Verses vs. Me

I want to look at some scripture that God has shown me to really apply to my life. Some verses have been implemented for longer periods of time, others are newer. But then I'm also going to look at some other truths to start applying to my life and allow to cultivate more character to honor the Lord. Here's some verses that I've been holding on to.

Striving to know God: Hosea 6:6 For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,  the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Dying to my flesh: 1 Peter 2:11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

Relationship/Love: Song of Solomon 2:7 I urge you...that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.

Working hard, stewardship and blessing others: Acts 20:35 In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

And there are a myriad of others that I can think of, but more importantly, I need to strive to implement each aspect of God's word into my life, daily.

I think of the Beatitudes in Matthew 5, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth...Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be Sons of God....Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God!" Wow, Jesus' own words convict me even more. Am I meek? Certainly not consistently. Am I striving as a peacemaker for unity and tranquility? Hardly. Am I pure in heart? Absolutely not...there are so many vile things that I subscribe to, laugh at, watch, talk about, think about. Those three things are huge truths, and great standards to live by. More than great, too. Necessary standards to live by.

I pray that in all of it, I will be humble before God. Like Psalm 51:17 says, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.."

To be weak before the Lord is to be in need of him with my every move. I want to be strong for my future wife. I want to be strong for my brothers. I want to be strong for my church. I want to be strong in the Word. To be strong, I need to be desperate and needy for Christ more.

I'm also going through some books and a brief study on the Biblical basis of masculinity and feminism. Looking at how, as men and women, we are to rightly preserve and live out our roles as God intends for us. Stewardship of His truth is a huge area we all need growth in. But I'm deeply encouraged by God.

Soli Deo Gloria

podium

it seems that the world revolves around preaching:

whether that be Art, Science, Grammar, Politics, Opinion, Entertainment, Religion, Academia, Food or Sex, the reason we communicate is to not feel alone.

I tend to speak more along the lines of the Bible, my faith and love.

In a wide world of over six billion people, there is an obscure way to still be alone, so people, and me, look for podiums as catalysts to say what we want to say.

Social Media is the most popular way, hence, I'm writing a blog...
quite the juxtaposition in explaining what I'm doing by doing it...

I'm listening to The XX. They are brilliant.
I've posted 4X140 Characters on Twitter which has caused some stirring in the local pond.
I mean well, I just want people to think, and I intend on learning from others too.

I'm going to be 23 this year. I couldn't even imagine getting here when I was 17.
I still feel a whole lot like a 17 year old, because of how love sick I get.
How fiery I get about standing for truth; God's word.
And I think about how much I still don't know, which is another anomaly.
How can one know how much they don't know, what's the measure and control group for that?
Sign me up...hot wax. Melted red ink all over your brain.

I love Jesus, and I have to figure out reformation in my post-modern world.
Faith is so fresh always, because this world is stale.

"Your money, singleness, marriage, status, your time, all belong to you to show the world that Christ is divine..." -Lecrae

(Lord, teach me more...I'm super mixed up about a lot of things right now)

The Christian who compartmentalizes his or her life into two sections of the religious and the nonreligious has failed to grasp the big idea. The big idea is that all of life is religious or none of life is religious. To divide life between the religious and the nonreligious is itself a sacrilege. -R.C. Sproul

A big struggle for me is finding areas my life where I still have a segregation between who I am in Christ and who my flesh wants to be. Like my speech, or keeping pure thoughts, or trusting God for a godly woman. My foul language, adulterating heart, and faithless doubt can so often diverge my walk from where it ought to go. Then I don't look different from the world.

On the flip side, there are Christians I know whose lives are ashamed of the Gospel. They aren't excited about their relationship with God, they aren't living the great commission, they don't talk about the bible, and what's worse, they judge the ones who are doing those things. Those are Satan's favorite Christians. A stale faith, that in the back of your mind, will always be there to pick up later. The problem is, tomorrow isn't guaranteed.

Sure, I can be critical. I have a tendency to speak more harshly against apathy, or even worse, comfortability within Christendom, but I see the dire need for real people who love Jesus and desire God beyond "just getting by." I would much rather be stern with truth, lest I become soft and easily swayed. I feel like those who aren't holding to truth firmly and boldly will also not speak out against sin and heresy. God is increasingly teaching and showing me grace, but also leading me to places of no compromise.

Then I wonder: is God at this moment working on the heart of my future wife? Is he preparing me to plant a church? Am I cultivating godly habits to be a good, generous, humble steward? Because I pray that he is breaking her heart and showing her truth and her need to love him more than anything. I pray that God will one day lead me to pastoral ministry, because I have that burden in my heart and I deeply love his word. I pray that I can have a home and money, to bless and minister to people-offering love through hospitality, resources, meals, blessings- and most importantly, to provide for my family. I pray for these things every single day. I don't want to be on the fence. I don't want a distinction in my life; only evidence of a God fearing, Jesus loving man.

I pray for the people at the Rock. That our women will cultivate a godly, strong, biblical basis of right Christian womanhood. That our men will grow up and lead, and create a culture of Gospel-centric living to seek and confide in the Lord with complete teachability and humility. I'm learning a lot lately, and I'm very encouraged. And I still don't know much...which is also encouraging.

Soli Deo Gloria

what to say

scientific love making
not in the reproductive, physical way
but literally love that happens
because of stimulus
emotion
interaction
brain lapse, breathing flutter
rush of heart
a soft smile

wanting to make eye contact
but for some reason it's so hard
and I come across as evasive

chemical reaction
like a fire that starts from friction hitting oxygen
like baking soda and vinegar
like glory on taste buds
like a sunrise on my face
and it's beautiful music

the trouble is, what to make of this
or how to go from experiment to practice
from bystander to game winner

opposites
similes
antithetical people
complimentary lovers
an ambience of mystery
and i've become hopeful

so hopeful.

and there's something about open, endless fields that captivate me.
to get lost in something beautiful...

I dream of so many different futures. But they’re all with you in them.
It reminds me of when we listened to Futures, because Jimmy Eat World was our world.

I picture a life of luxury, success and the best things I can provide for you, dearest. Elegant dress, five star restaurant, a jet-black BMW 6 series, a penthouse in a sky rise downtown. Giving you all I can.

or

I imagine a humble home in the suburbs, with colorful rooms and a nice kitchen. Wood floors and an open backyard for the kids to run around and play. A cozy study with two chairs for us to sit in and read while it’s raining. A big basement to have lots of people hang out after church or small group. A place where many people can call their own. A place to love, giving you all I can.

or

I see a life of moving around every 5-10 years, planting churches and living on the edge. A full life. Having people over every night, praying with, weeping with, laughing with, consoling with, meeting with. So many ups and downs and hard work, but so satisfying. You are smart and keep me grounded, I am a pragmatic idealist who keeps you on your toes. This is fast paced, and I’m giving you all I can.

So many other worlds, scenarios, cities, lifestyles, children, homes, church families…but those things aren’t as important to me. I will be satisfied with wherever God leads me. I just want that future to be with you, where I'm not dreaming.

And I still very much love this song:

More from Pastor MacArthur

Rob Bell: “Evangelical and orthodox to the bone?” Hardly.
Thursday, April 14, 2011 

Rob Bell is reminiscent of the Rich Young Ruler in Mark 10:17-27. He has a warped view of goodness. He talks as if his own standard of good is the norm, and Bell even suggests that God is not good if He sends people to hell. Jesus’ reply to the young inquirer ("No one is good except God alone"—v. 18) says God himself alone is the standard of true good, not any creature—certainly not a fallen creature. The Young Ruler was not saved, nor can any person be who thinks his or her own preferences determine what is truly good. That kind of arrogance reflects a damning egotism.

In his books, sermons, and videos, Rob Bell has consistently promoted views that are antithetical to biblical Christianity and hostile to historic evangelical principles.

For example, although he claims to “affirm the historic Christian faith, which includes the virgin birth and the Trinity and the inspiration of the Bible” (Velvet Elvis, 26), Bell is clearly more interested in casting doubt on the fundamental truths of biblical Christianity than he is in defending them.

Consider what else Bell says on that very same page of Velvet Elvis:

What if tomorrow someone digs up definitive proof that Jesus had a real, earthly, biological father named Larry, and archeologists find Larry’s tomb and do DNA samples and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the virgin birth was really just a bit of mythologizing the Gospel writers threw in to appeal to the followers of the Mithra and Dionysian religious cults that were hugely popular at the time of Jesus, whose gods had virgin births?

But what if, as you study the origin of the word ‘virgin’ you discover that the word ‘virgin’ in the gospel of Matthew actually comes from the book of Isaiah, and then you find out that in the Hebrew language at that time, the word ‘virgin’ could mean several things. And what if you discover that in the first century being ‘born of a virgin’ also referred to a child whose mother became pregnant the first time she had intercourse?

Bell compares the Christian faith to a large trampoline, with its cardinal doctrines (truths evangelicals have historically deemed essential) functioning like the springs that support the jumping platform. The individual springs aren’t absolutely essential, Bell says—including the virgin birth:

What if that spring [the virgin birth] were seriously questioned? Could a person keep on jumping? Could a person still love God? Could you still be a Christian? Is the way of Jesus still the best possible way to live? Or does the whole thing fall apart? . . . If the whole faith falls apart when we reexamine and rethink one spring, then it wasn’t that strong in the first place, was it?” (26-27)

So on the one hand, in a single sentence, he professes to affirm the virgin birth. On the other hand (and on the very same page), he spends multiple paragraphs calling the truthfulness andimportance of that doctrine into question.

That is Bell’s modus operandi. He labels himself an evangelical while simultaneously undermining the foundational tenets of evangelical conviction.

In light of this, Love Wins should not have been a surprise to anyone. The book is consistent with several things Bell has been teaching for some time. For example:

• He has frequently espoused a distorted understanding of hell—one in which hell is not a literal place where wicked souls are punished, but more of a self-induced state of mind pertaining mainly to this life.

Rob Bell, Ooze Interview (July 2007): “I don’t know why as a Christian you would have to make such declarative statements. [Why would you] want there to be a literal hell? I am a bit skeptical of somebody who argues that passionately for a literal hell, why would you be on that side? Like if you are going to pick causes, if you’re literally going to say these are the lines in the sand, I’ve got to know that people are going to burn forever, this is one of the things that you drive your stake in the ground on. I don’t understand that.”

Rob Bell, Sex God, 21–22: “To the Jewish mind, heaven is not a fixed, unchanging geographical location somewhere other than this world. Heaven is the realm where things are as God intends them to be. . . . Now if there’s a realm where things are as God wants them to be, then there must be a realm where things are not as God wants them to be. Where things aren’t according to God’s will. Where people aren’t treated as fully human. It’s called hell.”

• His understanding of heaven is even more bizarre.

Rob Bell, Sex God, 168: “If sex is about connection, what happens when everybody is connected with everybody else? . . . Is sex in its greatest, purest, most joyful and honest expression a glimpse of forever? Are these brief moments of abandon and oneness and ecstasy just a couple of seconds or minutes of how things will be forever? Is sex a picture of heaven? In First Corinthians 12, Paul claimed to have seen a vision of heaven, and the phrase he used to describe it in Greek is translated ‘unwordable words.’ He wrote that he saw things man is ‘not permitted to tell.’ Maybe that’s why the Scriptures are so ambivalent about whether a person is married. About whether a person is having sex. Maybe Jesus knew what is coming and knew that whatever we experience here will pale compared with what awaits everyone. Do you long for that? Because that’s the center of Jesus’ message. An invitation.”

• Bell has also consistently promoted a form of universalism. For example:

Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis, 137: “So this reality, this forgiveness, this reconciliation, is true for everybody. . . . Heaven is full of forgiven people. Hell is full of forgiven people. Heaven is full of people God loves, whom Jesus died for. Hell is full of forgiven people God loves, whom Jesus died for. The difference is how we choose to live, which story we choose to live in, which version of reality we trust. Ours or God’s.”

Rob Bell and Don Golden, Jesus Wants to Save Christians, 147: “Jesus is the representative of the entire human family. His blood covers the entire created door. Jesus is saving everyone and everything.”

Rob Bell, Ooze Interview (July 2007): [In response to the question, “Do you believe in a literal hell that is defined simply as eternal separation from God?”] “Well, there are people now who are seriously separated from God. So I would assume that God will leave room for people to say ‘no I don’t want any part of this.’ My question would be, does grace win or is the human heart stronger than God’s love or grace. Who wins, does darkness and sin and hardness of heart win ordoes God’s love and grace win?”

Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis, 18: “God is bigger than any religion. God is bigger than any worldview. God is bigger than the Christian faith.”

So when he promotes Love Wins with the following words, why would we be surprised?

Rob Bell, Love Wins Promo Video: “And then there is the question behind the questions, the real question: What is God like? Because millions and millions of people were taught that the primary message—the center of the Gospel of Jesus—is that God is going to send you to hell, unless you believe in Jesus. And so, what gets, subtly, sort of caught and taught is that Jesus rescues you from God. But what kind of God is that; that we would need to be rescued from this God? How could that God ever be good; how could that God ever be trusted? And how could that ever be good news.”

Or when he suggests the possibility of post-mortem salvation, should we be shocked?

Rob Bell, Love Wins, p. 107: [There will be] “endless opportunities in an endless amount of time for people to say yes to God. At the heart of this perspective is the belief that, given enough time, everybody will turn to God and find themselves in the joy and peace of God’s presence. The love of God will melt every hard heart, and even the most ‘depraved sinners’ will eventually give up their resistance and turn to God.”

In our next post in this series, we’ll look at more examples of Bell’s skepticism, heterodoxy, and twisted teaching, and I think you’ll see even more clearly why it is spiritually dangerous to question the Bible’s teaching on hell. When a person begins to question the justice of God in the punishment of the wicked, practically every point of gospel truth is suddenly put at risk.

And Rob Bell’s teaching provides vivid proof of that.

John MacArthur
Pastor-Teacher

**Cited from www.gty.org

time has left me

it's weird to think it's already going to be the end of another week. i feel like i was dreading a long week when last sunday rolled around, but i've been terribly busy each day that everything just flew out the window...it was windy today too.

already i'm finding myself in a new place with a lot of things.
i'm learning and planning financially.
i'm in the beginning steps of surveying, counting the costs, planning and budgeting to buy a house.
(i also realize that it is very weighty, while i do not know the intricate details that lay within)
the company is growing like crazy and so many things are changing, and will change.
my dear brother Tadd and i are working towards some huge, life changing feats.
Billy and Ashley had their baby already, and i'm incredibly happy for them.
(i can already hear our first practice again, too)

babies are born, people are dying
Jesus is King.

that hyphen on my tombstone between my birth year and death year doesn't explain anything, but i will make it count to glorify God nonetheless. it is him alone whom i delight myself in. i do want to glorify him in my future marriage, in my home, in my stewardships, in my relationships...it's consistent refinement.

i feel like i say a lot of the same things lately, because they have just been pounding through my head.

things change so much, and my youth is fleeting. i must take this captive more...

a novel idea...or many

Well, I've had this dawning taste in my mouth for writing short stories, poems, and a knack for attempting to write a larger novel or set of connected tales.  From where it came, I do not know for certain, but I would guess that it has something to do with the fact that I always dream up ideas, scenarios and interactions between the most unlikely people, or the most likely people with unforeseeable circumstances.

And with that, I introduce my new blog - which is separate from this one:
Post Script Fiction

http://postscriptfiction.blogspot.com/

If you care to follow, or read it, or comment, or tell me I'm crazy, please do.
I've taken the liberty of writing my first post so that you aren't directed to a blank page.

We'll see what happens, I guess. But the good news is, I won't run out of ink.

From John MacArthur

Rob Bell: a Brother to Embrace, or a Wolf to Avoid?
Tuesday, April 12, 2011 

Is Rob Bell truly a Christian, or is he one of those dangerous deceivers Scripture warns us about repeatedly (Acts 20:29; 2 Corinthians 11:13-15; Colossians 2:8; 2 Peter 2:1; etc.)?

It's a fair—and necessary—question. Christ’s famous warning about wolves in sheep’s clothing is given to us as an imperative: “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:15-16). Our Lord clearly expects His true disciples to be able to spot spiritual imposters and wolves in sheep’s clothing—especially those who are purveyors of deadly false doctrines.

Rob Bell certainly fits that category. He relentlessly casts doubt on the authority and reliability of Scripture. He denies the Bible’s perspicuity, disavows its hard truths, and ridicules some of the most important features of the gospel.

Granted, Bell (who was raised in the evangelical movement and is an alumnus of Wheaton College) still insists on callinghimself “evangelical.” He reiterated that claim recently in a March 14 interview with Lisa Miller, where he stated, “Do I think that I’m evangelical and orthodox to the bone? Yes.”

A careful examination of Bell’s teaching suggests, however, that his profession of faith is not credible. His claim that he is “evangelical and orthodox to the bone” is, to put it bluntly, a lie. Bell’s teaching gives no evidence of any real evangelical conviction. If “each tree is known by its own fruit” (Luke 6:44), we cannot blithely embrace Rob Bell as a “brother” just because he says he wants to be accepted as an evangelical.

If, as Jesus said, His sheep hear His voice and follow Him (John 10:27), then we ought to look with the utmost suspicion on anyone who doubts and denies as much of Jesus’ teaching as Rob Bell does, and yet claims to be a follower of Christ.

Scripture is crystal-clear about this: “If anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing” (1 Timothy 6:3-4).

Historic evangelicalism has always affirmed the authority, inerrancy, and sufficiency of Scripture, while declaring (as Jesus and the apostles did) that the only way of salvation for fallen humanity is through the atoning work of Christ, and the only instrument of justification is faith in Jesus Christ as He is revealed in the gospel.

Rob Bell believes none of those things. His skepticism about so many key biblical truths, his penchant for sowing doubt in his hearers, and his obvious contempt for the principles of divine justice as taught in Scripture all give evidence that he is precisely the kind of unbelieving false teacher Scripture warns us about.

Bell is an inveterate syncretist who loves to blend “progressive” and politically correct dogmas with eastern mysticism, humanistic jargon, and Christian terminology. His teaching is full of barren ideas borrowed directly from old liberalism, sometimes rephrased in postmodern jargon but still reeking of stale Socinianism.

What Bell is peddling is nothing like New Testament Christianity. It is a man-centered religion totally devoid of both clarity and biblical authority.

Given those facts, you might think any true evangelical would reject Bell and his teaching outright. But evidently many in the American evangelical movement think they are obliged simply to accept at face value Bell’s claim of orthodoxy. No less than Mart DeHaan, voice of Radio Bible Class, decried Bell’s critics, portraying them as the divisive ones for pointing out the unsoundness of Bell’s teaching. DeHaan wrote,

I’m left wondering… are we allowing love (and truth) to win now… by using threats of group pressure and blackballing of brothers like Rob, and those who openly or secretly stand with him? Is that really the best way to maintain a strong and healthy orthodoxy? [emphasis added]

The biblical answer to DeHaan’s question is clear and fairly simple: The best way to maintain a strong and healthy orthodoxy is to “[hold] fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching . . . to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict. For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers . . . who must be silenced” (Titus 1:9-11).

We have a duty not only to expose, refute, and silence Rob Bell’s errors, but also to urge people under his influence to run as fast and as far as they can from him, lest they be gathered into the eternal hell he denies. It won’t do to sit by idly while someone who denies the danger of hell mass-produces sons of hell (cf. Matthew 23:15).

In a series of posts this week, we will demonstrate from Rob Bell’s own published works that he has long been hostile to virtually every vital gospel truth; we will consider some of the questions he has raised about what the Bible has to say about hell; and we will compare and contrast what Bell is saying about hell with what Jesus said about it.

Buckle in and get ready to be challenged. These are admittedly some of the hardest truths in the New Testament, but there’s no reason anyone holding authentic evangelical convictions should find the subject confusing or controversial.

John MacArthur
Pastor-Teacher

**Cited from www.gty.org

upon waking

i feel like i hit my head pretty hard on something last night...
i don't recall getting into bed, nor falling asleep.
to be sure, i was very upset last night and emotionally bent,
but it's the strangest thing...it's too early in life still for this to be happening

thinking about this wide wide world
makes me feel so alone

superficial people that come and go
businesses that tell you they're necessary
but flee almost in a year

legacy means nothing
wasting time is a favorite past time
but no one remembered

seeing friends in vulnerable situations makes me feel human
dying. thoughtful. epic.
it makes me cry and pray for them.

humanity is a wonderful example of needing redemption
God is too kind. especially to me.
i have no reason to feel alone.

there's this deep deep longing in my heart
and i'm otherwise so fragile.

my strength comes from the Lord.

and this song is nice...

exchange

there's a certain pain that is small, but stays

i'm accustomed to masking it well, especially in laughter

it gets annoying

but i have faithful people in my life

and some of them see through it

and understand

i'm working through it

as to say, God is working it out

and i'm remaining

for now, there's an exchange for my time

my effort

my sweat

my voice

mostly my heart

that i throw on the table

and God says, "Dude, I've got this...just wait for me."

the exchange shows up here and there

but it isn't fully transacted until then, whenever that is.

and it's odd that someone so finite as me, gets so impatient with God and his infinite timing...if anything it makes sense to be the other way around. except he's incredibly compassionate and long suffering.

it might be subjective, but all everyone says now is "You're ready...just wait for that green light"

"Let's skip the charades
You're seeing right through me anyway
Can we just speak plain?
We're playing for the same team"

-Cold War Kids

Poem #5

you're my friend
even running parallels - safe life on different aisles.
you're my shadow
giving me a steady motion of ambivalence

i saw you from the other end of the bar
you struck me like a night cap
i saw you in the woods
you haunted me so beautiful
i saw you in the stars
you never felt closer
and that left me wanting more

there's a new hope, and you're not a jedi
but to be fair, i can't read your mind either
ceramic situations, so glossy with white and fragility
sometimes it's easier just not to say anything
but we don't want easy. you're not easy.

you're my horizon
drawing me closer, but no sign of ending
you're my counterpart
and no one knows how this thing ticks

i saw you wear a black dress
and everything else disappeared
i saw you in my future
and i couldn't wait to grow up
i saw you
and that was enough for me