Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

The Bible

The Bible contains a lot of literature, but it is not a literature book.  The Bible contains a lot of history, but it is not a history book.  The Bible contains a lot of science, but it is not a science book.  The Bible contains a lot of Psalms and hymns, but it is not a song book.  It is a Jesus book!  Jesus is the message from Genesis to Revelation.

The Spearmans

Here is the Spearman family just having fun.

Fellowship

Romans 15:5-7 Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus,  (6)  that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  (7) Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God.  This is an encouragement that we should not allow "disputable" things to divide us. Bear in mind, this is dealing with things that are in dispute and not blatant sin.

Jon Courson makes this point on these verses that I found to be very interesting, "Something happens when we hear the Scriptures and study the Word together.  There's a oneness of mind that takes place—even if we differ on certain interpretations or certain applications.  That's why you will notice that when a person stops coming to Bible study and worship, slowly but surely, they no longer have one mind and one heart.  It's not that they don't love the Lord.  It's not that they're not saved." In other words, fellowship creates oneness.  Lose the fellowship, lose the oneness.

New Study Guides

Just posted "2 Corinthians" and "Romans" to the "Study Guides" section of website.

Forgiveness of Sins

Karl Menninger, the famed psychiatrist, once said that if he could convince the patients in psychiatric hospitals that their sins were forgiven, 75 percent of them could walk out the next day.

The Name of God

I shared this with a class last semester in regards to how fearful and respectful the Jews were of the name of God.  They would copy the text not word by word, but letter by letter.  There could be no erasures.  If a mistake was made, the entire scroll was thrown away and the scribe had to begin again from the beginning.   When they came to the word El for the name of God, they would wash their pen, take a bath, change their cloths, and dip the pen in fresh ink and write YHVH.  They did this because they felt that no man was worthy to pronounce the name of God.  We still are not sure how YHVH is pronounced because there are no vowels present.  After the insertion of vowels, we now pronounce it as "Yahweh".

They Think It Strange

The Bible says in 1 Peter 4:4, Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you:

The world doesn’t understand why we no longer want to run with them anymore.   I like what Wiersbe said, “They do not think it strange when people wreck their bodies, destroy their homes, and ruin their lives by running from one sin to another!  But let a drunkard become sober, or an immoral person pure, and the family thinks he has lost his mind!”

Festus told Paul in Acts 26:24, Paul, you are out of your mind! Your great learning is driving you mad.

They said of Jesus in Mark 3:21, When His own people heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, "He has lost His senses.

In truth, the unsaved man is spiritually blind to the truth.   Paul said in 2 Cor. 4:3-4 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,  (4)  in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Also in 1 Cor. 2:14-15 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.  (15)  But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.

Sobering Thought

Not sure where I got this quote, but I mentioned it in my latest Romans class.  What do you think of it?

"The heathen, who has never heard the name of Jesus, roams the jungles, naked and feeds his children to the crocodiles, will not suffer the same judgment as will a person who has repeatedly rejected the Gospel."

Elements of Faith

I like what John MacArthur says about saving faith.  He says that it has three elements. 1. Mental - the mind understands the gospel and the truth about Christ (Romans 10:14-17).  2. Emotional - one embraces the truthfulness of those facts with sorrow over sin and joy over God's mercy and grace (Romans 6:17; 15:13).  3. Volitional - the sinner submits his will to Christ's and trusts in Him alone for salvation.

Three Monkeys in a Tree

Three monkeys sat in a coconut tree
Discussing the things that are said to be--
Said one to another: "Now listen you two
There's a certain rumor, but it can't be true'
That man descended from our noble race-
Why, the very idea; it's a disgrace.

No monkey ever deserted his wife,
Starved her babies and ruined her life.
Nor did ever a mother-monkey
Leave her babies with others to bunk,
Or pass them on from one to another
'Till they scarcely knew who was their mother.

And another thing you'll never see
A monkey building a nest around a coconut tree,
And let the coconuts go to waste,
Forbidding all other monkeys to have a taste.
Why, if I build a fence around a coconut tree,
Starvation would cause me to distribute to you.

Here's another thing that a monkey won't do:
Go out at night and get on a stew;
Or use a gun, a club, or a knife
To take another monkey's life.
Yes, Man descended the ornery cuss!
But Brother, he didn't descend from us."

Unequally Yoked

Paul said in 2 Cor. 6:14-15 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?

Now, Paul is getting into the root of the Corinthian’s real problem. They had apparently joined themselves with unbelievers and that was negatively affecting their relationship with Paul.

“do not be unequally yoked”: This is based on Deut. 22:9 which prohibited the yoking of two different animals. It, of course, speaks of joining two things that should not be joined. Clark says, “A very wise and very holy man was given his judgment on this point: ‘A man who is truly pious, marrying with an unconverted woman, will either draw back to perdition, or have a cross during life. The same may be said of a pious woman marrying an unconverted man. Such persons cannot say this petition of the Lord’s prayer, Lead us not into temptation. They plunge into it of their own accord.”’

However, Paul is speaking about much more than simply marriage. It applies really to anything that is not of God being allowed to influence our thinking. The issue at stake is influence. I.e. books, movies, television, magazines and relationships.

We all like to think that we can be around ungodly things and not be influenced. Paul reminded them in 1 Cor. 15:33, “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.”

 too indiscriminate about the things that they allow to influence their minds and lives. The Corinthians Christians were worldly in their thinking because of their associations.

No Excuse for Sin

“If God had set aside His wrath or His justice to save sinners, then the Cross, instead of being a demonstration of love, is instead an exhibition of unspeakable cruelty and injustice, and of one man’s misguided attempts at do-goodism.  If sin could just be excused, then it never needed to be satisfied in the first place!”

Back!

We just got back from our little break.  Had a great time just hanging out with the Edwards family!

Off We Go!

We are heading out of town for a few days just to getaway from the city for awhile. No internet where we are headed, but no biggie. More time for the family!

"Bum" Speaks

Very interesting.

http://www.bpnews.net/ImageServerDB.asp?ID=29234&height=300&quality=70&useHiRes=0

A Closer Walk

I told Jannett today that I feel closer to the Lord since I’ve been driving here, because I find myself repenting several times a day!

Oprah? Beck? Palin? - Christian or not? (OneNewsNow.com)

This is a very interesting article.

Oprah? Beck? Palin? - Christian or not? (OneNewsNow.com)

Peruvian Driving

For some reason they think that by sticking their hand out the window before they cut you off makes it okay!

Cat Baptism

Johnny's Mother looked out the window and noticed him "playing church" with their cat. He had the cat sitting quietly and he was preaching to it. She smiled and went about her work.


A while later she heard loud meowing and hissing and ran back To the open window to see Johnny baptizing the cat in a tub of water. She called out, "Johnny, stop that! The cat is afraid of water!" Johnny looked up at her and said, "He should have thought about that before he joined my church."

Staff Christmas Party

After winding down an elementary Christmas play Friday night; my Saturday started at 8:30am when Jannett and I ran over to the school and took down all of the Christmas decorations; including an 8 ft. Christmas tree; stuffed them into our little Mazda 323; carried them over to the restaurant and set them back up for our scheduled staff Christmas party that night at 4:00pm.  In the end, it was a success.  The boys and I got to lead in a few Christmas carols and read the Christmas story.  Unfortunately, I popped a “G” string on the first song and the restaurant was a little loud for the occasion.  However, in the end, the food and the fellowship were excellent.  Conclusion?  We have a great group of teachers and staff at ICSL (International Christian School of Lima)!

Mama's Bible

Four brothers left home for college, and they became successful doctors and lawyers and prospered. Some years later, they chatted after having dinner together. They discussed the gifts they were able to give their elderly mother who lived far away in another city.  The first said, "I had a big house built for Mama."  The second said, "I had a hundred thousand dollar theatre built in the house."  The third said, "I had my Mercedes=dealer deliver an SL600 to her."  The fourth said, "You know how Mama loved reading the Bible and you know she can't read anymore because she can't see very well.  I met this preacher who told me about a parrot that can recite the entire Bible. It took twenty preachers 12 years to teach him. I had to pledge to contribute $100,000 a year for twenty years to the church, but it was worth it.  Mama just has to name the chapter and verse and the parrot will recite it."  The other brothers were impressed.

 

After the holidays, Mom sent out her Thank You notes.  She wrote: " Milton, the house you built is so huge I live in only one room, but I have to clean the whole house; Thanks anyway."  "Marvin, I am too old to travel. I stay home, I have my groceries delivered, so I never use the Mercedes. The thought was good. Thanks."  "Michael, you gave me an expensive theatre with Dolby sound. It could hold 50 people, but all of my friends are dead. I've lost my hearing and I'm nearly blind. I'll never use it. Thank you for the gesture just the same."  "Dearest Melvin, you were the only son to have the good sense to give a little thought to your gift. The chicken was delicious. Thank you."

Busy Weekend

We are looking at a very busy weekend.  We have an elementary program tonight at the school called “Mayhem in Bethlehem” and then we have our staff Christmas party tomorrow night.  Both of which Jannett is decorating for, I’m recording and leading worship with my boys.  Hey, it’s a family affair!

The Presidency That Saved America

This is a very good article and an interesting read.

The presidency that saved America (OneNewsNow.com)

Another Spurgeon Quote

I’ve been reading Spurgeon’s “Lectures to My Students” and it’s awesome.  Read it if you haven’t already.  He said in “The Minister’s Self-Watch”, “No phase of evil presents so marvelous a power for destruction, as the unconverted minister of a parish, with a £1,200 organ, a choir of ungodly singers, and an aristocratic congregation.”  Wow!

Shoddy Preachers

“Beware of being “shoddy” preachers” - Spurgeon

Easy Blogging

I just found an easy way to send my emails to Blogger which in turn posts them to Facebook.  Easy and convenient!

 

Last Day

Today was the last day of the Fall 2010 semester.  All of the students will be heading home starting tonight and through the weekend.  It’s been a great semester and they have been the best group of students yet.  I will miss them!

Right Doctrine

"Believing right doctrine will no more save you, than doing good works" - Charles Spurgeon

My Family

Lack of Accountability

"A national survey by the Barna Group among people who describe themselves as Christian and involved in a church discovered that only 5% indicated that their church does anything to hold them accountable for integrating biblical beliefs and principles into their life." - Disciple Like Jesus

The Forgiveness Flower

One day a missionary was walking along a trail in East Africa with friends when he became aware of a delightful odor that filled the air. He looked up in the trees and around at the bushes in an effort to find where the smell was coming from. Then his friends told him to look down at the small blue flowers that were growing along the path. Each time they crushed the tiny blossoms under their feet, they released more of their sweet fragrance into the air.

They went on to explain that it was called "the forgiveness flower" because it does not wait until we ask forgiveness for crushing it. It does not release its fragrance in measured doses. It does not ask for an apology. It merely lives up to its name and forgives freely, fully and richly every time.