EATING THE COOK BOOK
Except ye eat of the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
John 6:53
Many dear people have a lovely doctrine or theory of the victorious life or the indwelling Christ or the Spirit-filled life, and they try to live on their theory, but thy do not feed on Christ. They are like a man trying to live on a cook book instead of food, chewing on a seed catalogue instead of on vegetables. They may be very orthodox Bible students, but they do not chew and digest the words which are spirit and life.
It is tragic to go through our days making Christ the subject of our study but not the sustenance of our souls. It is not the Word hid in the head but in the heart that keeps from sin. To appropriate Christ Himself, the Bread of Life, is to live by faith and grow. You can starve reading books on bread. You can search the Scriptures and not come to Him for life.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Eragon
Just wanted to encourage anyone who might be into Medieval fantasy books to start reading the Inheritance Cycle. I've nearly finished Eragon and I absolutely love it! Though, not quite as much as I love the Harry Potter series.
This is a video I found on YouTube. I enjoyed the song.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Thinking
You know, I've always wondered why Jesus said it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven. But last night I feel I got a revelation from God's Spirit that I had never heard from a man before, but had always had a sneaking suspicion of it.
It occurred to me that the Old Covenant was a Covenant based on merit. You do good, you get good. You do evil, you get evil. Apparently rich people were regarded as being very holy and devout, because they were blessed with wealth.
But, "The Law and the Prophets WERE UNTIL John. "Since then the Good News of the kingdom of God is preached and everyone forces his way into it. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void."
If you're putting your hope in your keeping of the Law, you had better keep it perfectly. The Law shows no mercy. It is exacting and precise. Not one dot of it will pass away. There is no grading on a curve. There is no second chances with the Law of God. God is Holy and God is just and He has dealt with sin once and for all, satisfying His holiness and justice. Who are you to say the message of God's Grace says God is "soft on sin?" It doesn't seem to me that God's justice was at all soft on Jesus at Calvary. I say that reverently. Have you completely forgotten what our Lord Jesus did? Or are you unwilling to humble yourself and receive His abundant Grace and free gift of Righteousness?
"Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."
It occurred to me that the Old Covenant was a Covenant based on merit. You do good, you get good. You do evil, you get evil. Apparently rich people were regarded as being very holy and devout, because they were blessed with wealth.
But, "The Law and the Prophets WERE UNTIL John. "Since then the Good News of the kingdom of God is preached and everyone forces his way into it. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void."
If you're putting your hope in your keeping of the Law, you had better keep it perfectly. The Law shows no mercy. It is exacting and precise. Not one dot of it will pass away. There is no grading on a curve. There is no second chances with the Law of God. God is Holy and God is just and He has dealt with sin once and for all, satisfying His holiness and justice. Who are you to say the message of God's Grace says God is "soft on sin?" It doesn't seem to me that God's justice was at all soft on Jesus at Calvary. I say that reverently. Have you completely forgotten what our Lord Jesus did? Or are you unwilling to humble yourself and receive His abundant Grace and free gift of Righteousness?
"Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Can't Stop to Smell the Roses!
...Seriously! I can't smell Don Juan roses! I don't understand it...I can smell every other flower in our yard, but I cannot smell the Don Juan roses. Supposedly they're supposed to be very fragrant but I can't smell a bit of it. Mom doesn't believe me because they smell so strong and we were laughing about. I dunno...I just thought that was weird and figured I'd blog about it. I love seeing the beauty and wonder of our God in flowers, trees and plants. When spring first comes and the late afternoon sunlight hits the green trees, grass and the bright, deep colored flowers, everything is so deeply colored and beautiful. I can't wait to see what the new heavens and new earth will look like!!
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Spurgeon Quote
I read this in the Charles Spurgeon sermon that Brian linked me to. Thanks, brother.
Only by faith in Jesus can you be saved, but complaining of yourselves is not faith.
Only by faith in Jesus can you be saved, but complaining of yourselves is not faith.
Peter, James and John
I got an absolutely amazing revelation from scripture that Joseph Prince pointed out last night on TBN.
Six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves.
And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.
And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.
Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, "This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!"
When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified.
And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, "Get up, and do not be afraid."
And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone.
Alright...This is what Joseph pointed out that I hadn't yet seen. The names of the apostles that Jesus took with Him were Peter James and John. Notice the order in which the names are spoken of in the scripture. It's always Peter, James and then John.
Now...The name Peter means stone. Some say rock, but I've heard that the more accurate translation is stone. Then, James means "He who supplants" or "Supplanter." Finally, the name John means "God is Gracious."
Now notice in the vision the apostles had, Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus, talking with Him. And Peter says "Lord...Let us make three tabernacles here. One for You, one for Moses and one for Elijah." Then God the Father speaks up and sort of rebukes Peter and says: "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him."
Moses represents the Law and Elijah represents the Prophets. And apparently Peter wants to build tents for all three of them. But God says no. Listen to My Son. Well, isn't that what most people preach today? Let's balance everything out and make temples for the Law, the Prophets and Grace. Thats not what God said. When the vision was over, they saw Jesus ONLY.
Now what Joseph taught me was the meaning of the names of the apostles. Stone, Supplant and God is Gracious. Stone, being the Tablets of Stone. Supplant basically means to replace something. And finally we have "God is Gracious." So then We have the Stone replaced by God's Grace! The Stone Tablets of the Law were replaced with God's Grace in Jesus Christ!
I was so excited after this revelation last night. I hope it encourages you guys.
Six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves.
And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.
And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.
Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, "This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!"
When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified.
And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, "Get up, and do not be afraid."
And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone.
Alright...This is what Joseph pointed out that I hadn't yet seen. The names of the apostles that Jesus took with Him were Peter James and John. Notice the order in which the names are spoken of in the scripture. It's always Peter, James and then John.
Now...The name Peter means stone. Some say rock, but I've heard that the more accurate translation is stone. Then, James means "He who supplants" or "Supplanter." Finally, the name John means "God is Gracious."
Now notice in the vision the apostles had, Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus, talking with Him. And Peter says "Lord...Let us make three tabernacles here. One for You, one for Moses and one for Elijah." Then God the Father speaks up and sort of rebukes Peter and says: "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him."
Moses represents the Law and Elijah represents the Prophets. And apparently Peter wants to build tents for all three of them. But God says no. Listen to My Son. Well, isn't that what most people preach today? Let's balance everything out and make temples for the Law, the Prophets and Grace. Thats not what God said. When the vision was over, they saw Jesus ONLY.
Now what Joseph taught me was the meaning of the names of the apostles. Stone, Supplant and God is Gracious. Stone, being the Tablets of Stone. Supplant basically means to replace something. And finally we have "God is Gracious." So then We have the Stone replaced by God's Grace! The Stone Tablets of the Law were replaced with God's Grace in Jesus Christ!
I was so excited after this revelation last night. I hope it encourages you guys.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Read Scripture!
Whats up, guys?
I've just been sitting here fooling around on the computer, watching videos of old wrestling matches of Shawn Michaels. Today is my mama's birthday (for her sake I will not disclose her age).
I woke up with no breakfast, so I decided (bad decision) to make some "seriously hot" Johnsonville sausage for breakfast. Sausage always makes me feel fat and lazy. I guess it's all the grease. I think I would have felt better leaving my stomach to eat itself lol.
After that I continued reading the book Eragon of the Inheritance trilogy. I had no idea, but the guy who wrote these books is very young. Just a few years older than I am actually. He has quite the vocabulary as well. He is definitely gifted at writing. I'm also thankful that in the back of the book, he lists certain names of people and places and tells you how to pronounce them. I have a tough time understanding how to pronounce words in medieval fantasy books.
Right now, I'm chillaxin', writing in the blog and I have music from Joel's myspace playing (great stuff by the way). I may go over to my neighbors house and play some chess in a few. I don't feel much like going anywhere today. I'd like to simply sit here and read the rest of the day.
The past few days I've been digging into Matthew 12:22-32. It's been very encouraging and interesting. Seeing the Grace of God and truths of the New Covenant takes some digging most of the time. There are some passages that come right out and tell you, such as the story of the prodigal son. I've always questioned in my heart "Where is THIS God in the rest of the Bible? Where is THIS kind of message in the rest of the Bible? Or is there some sort of fine print I forgot to read?"
I rarely see that God preached. I'm still learning to see. I'm reminded of the movie the Matrix when Neo is first woken up in the real world and he looks up to Morpheus and asks "Why do my eyes hurt?" and Morpheus says, "You've never used them before."
I think our view of God is not only slightly wrong, but probably and very likely nearly completely wrong. The Truths of the New Covenant have been hidden by fear, mixture of Law and Grace in order to control, manipulate and use fear as a muzzle for sin. We use a little bit of Law in order to whip people into service. We use "balance" because we still don't yet understand. There is something we're missing. We have not dug in the Word of God, rightly dividing scripture. I think we TOO often let people interpret the Bible for us. We let our seminary training teach us to interpret scripture instead of using the truth of the Gospel and the Spirit of Truth to interpret scripture. This probably comes from unbelief. People think "Why in the world would God reveal things to me? Why would the Spirit of God speak to me? I'm not a super-spiritual person like my pastor or anything."
I want to encourage everyone to go to the scripture, the parables of Jesus and dig. Some truths are deeply hidden like diamonds. You have to dig. Don't always take things at face value. Interpret everything in light of the New Covenant we have in Jesus Christ. The Gospel means Good News. There isn't any bad news about the Good News. But sometimes we have to dig deep and seek things out in order to find them. God wants people obsessed with knowing Him. "The one who seeks finds."
I've just been sitting here fooling around on the computer, watching videos of old wrestling matches of Shawn Michaels. Today is my mama's birthday (for her sake I will not disclose her age).
I woke up with no breakfast, so I decided (bad decision) to make some "seriously hot" Johnsonville sausage for breakfast. Sausage always makes me feel fat and lazy. I guess it's all the grease. I think I would have felt better leaving my stomach to eat itself lol.
After that I continued reading the book Eragon of the Inheritance trilogy. I had no idea, but the guy who wrote these books is very young. Just a few years older than I am actually. He has quite the vocabulary as well. He is definitely gifted at writing. I'm also thankful that in the back of the book, he lists certain names of people and places and tells you how to pronounce them. I have a tough time understanding how to pronounce words in medieval fantasy books.
Right now, I'm chillaxin', writing in the blog and I have music from Joel's myspace playing (great stuff by the way). I may go over to my neighbors house and play some chess in a few. I don't feel much like going anywhere today. I'd like to simply sit here and read the rest of the day.
The past few days I've been digging into Matthew 12:22-32. It's been very encouraging and interesting. Seeing the Grace of God and truths of the New Covenant takes some digging most of the time. There are some passages that come right out and tell you, such as the story of the prodigal son. I've always questioned in my heart "Where is THIS God in the rest of the Bible? Where is THIS kind of message in the rest of the Bible? Or is there some sort of fine print I forgot to read?"
I rarely see that God preached. I'm still learning to see. I'm reminded of the movie the Matrix when Neo is first woken up in the real world and he looks up to Morpheus and asks "Why do my eyes hurt?" and Morpheus says, "You've never used them before."
I think our view of God is not only slightly wrong, but probably and very likely nearly completely wrong. The Truths of the New Covenant have been hidden by fear, mixture of Law and Grace in order to control, manipulate and use fear as a muzzle for sin. We use a little bit of Law in order to whip people into service. We use "balance" because we still don't yet understand. There is something we're missing. We have not dug in the Word of God, rightly dividing scripture. I think we TOO often let people interpret the Bible for us. We let our seminary training teach us to interpret scripture instead of using the truth of the Gospel and the Spirit of Truth to interpret scripture. This probably comes from unbelief. People think "Why in the world would God reveal things to me? Why would the Spirit of God speak to me? I'm not a super-spiritual person like my pastor or anything."
I want to encourage everyone to go to the scripture, the parables of Jesus and dig. Some truths are deeply hidden like diamonds. You have to dig. Don't always take things at face value. Interpret everything in light of the New Covenant we have in Jesus Christ. The Gospel means Good News. There isn't any bad news about the Good News. But sometimes we have to dig deep and seek things out in order to find them. God wants people obsessed with knowing Him. "The one who seeks finds."
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