Differences Between New World Slavery and Greco-Roman Slavery

I'm not talking about the New World Translation, but the slavery that existed when America (the New World) was first founded.

There are many errors in interpretation that happens when we read of slavery in Paul's letters and attribute the slavery of a few hundred years ago. Slavery was tremendously different from these two different periods of history. When you get asked why Paul speaks of slaves obeying their masters instead of fleeing their cruelty you will be able to explain the differences between these different eras of slavery:

New World Slavery vs. Greco-Roman Slavery

1a. Slavery was a permanent condition, a "life sentence" with no hope of freedom.
1b. Unless a criminal, a slave had every hope of emancipation - usually after a 10 to 20 year condition after reaching adulthood.

2a. Slavery was racially delineated: Negro slaves, white masters.
2b. Impossible to distinguish a slave on the basis of color, clothing or race.

3a. Slaves were segregated socially.
3b. Usually unable to distinguish a slave from others by friends, occupation or worship patterns. As a tentmaker Paul probably worked alongside slaves, who could join the same clubs as freed people and free people.

4a. Slaves had no legal rights.
4b. Slaves had many legal rights, including the right of appeal to a higher authority in the case of unfair treatment.

5a. Slavery was the lowest rung of society.
5b. Slaves were often of higher status than the free, depending on who their masters were. A slave of Caesar, the largest slave owner by far, could command significant power and prestige. From this high status, there was a continuum down to the very lowest rung of society.

6a. Slavery was degrading and dehumanizing.
6b. Slavery was viewed as an opportunity. Large numbers of persons sold themselves into slavery to find a better life than they had as free people and to secure special jobs and to climb socially.

7a. Slaves were confined to menial work.
7b. Slaves held high positions in civil service and in the business world. Attended their owners as doctors and nurses, taught and advised their young owners and acted as companions and protectors to elderly owners. were writers, accountants, bailiffs, overseers, secretaries and sea captains. For example, Marcus Antonius Felix, the Judean procurator who judged Paul (Acts 23:23 - 24:27). was a freed person of Claudius's mother, Antonia.

8a.Illegal to educate slaves.
8b. Slaves often highly educated, acting as tutors and advisers for their owners.

9a. Slaves not able to own property.
9b. Slaves could own property, could maintain savings for the day of their manumission (emancipation/freedom) and even owned their own slaves.

10a. The slaves had no hope of normal family life.
10b. Slaves often maintained a separate existence from their masters, even holding down outside work to increase their savings.

11a. Slavery was wholly detestable, as a result of kidnapping.
11b. Slavery was often preferred and chosen. Manumission was frequently a disadvantage for the slave and financially advantageous for the master.

Unlike the New World slaves, the Greco-Roman slaves could realistically expect faithful service to be rewarded with freedom and concomitant Roman citizenship, usually within 10 to 20 years after achieving adulthood.

Now you can know what Paul meant when he wrote about slavery like in passages like 1 Corinthians 7:22 - "For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise he who is called while free is Christ’s slave."


\\ Ephesians 4:11-12 \\ For The Equipping of the Saints.

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Source: The Problem with Paul. Author: Brian J. Dodd

5 Things that Can't Be Proven By Science, but are still Rational to accept

To watch the video of this, Click on this and watch William Lane Craig own this guy in a 1998 debate. Skip to 1:10. This is what he said:


1. Logic and Mathematics

Science presupposes Math and Science, Science cannot prove these things, but everyone accepts them as truth.

2. Metaphysical truths

The concept there are other minds other than your own, or that the past was not created 5 minutes ago with an appearance of age cannot be proven/disproven by science.

3. Ethical beliefs

You cant show by science whether the Nazi scientists did anything worse than the American scientists in WWII or otherwise.

4. Aesthetic judgments

The beautiful, like the good cannot be scientifically tested.

5. Science itself

Science itself cannot be justified by the scientific method that would be circular reasoning.



-William Lane Craig

Science isn't the end all be all. Don't fear Science, Fear God.

Psalm 27:4
One thing I have desired of the LORD,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the LORD
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the LORD,
And to inquire in His temple.

I hate writing blogs about being busy

And here I am again! I thought there was more to me than doing other things. But I do have some time to kill since there is no class tonight. I am doing rather well in my reading this semester.

I have read half of the book of Acts, all of Philippians, Galatians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, half of my Paul & His Letters book and am well into all of my other books. I'm very happy with all of the work that I have had to do but am more happy with the knowledge that is coming from this. I don't want all this knowledge to puff me up, but I want to simply be used as one of God's tools from his work belt.

Tomorrow I'm going with KC to scope out the Talbot School of Theology for a potential place for me to continue my education. We'll see how it works out, I'm pretty excited!

Reading List

WHY is my blog reading list empty?? I am not following any of the blogs I was following before! My world is over!! NOOOOO!!!

Ventures and Adventures

This past month has been crazy, crazy. So many things have happened to me this month. Honestly, I don't think I have been as busy as I am now at any point in my entire life. But I like what I'm busy with (for the most part) so I don't have much to complain about.

Since my last competent blog post I am:

1. Going to California Baptist University now
This was a huge undertaking for me. For a long time I had been praying and seeking where the Lord would have me to go. I wasn't sure if I should go to APU, Biola or CBU and finally the Lord opened the door, pressed the issue on my heart and there you go! I am majoring in Christian Studies and am currently doing the night program.
2. Still Working with my Dad
Not much to say here, except business as usual. I am blessed to only have to work 3 days a week, but I still am having difficulty finding free time (like now) to do things.
3. Still Serving in Activate (High School Ministry)
I am still serving in the High School ministry at Harvest, not a whole lot has changed except we did have an awesome camp earlier this month. That was a blessing, getting to know more kids, have fun with them and show them God's word. Always a blessing.
4.Stepped Down from the James 1:27 ministry
I was involved with this ministry for about 6 months and it was a good opportunity to develop/flex my teaching gifts. Once a month (sometimes twice) I would get to teach at a convalescent home to about 15-30 old people on Sundays. It was a blessing in many ways, an eye opener in others. But ultimately, I had to step down because of new opportunities the Lord put on my plate.
5. I am now leading Saturday night witnessing
I am very excited to see how the Lord can use me in this ministry. It has been a real need that our ministry has been lacking for over 5 months since we have transitioned into our new buildings. I'm glad the Lord has put it on my heart, even though at times I feel overwhelmed by the responsibilities of teaching these kids I am confident that where the Lord guides, He provides.

Yay!

A Picture of Heaven

Let me preface this by saying it is late and I am having a hard time falling asleep.

During my attempt to make myself tired, I found the video below.

You don't really feel what the video has to offer until some point near the middle when you realize the unity that everyone is entrenched in.



Don't get me wrong, you know I'm not one of those people with their head stuck in the clouds. But this video gave me a picture of what Heaven will be like. Sure, the people here are enjoying being united together singing "Hey Jude" by the Beatles. But in Heaven we will all enjoy being united together with each other and worshiping Christ singing "Holy, Holy, Holy."

Celebrate!

Is this real
I hope it's not fake
Just a dream, don't let me wake
Hands down
Hands down
You're the best I've ever found
And I celebrate the day
That I met you, That I met you
You and me, can change the world
Move a mountain, the impossible
Is unbound, hands down
You're the best I've ever found
and I celebrate the day
That I met you, that I met you
The impossible is possible
The unthinkable is coming true
And I celebrate the day
that I met you, that I met you.

-Bleach

Props to this Bride and Groom

I gotta give these guys some props.. watch and see...



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Hopefully I'll have a bride that is that cool! But I'm not sure that I'd want to do something that elaborate. Nice to see people thinking outside the box and being bold and just having fun. Not sure about the woman marrying them...

Also I do have a couple friends that are gettin married soon... take notes boys and girls!

New Beginnings

So my last blog post entitled The One Blog Post of June was probably the worst decision I have made all June. Hence, the blog post you are reading. (Thank you for reading.)

Today was my first day of work. I mentioned it in my last blog post that I turned in my 2 weeks and last Tuesday was my last day with the company. No more sellin cell phones. Now a few of you have asked me what I do now and rather than explain it over Twitter or Facebook or Text I figured it would be easiest to blog it up.

Basically, I am self-employed along with my Dad. Along with my dad I am selling Life Insurance and Annuities to teachers. In layman's terms: retirement. They are called 401(k)'s in the business sector and 403(b)'s in school. So the day today consisted of waking up, getting ready, and walking 50 feet to work. Talk about saving gas! Then we went and drove to schools trying to get leads and we were rather successful. Well, my dad was rather successful. I still have a lot to learn. It's sales and 100% commission.

Some other interesting things that happened today include (but are not limited to):

-Shooting out the window on my sisters car with a BB gun.

-Having In-N-Out for lunch after having it for dinner yesterday.

-Hanging out with Mark Hensley at my house.

-Beating Metal Gear Solid 3

-Going with my dad to buy a new puppy!

YEAH a new puppy!! It's sitting on my lap right now as I am typing this. She is the cutest thing. She is so active and rambunctious and she is about 3 months old. We are still debating on a name and I am pulling for Hazel.

Pictures for you to goggle at!







Today was a good day. :)

The One Blog Post of June

After meeting with my staff, we have decided that it is best to only have one blog post for the entire month of June. Research has shown the average mouse clicks double in June, so we here at "I'll think of something witty eventually" are going Green and helping cut down on unnecessary mouse clicks by posting everything that is of importance in this one blog post. Check back for updates later!

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6/1/2009
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The most significant event of this month would be the one that kicked every other event off. My birth! This month I turned a whopping 23 years old and have pre-ordered my walking cane just as a precaution. I had a small 'surprise' party that weekend where a bunch of my good friends came over to celebrate by having fun, eating cupcakes and trying to decide what movie we should watch. But all in all, it was a blast and I'm everyone that made it out came.

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6/9/2009
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As I looked at the date today I was almost certain we were half-way through the month. I'm very surprised to find out today is only the 9th. In any event, I am really really excited for some of the thing the Lord is putting on my plate. I am feeling very stretched in my walk with the Lord and it feels very good (even though it hurts sometimes). I really, really want to just blurt out what I'm excited about but I need to keep it under wraps. However, I will say that it is something that we have needed to do for the last 4 months or so at Activate.

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6/11/2009
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So this is probably worth blogging about. I turned in my two weeks at work. Pretty random, huh?

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6/15/2009
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So its pretty dumb I decided to do this when I actually have some pretty cool things to blog about. But anyways... yesterday was my mom's birthday. Our family surprised her by taking her all the way out to Knott's Berry Farm! It was fun because we haven't hung out as a family for a looooong time, not even for dinner. So that was a good time, plus we haven't been to Knott's since I was a teenager.

Zealous for their King!

This morning was an early, early morning. I'm quite excited that I have something to write about. My weeks and months have tended to be more on the boring, unordinary side lately. Today was different, however and I was blessed by it.

Two of my discipleship boys, Dalton and Josh go to Martin Luther King High School in Woodcrest. Through some turn of events they eventually started their own bible study in the morning before school started. I know, crazy huh? Even better, the Lord has blessed it and there are about 10-15 faithful attendees and Josh/Dalton trade off leading the study.

Well, being their discipleship leader I took it upon myself to invite myself to their study as a guest speaker the night before. Thats what happened this morning. Early this morning. Like wake up at 6 am early.

Anyways, I journeyed all the way out to Woodcrest in Riverside from Fontana. I met my boys in the parking lot and we jumped in a class room which was full of about 12 kids and I exhorted them on Jesus' sermon on the mount in Matthew 5:13-16. Somehow, again, the Lord used me and the kids were blessed and encouraged. Josh texted me and informed me that the kids were indeed blessed and they wanted me to come out again soon. So, Lord willing, I will!

Then I went to Del Taco and had a bomb breakfast with strawberry lemonade with real strawberries!

But I'm excited to come back and encourage these kids again. I'm so stoked on what's going on over there already! Yes Lord, YES!!

You are not forgotten, You are forgiven!

Isaiah 44:21-23

"Remember these, O Jacob,
And Israel, for you are My servant;
I have formed you, you are My servant;
O Israel, you will not be forgotten by Me!
I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions,
And like a cloud, your sins.
Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.”
Sing, O heavens, for the LORD has done it!
Shout, you lower parts of the earth;
Break forth into singing, you mountains,
O forest, and every tree in it!
For the LORD has redeemed Jacob,
And glorified Himself in Israel."

God said he would not forget Israel, which he has set apart from every other nation on Earth. During this period in Israel's existence, they were rebellious to their creator.

The Lord did not say, 'return unto me and I will forgive you,' to Israel. He said, 'I have forgiven you, so rejoice and return to me!' Wouldn't you expect the Lord to say, 'return to me, and I'll forgive you?' Nuh-uh! He says 'I have blotted your sins out, so return to me!'

Christian, wherever your spiritual thermometer is at this very moment: return to Jesus! Why? Because you have been forgiven, you have been redeemed by Christ's sacrifice on the cross.

Renew yourself (Romans 12:2) and your relationship with Jesus and come back to Him because He has already forgiven you and is waiting for you with open arms! Believe it and receive it!

“This is preposterously good news!” - Jon Courson

Swindled at School

So I am pretty frustrated right now. I just came back from my Eastern Philosophy final at Chaffey. So the Professor tells us to bring scantrons for the final and then when we get to the test there are no multiple choice questions! All the questions are fill in the blank and theres an essay question too.


Needless to say, I didn't do too well. Not quite sure how my grade has been in the class, so there is no way to judge how this affected my grade. I'm really hoping I pass so I don't have to take this exhaustive class again. I'm gonna go play a videogame or something to take my mind off this.

Rom 8:28

Praise the Lord!

Psalm 34:1 - "I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth."



I love this song!!


Praise:
by the Newsboys

Tears have fallen water beads
Wipe the floor with my regrets
In the crevice tiny seeds
Spring to life from pardoned debts
And all I have, all I have is
Praises on my tongue
From my heart
For our God who became flesh
For us all
Unto you
I will sing my praises
Sing forever

In the quiet I lament
Every nail, my sin did buy
And I wonder why you spent
Lavish blood on such as I
When all I have, all I have is

Praises on my tongue
From my heart
For our God who became flesh
For us all
Unto you
I will sing my praises
sing forever


Oh, for a thousand
Tongues to sing
To sing aloud
Sing aloud
Oh, to the Glory
Of my God and King
To sing aloud
Sing aloud

Today Hooray!

So although technically I'm writing this on Monday morning, I haven't gone to sleep yet so its still Sunday night in my mind.

Saturday evening, I knew Sunday was going to be awesome in all respects. Maybe its because I was excited about going to church or maybe because it was some Jesus stuff happenin'. I did have a slight indication.

So it probably started last Monday when I caught up with 97% of my prayer and share homework. (Am I supposed to do that Becoming a Godly wife homework???) So I wasn't convicted about going to or missing the class without homework done. I purposed in my heart to go to sleep early so I would be well rested and get on church on time. (That's the magic formula folks, more sleep = early rising peep).

So on Sunday prayer & share was awesome. Fast forward. 2nd Service was awesome, I really enjoyed the message. Fast forward. We had a leadership meeting for the high school ministry that went really well, we seemed to make a lot of progress and are bringing discipleship back officially. (YESS!!!!!) And then...

Wait. I forgot something; rewind. Before our meeting during third service I talked to Jason briefly about something that was on my heart. A few days earlier one of my discipleship boys called me up and we talked. Turns out he is leaving for a trade school up north somewhere. When we were talking he said he wanted to be baptized. And I was like, "Tight!" And then he said I want you to baptize me. And I was like, *Jaw Drop*

So I was telling this to Jason and he confirmed what I was going to do. He said, "Baptize him." My heart was very glad at that moment, although still fairly anxious of the unknown. I expressed to Jason that normally I would submit to the church and have him be baptized by a Pastor. But he is leaving very quickly (the next few days) and our baptismal is still under construction.

So after our meeting I went down to meet my discipleship brotha and talk with him before we left for Peter's apartments pool place. To my surprise, what I thought was going to be an event populated by him, me and Peter was actually populated by his parents and like 6 or 7 of his close friends. That made me extra nervous, lol.

So, fast forward a bit. We go to the pool, I give a quick exhortation on the meaning of baptism and why my discipleship boy was doing this. Took him to the water and dunked him in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Crazy!!!!!!!

It felt strange doing it, I kinda felt like it was cheesy. It probably was cheesy but I also recognize that the Lord definitely used it in his life to accomplish Jesus' commandment and start a work in his heart. I was blessed by that.

Then later at Day7 I was privileged to sit on stage and watch the body of Christ worship Jesus and go the throne in adoration. I love watching people worship. I'm not a creep. I'm not. Fast forward. Then the altar call took place. There was a guy that was in front of me and we made eye contact. It was kind of weird because I wasn't sure I was supposed to or not, so I looked away.

After service, James Persinger pleads with me that the back room is lack on counselors. So for the first time in ever, I go back and counsel after Day7. They allowed us to choose who we would counsel. I chose that guy I made eye contact briefly. It was soooooooo tight encouraging them. The guy was a recovering heroin addict, the other was recovering from some stuff too. But it was so cool how the Lord used that second or two earlier in my life to direct me to minister fully to the same person only minutes later.

So that was the icing on the cake of a super cool day. Hooray!

Let's Say It Together

What

Morrow

If all goes according to 'my' plans, tomorrow should be an awesome blog-worthy day. I think this is about the third teaser blog I've written. But I should deliver soon.

Prayer & Share

So I'm all caught up in my Prayer & Share homework. I seriously thought that it was going to take like 8 hours to do, but it only took me 5, lol. Its pretty much my fault anyways. I just had a bad few weeks with my time management. Personally I blame spring break, it threw off all my habits that I created the beginning of the semester.

So now I have to rebuild some of the habits for the little time left I have during this semester and gear up for creating new habits for the summer as I take summer school...

In Class Blog

So the likes of Allison, Michelle and others have posted blogs and taken pictures during class time, I will to!

Actually, I don't have a camera so I won't be taking a picture of anything or anyone. I am in my Digital Multimedia class with Josh Poetoehena on my right and Corey Todd on my left. Josh is actually working for once. Corey is reading blogs and on facebook. I am a mixture of working on class projects, facebook, blogging and working on Activate videos.

I just got done drinking lemonade and cinnamon pop tarts outside, so I feel pretty healthy right now. I pretty much just figured I'd populate the march section of my blogger and let all my faithful readers know that I haven't forgotten about their generous love and support for all that happens on these keyboards and ultimately in my life.

Stay Tuned for more blogs!

Life Update

Okay, not so many blog posts right now. That's because I'm busy busy busy. Here's what I have on my plate.

School 2 days a week: Tues/Thur
Church 3 days a week: Sun/Wed Night/Fri Night
Work(Sam's) 4 days a week: Mon/Wed Morn/Fri Morn/Sat

And on top of all of the above I am working with my dad at his work part time, so whenever he gets an appointment with a client, I'll go with him. Then of course I have to find time to study for school and my philosophy class specifically. Then I need to find time to read/study for the Prayer & Share class that we have. And I am also working with Tyler Bianco on a lot of the media things(video editing, camera, etc) for the Activate High School ministry stuff at church.

No wonder I dropped my Greek class. Hopefully I can steal a couple of prayers from you guys for me, that would rock :)

SWAT Video

So I've been learning this new program in school and on my own time called Adobe After Effects. The program itself is great, I think I'm even beginning to like it more than photoshop!

Anyways, I was playin around with it last night and came up with this logo thingy for SWAT. Noone asked me to do it and I don't expect for it to go anywhere but I made it for my personal enjoyment...and I suppose you can enjoy it to. If you want.



Also, the music is arbitrary. Got it from YouTube.

Atheism Summed Up

Pastor Ralph Loved a Lot

News is circulating now and people are just finding out what God already knew, that Pastor Ralph Arthur passed away this morning.

I've always viewed Pastor Ralph as the 'Church doctor.' He would always minister to us, the body, using scripture and love. Joy always emanated from within him and he never kept that joy to himself, he always gave selflessly.

Less than a year ago a tragedy struck our family. A close family friend had been admitted to the hospital suddenly; she was my mom's friend, my friend's mom (mine too) and my sister's friend's mom. She was a 2nd mom to me and the family requested that I try to get a Pastor from Harvest to come out immediately since she was in urgent care. At Day7 I tried to ask Pastor Steve if he could come, but he had a line a mile long. So I went to find another Pastor who could find someone who was available to visit the troubled family. Then I ran into Pastor Ralph coming up from the stage.

I asked him if he could have someone on staff come out the next day and meet with the family and minister to us. Pastor Ralph mentioned that he would try to get someone to come and mentioned he wouldn't be able to come because he had plans and was very busy that day. He asked me to email him the hospital/family info and I thanked him. He prayed for me and I left.

The next day at the hospital, the Pastor arrived. That Pastor was Ralph. He came anyways! I'm not sure what he did, but he came all the way to Upland to minister to the family and to me. It was such a blessing. I always thanked him and the Lord for coming to our aid when we needed it, at his own expense.

I know that many of you have stories of how Pastor Ralph was a blessing to you. I'd personally like to hear them, whether its a comment in this blog, your own blog or in person. Pastor Ralph lived so self-lessly and I can only Praise and Thank the Lord for his life and legacy.

Prayer & Share

The Leaders of the High School Ministry (and the Well) have been blessed with the opportunity to participate in the Prayer & Share program that equips Christian leaders with the ability to effectively counsel biblical principles into others' lives. Well at least I know for sure I have been blessed so far, just by being included.

Earlier today we had our first meeting in the new chapter 2 children's ministry building. I was pretty surprised they were equipping us with a binder and two sweet books by Jay E. Adams for free! It was equally "sweet" that Pastor John Collins, John Douthitt and even James MacDonald from Chicago addressed us this morning.

I'm excited about our first homework, reading an entire book! Snap! I thought it was going to be hard but I'm on chapter 5 as we speak. :)

I can't wait to see how the Lord will grow me through this course.

What is Love?

I really, really like the Christian Club we have on campus @ Chaffey. I've written about it in the past semester when I was more active (and able to attend meetings) and how the aim of the club was to increase our knowledge in the Lord and also Evangelize the campus.

During Halloween the club came together and built a giant coffin, filled it with worms and wrote on it "What happens when you die?" and plopped it in the middle of the Quad. There were large blank areas on the coffin where you could write what you believe; Reincarnation, Nothing, Heaven/Hell, etc.

This holiday we are asking the question, "What is Love?" The club created a giant white display with a heart behind it asking the above question. As you can see in the first picture students get to write what they think love is. Throughout the day Christians are posted up there in the Quad with the setup and use the giant prop as a tool to evangelize to various students that come and write their opinions about.

I had classes during the busiest part of the event, but I did get to spend some downtime in the Quad writing my own response (below, which oddly noone wrote) and dialoging with some other students about love and Christianity. It was a blessing today, and I'm looking forward to more opportunities throughout the week.




Love Never Fails. :)

Puppies

I <3 Puppies!

My Finger is on the Button

I am ready to activate this weekend at Winter Camp!! It should be a blessing to retreat from the world and then go straight back to work. :( lol

I'll see you in the mountains!

Digital Media Project 1

Since Allison posted her art projects I'm gonna post mine too!!

Our first project was to create a movie from still pictures, a stop-motion film. So me, Josh and Karen went to In-N-Out by Ontario Mills and filmed this.



I got an A. :)

All Things

This blog is a follow-up blog to my older blog, Scheduling Scare.

So I reported earlier that I got dropped from my math class that I needed to get one of my AAs. So the only option (other than retaking the 1st math class in summer and/or the 2nd in the fall) However, there was another option that I asked a counselor about, and that was retaking the placement test to see if I could place into another math.

I took that class Monday after work and not only did I place well, but I placed beyond where I needed to place! That means I don't have to take any maths to get my AA :)

I'm so stoked! (Rom 8:28) RJ ;)

The Importance of Faith

January 27

"For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith."
-Mark 11:23

Did Jesus tell us to pray that the problem, obstacle, or mountain which looms menacingly before us might be removed? No. Did He tell us to study the Word that it might be removed? No. He said, ‘Say to the mountain Be thou removed, and it will be cast into the sea.’

We often hear that prayer changes things. But that’s not entirely true. Faith changes things. Prayer changes us. Jesus didn’t say, ’If you encounter a mountain, pray that it might be gone.’ No, He said, ‘Have faith in God and then verbally, audibly tell the mountain to be removed. Speak faith.’

Why is verbalization so important? Why did Jesus tell us to speak aloud to the mountain? Why does Paul tell us to confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord (Romans 10:9-10)? Why does the writer of Hebrews tell us that when a promise is given to us we are to boldly speak it out (Hebrews 13:5)?

Because that’s when faith kicks in. It’s easy for me to think quietly or pray inwardly for the mountain to be moved because then if it doesn’t move, no one will know I prayed otherwise. There’s no step of faith, no risk involved if I don’t speak.

What mountain is it which intimidates you? Fear concerning an unsaved child? Depression over a business about to go under? Worry about a diseased body or a broken heart?

Jesus tells you and me to go on record in the ears of our kids, our parents, our peers, our co-workers and to say, ‘Be gone.’ After all, it was as Jesus did so Himself in the ears of His disciples that the stage was set for them to believe (Mark 11:14).

Maybe you’re praying intensely and hoping passionately that a certain problem or a certain situation will somehow be solved. But the fact is, Jesus said it’s not enough to simply hope or even to pray. Rather, to whatever mountain intimidates or discourages you, you must say in faith verbally, ‘Be gone. Be removed. Be cast into the sea.’ And then watch what happens.

This Daily Devotional is an excerpt from the book "A Days Journey" by Pastor Jon. "A Days Journey" is a collection of 365 short devotions from the New Testatment.

Amen!

Let My People Think

So earlier this Friday KC, Michelle, John and Aaron and myself had the blessing to go see Ravi Zacharias. There are only a few people in the Christian circles that I really look up to and Ravi Zacharias is one of them. He has a radio broadcast called "Let my People Think" and is available for download from iTunes for your listening edification.

So Friday I was very excited to see him in person and hear him teach. The topic of his message was "Need God? What if I don't?" He never opened his Bible but there wasn't anything he said that I remember doubting that it had its roots in right doctrine.

He also had some great quotes, for example:

"The New Atheists are better at smelling rotten eggs than laying good ones."

"Jesus answered the man's question, "Who's image is on the coin?" They replied 'Caesar's.' Jesus said give to Caesar what is Caesar's and give to God what is God's. (Matt 22) What image is on you?" (Imago Dei)

"This generation listens with their eyes and thinks with their hearts."

Such a blessing to hear this man speak with such fervor and tenacity. He was kind enough to let KC and I take pictures with him without getting a book signed. :)

Scheduling Scare

Okay so in one of my last blogs entitled "Semester Fenal" I cataloged what my schedule was for this Spring semester that has just started. But something has skewed that.

I went to my math class to find out I'm not on the roster. So I sit through class and go to admissions and find out my prerequisite wasn't met. D: So now I am in another class called Intro to Multimedia where I get to make videos! That's actually one of the things I really, really like to do but haven't had a chance to do because of the expensive cost of that hobby (video camera, computer, software.)

I'm excited.

Argument against Literal Communion Elements

So I was spending time with the Lord this morning and I opened up today's entry to Jon Courson's devotional A Day's Journey and he made a really good argument against the Catholic belief surrounding communion.

According to the Catholic doctrine of Transubstantiaion the bread and the wine actually transform into the actual material blood and body of Christ. Personally I do not believe this and I think there are a number of great arguments against it. However, in this blog I will detail only one of them.

This isn't the only time people have confused Christ's words for something material when they were supposed to be spiritual. Jon Courson writes:

In John 3, Jesus said, "You must be born again."

"How does a man enter into his mother's womb the second time?" asked Nicodemus. Jesus was speaking spiritually, but Nicodemus was trying to figure it out physically.

In John 4, Jesus said, "I have water to give you which if you drink you shall never thirst again."

"Give me this water," said the woman at the well, "so I won't have to keep drawing water from the well." She was thinking materially, but Jesus was speaking about the water of the Spirit internally.

In John 6, Jesus said, "Unless you eat of My body and drink of My blood, you can have no part of Me."

The crowds, thinking He was talking about cannabalism, began to turn away from Him. Again, He was speaking of the spiritual realm, but the people couldn't see past the material realm.

This seems to be our nature to generally not comprehend what Jesus is talking about unless the Holy Spirit tells us.

Semester Fenal

Yes it is the final semester for me. At Chaffey at least.

This semester is going to be a doozy! Me and Liz already talked very briefly about how wack this next semester is going to be. One thing is different already is that I'm taking Tuesday/Thursday classes instead of my normal Monday/Wednesday classes. I have a full load of classes which include:

Tue/Thur
Elementary Algebra - 410
Fundamentals of Interpersonal Communication
Intro to Eastern Philosophy
Sat
Self-Defense/Personal Safety (.5 Units)
Online
Using the Internet

So this semester I will really need to lock down and focus. Ministry might suffer a bit now, but that's so it can flourish in the future. Also, my Philosophy teacher is requiring that we get 5 books. 5!!! He also recommended 5 others. That class is going to be intense.

Also Thursday nights my Eastern Philosophy class @ Chaffey Rancho ends at 7pm which is a problem because I have to be in Orangecrest at 7pm to make it to this Greek class that Dr. Burdett is providing us for basically free. Our first class was last night, I might post another blog detailing how hard my brain hurts.

Prospects of a New Year

So I haven't posted a blog since before Christmas, I didn't want to make a Christmasy one. While I am not fond of what Christmas has become I am fond of new beginnings and that's why I like the New Year.

The New Year is always another chance to get things right and do things they are supposed to be done. Now I don't expect for 2009 to be the year I live sinless, I don't expect that anytime soon! But for me its going to be a new beginning of a focal point in my life where I will try to live a holy life.

I'm just glad I don't have to do it on my own. We are promised in 2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." I love this fact that we are regenerated and made perfect in Christ's image from the Father's perspective.

Now its time to practically become like Christ in this 2009.

"Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me." Psalm 51:10