I Did It..

http://bobby0.wordpress.com/

I'm Turning Into Clint

I'm thinking about switching over to wordpress..
And about getting the new iphone g3.

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.

Change

A wind is blowing from the east
and with it blows a thousand leafs
And one by one, they begin to turn
till not one is left. Each thousand learned.

And with that wind, a tide pulls way
exposing wounded earth's decay.
A thousand waters by graceful hand
to quench the dry and thirsty land.

Grief

"How can we get past heart break over the loss of someone or something? We must give the person or situation to the Lord and ask Him to remove the sorrow and grief from our hearts. We can keep the good memories of a lost loved one, but we must not allow the enemy to torment us with the grief of our loss. God will replace the emptiness we feel from the loss of a mate, a child, a friend, or a home, if we ask Him to do this. Jesus died on the cross, not only to give us eternal life, but He also died to take our grief and sorrows. Jesus Christ, on the cross bore all of our iniquities, pain, sickness and sorrow. Since He took them, we do not have to take these things, but rather receive our salvation, healing, deliverance and peace by faith."

This is all well and good, but it is a lot easier said than done. Surrender is not a quality I find admirable, nor would I ever seek to obtain it. Yet it is the only thing I am asked of. Surrender. Have faith.

These are the emotions from which the previous poem came.

Where?

O, my soul,
my stubborn soul
and heart with heavy grief.
Wherein my sin
hides it's face;
void comfort and void peace.

One waking hour
like thousands more.
From dawn 'til dusk 'til morn.
Within the center
of unruly lust
crown it doth adorn.

Let it be
that flames descend
burn passion at it's core.
And strip away
my guilty stains.
Be peace forever more.

Fortune

"It doesn't matter. Who is without a flaw?"

Does any one else find it ironic that "Gift" is the word on the back?

(Ephesians 2:1-9)

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

A Confession;

For some reason, I am troubled by the thought of going off to school. I feel a bit apprehensive about leaving my church, my community, and my family to receive a piece of paper proving that I've learned something. Especially something as broad a subject as biblical and theological studies. I wholly believe in higher education, but I think school ought to be for a certain trade/skill. If I am to learn the bible, what better place to learn it than the church? If I am to learn theology, what better place to learn it than the church? I think if the church wants somebody who is committed to the community and the body, knowing their needs and their strengths and weaknesses, they ought to look in the body itself. Why outsource to some seminary to find someone who may not fully understand what the local church needs until he's been there for an extended time?

Certainly there are credentials and requirements one must have in order to obtain a certain position, but why can't they come from the church themselves, and not an outside source? Shouldn't the Church have some kind of system of communication that allows an established church to vouch for a particular person to another church regarding a particular area of study and devotion?

I am rambling, I know. And I'm sure I haven't thought this through logically or exhaustively, but it's weighing me down. If it's not necessary for me to leave, then why leave? I could be getting hands-on training and education, all the while studying the same things another man is in some seminary or other bible college.

I guess what I'm saying is that I'm looking for an institution, implemented by the church, to train and raise individuals up in the ministry for the purpose of the spiritual growth of the Church (locally). Then, if God wills, one may take that experience, accredited by the church, not a piece of paper, and pursue further education from a non-ecclesiastical organization pertaining to a more narrow and defined ministry field.

I don't want to say that a seminary or bible college is not Church-affiliated, but I just don't like the system. Maybe, someday, I will get the chance to make a move toward this re-structuring. But until now, I will continue to pray and seek God's wisdom concerning this matter. I know He calls me to learn, I just don't know where or by what means.

Any thoughts or comments or even rebuttles would be greatly appreiciated, as this post is more from a state of confusion than frustration. I need direction, soon.

The Value of Chirst and The Anointing at Bethany (Matt 26)

Matthew 26:6-13 (NIV)

While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.

When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. "Why this waste?" they asked. "This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor."

Aware of this, Jesus said to them, "Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. I tell you the truth, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her."

As I read this passage, I was (un)surprisingly convicted by the similarity of the disciples' response and my own response to Christ.

One line in particular stands out; "Why this waste?"
Waste? Waste?! Waste?!?! This is the Son of God, and it's waste?! How could they think that Jesus is not worth enough to be anointed with some perfume? How much do they actually value Him?! The pagans would build idols of gold, but these guys, who knew that Jesus was not just some false idol, thought this act of worship to be a stupid one?!

And then it hit me. How much do I value God? How much is He worth to me? Thirty pieces of silver? Where is my faith? Where is my love? I sing of surrender, but I wouldn't break my patchouli over His feet.

It's a funny thing, how we can get caught up in being a "Christian" by doing so many good things, but forget why we are doing it. We may say, "So the world will know Christ" but come on!! The world knows Christ. They know He died. But they don't know His love; His Mercy. Thus they do not value Him. They do not find Him worthy of worship.

So I am in the midst of a heart-check. I'm finding that I hold things higher than Christ. I'm finding that instead of offering the things that mean a lot to me, I hold onto them because I've incorrectly valued them.

We ought to re-evaluate our heart's affections, and if Christ is not in the center of our lives, then we are doing something wrong. How much more is a life than a bottle of oil? I want to give Him that.