So I went to do laundry in my dorm at 10:30 last night and didn't finish until 1:30am because of the dryers... (You have to run them at least three times to get everything dried. I probably should have run it again, but I was too exhausted to wait another twenty minutes.) I was planning on getting up at 5:30 to go to a trumpet studio warm-up, which one of the trumpet graduate students has been doing three mornings a week. But when my alarm went off, I got out of bed, turned it off, and decided I was too tired, so I went back to sleep. I got up at 7. The warm-up was at 7:15. Class starts at 8.
So I walked to the School of Music (a thirty-minute walk) and got there at 7:55, only to find out that the building was locked because of a power outage last night. (All the doors in the SOM are controlled electronically, so the system that unlocks the doors in the morning reset in the middle of the night, and the doors didn't open until 8 instead of 7.) So the warm-up I would have missed never happened. Then when the doors finally opened, everyone rushed to their classes, and the Dean of the SOM came to my class and announced that class was canceled.
So it was kind of bittersweet: I got to sleep longer than I would have if I had gone to the studio warm-up, but I still got up earlier than I needed to. And I didn't have class until 11:15, so I could have spent another two or three hours sleeping. But I'm just glad I didn't miss anything, and I'm thankful that God made me go back to sleep instead of needlessly getting up at 5:30.
I just felt like sharing that because God is awesome! Until next time, God bless!
Michael
—————————————————————
"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing." ~ 1 Timothy 2:8
"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to live is Christ and to die is gain." ~ Philippians 1:20-21
Monday, August 30, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Baptized with Fire
Well, God did it again: He revealed the meaning of another verse that had remained hidden to me up to this point. I was at youth group today, and the last song we sang before the sermon was Fire Fall Down, by Hillsong United. Then the pastor got up on the stage, and he said something that made something click in my mind. I don't remember what he said, except that it was about fire.
The Bible talks about fire in a lot of places. Hebrews 12:29, which quotes Deuteronomy 4:24, calls God a "consuming fire." One of my personal favorites is the story of Elijah in 1 Kings 18:18-39, where Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to see whether the Lord God or Baal was real. Elijah and the prophets of Baal both set up their own altars with several requirements added to the challenge. God completely consumed Elijah's altar in fire, while the altar of Baal stood untouched, proving that the Lord is the one true God. And of course, everyone knows the story of Moses and the burning bush.
But today I want to go to Matthew 3:11, which I have been hearing repeated several times over the last couple weeks: "I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come One who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." Whatever it was the pastor said today, something finally put another piece into the puzzle that God has given the world in His Word. Up until the sermon, I had only understood the part about being baptized with the Holy Spirit: the apostles had been told to wait in Jerusalem after Jesus' resurrection until they had received the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit came upon them, "tongues of fire" appeared above them, and they began speaking in tongues. But that's not what John the Baptist meant when he said that Jesus would baptize with fire.
Look at 1 Thessalonians 5:19: "Do not put out the Spirit's fire." When I finally made the connection between this verse and Matthew 3:11, I realized that the fire of Jesus' baptism is the holy passion the Spirit gives us when He comes and begins moving in us. John the Baptist's statement finally makes sense to me: "But after me will come One who... will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with [passion]." We know that we have been baptized by Christ because we can feel the fiery passion of the Holy Spirit burning within us.
I really have nothing else to draw from that. I just felt like sharing my discovery because it excited me so much! You could say it "set me on fire." Anyway...
Until next time, God bless!
Michael
—————————————————————
"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing." ~ 1 Timothy 2:8
"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to live is Christ and to die is gain." ~ Philippians 1:20-21
The Bible talks about fire in a lot of places. Hebrews 12:29, which quotes Deuteronomy 4:24, calls God a "consuming fire." One of my personal favorites is the story of Elijah in 1 Kings 18:18-39, where Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to see whether the Lord God or Baal was real. Elijah and the prophets of Baal both set up their own altars with several requirements added to the challenge. God completely consumed Elijah's altar in fire, while the altar of Baal stood untouched, proving that the Lord is the one true God. And of course, everyone knows the story of Moses and the burning bush.
But today I want to go to Matthew 3:11, which I have been hearing repeated several times over the last couple weeks: "I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come One who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." Whatever it was the pastor said today, something finally put another piece into the puzzle that God has given the world in His Word. Up until the sermon, I had only understood the part about being baptized with the Holy Spirit: the apostles had been told to wait in Jerusalem after Jesus' resurrection until they had received the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit came upon them, "tongues of fire" appeared above them, and they began speaking in tongues. But that's not what John the Baptist meant when he said that Jesus would baptize with fire.
Look at 1 Thessalonians 5:19: "Do not put out the Spirit's fire." When I finally made the connection between this verse and Matthew 3:11, I realized that the fire of Jesus' baptism is the holy passion the Spirit gives us when He comes and begins moving in us. John the Baptist's statement finally makes sense to me: "But after me will come One who... will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with [passion]." We know that we have been baptized by Christ because we can feel the fiery passion of the Holy Spirit burning within us.
I really have nothing else to draw from that. I just felt like sharing my discovery because it excited me so much! You could say it "set me on fire." Anyway...
Until next time, God bless!
Michael
—————————————————————
"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing." ~ 1 Timothy 2:8
"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to live is Christ and to die is gain." ~ Philippians 1:20-21
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Pray continually.
1 Thessalonians 5:17 is probably my favorite verse in the Bible. It's short and gets straight to the point: "Pray continually." Two simple words that, when put into action, can accomplish the impossible.
I am currently studying the book of Galatians (click here to see my notes up to this point), but God put Colossians 4:2-6 on my mind today. For now I just want to focus on verse 2. It says, "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful." At first, I read that and thought, "Okay, great. I need to pray a lot and keep an eye out for things to pray about." But I missed the word "thankful." I never really understood why thankfulness was thrown into this verse until now. And when I finally understood, the whole verse came together for me.
Paul tells us to be watchful in prayer, which does not simply mean that we should be aware when something major comes up that we should pray about. It means that we should go looking for things to pray about. Look at a picture or listen to music, and pray about whatever you think of. Trust me: look, and you'll find something. In fact, I just thought of something right now, just by listening to the sound of construction down the street. And something else popped into my head as I was thinking about college life. If you're reading this now, I'll make things easy for you: please pray for me, that I would stay strong in my faith here at the number one party school in America, and that I would have the boldness to step out and share the Word with others here; and pray that someone would listen and be influenced by the changing power of Christ, whether it be through me or through someone else. (That's actually Paul's request in Colossians 4:3-4.)
But now we get to the part about thankfulness. What exactly does Paul mean by saying that we should be thankful in prayer? Obviously, we should thank God whenever something good happens. We should thank Him when someone turns his or her life over to Christ, when we make a good grade on a test we weren't prepared for, when we win a prize we were almost guaranteed to not win. But there's more to this verse than that. I think Paul's point in telling the Colossians to be thankful in prayer was this: look for something to pray about, and be thankful that you found something when you find it. Be thankful that God has given you something to pray about. Be thankful that He has given you the opportunity to be a positive influence in someone's life, whether directly or indirectly. And be thankful that He answers all our prayers. (They may not always be answered the way we would like, but as we grow stronger in Christ, we learn to be thankful even when things don't go our way, and we allow God's will to take over our own.)
So I thank God for anyone who reads this, and for the opportunity to pray for you, as well as for those who don't read this.
Until next time, God bless!
Michael
—————————————————————
"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing." ~ 1 Timothy 2:8
"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to live is Christ and to die is gain." ~ Philippians 1:20-21
I am currently studying the book of Galatians (click here to see my notes up to this point), but God put Colossians 4:2-6 on my mind today. For now I just want to focus on verse 2. It says, "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful." At first, I read that and thought, "Okay, great. I need to pray a lot and keep an eye out for things to pray about." But I missed the word "thankful." I never really understood why thankfulness was thrown into this verse until now. And when I finally understood, the whole verse came together for me.
Paul tells us to be watchful in prayer, which does not simply mean that we should be aware when something major comes up that we should pray about. It means that we should go looking for things to pray about. Look at a picture or listen to music, and pray about whatever you think of. Trust me: look, and you'll find something. In fact, I just thought of something right now, just by listening to the sound of construction down the street. And something else popped into my head as I was thinking about college life. If you're reading this now, I'll make things easy for you: please pray for me, that I would stay strong in my faith here at the number one party school in America, and that I would have the boldness to step out and share the Word with others here; and pray that someone would listen and be influenced by the changing power of Christ, whether it be through me or through someone else. (That's actually Paul's request in Colossians 4:3-4.)
But now we get to the part about thankfulness. What exactly does Paul mean by saying that we should be thankful in prayer? Obviously, we should thank God whenever something good happens. We should thank Him when someone turns his or her life over to Christ, when we make a good grade on a test we weren't prepared for, when we win a prize we were almost guaranteed to not win. But there's more to this verse than that. I think Paul's point in telling the Colossians to be thankful in prayer was this: look for something to pray about, and be thankful that you found something when you find it. Be thankful that God has given you something to pray about. Be thankful that He has given you the opportunity to be a positive influence in someone's life, whether directly or indirectly. And be thankful that He answers all our prayers. (They may not always be answered the way we would like, but as we grow stronger in Christ, we learn to be thankful even when things don't go our way, and we allow God's will to take over our own.)
So I thank God for anyone who reads this, and for the opportunity to pray for you, as well as for those who don't read this.
Until next time, God bless!
Michael
—————————————————————
"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing." ~ 1 Timothy 2:8
"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to live is Christ and to die is gain." ~ Philippians 1:20-21
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Everything is...
We've all heard someone say, "Everything is science," or, "Everything is music," or maybe, "Everything is language." I was sitting in my Music Appreciation class today, and my professor said, "Everything is math." And suddenly a light bulb went off in my head: If everything is math, music, language, science, history, art, and so on, everything is everything. That means everything is connected. If everything is connected, then there must be an original source of everything.
My mind is scrambling to sort my thoughts out into clear, understandable language, so I'll keep this short and simple. God is the original source of everything. God introduced science to humans. He introduced language to us, as well as history, music, math, art, etc. The very same God who gave us the breath of life, who gave us the ability to love, also gave us the ability to learn. And since we have the ability to learn, there must be something in the world for us to learn about. So God gave it to us. All of it. And all of it is contained in everything because God is in everything. Just as a composer leaves his stylistic mark in his music, God also leaves His mark on His creation. And that mark is Wisdom.
The Bible says in Proverbs 8:22-31 that Wisdom was the first creation, that Wisdom was with God when He formed the earth and that she (Wisdom) took part in the creation. All of the subjects mentioned above are a part of Wisdom. The Apostle Paul writes in Romans that we are all parts of the body of Christ (Romans 12:4-5). In the same way, all subjects make up Wisdom as a whole.
I'm still having trouble wording this the way I want to, but I think I've gotten my point across. If not, just leave a comment with any questions you might have. I'll try to make my answers more thorough than this blog entry.
Anyway, until next time, God bless!
Michael
—————————————————————
"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing." ~ 1 Timothy 2:8
"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to live is Christ and to die is gain." ~ Philippians 1:20-21
My mind is scrambling to sort my thoughts out into clear, understandable language, so I'll keep this short and simple. God is the original source of everything. God introduced science to humans. He introduced language to us, as well as history, music, math, art, etc. The very same God who gave us the breath of life, who gave us the ability to love, also gave us the ability to learn. And since we have the ability to learn, there must be something in the world for us to learn about. So God gave it to us. All of it. And all of it is contained in everything because God is in everything. Just as a composer leaves his stylistic mark in his music, God also leaves His mark on His creation. And that mark is Wisdom.
The Bible says in Proverbs 8:22-31 that Wisdom was the first creation, that Wisdom was with God when He formed the earth and that she (Wisdom) took part in the creation. All of the subjects mentioned above are a part of Wisdom. The Apostle Paul writes in Romans that we are all parts of the body of Christ (Romans 12:4-5). In the same way, all subjects make up Wisdom as a whole.
I'm still having trouble wording this the way I want to, but I think I've gotten my point across. If not, just leave a comment with any questions you might have. I'll try to make my answers more thorough than this blog entry.
Anyway, until next time, God bless!
Michael
—————————————————————
"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing." ~ 1 Timothy 2:8
"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to live is Christ and to die is gain." ~ Philippians 1:20-21
Monday, August 9, 2010
And so it begins...
I'm headed off to college in the morning. Now begins the rest of my life. And I give it all to Christ my Savior.
"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." ~ Philippians 1:20-21
Friday, July 23, 2010
On Shirley Phelps Roper and the Westboro Baptist Church - Part 2
So... I still haven't received a response from Westboro Baptist Church, so I'm sending an angry letter demanding that they write back.
... Not really, but I am sending them another letter. So here it is.
———————————————————————
Hello, Mrs. Roper.
It's Michael again. It's been a while since I sent the letter I co-wrote with my cousin Eddie, and I was just wondering if you planned on replying to it, or if you already have and I just missed it. In case you don't know what letter I'm referring to, you can find it here on my blog.
Anyway, that is not the only reason I am writing to you today. I was reading the book of Luke last night when I came across verse 10 of chapter 8: "He said, 'The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, "though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand."'"
Here's something to think about: Why did Jesus come into the world as a man? Wasn't it to die on the cross as a Sacrifice for our sins? I'm sure you know that crucifixion was the worst punishment that could be given in the physical world in Jesus' time. And you know it was reserved for the lowest of the low, like the two men who hung beside our Lord. That is why Jesus had to speak to the Pharisees in parables: so that they would not believe that He was (and is) the Messiah and so that they would have Him killed, fulfilling the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. That is also why He came as the Son of a virgin and a poor carpenter rather than as the Son of a king.
Jesus hid His true identity from the Pharisees so that He would be killed at the proper time and thus be able to serve as the Ultimate Sacrifice for the sins of the world. He had a purpose for denying the Pharisees access to the Tree of Life. That is why it's written, "The Lord works out everything for His own ends—even the wicked for a day of disaster" (Proverbs 16:4), and, "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps" (Proverbs 16:9). If He had revealed to the whole world that He was the Christ, then He would not have been sacrificed and we would not have redemption. The whole reason for the existence of the Pharisees and Sadducees was to have Jesus crucified, proving themselves to be sons of the devil and not of God, separating them from their Creator.
Stick with me here. Up until now, it has sounded like I'm agreeing with your stance in declaring mankind's sins in order to turn them off to the idea of following Christ to eternal life. Sorry to disappoint you, but that is not the case. Ecclesiastes 3, verses 3 and 8 say that there is "a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build" and "a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace." Jesus' time was a time of war. Spiritual war, that is. Being God, it was up to Jesus to harden the hearts of the Pharisees so that His purpose could be fulfilled. He knew the reason and the outcome of His obscure words and actions. But we are only human. Our time is a time of love, of peace, and of building others up. There is no way for us to know for sure if we are interacting with an open-minded individual or with one with a hardened heart. So we should assume that everyone we come in contact with is open-minded, so that, if the assumption is correct, they might turn their lives over to Christ and be saved.
The Bible says that there will be 144,000 sealed Jews in heaven. It only specifies the number of sealed Jews. It does not state the number of Gentiles who will reach heaven. Only God knows that number. There are some things the Father withholds from the Son. Our goal should be to surprise the Son with one more believer than He is expecting. (Not that that is really possible.) Our job is to set the bar high; believe that God has prepared room for such a multitude of believers that the earth could not contain them all, even if they were to stand nose-to-spine, shoulder-to-shoulder, one on top of the other. Imagine that, if the believers stood on each other's shoulders, starting at the earth's core, several layers of them would be suffocating outside of the earth's atmosphere. We exist to add to the current number until we fill heaven to the capacity God has designed it for.
I'd like to know something: If you believe that the only way to redemption is to repent, why do you celebrate when pornography gains support, when states and countries legalize gay marriage, when murder runs rampant all over the world? Shouldn't you be out protesting those things rather than celebrating them and protesting funerals? Speaking of which, if your message is for the living, why do you protest funerals? It's not going to do that dead guy much good. Don't you know the proverbs, "He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker; whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished" (Proverbs 17:5), and, "Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice, for the Lord will see and disapprove and turn His wrath away from him" (Proverbs 24:17-18)? These people need to be reached in a gentle, loving way. I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sure protesting the funeral of a loved one would only anger people. It's a very rare case when someone actually turns because of such a bold action.
I beg you to reevaluate your actions and the message of the Gospel. You have such a God-given opportunity to share the Good News with the world. Use your publicity to share God's love with the spiritually needy. Such a radical change could shake the media world-wide. In fact, I believe that such a change would be more effective in expanding the kingdom of heaven than any of us could ever imagine.
I'm sure you've heard about the apostle Paul, but allow me to reacquaint you with his story, because it still amazes me every time I hear it. Saul of Tarsus was a devout Jew, a Pharisee. For a time, his purpose in life was to decimate the cult of the Christ-followers. Then, one day Jesus revealed Himself to Saul from heaven. Saul was blinded until Ananias, a servant of the Lord, healed him. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Saul became Paul and turned his life around. He went from being the fiercest persecutor of Christians to being the strongest advocate of the faith. That is nothing short of a miracle.
While giving his testimony to King Agrippa after being arrested yet again, Paul repeats what Jesus Himself said to him on the road to Damascus: "I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Me" (Acts 26:17-18). "To open their eyes"—not to blind them. To make them see what we see: God's love and mercy, His grace, and an opportunity to spend eternity with Him. "So that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Me"—you have to admit that this passage explains itself. If God sent the apostle Paul to open the eyes of the spiritually blind, then that should be our calling as well because we are Christ's ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20), just like Paul.
In the same chapter of 2 Corinthians, Paul writes, "All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation." "[He] gave us the ministry of reconciliation"—our message is one of redemption. We are to tell the world that by taking up the cross and following Christ, they can be saved. Of course, we shouldn't forget what we are being saved from, but the focus of the message is salvation, redemption, reconciliation. In marriage, when you have a fight with your spouse, you later go back and apologize and leave the whole thing behind. In a good marriage, you won't constantly remind your spouse why you got in that fight in the first place. You let your spouse remember on his or her own so that he or she will learn from the mistake. God doesn't throw our sins back in our faces after He has forgiven us. He forgives and forgets, never to bring up the sin again unless we do it ourselves. And He gives forgiveness freely to anyone who asks for it. James says that He gives wisdom to those who ask for it (James 1:5), and the same goes for forgiveness.
Thank you again for taking the time to read my rambling. Again, I ask that you show me the same respect that I showed you in my letter. Nothing more, nothing less.
Thanks for reading, and God bless!
Michael
---"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." ~ 2 Corinthians 4:18---
... Not really, but I am sending them another letter. So here it is.
———————————————————————
Hello, Mrs. Roper.
It's Michael again. It's been a while since I sent the letter I co-wrote with my cousin Eddie, and I was just wondering if you planned on replying to it, or if you already have and I just missed it. In case you don't know what letter I'm referring to, you can find it here on my blog.
Anyway, that is not the only reason I am writing to you today. I was reading the book of Luke last night when I came across verse 10 of chapter 8: "He said, 'The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, "though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand."'"
Here's something to think about: Why did Jesus come into the world as a man? Wasn't it to die on the cross as a Sacrifice for our sins? I'm sure you know that crucifixion was the worst punishment that could be given in the physical world in Jesus' time. And you know it was reserved for the lowest of the low, like the two men who hung beside our Lord. That is why Jesus had to speak to the Pharisees in parables: so that they would not believe that He was (and is) the Messiah and so that they would have Him killed, fulfilling the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. That is also why He came as the Son of a virgin and a poor carpenter rather than as the Son of a king.
Jesus hid His true identity from the Pharisees so that He would be killed at the proper time and thus be able to serve as the Ultimate Sacrifice for the sins of the world. He had a purpose for denying the Pharisees access to the Tree of Life. That is why it's written, "The Lord works out everything for His own ends—even the wicked for a day of disaster" (Proverbs 16:4), and, "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps" (Proverbs 16:9). If He had revealed to the whole world that He was the Christ, then He would not have been sacrificed and we would not have redemption. The whole reason for the existence of the Pharisees and Sadducees was to have Jesus crucified, proving themselves to be sons of the devil and not of God, separating them from their Creator.
Stick with me here. Up until now, it has sounded like I'm agreeing with your stance in declaring mankind's sins in order to turn them off to the idea of following Christ to eternal life. Sorry to disappoint you, but that is not the case. Ecclesiastes 3, verses 3 and 8 say that there is "a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build" and "a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace." Jesus' time was a time of war. Spiritual war, that is. Being God, it was up to Jesus to harden the hearts of the Pharisees so that His purpose could be fulfilled. He knew the reason and the outcome of His obscure words and actions. But we are only human. Our time is a time of love, of peace, and of building others up. There is no way for us to know for sure if we are interacting with an open-minded individual or with one with a hardened heart. So we should assume that everyone we come in contact with is open-minded, so that, if the assumption is correct, they might turn their lives over to Christ and be saved.
The Bible says that there will be 144,000 sealed Jews in heaven. It only specifies the number of sealed Jews. It does not state the number of Gentiles who will reach heaven. Only God knows that number. There are some things the Father withholds from the Son. Our goal should be to surprise the Son with one more believer than He is expecting. (Not that that is really possible.) Our job is to set the bar high; believe that God has prepared room for such a multitude of believers that the earth could not contain them all, even if they were to stand nose-to-spine, shoulder-to-shoulder, one on top of the other. Imagine that, if the believers stood on each other's shoulders, starting at the earth's core, several layers of them would be suffocating outside of the earth's atmosphere. We exist to add to the current number until we fill heaven to the capacity God has designed it for.
I'd like to know something: If you believe that the only way to redemption is to repent, why do you celebrate when pornography gains support, when states and countries legalize gay marriage, when murder runs rampant all over the world? Shouldn't you be out protesting those things rather than celebrating them and protesting funerals? Speaking of which, if your message is for the living, why do you protest funerals? It's not going to do that dead guy much good. Don't you know the proverbs, "He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker; whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished" (Proverbs 17:5), and, "Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice, for the Lord will see and disapprove and turn His wrath away from him" (Proverbs 24:17-18)? These people need to be reached in a gentle, loving way. I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sure protesting the funeral of a loved one would only anger people. It's a very rare case when someone actually turns because of such a bold action.
I beg you to reevaluate your actions and the message of the Gospel. You have such a God-given opportunity to share the Good News with the world. Use your publicity to share God's love with the spiritually needy. Such a radical change could shake the media world-wide. In fact, I believe that such a change would be more effective in expanding the kingdom of heaven than any of us could ever imagine.
I'm sure you've heard about the apostle Paul, but allow me to reacquaint you with his story, because it still amazes me every time I hear it. Saul of Tarsus was a devout Jew, a Pharisee. For a time, his purpose in life was to decimate the cult of the Christ-followers. Then, one day Jesus revealed Himself to Saul from heaven. Saul was blinded until Ananias, a servant of the Lord, healed him. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Saul became Paul and turned his life around. He went from being the fiercest persecutor of Christians to being the strongest advocate of the faith. That is nothing short of a miracle.
While giving his testimony to King Agrippa after being arrested yet again, Paul repeats what Jesus Himself said to him on the road to Damascus: "I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Me" (Acts 26:17-18). "To open their eyes"—not to blind them. To make them see what we see: God's love and mercy, His grace, and an opportunity to spend eternity with Him. "So that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in Me"—you have to admit that this passage explains itself. If God sent the apostle Paul to open the eyes of the spiritually blind, then that should be our calling as well because we are Christ's ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20), just like Paul.
In the same chapter of 2 Corinthians, Paul writes, "All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation." "[He] gave us the ministry of reconciliation"—our message is one of redemption. We are to tell the world that by taking up the cross and following Christ, they can be saved. Of course, we shouldn't forget what we are being saved from, but the focus of the message is salvation, redemption, reconciliation. In marriage, when you have a fight with your spouse, you later go back and apologize and leave the whole thing behind. In a good marriage, you won't constantly remind your spouse why you got in that fight in the first place. You let your spouse remember on his or her own so that he or she will learn from the mistake. God doesn't throw our sins back in our faces after He has forgiven us. He forgives and forgets, never to bring up the sin again unless we do it ourselves. And He gives forgiveness freely to anyone who asks for it. James says that He gives wisdom to those who ask for it (James 1:5), and the same goes for forgiveness.
Thank you again for taking the time to read my rambling. Again, I ask that you show me the same respect that I showed you in my letter. Nothing more, nothing less.
Thanks for reading, and God bless!
Michael
---"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." ~ 2 Corinthians 4:18---
Sunday, July 18, 2010
And there was evening, and there was morning—the eighth day.
We all know the story of Creation in Genesis 1. God spoke, and the heavens and the earth were formed, light came into existence, the oceans and the sky were separated, dry land formed in the water, plants and animals appeared on the earth, and God made man in His own image. That was Day One through Day Six. But what about the seventh day?
The Bible says in Genesis 2:1-2, "By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on the seventh day He rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done." "He rested"—GOD took a break. Have you ever wondered why?
Why are there seven days in a week? You could say it's because God rested on the seventh day, and you'd be right, according to the words of Moses, who is believed to have been the author of Genesis. But really: Why are there seven days in a week instead of six? Why did God rest on the seventh day and leave it at that? Why did He bless the seventh day and not any of the others? Why isn't there an eighth day, and a ninth, and a tenth?
The truth is, God only rested from creating matter on the seventh day. Rather than continuing making things, God made time. He made a seventh day. And He made it for a reason.
Psalm 118:24 says, "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." And Genesis 2:2a says, "And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy." He didn't need a break. After all, He's God, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the Lord Almighty, Creator of the universe. He could have stopped at Day Six and then rested for the next six days, giving us six-day weeks instead of seven. He didn't have to bless the seventh day. But He did.
See, God knew that Adam and Eve would rebel against Him in the Garden of Eden. He knew the world would turn away from Him. He knew that He would have to make a fresh start by drowning the entire world except for His faithful servant Noah (and his family). He knew He would have to send His Son to die for the sins of mankind. He knew the world would hate Jesus and have Him killed. He knew man would invent religion after religion to turn others away from Him. He knew that one day He would return to bring His people home to Him. He knew that not all of mankind would follow Him and be able to live with Him in heaven for eternity.
And He knew we would need a break. He knew that after five or six straight days of hard work, we would need a day of rest. So He blessed the seventh day. Not for His sake, but for ours. Jesus says in Mark 2:27, "The Sabbath was made for man."
But He doesn't stop there. He goes on to say in verse 28, "So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." The seventh day, the day of rest, didn't come into existence on its own just so we could have a break from a long six days of work. God made it for us. We should be thankful. God took us into consideration before we even existed. Before the world even existed. He had a plan for us, and He included our well-being in that plan.
I write all of this because today is Sunday. Today is Sunday, and I was in a bad mood earlier. I started thinking, "I need to cheer up so I don't bring anyone down at band practice tomorrow." Then I realized that today is the Lord's day. If I should be joyful on an ordinary weekday, how much more joyful should I be on the day the Lord blessed for me? Each and every day is a new creation. I should be thankful that God has given me another 24 hours of breath in my lungs, especially if those 24 hours happen to have been blessed for my sake.
So whether you celebrate the Sabbath on Saturday or Sunday, I want to challenge you to do something. And this is a challenge for myself as well: Every Sabbath, put everything aside. Take a break from the hardships of life. Clear your mind of everything. Everything but God. The Sabbath is the Lord's blessed, holy day. Treat it as such. God made the Sabbath for a reason: it's a day of rest and a day for us to worship our Maker. So make it useful.
The Creator of the universe had us in mind in the beginning. Thank God!
Until next time, God bless!
Michael
—————————————————————
"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing." ~ 1 Timothy 2:8
"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to live is Christ and to die is gain." ~ Philippians 1:20-21
The Bible says in Genesis 2:1-2, "By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on the seventh day He rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that He had done." "He rested"—GOD took a break. Have you ever wondered why?
Why are there seven days in a week? You could say it's because God rested on the seventh day, and you'd be right, according to the words of Moses, who is believed to have been the author of Genesis. But really: Why are there seven days in a week instead of six? Why did God rest on the seventh day and leave it at that? Why did He bless the seventh day and not any of the others? Why isn't there an eighth day, and a ninth, and a tenth?
The truth is, God only rested from creating matter on the seventh day. Rather than continuing making things, God made time. He made a seventh day. And He made it for a reason.
Psalm 118:24 says, "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." And Genesis 2:2a says, "And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy." He didn't need a break. After all, He's God, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the Lord Almighty, Creator of the universe. He could have stopped at Day Six and then rested for the next six days, giving us six-day weeks instead of seven. He didn't have to bless the seventh day. But He did.
See, God knew that Adam and Eve would rebel against Him in the Garden of Eden. He knew the world would turn away from Him. He knew that He would have to make a fresh start by drowning the entire world except for His faithful servant Noah (and his family). He knew He would have to send His Son to die for the sins of mankind. He knew the world would hate Jesus and have Him killed. He knew man would invent religion after religion to turn others away from Him. He knew that one day He would return to bring His people home to Him. He knew that not all of mankind would follow Him and be able to live with Him in heaven for eternity.
And He knew we would need a break. He knew that after five or six straight days of hard work, we would need a day of rest. So He blessed the seventh day. Not for His sake, but for ours. Jesus says in Mark 2:27, "The Sabbath was made for man."
But He doesn't stop there. He goes on to say in verse 28, "So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." The seventh day, the day of rest, didn't come into existence on its own just so we could have a break from a long six days of work. God made it for us. We should be thankful. God took us into consideration before we even existed. Before the world even existed. He had a plan for us, and He included our well-being in that plan.
I write all of this because today is Sunday. Today is Sunday, and I was in a bad mood earlier. I started thinking, "I need to cheer up so I don't bring anyone down at band practice tomorrow." Then I realized that today is the Lord's day. If I should be joyful on an ordinary weekday, how much more joyful should I be on the day the Lord blessed for me? Each and every day is a new creation. I should be thankful that God has given me another 24 hours of breath in my lungs, especially if those 24 hours happen to have been blessed for my sake.
So whether you celebrate the Sabbath on Saturday or Sunday, I want to challenge you to do something. And this is a challenge for myself as well: Every Sabbath, put everything aside. Take a break from the hardships of life. Clear your mind of everything. Everything but God. The Sabbath is the Lord's blessed, holy day. Treat it as such. God made the Sabbath for a reason: it's a day of rest and a day for us to worship our Maker. So make it useful.
The Creator of the universe had us in mind in the beginning. Thank God!
Until next time, God bless!
Michael
—————————————————————
"I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing." ~ 1 Timothy 2:8
"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to live is Christ and to die is gain." ~ Philippians 1:20-21
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