No Title Fit

I mourn and grieve. O, the sorrow, to keep a restless boy awake!
My fits of rage toward Truth confuse me. Why?

Tonight a prayer is answered.

I have been praying for an abhorrence of my sin for a while now. I think I just got it. Or I'm beginning to get it. It's not right for me to explain it now, maybe later. But I am comforted by the words of woman, and not ashamed. God has used her.

"My sin, o the bliss of this glorious thought. My sin, not in part but the whole was nailed to the cross and I bear it not more! Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, O my soul!"

Jesus Grows Up

Does anyone know anything about what happens between Matt 3:12 and 13?

If he begins his ministry at age 30, then why aren't we told about the previous years? I know Luke says something, but very little. I suppose it doesn't truly matter, but I'd like to know more about my saviour!

3 down..

Walk not I, save I in You
Lest fading faith as morning Dew
Befall my glancing eye.

Grace displayed bright shining view
May glory be unknown from You
For I would surely die!

Yet, be Your grace sufficient hue
And show Thy glory daily new
Not the wind but ever nigh.

Iambic pentameter inspired by Kevin Dowker's One-ism and Two-ism

Interpreting Scripture: Part II

As you may remember, in a previous post, I had shared what I had learned about interpreting scripture. You may read (or re-read) that post here.

I left off with a question, which thankfully no one took upon themselves to answer, so that I may follow up with a second post. Well here it is.

The question was now that we have determined that all of scripture must be understood in light of the person and work of Jesus Christ, how do we in fact do that?

Let me begin with a bit of Socratic methodology :)

In order to read scripture properly, we must read it according to what it is, right? So, then, what is scripture? According to it's own claims, scripture is God's self-Revelation through the writings of human authors. This is important for three reasons.

First, our interpretation of the bible must be concerned with discovering what God is saying, namely through human authors. We do not attempt to discover what God is saying to us apart from them, do we? We may seek to discern God's intent by discovering the intent of the human authors.

Second, since scripture is God's word, there is an overall unity to the bible, despite the diversity of authors over a long period of time. Scripture may be rightly viewed as a unified, divine, communative act, declaring God's plans and purposes.

Lastly, It is notable that scripture, not unlike God's plan of redemption, did not come to us all at once. Rather, it has been given to us over a period of time, all of which, as scripture states, are ultimately centered in Jesus.

So, we may conclude that our interpretation of scripture must be a grammatical-historical-canonical one. In other words, given what scripture is, we must always read the parts in terms of the whole and vise versa. Remember that scripture is unified throughout itself and that God's intent can be discovered under the proper exegetical interpretation.

If none of this makes sense, get a book.

Discerning God's Peace

I am drawing near to the end of The Mortification of Sin by John Owen. I have only been reading one chapter a week.

Sidebar: Reading a chapter a week of a book of such weighty proportions is a great idea. It really lets the chapter soak in and dwell for that week. I've been book hungry, and it's good to have a book that is a constant, steady flow of truth.

In the chapter I read this week, Owens talks about waiting on the verdict of God for peace.

"When God stirs your heart about the guilt of your sin, concerning either its root or indwelling, or its breaking out, be careful you do not speak peace to yourself before God speaks it. Listen closely to what He says to your soul."

It is the great prerogative of God in His sovereignty to give grace to whom He pleases (Rom. 9:18). And just as God creates peace for whom He pleases, so it is the prerogative of Christ to apply it to the conscience. He bears testimony to our condition in truth.

With those to observations in mind, Owens gives 5 rules by which men may know if they speak peace to themselves only.

1) When we do not view our sin with the greatest hatred imaginable.

2) When we reason from the gracious promises of God in a purely rational and natural way.

3) When we make the healing of our wounds an insignificant work.

4) When we are concerned about one sin, while at the same time there is another evil of no less importance lying upon our spirit, about which we have had no dealings with God.

5) When we are not humbled by this "peace".

He then addresses the question "How will we know it is indeed God's peace?" Unfortunately unbelief frequently prevents receipt of this. But there is a secret instinct in faith, whereby it knows the voice of Christ when He truly speaks (John 10:27).

So if the Word of the Lord does good to your soul, He is the one who speaks it. If it humbles you and cleanses you, It is He who speaks it. "Without a right consideration of this, sin will have a great advantage, and tend to the hardening of the heart!"

Redemption; Not yet complete?

I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.

We have been redeemed.
We are being redeemed.
We will be redeemed.

How is this possible if all statements are true?

The City That Never Sleeps

Wednesday, Colby, Keilan, and I headed off to JFK for Colby's flight to iceland. We stayed the night in Jersey. You can read about that here.


Thursday, Keilan and I did some sight-seeing.





All-in-all, I had a blast and a second trip has already been planned.

Interpreting Scripture

Thinking about Colby's ongoing Covenant posts, I have learned something more than where to find the Mosaic covenant and its requirements, parties, promises, and so on. I learned that all of Scripture must be understood in light of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Isn't that what he teaches?

Luke 24:25-27

And he said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

Hebrews 1:1-3

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

It seems that as we move from the OT to the NT, God is continually speaking. In the OT, the revelation was incomplete and anticipatory. But now, in Christ, what the revelation pointed to, has reached its fulfillment in the complete and final revelation of the Son.

So it seems clear that Scripture, all of Scripture, points to Jesus. So the question becomes, How should we read the bible in a way that we can rightly interpret the text, not just in their immediate context, but also in a way that those texts find their terminus in Christ?

Somewhere There Is Something I Can Learn..

I've tried and tried to formulate a point to what your about to read. But it can't be done. So I will just say what I want to say, and leave the rest open for comments.

Last Sunday at Pillar Church, Clint preached about insincere worship. He talked about the Pharisees and their fasting, Isaiah's chastisement of Israel for Their fasting, and three main reasons for fasting. The sermon isn't really relevant to anything, other that the fact that, after being told about the sermon, a curiosity and desire toward fasting began to take place.

So on Monday, June 16 2008, I fasted for the first time. I wasn't sure what to expect or how to go about any of it, but I knew that if I just replaced the time spent eating with prayer or something, good things will happen.

All things started out well enough. I met up with Keilan in the morning and prayed. He knew I was fasting and decided to fast as well. It was also his first time. Then things started going down hill. I was asked to eat by practically everyone I knew, but I didn't want to say anything because I would feel like I was boasting. And I couldn't to go pray or read scripture, because most of my day consisted with driving these people around.

All said and done, I broke my fast at around 6PM. There are a few things that I would do differently.

Pick a better Day. I had to many plans and not enough escape routes, if you will, to leave and pray and truly fast. When I think of people fasting, I think of someone who devotes a whole day to the event. Someone who will meditate on the Word in prayer for a large portion of time, and doing very little. Mostly I think of them fasting for some type of answer or guidance on an issue they need resolved.

Pray more. I certainly did not pray as much as I wanted.

Have a more specific goal. I know what fasting is, and what it signifies. But I should have had a more defined reason for the fast. I did have somewhat of an idea but nothing really structured or set.

Nonetheless, it was truly an act of worship, and I know God was pleased with me today. I genuinely wanted to come to Him for strength and depend on Him for endurance and His word for wisdom. I am just inexperienced, I suppose.

Any thoughts, comments, tips?

(I usually don't write like this, but it's late and I need sleep.)

Peace and Poetry

As the days turn into one, and all of my feelings and emotions start to run into each other, making it hard to distinguish who I am at times, it is startling to find peace in my life. When i feel like I can't stop moving, I do. I rest.

Poetry has become more real to me than ever before. I don't necessarily like to read it, but I find peace in writing it. It's a form of therapy for me, and so I keep a lot of it in a book that will never see the light of day.

Here are few;

Haiku 1
Content with his life,
He aspires for nothing.
What a tragedy!

Haiku 2
I'm stuck in my house.
My grades have got me grounded.
O, to ride my bike!

Unnamed
O, to hope for something Perfect!
O, to yearn for something Great!
O, that Dawn may bring Tide's cleansing
and wash away my helpless state!

Glory
O, Sun,
Bright shining Sun,
Come quick to save the day
where night,
gloomy dark night
brings with it shades of gray.

Cutting Edge Christianity; Your Thoughts?

Is it possible to come up with something new? It seems that the only change in Christianity is the package that it comes in. If truth is objective and unchanging, then why does it seem that we are evolving? Is it just ministry and evangelical techniques, blowing which ever way the culture takes them?

I am strangely unsettled tonight.

Nobody Loves Me by Derek Webb

"The truth is never sexy, so it's not an easy sell. You can dress her like the culture, but she'll shock 'em just as well. She don't need an apology for being who she is and she don't need your help making enemies."

I would like to read what you guys have to say regarding this matter, so I open the floor.

A Familar Land Becomes Foreign

All I can say is that it helps to remember my sin; my state; my sad, sad state.