Today's Slice: There Is None Good But God by Ravi Zacharias

Today's Slice: There Is None Good But God by Ravi Zacharias

In the beginning

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Love Others, Love God

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field Be the field.

do something

Mobile Blogging from here.

do something for someone. something that has no benefit for yourself. why?

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPod touch]

Hollow een

Halloween
As an American I do not celebrate many holidays of other nations, mostly because they mean nothing to me; to American national heritage. Just as I would guess independence day isn't so well celebrated in England, the day the cardinals won the world series by the many teams they have beaten or the conquering of ethopia to musalinni by the ethopians.

Hypothetically...
Let's say you are a jew in hitlers Germany. The Nazis have sworn to destroy you and your kind. Let's say each year they celebrate the day they enrolled the hitler youth. Every year They celebrate this with dressing as Hitler youth with swastika badges and candy given to everyone. As a Jew who has watched the Nazis burn, cage and destroy your family and relatives, would you celebrate this day with them? It is just dressing up and enjoying candy; no harm done. but would you celebrate with your enemy? Would you celebrate separately from your enemy in a different fashion?

christians, we are in a war. Let's not join in celebrating a day that centers on our enemy, seemingly devised by our enemy. A day Certainly not promoting the love and life of our king. instead celebrate our king everyday.

P.s. If you have any left over candy send it my way.

Super Effects with Screen - YouTube

Super Effects with Screen - YouTube:

'via Blog this'

Roosevelt for Him

Decided to go to the dollar store after finding out i had change in my Jeep enough to get some junk food, that I thought I was craving. I'm certain I needed a pound of cheese puffs. At the check out I paid in Dimes and the guy behind me says, " is that a dollar in dimes?" the cashier and I said "yep". He handed her a dollar and asked if he could trade her for a dollar bill. He said, "i'm trying to catch the bus".
I paid with dimes because I didn't want to carry them around anymore. But it made his day. I'm guessing he told me that he was trying to catch the bus so we didn't think he was some type of dime fanatic.

Vanity contiinued

So after another month of eating well except for weekends I've found that regardless of what I do to lose body fat I need to do a fee things:

Workout in the am doing cardio
Drink over 8 glasses of water
Eat no carbs or fatty foods
Not eat after 9pm

I had my body fat down to 12 but after 3 days of not doing thr above it's back to 17. If course I'm losing weight but I dint want to.....

So I guess i have learned this: vanity either comes through hard work and disciple or lots of money and surgery. I am hoping the first builds character.

Vanity

Hopefully my vanity will notlast too long, but this month I have been on the phase 1 fungus free diet and doing some light working out. My aim is to get my body fat to 8%. the fungus free diet basically is low carb diet with many foods that may contain fungus or yeast taken out. I have been attempting to do cardio in the morning and some strength trainging at some point thiughout the day. As far as drinking water I am trying to drink 10 servings a day. Of course I am taking weekends off. The true goal, while I will be acheiving better health is to beable to see my abdominal muscles. I have been doing the power 90 ab work out made by the px90 guy for about a month or two... So I assume there are abs somewhere on me.

Who we are..from Kenyon

But I know it now, and before the world I confess that I am walking in the light. I confess

that God is my Father and I am His child; that I am in His Family. Satan's dominion over

me has been broken, and I have in me now the very Nature and Life of the Son of God. He

gave it to me. I am a partaker of the Divine Nature. I have passed out of death into Life.

I know I am a Son of God, and if I am a Son, then I am an heir and a joint-heir with Jesus

Christ.

If that is true, then I have a standing with the Father just like the Master had, because He

has become my sponsor. He is my Savior and my Lord. I see it now. He has made me His

Righteousness, and I can now stand in the Father's presence just as I did in those first

glad days after I accepted Him. I have a right now to ask Him to come into my body and

make it His home.

I remember He said, "If a man love me, he will keep my word, and the Father and I will

love him, and we will come and make our abode with him." I wonder if that doesn't mean

that He will come and live in me Wouldn't it be wonderful if He would live in my body, so

wherever I went He would be with me; He would be in me.

Then Isa. 41 :10 becomes a reality : "Fear thou not, for I am with thee ; be not dismayed,

for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee : yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the

right hand of my righteousness." This is mine, all mine, and I dare confess it before the

world. Wonderful thing, isn't it? Rom. 8:11 at last is real: "But if the Spirit of him that raised

up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you, he that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall

make his home in your body."

Yes, quicken your body; heal it if it is sick; make it strong if it is weak, and pour into your

spirit the consciousness of a victor, the sense of an overcomer. Heb. 13:20 then becomes

a living Reality: "Now the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great

shepherd of the sheep, with the blood of an eternal covenant, even our Lord Jesus, make

you perfect in every good thing to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in

his sight." How vividly real this can become to the heart, and it all comes when one dares

to confess what he is in Christ; and more than that: confess it in the face of everything.

A repost from another site...on shame.

Taking Your Shame

Isaiah 65.12-16 contrasts the servants of the Lord God with those who did not answer when He called, did not hear when He spoke, chose that in which He does not delight, did evil before His eyes. In contrast to those who forsake the Lord, God’s servants eat while the others remain hungry. God’s servants drink while the others remain thirsty. God’s servants rejoice while the others remain in their shame. God’s servants sing for joy of heart while the others cry for sorrow of heart and wail for grief of spirit. God’s servants bless themselves in the God of truth. Indeed, for those who serve God, the former troubles are forgotten because they are hidden from God’s eyes.

God turns the captivity of shame to glory according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thessalonians 1.12) that those called by the gospel might obtain of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thessalonians 2.14). For the shame of sin and its consequent sufferings, God grants favor (Luke 4.18, 19). God turns shame into praise and renown.

In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: "Do not fear; Zion, let not your hands be weak; The Lord your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing."

"I will gather those who sorrow over the appointed assembly, who are among you, to whom its reproach is a burden. Behold, at that time I will deal with all who afflict you; I will save the lame, and gather those who were driven out; I will appoint them for praise and fame in every land where they were put to shame." Zephaniah 3.16-19

How can these things be? The answer is found in Jesus Christ You can be delivered from shame by understanding and embracing in faith three great truths of the gospel of grace. Let’s look at them briefly.

First, Jesus bore the inherent shame of the cross itself. He endured the cross, despising its shame (Hebrews 12.2). The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1.18

The Phoenicians were the first to devise the art of crucifixion. Their goal was to find a slow, humiliating way of death fit for punishing criminals. They had experimented with drowning, burning, boiling in oil, strangulation, death by spear, and impalement, but these proved to bring death too quickly. Crucifixion involved nakedness, hours under a burning sun, jeering crowds, and physical torment beyond description. By the time of the Romans, crucifixion had become a science. Soldiers trained in its techniques followed specific rules as enemies of the Roman Empire lay victim of this evil. Why in one day more than 6,000 men suffered death by crucifixion following the revolt by Spartacus.

Jesus of Nazareth likewise suffered at the hands of these experts of the craft of crucifixion He was bludgeoned, brutally beaten, bloody beyond recognition Thorns some four to six inches in length tore into His scalp, protruding to form His crown. Jagged pottery and rocks knotted into leather cords of a whip lashed across His flesh. In this condition He was expected to carry a crossbeam through the streets of Jerusalem to Golgatha, the place of the skull. After five inch stakes were driven into His wrists, He was hoisted up against an upright pole or tree. A larger stake was pounded through His overlapped feet.

Horror ensued as Jesus found His arms in a "V" position, paralyzing the pectoral muscles. Able to draw in air but not exhale, relief came only with pressing down on the stake holding His feet. For three hours this went on. Jesus moaned from the depths of His being. Not as others who died by crucifixion, Jesus, very God and very Man, had laid upon Him the sin and iniquity of humanity. This singular, sacrificial victim, this Lamb of God, experienced the shame of the cross as the Father turned away from His own Son, now made sin. Jesus was forsaken. In wrenching agony He committed His spirit into the hands of His Father and died. He bore the shame that comes as the consequence of sin and guilt.

Secondly, He bore the curse. (See Deuteronomy 28.) In suffering such total humiliation, He became a curse for those who would live by faith in Him. The just shall live by faith. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, Paul tells us in Galatians 3.13, 14 having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hands on a tree’), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Shame, falling out of favor with God, not knowing the glory of God, being driven from His presence, is the curse. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ (Romans 6.23).

Thirdly, Christ died outside the camp. On the Day of Atonement the bodies of the animals whose blood was brought into the sanctuary, into the Holy of Holies. by the high priest for sin were burned outside the camp (Leviticus 16.14, 27). Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate (Hebrews 13.12). Jesus was crucified outside the city of Jerusalem (John 19.16, 17). He bore reproach as the Sin-bearer. He suffered shame.

Jesus Christ is God’s answer to shame. Jesus became sin that through His shame those who believe in Him, repenting of their sins, might receive the favor, the glory of God. In Jesus, God offers the only way to remove shame. In an obedience to His Father that took Him to the experience of suffering the humiliation of the cross, Jesus took upon Himself the wrath of God, the agony of rejected love, the curse of the Law. Outside the camp, He took the reproach, the rejection, the consequence of sin, the shame.

If there is anything good that happens in life it's from Jesus.

John 10:9-11 (New International Version, ©2011)


9 I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved.[a] They will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

Let's rememebr that when bad things happen, and they do. Things that are not just dumb mistakes or causes of entropy, but things that are willfully done for evil come from Satan. The Bible points out that the thief (Satans) work is to steal kill and destroy. Every instance of these actions involved with the human race is a result of the work of the Devil, or enemy if you are in the Kingdom of God. This is his work he is constantly looking to destroy good.

1 Peter 5:8 (New International Version, ©2011)says,

8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

We often cannot understand how a person can do evil as it seems to not be in us (remember it isnt in you if you are a new creation). Those who are not new creations, however, are described as we once we, in Romans 3:9-11 (New International Version, ©2011)

No One Is Righteous
9 What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. 10 As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
11 there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.

Dispite what secular humanism would teach us, there is no good in everyone. The potential people have to to become good, through the new birth in the belief in Jesus Christ.

C.S. Lewis says, ""[Pain] removes the veil; it plants the flag of truth within the fortress of a rebel soul." --The Problem of Pain

When we see the works of the enemy (Satan), whether it is violence, pride, vanity, self worship, or anything that takes glory from God and brings evil to his creation we can see the enemy for who he really is. Do not see that God is causing some trouble for you to learn from, it is not God. It says in James 1:16-18 (New International Version, ©2011)

16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

If it is good it is from God. If it is evil it is from the enemy of your soul, your body, and your spirit. The son in the Kingdom of God can find comfort here:
1 John 5:3-5 (New International Version, ©2011)
3 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

It's Near

PepsiCo. and other food companies are under pressure from the White House to make their products healthier. = End Times

Old things

People in general America have a fascination with the new. New computer, new phones, new books, new dirotos flavors, name it there is likely a new. This really isn't at all superising knowing that we are created to embrace a new creation state.

Enduement is no longer an english word

And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. -Luke 24:49

THE ENDUEMENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT BY PRES. CHARLES G. FINNEY THE INDEPENDENT. NEW YORK, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1871 Please permit me, through your columns,
to correct a misapprehension into which
some fell who listened to a few brief
remarks which I made to the late Council
at Oberlin, first on Saturday morning, and
afterward on the Lord's day. 1. In my first remarks I called attention to
the mission of the church to disciple all
nations, as recorded by Matthew and Luke,
and stated that this commission was given
by Christ to the whole church, and that
every member of the church is under obligation to make it his lifework to convert
the world. I then raised two inquiries. 1st.
What do we need to secure success in this
great work? 2d. How can we get it?
Answer. 1st. We need the enduement of
power from on high. Christ had previously informed the disciples that without him
they could do nothing. When he gave them
the commission to convert the world, he
added: "But tarry ye in Jerusalem till ye be
endued with power from on high. Ye shall
be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. Lo! I send upon you the
promise of my Father." This baptism of the
Holy Ghost, this thing promised by the
Father, this enduement of power from on
high, Christ has expressly informed us, is
the indispensable condition of performing the work which he has set before us. 2d.
How shall we get it? 1st. Christ expressly
promised it to the whole church, and to
every individual whose duty it is to labor
for the conversion of the world. He
admonished the first disciples not to undertake the work until they had received
this enduement of power from on high.
Both the promise and the admonition
apply equally to all Christians of every age
and nation. No one has at any time any
right to expect success unless he first secures the enduement of power from on
high. 2d.* The example of the first
disciples teaches us how to secure this
enduement. They first consecrated
themselves to the work, and continued in
prayer and supplication until the Holy Ghost fell upon them, on the day of
Pentecost, and they received the promised
enduement of power from on high. This,
then, is the way to get it. The Council
desired me to say more upon the subject.
Consequently, on the Lord's Day, I took for my text the assertion of Christ that the
Father is more willing to give the Holy
Spirit to them that ask him than we are to
give good gifts to our children. 1. I said this text informs us that it is
infinitely easy to obtain the Holy Spirit, or
this enduement of power from the Father. 2. That this is made a constant subject of
prayer. Everybody prays for this, at all
times; and yet, with all this intercession,
how few, comparatively, are really endued
with the spirit of power from on high! This
want is not met. The want of power is a subject of constant complaint. Christ says,
"Every one that asketh receiveth"; but
there certainly is a "great gulf" between
the asking and receiving, that is a great
stumbling-block to many. How, then, is
this discrepancy to be explained? I then proceeded to show why this enduement is
not received. I said: 1st. We are not
willing, upon the whole, to have what we
desire and ask. 2d. God has expressly
informed us that if we regard iniquity in
our hearts he will not hear us. But the petitioner is often self-indulgent. This is
iniquity, and God will not hear him. 3d. He
is uncharitable. 4th. Censorious. 5th. Self-
dependent. 6th. Resists conviction of sin.
7th. Refuses to confess to all the parties
concerned. 8th. Refuses to make restitution to injured parties. 9th. He is
prejudiced and uncandid. 10th. He is
resentful. 11th. Has a revengeful spirit.
12th. Has a worldly ambition. 13th. He has
committed himself on some point and
become dishonest, and rejects further light. 14th. He is denominationally selfish.
15th. Selfish for his own congregation.
16th. He resists the teachings of the Holy
Spirit. 17th. He grieves the Holy Spirit by
dissension. 18th. He quenches the Spirit
by persistence in justifying wrong. 19th. He grieves him by a want of watchfulness.
20th. He resists him by indulging evil
tempers. 21st. Also by dishonesties in
business. 22d. Also by indolence and
impatience in waiting upon the Lord. 23d.
By many forms of selfishness. 24th. By negligence in business, in study, in prayer.
25th. By undertaking too much business,
too much study, and too little prayer. 26th.
By a want of entire consecration. 27th.
Last and greatest, by unbelief. He prays
for this enduement without expecting to receive it. "He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar." This, then, is the
greatest sin of all. What an insult, what a
blasphemy, to accuse God of lying! I was obliged to conclude that these and
other forms of indulged sin explained why
so little is received, while so much is
asked. I said I had not time to present the
other side. Some of the brethren afterward
inquired, "What is the other side?" The other side presents the certainty that we
shall receive the promised enduement of
power from on high, and be successful in
winning souls, if we ask in faith and fulfill
the plainly revealed conditions of
prevailing prayer. Observe, what I said upon the Lord's Day was upon the same
subject, and in addition to what I had
previously said. The misapprehension
alluded to was this: If we first get rid of all
the forms of sin which prevent our
receiving this enduement, have we not already obtained the blessing? What more
do we need? Answer: There is a great difference
between the peace and the power of the
Holy Spirit in the soul. The disciples were
Christians before the day of Pentecost,
and as such had a measure of the Holy
Spirit. They must have had the peace of sins forgiven, and of a justified state; but
yet they had not the enduement of power
necessary to the accomplishment of the
work assigned them. They had the peace
which Christ had given them, but not the
power which he had promised. This may be true of all Christians: and right here is, I
think, the great mistake of the church, and
of the ministry. They rest in conversion,
and do not seek until they obtain this
enduement of power from on high. Hence,
so many professors have no power with either God or man. They prevail with
neither. They cling to a hope in Christ, and
even enter the ministry, overlooking the
admonition to wait until they are endued
with power from on high. But let any one
bring all the tithes and offerings into God's treasury, let him lay all upon the altar and
prove God herewith, and he shall find that
God "will open the windows of Heaven
and pour him out a blessing that there
shall not be room enough to receive it." * numbered 3rd in original by mistake.

Enduement

I hope to write about it.

Tyranny of the Urgent

There is always something to do. In fact right now i have a list of several things that I need to do. They must get done. They try torace in our mind like the people driving to work early mornings, leaving work late nights, and the people going places between. We have to get going so we can race to where we are going to do what we are doing...
STOP.
Stoppping can help us find out where we are and where we are going; not to mntion (though I am) who we are. STOP.

You know, it isn't only busibodies who succumb to the tyranny of the urgent. The lazy do the same thing: waiting until the mail comes then rushing to get it, waiting for the W-2s to spend the refund as quick as possible (like the money is on fire and it wouuld burn if put into your pocket). Hurrying to watch a show impatiently because the one they wanted to watch is on next.
STOP.
Stop recording shows with Tivo to make you think you are controlling the urgent(though I am sure that some people do manage this well), only to get home and watch everything you have recorded as fast as possible.
STOP.
Meditate on the goodness of God in the peace and quiet.
Sit and do nothing for a couple minutes.
Stand and look around you at the store; what's happening?
Listen to the snow melt (in Michigan).
Listen to the cars drive, and as you quiet yourself listen to the tires, the fan belts, and even the people or music inside (this all can be heard).
Feel the cold (or warmth depending on where you are).

Doing this will help clarify what is urgent and what is important. Breathe.

-There is a good article on this at Elim Article

Keith Green - Asleep In The Light (live)

Scripture Songs for Download

I spent some of 2010 mixing a couple songs to scripture verses and composing music and overlaying scripture onto them. The artists consist of Tom Petty, Owl City, Sleeping Giant, Paper Tongues, Sufjan Stephens, Justin Rizzo, and others. The music was composed on a Korg R3 and possibly mixed with beats from ACID 5.0.
Click this link to download them. Scripture Songs 2010 Listen to the word and watch your faith increase.