution (Part 3)

After a break, Brett delivered the message of the second session.

Brett’s point in this session was to explain what “do hard things” is all about; telling both why we should do hard things, and how we can go about doing them.

He started off by telling the story of his first shower [http://www.therebelution.com/blog/2006/05/my-first-shower-nearly-killed-me], in order to show how the big challenges that we face now are no different from the ones we have already faced and overcome (like learning to walk, becoming potty trained, or taking a shower). Yet for some reason, the older we get, the more we define our limitations by what is easiest for us – so often, we write off the opportunity to grow by taking the attitude that we are “not a people-person,” or “not a math-person,” or any number of “well, I’m just not a *insert noun*-person,” and we limit ourselves only to things that come easily; but if our little siblings were to say the same kinds of things, we would be not only shocked, but we would under no circumstances allow them to get away with it – I mean, can you imagine a three-year old saying “I’ll never get this bathroom thing – I’m just not a toilet person”? Or what about a ten-year old saying “making my bed is so hard, I’m just not a blanket person”?

We live in a culture that expects us, as both teenagers and adults, to survive (be potty trained), but not to thrive (know complex algebra). But God isn’t glorified when His people don’t use what He’s given them…He is glorified when we do hard things, not easy things.” We grew as kids by doing difficult things – so that’s what we need to do to keep growing, because doing hard things is what living breathing people do (if no-one did hard things, the human race could never have survived).

So how are we supposed to go about actually doing hard things? And what does doing hard things look like? Brett explained seven different aspects of doing hard things:

1. Doing hard things looks like trampling sin in our life
We must fight sin because it is the most destructive thing to God’s work that can happen – sin is always bad; yet at the same time, sin is often the “easiest” option. Being a slacker is wrong, but easy, while being diligent is right and hard. This is why we must fight against sin as long and as hard as we can.

2. Doing hard things looks like battling discouragement and complacency
Fighting discouragement is important for several reasons
· First, because strength does not lie in giftedness – it is achieved. Thus, we must not lose hope if we fail while trying…even though it is very cliché, we should “try again.”
· Second, because worthwhile things are not easy – they’re hard! So if things get tough, we should not become discouraged, but rather press on even harder…which is the third reason
· Because worthwhile things are hard – we should never give up when we meet resistance, we should keep going.
Complacency, which is a smug self-satisfaction, is the greatest enemy to growth, because it is an attitude of “I’m good enough and don’t have to work anymore” – if our purpose in life is to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, and growth means doing hard things, then complacency is 180° from what we should be doing.

*If anyone remembers them, I’d appreciate the list of things that Brett gave that might be occasions for complacency “top of the class, likely to be president…” – I was listening, rather than writing notes and can’t remember the 6 or so examples that he gave.*

[The question I put in my notes was “How Do We Fight This??” – this is the very thing that I must constantly guard against, because God has blessed me with great ability (at least in school), and it would be extremely easy to slip into a complacent mode of thought and action.]

Doing hard things is about building muscle – something that requires diligent exercise…relaxation does not build muscles. And it’s not only physical muscle, it’s spiritual muscle (exercising our selves unto godliness), and mental muscle (training our renewed minds {Rom. 12:1-2} to think as Christ does).

3. Doing hard things looks like doing more than is required
Brett explained the history of the Vikings, talking about how they were the fiercest warriors in the world – feared by all. One of the reasons that they were so terrifying was their strength…which they gained through exercise. How? By rowing themselves to the battle – they didn’t use slaves to row their boats…they did it themselves, and because of this, they grew far stronger than they would have otherwise. How does this apply to us? We need to go the extra mile, challenge ourselves, because doing more than is easy is the very thing that increases our strength.

4. Doing hard things looks like getting over our fear of failure
“There is nothing stupider, (perhaps this is a bad word in some families, but it is true) nothing stupider than not doing what we know is right, only because we fear that we’ll fail.” Brett went on to explain why we should not fear failure, starting with an example: if he challenged everyone in the auditorium to 100 push-ups, chances are that there would be a few really strong guys who would take up the challenge…and even more certainly, Brett would lose – probably not making it even close to 100 – so why do it? Brett pointed out that, even if the strong guys make it to 100 fairly easily, they did not grow stronger at even close to the rate that Brett would (even though he would probably fail). The lesson: it’s okay to fail while trying hard things, first because you actually tried (rather than giving up without even starting), and second because you get stronger even though you fail.

5. Doing hard things looks different for every person
People are different, and have very different gifts, talents, and circumstances; however, differences in gifts or circumstances is no excuse for not doing hard things – but those hard things will take different forms. The prime example that Brett gave was that of men and women – each very different in gifts and circumstances – each has a very different role, but this does not relieve them from the responsibility of doing hard things – it just means that they do different hard things.

6. Doing hard things looks like doing small things…not only big things
It is easy to think of “doing hard things” as involving the “big” things in life – preaching the gospel, going on a missions trip, etc. – but in reality, the hard things that we have to take care to do are the small, everyday things – being courteous, holding the door open, making sure to keep our every action pure, watching the words we speak, cleaning up after ourselves, respecting our parents, loving our siblings, etc. – because “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.” (Luke 16:10).

7. Doing hard things is our best life
Not our easiest life – not even our funnest life…our best life. It will be difficult, perhaps even seemingly impossible at times, but serving God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength (emphasis on all) will result in our living the best, most productive, and fruitful life, a life that gives God all the glory that he deserves from us. In doing this, not only will we reach our full potential, we will realize God’s full potential for us; we will stretched to our limits, but if our sufficiency is of God, we cannot truly fail in serving him.


That's all I have typed up for now... eventually I'll get Gregg Harris' session posted.

"Non-Vehicle"

I was reading through the Sequim Municipal Code (yes, it's as boring as it sounds) as part of my internship with the City...and I came across this in the definition section:

"'Non-vehicle' is any object which is not a vehicle.' (SMC10.12.010c)

I was like, "Wow...if we have to resort to definitions like this...we have totally lost it!"


Now...having thought about the quote for most of the day...here's my thought: maybe we need to be more blatantly obvious. What would happen if the legal system didn't have a complete set of definitions (sometimes insanely simple ones)? There would be chaos, because people would be using whatever definition they had grown up with!

I think it's the same way with being a Christian -- if we don't make it completely obvious, it is way too easy for people to mistake it for something else: they may think we "are just a nice person"...or "he's a great guy"...or "they're really easy to get along with"...or any number of things, EXCEPT the one that they should say, if we have been dipped in the blood of Jesus and filled with His Spirit.

A Letter

To whom it may concern -- that is, you,

Have you contemplated the goodness of God? It is His goodness that leads to repentance.

His goodness does not consist in forcing every situation to result in the best possible outcome, but in His gracious allowance of our choices, His just reward for our successes and failures, and his provision: for forgiveness of past failures and for exceeding abundant power to succeed (neither of which we deserve)! What then should be our response to God's unpeakable goodness?

First, it should be sorrow, but not mere moroseness. Godly sorrow is contrition -- a realization of God's good standard and our failure to meet it -- deep, no, total regret of our misdeeds and desire to have done rightly.

Second; however, this sorrow should never be our primary mode of existence, because the purpose of godly sorrow is to work repentance. Desire to do right and regret do not make repentance, for repentance is an action. To repent is not to regret our past actions, but to change our present life (that is, our actions); it is also not an incremental change, but a complete, entire, and wholehearted change -- from sinful, selfish motives and actions to reliance on, devotion to, and service to God. In short, repentance is forsaking sinful sef-centeredness and consecrating our life and motives to God, centered on His will, His wisdom, and His lordship as supreme.

Thirdly, our response should be one of continued, persevering submission to God and His cause. Repentance is a start (in fact, the only start), but it is only a start -- we must continue in choosing to act rightly. This is righteousness, for we have not been merely saved from sin (though we do not deserve even this), we have been saved to righteousness. This is the defining mark of every true child of God, for John tells us that in this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: the children of God work righteousness, while the children of the devil work sin (I John 3:10).

Is your life centered around God and His goodness? Or is your life centered around what is best for you and those you love?


In Christ,

Andrew Powers

John Hyde's Testimony

“John Hyde’s close walk with God had aroused spiritual difficulty in the community where an Indian doctor decided to test the preacher’s daily life. Many had been converted and the native physician wanted to know whether or not Hyde’s religion at home was as genuine as he claimed.

So he dispatched a friend to the missionary, affirming that he too was a Christian believer. Hyde at once opened his home to the Indian, and asked him to remain for several days. This fitted perfectly into the doctor’s scheme, and so the native accepted the invitation. Living with Hyde, he had occasion to study the man in action.

After three or four days the man ran away and went to the doctor who sent him, saying “He has no fault, that man has no fault; he is a god, he is a god, and not a man!”

-- from "Praying Hyde," by Basil Miller

Reading this provoked me to ask myself: "Is that what my testimony is? Do people see my actions and marvel at the work which God does in me?" Is it? I answered myself with a yes....yet hesitated, because I don't actually interact with as many people as I could be interacting -- I find my character to be upright, but that I am often reluctant to place myself on top of the hill, in contact with all I see. This is what God has been pushing me to do (and I have been doing more and more), and the more I do it, the more I see God's marvelous power work. To Him be the glory!

What about you...are you giving the testimony of God that Hyde was?

Angry Young Men

Angry Young Men
By Randy Stonehill

“He wants some angry young men
Ones who can't be bought
Ones who will not run from a fight
Ones who speak the truth whether it's popular or not
Ones who'd give up anything to walk in His light

Chorus:
Rest assured when Jesus comes again
He'll be looking for some angry young men

He wants some angry young men
With fire in their eyes
Ones who understand what Jesus gave
Ones who have grown weary of the world and all its lies
Ones who won't forget they've been delivered from the grave

Rest assured when Jesus comes again
He'll come back for the angry young men

Yes He will

Bridge:
They say if you don't laugh you cry
I say if you don't live you die
Well, well, the road to hell is paved with some impressive alibis
But unless you thirst for Jesus first
Man, heaven will pass you by (uh huh)
Heaven will pass you by

You'll be tempted, tried and tested
There'll be wars the devil wins
But God's love is not a license to lie there in your sins
He understands the human heart
His mercy is complete
But His grace was not intended
As a place to wipe your feet

Rest assured when Jesus comes again
He'll be looking for some angry, angry men

He wants some angry young men
Who love the Lord they serve
Ones who'll do much more than make a speech
Ones who'll act their faith out with the passion it deserves
'Cause if we cannot live it – tell me, who are we to preach?

Rest assured when Jesus comes again
He'll come back for the angry young men

Rest assured when Jesus comes again
He'll be looking for the angry young men
He'll be looking for the angry young men

Where’s the angry men?

Yes He will,
He’ll be lookin’

Yes He will

Hey!
Where’s the angry men?”
_________________________________________

An “angry young man.” Yes, this is what I want to be. In fact, I’ll ask you – am I:

One who can't be bought?
One who will not run from a fight?
One who’ll speak the truth whether it's popular or not?
One who'd give up anything to walk in His light?
One with fire in my eyes?
One who understands what Jesus gave?
One who has grown weary of the world and all its lies?
One who won't forget he’s been delivered from the grave?
One who thirsts for Jesus first?
One who loves the Lord he serves?
One who'll do much more than make a speech?
One who'll act his faith out with the passion it deserves?
One who lives it?


Tell me – am I one to preach?

…...Are you?

Putting Others On The Right Path

"Charity shall cover a multitude of sins" (I Peter 4:8)

To return Christians who have erred from the way of salvation is just as important as saving the souls of those who have not yet tasted of the heavenly gift. Fortunately, we should not be apprehensive about approaching these people, since (hopefully) they have been in the church, and we have a chance to acquaint ourselves with them.

How then shall charity cover sins? Should it simply gloss over them as if they were nonexistent? God forbid. James speaks of it in his epistle, chapter 5, verse 20: "He which converteth a soul from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins" -- that is, many sins shall not be committed because of the corrective influence. Jesus even gives us protocol for dealing with people who persist in iniquity: first talk to him (or her), then bring others to talk to him, if he won't listen, then tell the church, and if worst comes to worst, "let him be to thee as an heathen" (Matthew 18:15-17).

We must at all times show in our conduct the righteousness and holiness that is in our hearts ("be holy for I am holy"), because of what our Lord Jesus has done for us - that others might see our good works and glorify God.

Sin is the very antithesis of God's character. Therefore, as His representatives, we should always strive to keep one another out of sin, and in the way of righteousness.

Obedience

"To obey is better than sacrifice" I Samuel 15:22

Who are we to obey? God.

Why? Why should we do what God tells us to do? Isn't it much more fun when I don't have to worry about "don't do this, don't do that..." Our duty to obey God is not because He is God, but because His commands are in our best interests (see Matthew 7: 7-11) -- because God is good.

Since we are to obey God, what is it that He tells us to do? He says: "Love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength...and love thy neighbor as thyself." We cannot just "believe"- for without works, faith is dead (James 2:14) Jesus' death is only for us if we are His friends, and as He said, "ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." How is it with us? Are we Jesus' friends? Have we and are we doing what He has commanded? Do you treat others as we would want to be treated? If not, beware, for you are in danger of hellfire! However, if God will say "well done, good and faithful servant"...glory to God! He is glorified in our obedience.

The Rebelution Conference (Part 2)

Back to the Rebelution conference – Portland 2008......


So for the first full session, Alex delivered the message.

He began by saying that an elephant was the pet that he had always wanted when he was younger (I mean…what other kid can say “yeah, I just got an elephant the other day”…you would totally rule the playground!)…but then as he grew more mature, he began to think about how you would keep an elephant from running off – they’re so strong that they are used to pull trees right out of the ground! But the owners of elephants never have a problem with their elephants running off…why? Because they tie some twine around their leg, and fasten it to a stake in the ground – the elephants never run away. What’s so special about the twine?...nothing, because the twine is not what is really keeping the elephant from breaking it and running away; the farmer, when the elephant is young, takes a chain and shackles the elephant to a tree – no matter how hard the little elephant tries, he cannot break the chain, or uproot the tree – the elephant learns that when it has something tied around it’s leg, it can’t get away…when it is tied with the twine, the shackles are not around its leg, they are around its mind. Thus, because it does not expect to be able to break free, it doesn’t even try, and thus never breaks the twine and runs away.

In many ways, we are like the elephant – we have much strength, potential, and energy – yet we are often controlled by culture’s shackles…low expectations. So what went wrong? Why do we have these low expectations, these “shackles”?

What does the Bible say about teenagers? Nothing. The Bible talks about children, and then about men – adults – there is no in-between stage ever mentioned, no mention of a time when responsibility is light and goofing off is okay – so what was it like being a teenager before the current concept of “teenager” came into being (“teenager” was first used in 1941)?

Alex gave three examples of teenagers – George (Washington), David (Farragut), and Clarissa (Clara Barton)…all three accomplished amazing things while still in their teenage years, because they had high expectations and were held to a high standard of responsibility.

So what changed between then and now?

One of the major changes was that in the early 1900s, partly because of the abusive child labour practices, it was made mandatory that children attend school through high school level – this greatly alleviated the child labour problem, but had a side-effect of causing many young people to be idle (rather than actively engaged in productive activities, as George, David, and Clarissa were)…due to this idleness, very gradually youth became consumers, rather than producers, thus creating the expectation that youth would simply be consumers (lowered expectations), and then because they were idle, youth had the opportunity to “goof off” and thus furthering the lowered expectations…so the cycle went on.

Alex quoted somebody [I don’t remember who…argh] as saying that “the current ceiling [of expectations] is where the floor should be” – our culture’s expectations for youth are so low, that “high expectations” are really only the basics!

For example, when Alex and Brett looked up “teens” and “expectations” on Google, they found a website that was for parents who wanted help raising teenagers – and they saw that there was a section about expectations, they decided to take a look, just to see what people were saying. The author first made some general comments which were pretty good, along the lines of “always encourage your teen to push himself,” etc….and then they saw some specific recommendations that parents might take as examples: for early teens (13-15) – they should be expected to make their bed every day, know how to take a message on the telephone, and clean their room (with some help from Mom and Dad); for older teens, the expectations are higher – they should be expected to do a daily chore, keep the gas tank above ¼ full, and clean their room (all by themselves!). Alex and Brett were shocked that this is all that teens are expected to do – quite a contrast when compared to what George, David, and Clarissa were expected to accomplish! Rather than simply live “up” to the current expectations, we should instead “Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” (I Timothy 4:12).

We are not called to fit in, but to be exemplary! (Romans 12:1-2) We need to wake up to the fact that the low expectations are robbing us!! We are like the elephant, and we need to realize that we can (and should) break the twine of low expectations, so that we can freely and effectively live for God.

So what does a “rebelution” look like? It is where teens take advantage of their teen years, as George, David, and Clarissa did, redeeming that time, and using it for what it is – critical training for adulthood. So the question we must ask ourselves is this: are we doing things now that will prepare us for adult, productive life? Are we doing what we need to do?…or are we doing what we want to do?


Forthcoming sometime in the future will be session #2, with Brett Harris…

Modesty (From a Woman's Perspective)

I was discussing the topic of modesty with some of my friends a while ago, and then just recently it resurfaced, and I believe that their perspective is valuable, so I have attempted to refine the ideas expressed (instant messenger conversations are kind of hard to work with) – and here they are.

Andrew: Andrew Powers (me)
Sarah: Sarah Ganzhorn
Hannah: Hannah Ganzhorn
Nalani: Nalani Brisco
Alicia: Alicia Powers

Sarah: Have you ever noticed that articles talking about modesty are normally focused on women being modest and most of the time don't even mention the fact that men also should be modest?

Andrew: Sometimes it bothers me...but I think it's probably because guys think about it more.

What were your thoughts on the "modesty for guys" topic?

Sarah: Men may be visually oriented... but girls also are – maybe not to such an extent but it is still there, and it still causes problems.

Andrew: So what ways should men be modest?

Sarah: I don't want to get on a soapbox or anything but I think that men can be modest in pretty much all the same ways women should be. For example, men are always saying that when women wear really tight pants it causes them problems – well, men wearing rather tight pants cause women to have problems as well.

Nalani: A guy can be immodest by being vulgar (either in his self-representation or his speech [like if he swears a lot or makes a lot of sexual innuendos (being pervy!)])....ummm....hmmm....being arrogant and proud to a fault...

Hannah: In speech, behavior, and appearance…specifically, immodesty in speech and behavior pretty much equals flirting, which can include ridiculously outrageous compliments, being smart or witty with the sole intent of attracting, showing off strength, etc.

Modesty of dress is not using one's body to attract, modest clothing would not be too loose (as in descending pants), too tight (as in bicycling tights), or too skimpy.

Alicia: I think the modesty for guys probably comes in character. Arrogant and proud or humble.

Andrew: To me it seems that a lot of times immodesty in a guy exhibits itself in different forms than girls (where clothing is the major issue)...with guys, immodesty can be not in the clothes so much as in, say, the muscular body, or the fast/loud car, etc.

Sarah: Mmm, yes that’s true, also, girls' immodesty is not limited to clothes – she can dress modestly and not behave modestly.

Andrew: Right. So what is modesty, then?

Nalani: Well, there's modesty as being humble, and then there's physical modesty--wearing clothes that aren't terribly revealing

Sarah: The definition for modest would be the opposite of immodest, and my opinion of immodest would be intentionally attracting the attention of the opposite gender in a way that would cause them to lust, etc.

Basically, anything that is immodest for a girl, the male version of it is also immodest. So, just like girls being immodest because they are wearing really tight pants, it is the same with guys wearing really tight pants.

Hannah: Immodesty is dressing or behaving in a way that encourages impure thoughts or actions….modesty is dressing and behaving in a way that is above reproach.

Andrew: Ok....so immodest actions for a girl can be flirting, acting provocatively (body postures, shoe choice, etc.), etc......so what do guys do (or wear, or say) etc., that fits into the "immodest" category?

Nalani: It kind of depends on what you think of as indecent. I'm not too fond of the way baggy pants some guys wear... and lots of older folks don't appreciate all of the holes in pants (or other clothing) that reveal all that skin. And unless it's swimwear, I would say no really short shorts either, and no rips/holes in the clothing that could potentially expose their privates…

Hannah: I think guys are as guilty as flirting of girls.... they do a lot of showing off... so far as what they wear... pants can easily be to big, or too tight ( as in bicycling shorts) and I really would rather they keep their shirts on.

Sarah: You want specifics? Well, guys can also have provocative body postures, guys can also flirt...I guess you could say the big guy thing is to show off to get all the girls attention, you know, to show that he is the strongest or whatever

I would say that guys' shirts should meet their pants at all times – same as for girls.

The saggy pants business is so bad, and tight shirts aren't that great either.

Andrew: So then, does immodesty have something to do with "showing off"....and if so, what is it that guys do to "show off" that "intentionally attracts the attention of the opposite gender in a way that would cause them to lust"?

Sarah: I think showing off is a good example of immodest behavior, well, girls are attracted to strong men, so I guess when a guy goes out of his way to seem strong in front of a girl then that would be immodest behavior indeed.

Hannah: In my experience, it's mostly body, brains, and personality… I don't really notice the showing off of stuff... except maybe having a 'hot' car, but so far as intentionally attracting, a lot of guys will be gentlemanly just as a chance to show off how strong they are or whatever, I've heard a lot of girls oohing and ahhing over how buff some guy is.

They’ll pay me outrageous compliments, or try to be really smart because they think I am. Usually that's accompanied by asking me out.

It's not so much what they do but what they say.

Andrew: So would you say that a lot of the "immodest" actions are efforts on the guy's part to make you prefer him over others --- so really anything that flows from that motivation is truly "immodest"?

Hannah: Yes... I guess you could say that... there are exceptions though…

Such as… you can't really call a guy who wants his wife to like him better than other guys immodest

So I would say it's only immodest if the guy hasn't the right .

___________________

I could probably write a wordy conclusion to this “interview”…but Hannah’s paraphrase of Paul is perfectly apt; she says it is really about how “guys should concern themselves not only with keeping their own thoughts pure but also the thoughts of their sisters in Christ.”

I completely agree. This is the true attitude of charity – not using our liberty as a cloak for selfishness (I Peter 2:16), not destroying others through our actions (Romans 14:13-15), and taking heed that our liberty does not become a stumblingblock to those that are weak (I Cor. 8:9). “Let every one of us please his [sister] for [her] good to edification” (Romans 15:2)…. “Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wealth” (I Cor. 10:24).

The Rebelution Conference (Part 1)

I promised a review of the Rebelution conference, so as I have time, I will be writing a full report -- to begin with, I have the introductory remarks.

Last Saturday, I attended the Rebelution conference – Portland 2008...

Alex & Brett Harris with their father, Gregg Harris

There were four sessions:

1. Alex
2. Brett
3. Gregg
4. Alex/Gregg/Brett



Before launching into the first session, Alex and Brett introduce themselves and explain how the idea for the Rebelution began, and pose the question: “why are we here? – why are you here?”

They explained that they came to the realization that while culture says “it doesn’t matter how we spend our teen years”….it really DOES matter! So they found themselves in the same kind of position as Jeremiah, when God began to use him:

“Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD.” (Jer. 1:4-8)

Seeing that the culture was saying to those who “cannot speak, for they are but children” that it was okay, they didn’t really need the responsibility – they decided that this message was totally contradictory to the true, biblical purpose of not only the teenage years, but of living at all! So they began writing about “doing hard things” on their blog, and that was the beginning of the Rebelution.

....coming at some point will be the first session with Alex Harris.

The Translators to the Readers

I took the time to read the preface in my Bible (KJV) over the last couple days, and I was surprised by the depth to which the translators explained the issues that they dealt with in the translation process -- many of those issues are "current"...yet the translators had to take them into consideration even in 1611.

I found the final paragraph (which I have divided into three parts for ease of reading) to be very provoking - stimulating thought, and encouraging me to walk by the same rule whereto I have already attained, as Paul exhorts the Philippians (3:16).


"Many other things we might give thee warning of, gentle reader, if we had not exceeded the measure of a Preface already. It remaineth that we commend thee to God, and to the Spirit of His grace, which is able to build further than we can ask or think. He removeth the scales from our eyes, the vail from our hearts, opening our wits that we may understand His Word, enlarging our hearts, yea, correcting our affections, that we may love it above gold and silver, yea, that we may love it to the end.

Ye are brought unto fountains of living water which ye digged not; do not cast earth into them, with the Philistines, neither prefer broken pits before them, with the wicked Jews. Others have laboured, and you may enter into their labours. O receive not so great things in vain; O despise not so great salvation! Be not like swine to tread under foot so precious things, neither yet like dogs to tear and abuse holy things. Say not to our Saviour with the Gergesites, Depart out of our coasts; neither yet with Esau sell your birthright for a mess of pottage. If light be come into the world, love not darkness more than light; if food, if clothing, be offered, go not naked, starve not yourselves. Remember the advice of Nazianzene, It is a grievous thing (or dangerous) to neglect a great fair, and to seek to make markets afterwards: also the encouragement of St. Chrysostome, It is altogether impossible, that he that is sober (and watchful) should at any time be neglected. Lastly, the admonition and menacing of St. Augustine, They that despise God's will inviting them, shall feel God's will taking vengeance of them.

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God; but a blessed thing it is, and will bring us to everlasting blessedness in the end, when God speaketh unto us, to hearken; when He setteth His Word before us, to read it; when He stretcheth out His hand and calleth, to answer, Here am I; here we are to do thy will, O God. The Lord work a care and conscience in us to know Him and serve Him, that we may be acknowledged of Him at the appearing of our Lord JESUS CHRIST, to whom with the Holy Ghost, be all praise and thanksgiving. Amen."


Having the very Word of God in our hands, we should not despise it nor ignore it, but guard it as though it were the only spring of water -- living water in this dry and thirsty land...for it is the Word of life preserved for us by God's mighty hand. Let us drink not sparingly of it, but as we are commanded to: opening our mouths wide, that the Lord may fill us with every spiritual blessing in high places. Let us not hoard it either, but as we have been filled, we ought to thus share with others -- that as it were rivers of living water might flow out of us -- giving refreshment and direction to those both weary and lost along the way.

Why?

Something that's been in my mind the last couple days is that question: "Why?"

Why do we do pointless things? Why do we sit down in the evening and watch a Disney movie that we have seen a hundred times instead of reading the Bible?

Why do we go to school? Why do YOU go to school?

Why am I even here at the computer? Is there something more important than writing this note?

Why do we do things that seem to serve no real purpose? Why do we watch TV? Why do we go to Disneyland/Legoland/Six Flags/etc.?

Why don't we do something that would truly advance the kingdom of God? Why don't we go to that Bible study? Why don't we talk about God with our (Christian) friends at school? Why don't we pray more than a few minutes every day?

Why do we pray for the things that we do? Why do we, instead of praying for 20 minutes, pick up the Nintendo controller and play a videogame that will have no effect on anyone's life?

For what it's worth, perhaps these questions will provoke you to a deeper consideration of what your purpose in life is, and why you are doing what you are doing.


In Christ,

Andrew

Unity

"All efforts of union but that of God's holiness is as pounding cold, crooked pieces of iron toegether. The more blows, the more crooks and differences. Put them into a furnace of white heat and they will lose their cold, stiff, crooked individuality, and flow into one mass...Freedom from sin knits together in love." --D. S. Warner

Thus, if righteousness, the righteous life that we ought to live through Christ, is not preached, we will never have any more than a superficial "unity". If we preach that "we must sin in thought, word, and deed," we will most assuredly have sects and factions; so long as this insidious doctrine is preached and believed, we will only be as cold-hearted crooked, stiffnecked individuals. Unless we preach for the purpose of right, godly, blameless living; unless we call each other to "cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God", we will never see true unity in the professed body of Christ. But, if we live in holiness and righteousness, we can then call to our brothers and sisters, and say, "receive us; we have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have defrauded no man...ye are in our hearts to die and live with you." (II Cor. 7:1,2).

"There is therefore no real cause of division but sin." --D. S. Warner

Can you say to every man, that you have behaved yourself in all holiness and righteousness and honesty? If you cannot, is not this the very reason that you have not true fellowship in the body of Christ? If you are not one with the true followers of Christ, DO something about it! Don't just sit and wonder where it went, for you know where it is -- it is in the obedience to Christ -- for "hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments", and if we know Him, we will know and fellowship with those who are His.

My "Statement of Ethics"

Ethics are, simply put, "doing what is right." What is right? "Right," according to the dictionary, is the state of being in conformity to facts or truth; thus, any ability to "do what is right" implies that there is a truth to conform to, and that that truth is applicable to the situation. I believe (based on evidence) that ethics have an absolute basis, not changing according to my culture or individual sentivities. This absolute is Jesus Christ - for He is the Word of God - He is the way, the Truth, and the life.

My values are derived from what I know to be true - thus, my highest value is that Truth is more important to me than anything else, including my life. For several reasons I have found the Bible to be the epitome of truth, not only true as a whole, but true in all of its parts as well -- literally, the word of God, given to man. Because I am dedicated to Truth, I choose to abide by the principles and laws given in the Bible, which are, in essence, two:

• "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment."

Thus, my mission in life is to carry out this edict. I show this by obeying the commands given by God.

• "And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself..."

"...On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." This means that all of the other descriptors of righteous living are merely attributes of this one motive -- benevolence -- service to God and my neighbour. Integrity, honesty, loyalty, self-denial, work-ethic, patience, meekness, etc. are all manifestations of my obedience to this second command.

Modesty (From a Man's Perspective)

Modest clothing is clothing that does not draw my eye (and thus my mind) to places (or thoughts) that stimulate lustful or envious desires. Immodest clothes are worn with the knowledge that they are a stumblingblock to those who look thereon.

Now, modest clothing does not preclude lust altogether -- I may choose to lust after a girl who is dressed in a burqa -- but the key is where the thought process begins; is it provoked by the article of clothing worn (or not worn, as the case may be)? This is immodesty. But if it begins as a choice by my own mind to lust, immodesty is not the issue of concern.

This principle of modesty does not apply to clothing only; body posture, word choice, and voice inflection can (and should) all be governed by the same principle.

The driving force behind true modesty is charity -- A desire to put the needs of others before one's self interest.

Emotionalism

One thing I heartily dislike in "worship" (praise, actually), during most church services is when it is done in such a way as to foster a "worshipful" emotional state.

This focus in "worship" does two things:

It supports the (false) idea that worship consists in a certain feeling, rather than the consecration of my will to God's will.

The second thing that it does is to take my eyes off of true worship and puts my focus on a warm/fuzzy feeling which is so far from the true service of God.

I would much rather skip the portion of the service (though song is a very appropriate form of praise) and spend more time strengthening my faith with preaching from the Word of God. Perhaps I am waxing slightly heretical to favour rationality over emotion, but I think not.


"Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church. Wherefore let him that speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also." (I Corinthians 14:12-15, emphasis mine)

A Cheap Religion

In perusing a Gospel newsletter, I came across this article, and thought it made a very important point - one that I see describing much of the "church" today, and thus, it needs to be addressed.

A Cheap Religion

This is an age when we want things at a bargain -- a reduced price. This also pertains to religion. All people in all climes want happiness and peace of mind; hence any form of relifion which will promise this and give a hope of heaven, without much ignominy, is the very thing they are after. So we see:

A religion without repentance. true repentance implies not only the forsaking of all outward and inward sin, but restitution as well -- the undoing, so far as possible, of all offenses of the past.. This means confession to God and to individuals who have been wronged, defrauded, or hated. Friend, have you so repented that no one can point at you and say, "You injured me and my standing, and have never apologized"?

A religion of good works. thousands of people, including ministers, arise early Sunday morning, say prayers, take Holy Communion, give offerings to ease the conscience, and make themselves believe they are on the way to heaven; but they lack the one all-essential thing -- the New Birth. Jesus plainly said "Except a man be born again [born from above], he cannot see the kingdom of God." Why be deceived?

A religion without holiness. We read that without holiness no man shall see the Lord, but this cheap religion says, "We must sin; we must gratify unholy desires." Such a religion may please the flesh, but remember it will fail you when you are dying. Then you will want to be as pure as the blood of Christ can cleanse you.

A religion that will let you drink, grudge, speak unkindly, go to law, or seperate you from your family, will dissapoint you at the Judgment.

On the other hand, the right kind of religion will enable you to live a Christlike life. Yea, since you are made partaker fo the Divine nature, you will naturally act like your saviour. As a result, you will love the Bible more than any other reading. You will also love long sessions of secret prayer. Of course, you will love all men of all nations, even your enemies.

Friends, how is it with you? Do not rest on a form, but insist on the power of Christ within.

-- E. E. Shelhamer (printed in Hallelujah!, the official gazette of the Bible Holiness Movement)

The Gospel

Every person on earth needs forgiveness for having disobeyed God (Romans 3:23). We cannot be saved from sin by trying to do better, for we have no way of making up for our own past misdeeds.


Therefore, part one in the way of salvation is: Repent from your sins.

"Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out" (Acts 3:19)


However, step one alone cannot save us, for without God's involvement, it is merely works. Thus, repentance must be combined with faith in God, for those who wish to be pleasing to God must "believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6)


Part two then is: Believe on Jesus Christ.

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." (Acts 16:31)


Now, what do repentance from sin and faith in Christ look like in your life? "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also" (James 2:26). This involves the next two parts...


Confess Jesus as your Master:

"If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart the God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." (Romans 10:9)

and...

Live the obedient life:

"Not everyone that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." (Matthew 7:21)

"Whosoever says he knows God but does not obey Him is a liar." (1 John 2:4)


Too many people stop at part two and think that they have all the salvation they need - faith without works - this dead faith, however is not the salvation that Scripture speaks of. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil; if the people that He has saved continue in sin, what victory is there, since Satan's works are still being done? If you are truly saved, you will bear fruit - good fruit - just as a tree is known by the fruit it bears, a believer in Christ is known by whom he obeys (1 John 3:10).

Envy or Jealousy?

Envy and jealousy are often used interchangeably, but these terms are very different. Both can be used to describe a "covetous" state of the will, but this is where the synonymity ends.

To covet is to desire - this is not in itself evil - "but," you might say, "isn't covetousness everywhere condemned as evil?" It may appear so, but in Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, he tells them to "covet earnestly the best gifts." (12:31)

What is the difference, then?

Envy is the coveting of those things that are not rightfully one's own, resulting in ill will and discontent. True love never envies.

Jealousy, though, cannot be morally wrong, for the very reason that God Himself is a Jealous God. So what is jealousy? It is the coveting of those things that are rightfully one's own, resulting in righteous anger at the injustice that is done by someone else taking it away.

Does this give us an excuse to be angry with others? I would argue that, in most circumstances, the answer is NO; because usually we are too shortsighted to see the consequences of our anger. Jealous actions must always be consistent with love, because love is the root of jealousy.

However, there is a place for anger, because Paul admonishes us to "be angry, and sin not," but this anger must result not from injury to our person, but from true, godly love - and our actions must always be consistent with love: "Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." (I Corinthians 13:4-7).

What It Means To Be Holy

"Just what does it mean to be holy people? First and foremost, holy people have given themselves wholly and completely to God. When they determine what is right or wrong for them to do, they do not ask "Can I do that?" but instead "Would God want me to do that?" They are more concerned with God's smile of approval than they are with public opinion. God has first place in their life." (1)

"A spark from the fire is like the fire. The tiniest twig on the giant oak, or the smallest branch of the vine, has the nature of the oak or the the vine, and in that respect is like the oak or vine. A drop of water on the end of your finger from the ocean is like the ocean, not in size, of course, but in essence, in its character, and in its nature; just so, a holy person is like God. Not that he is infinite as God is; he does not know everything, he has not all power and wisdom as God has, but he is like God in his nature. He is good and pure and loving and just in the same way God is" (2)


Holiness is simply this: the giving of oneself to God, as His own. This is our our reasonable service to God; having been redeemed from certain death through the death of His Son, what less can we do than "God, you have saved my life, I am forever indebted to you... I will be your servant." To be holy is to be set apart for God's service...another word for this "setting apart" is sanctification. If I am truly sanctified, I am wholly in God's service - there is no "but God, I wanted..." in holiness: it is "Thy will be done."

Are YOU holy? Or do you have the form of godliness without the power thereof? Which would you rather have?

God has given His children exceeding great and precious promises, such that we may have "ALL things that pertain to life and godliness." Will you claim these promises? Do not delay...God is eager to bestow upon us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. If there is a part of your life that does not conform to His law, it needs to be laid aside, because it is a hindrance. We must run this race to win: this means leaving all our baggage behind and press on toward the mark of the high calling of Christ Jesus. Look unto Christ, the author and finisher of our faith, keep Him foremost in your mind, for it by His gracious power that we began the race, and it is only through His power that we can finish it.


(1) -- Martin Hotle

(2) -- Samuel L. Brengle

The Old vs. The New (Covenant)

"The weakness of the law was threefold: (1) it could not cancel past sins - that is it could not justify; (2) it could not make dead men live - that is, it could not regenerate; (3) it could not make bad hearts good - that is, it could not sanctify."

(1) It could not justify, because it was the "ministration of condemnation." - II Corinthians 3:9

(2) It could not regenerate, otherwise Paul would not have been killed by it. - Romans 7:9-10

(3) It could not sanctify, otherwise it would never have been disannulled for "making nothing perfect." - Hebrews 7:18-19

"To teach that the insufficiency of the law lay in man's moral inability to meet its simple demands on human behaviour is to err most radically. If the law could not be kept, God is in a position of laying upon man an impossible burden and then punishing them for failure to do the impossible"

-- Adapted from A. W. Tozer's book "Paths to Power"

Tozer makes a very good point: that the defect in the covenant of law was not that it was too difficult to keep, but that it didn't make the comers thereunto perfect. In the new covenant, however, that has been remedied; Christ's work of grace has not only allowed our sins to be forgiven (justification), but we are made new creatures in Him (regeneration), and are given all things that pertain to life and godliness (sanctification).

Peculiar! (The Sequel)

But what should this righteousness and obedience look like in YOUR life? That is something that would be difficult for me to say, unless I lived with you, going wherever you went, etc., which would be totally impractical. So here's what it looks like in my own life.
I'm 17 (19 now), I live at home, and I go to school at Peninsula College.

Friends:
Like I told my older sister, I treat other people who are carnally (worldly) minded in one of two ways: either tell them about Jesus or show them who Jesus is through my actions, but only if they decide to turn from sin and follow Jesus do I allow them a chance to be my friend. This results in my having very few friends, but for the sake of pureness of heart I refrain from allowing "evil communications" into my life [I Corinthians 15:33]. Basically, people that I know who are carnally minded are merely acquaintances, for I choose (and sometimes it is a hard choice) to be friends only to those who are Jesus' friends – those who obey Him [John 15:14]. Now, this does not mean that I do not talk or interact with worldly people, because I do (some of them may even consider me their "friend" – and I may be the best "friend" that they have), but it does mean that I do not allow them to influence my heart.

Home:
My standard for the music that I listen to is based on "evil communications corrupt good manners." [I Corinthians 15:33 and Proverbs 23:7] thus lyrics must be pure, edifying rather than degrading (e.g. "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" or "Snoopy Vs. the Red Baron" would be acceptable, whereas "Good Vibrations" or "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy" are not acceptable), and for Christian music (which most of it is, anyways) lyrics must provoke me to love and good works [Hebrews 10:24], and not lead me toward sin. I may like or dislike certain kinds of music, certain eras in music history, or certain artists, but music in and of itself is not inherently evil, but the intent of the musician (this can be difficult, if not impossible to determine, so most judgment depends on the lyrics) and the content of the lyrics are the qualities by which I judge music either good or bad.
Movies (this includes videogames), I judge by the same principle as music: I Corinthians 15:33. Knowing what scripture says about evil communications, I (and my parents and siblings) have a "three strikes and it's out/stepping into the pitch" rule: three bad words (see "Language" below) = stop and rewind or adultery/fornication portrayed in a positive light = stop and rewind. This doesn't leave many movies that are watchable, let alone well made or good… but I would rather risk the ridicule of my acquaintances than be cast into hell because the movies I watched had taught me to lust and/or to curse my Lord.
Books I hold to the same standard as movies.
Language: in scripture, we are commanded not to take the Lord's name in vain [Exodus 20:7] and again not to use filthy or corrupt language [Ephesians 4:29 and 5:3-4]. Having said that, here is a list of the words that I will not use, except in their proper manner, although sometimes not even then (for the sake of refraining from the "appearance of evil" [I Thessalonians 5:22]):

God's name – "Jesus/Christ/Jesus Christ/etc." without the respect/reverence due Him.
God's name in euphemistic form: "Gosh/Golly/Gee/Jeez/etc." all of which are God's name. In order to give people the benefit of the doubt, I do not usually credit people with knowing what they are actually doing when they say something like "Gosh darn it", unless I have already approached them about the subject.
"H---" usurping the power of God to send sinners there or belittling what God made it for. This includes the euphemistic forms such as "heck".
"D---" in a way that usurps God's authority. This also includes "less offensive" forms such as "darn" and "dang".
"S---/C---/etc." for this is filthy language to be sure. Euphemistic forms include "shoot", etc.
"F---" because as well as (in practically all uses) being vulgar and filthy, this degrades God's design for men/women in marriage. This includes euphemisms such as "frickin'".

Rather than showing myself to be filthy [Luke 6:45], I choose rather to maintain a pure heart and life…which includes the words that proceed out of my mouth.
Fortunately, because my parents are very good Christians, we do Bible study practically every night, reading about 4 chapters a night, as well as discussing any current questions or topics brought up in our home Bible study or that one of us may have had that needs addressing. Knowing the Word of God is extremely important! Keeping my sword from getting rusty and staying in practice with it are keys to using it well.

School:
Tedious and boring, I know, but in essence it is work (merely of the mind rather than the body, although those of you with writer's cramp may beg to differ); and thus I must, for conscience sake, do it as unto the Lord [Colossians 3:23], which means doing the best that I can do.
I don’t take part in many extracurricular activities, which is my own preference. BUT, if you do join the basketball team or whatever, be very careful in the "Friends" department: having to be around others who you would normally avoid can be a very good opportunity to witness, but it can also lead to their evil communications corrupting your good manners.

Scriptures to consider:
Genesis 17:1
Job 28:28 + Proverbs 2:3-6
Ezekiel 18:21; 36:27
Isaiah 55:7
Matthew 4:10; 5:6; 5:8; 5:48; 6:24; 11:30; 19:21
Luke 1:6; 1:74-75
Romans 5:20-21; 6:1-23; 8:1; 14:17-18
I Corinthians 1:30; 10:13; 15:34
II Corinthians 6:16-17; 7:1
Galatians 5:16; 5:24-25
Ephesians 4:24
I Thessalonians 4:7; 5:22-23
I Timothy 6:11-14
II Timothy 2:19
Titus 2:11-14
Hebrews 7:26; 9:14; 12:14
James 2:14-26
I Peter 1:15-16
II Peter 1:3-4; 3:11; 3:14

Peculiar!

Peculiar, that's what we need to be, because that's what we are (or should be) [Titus 2:14]. This does not mean that we should all wear a neon orange hat or crawl around on all fours. It does, however, mean that we ought to act from a totally different mindset [Romans 12:2]: we ought to be patient where others would lose patience, longsuffering where others would blow up, not lusting after the things that worldly minded people do, etc. [Galatians 5:22-24].

But conducting ourselves in such a way is extremely difficult – like a camel passing through the eye of a needle – practically impossible [Matthew 19:24]! So how then are we to manage to do these things, and why should we even bother trying, since we know it to be virtually impossible anyways?

I shall answer the "why" first. Why should we do what is humanly impossible? Because we are commanded to! "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God." [Romans 6:12-13] In other words, "don't sin, but rather do righteousness."

Thus, we know why we ought to do righteous things (and not do iniquity) but how shall we accomplish this, since we know it to be impossible for us? Should we, as some do, simply resign ourselves to sinning daily, since it is impossible to avoid anyway? God forbid! Those who have taken this route end up ceasing to be peculiar – looking and acting just like anyone else! Think about it... good or bad?

Not good, right? That's what I thought – like salt that has lost its flavour [Matthew 5:13]. So how then shall we conduct ourselves righteously, since we can't? Through the power of God. For although salvation and righteousness are utterly impossible for us to obtain for ourselves through our own power, there IS Someone with enough power to give both to us: "With men this [salvation] is impossible; but with God ALL things are possible." [Matthew 19:26, emphasis mine] With our own strength, we cannot serve the Lord all our days in righteousness [Luke 1:73-75], but because God has promised it to us and commanded us to do it...He will supply to us EVERYTHING we need for life (spiritual life) and godliness. [II Peter 1:3]

One last thing... "Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in ignorance: but as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, 'Be ye holy; for I am holy'" [I Peter 1:13-16].