While being Sick...

Well, I have spent this day in a way that I could not have foreseen. I had plans to prepare for the trip back to Louisville and complete some Christmas shopping. I also looked forward to getting some more reading done in the book that I want to finish this winter.

But here I am in bed only now possessing the strength to type. I woke up this morning with a heaviness in my stomach and finding myself with less and less energy to do simple things. I manged to get myself back in bed where I have stayed for the entire day.

I feared that it was a stomach viruses since that seemed to be the bug going through Knoxville during these months. But, thank the Lord, I have not had any of the major symptoms like vomiting. I don't know what it is but I pray that the worst it will do to me is just zap my strength.

Yet, I don't need to waste this illness either! If God is sovereign of everything that happens in this world then microscopic viruses are under his dominion as well. The Lord has seen fit to take away my strength and lay me up in bed for the day. (maybe worst if He sees a means of bring Himself glory.) So what should I call to mind from my predicament that I have been placed in?

1. God is good to me beyond what I deserve, But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, (Eph 2:4-8). Even though I am laid up in bed I am in a position that I do not deserve. I do not deserve to have a temporary sufferings. I deserve to have eternal sufferings! God, on the other hand, has decided to make me a recipient of His mercy and grace for all of eternity! What struggles I go through here on earth cannot compare to the rebellion God forgave at the cost of His own blood! I do not deserve this grace that I am in while I am sick

2. I have been granted the greatest healing that I could ever havev hope to attain. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls (1 Peter 2:24-25). The greatest healing that I could attain is not some name it and claim it prayer where by I pray to God for physical healing and I know that He will give it. No, the greatest healing is that I was once dead to the sin that ensnared me and was bring me into destruction. But now, because of Christ death on the cross the old nature is dead and I am able to live unto righteousness. I can cast away the sins that brought pain and torment and be created in the image of the most glorious being in the universe, Jesus Christ! I can live according to His commandments, His guidance, His oversight and find myself fully satisfied in bring Him glory! That is true healing! Though this body lay broken, I have been healed according to righteousness through the sin defeating death and resurrection of Christ!

3. I am completely dependent on God for the normal functions of my body to work properly. Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?" (Ex 4:11) mouths and eyes are all dependent on God. One day I was fine, going to get a shirt for an upcoming wedding (not my own, just to dispel such thoughts) and the next day all my strength is gone. Who am I but a creature that is totally dependent on his creator. That is a very humbling thought! One that I need to keep in mind for the rest of my life. I may think of myself as successfully but my very well being is under the dictates of God.

4. All my bodily functions can fail and I be left a powerless and desolate yet God upholds me by his strength and Christ is still in my possession. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Ps. 73:26)I maybe powerless on my bed, but Christ is still mine and I am His!

5. God does not need me. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. (Is. 40: 12-17) He can lay me up in bed for the day and rule the earth in absolute perfection. He does not need my strength, my insight, my well being for Him to accomplish His purposes. He is from everlasting to everlasting!

6. This body is broken like all other things in this world yet there is coming a day when this body will be redeemed. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.(Romans 8:23)

Well, my strength is getting close to depleted, so I believe that is all I can say for right now.

Experience in Lakeshore

Well, I got back from Lakeshore Mississippi around two weeks ago. Yes, yes, I know that this post is coming late. You can look at the post before this one to find out why. But late is better than “not at all.” So, here is the late report of Lakeshore...

We left from Louisville at about 6:45 Thursday morning. Five of us piled into a five person vehicle and made our way to Lakeshore. It was an eleven hour trip (stopping to eat included) so we got there around 5:45 that evening. We worked after supper until there was no light in the sky. The next two days were constant work.

Now let me break off and explain who we are and what we did down there. We is defining five people, including myself, that are members of Immanuel Baptist Church. Doug Thorpe, Ashlea Davenport, Kristi Rhodes, Jill Edwards, and myself. What we did was small construction projects on houses being built by Lakeshore Baptist Church. So, we sanded dry wall, nailed hurricane strips, Tyvecked part of a house, and other small things while we were there.

That is how Lakeshore runs it's building ministry. They have different teams build a little on a house. One team will put the frame up. Another will put the outside ply-boards up, etc. No one team sees a house built from start to finish. It is doing a little bit there and a little bit here and leaving the next part for the next team.

Back to our time, that is what we did the two days we worked. Sunday, we attend the service at Lakeshore. That afternoon Doug and myself got to spend some time with paster Don Elborn and be an encouragement to him. That night we started our way back to Louisville.

I really enjoyed the time we spent down there. The trip was short, but we were able to provide a little help. It was a good time of service to the people of Lakeshore and fellowship with my fellow Immanuelites.




If there were somethings that stood out to me while we were down there it was the depravity of man and the need of regeneration by God in each person's life. Three years after Katrina hit and there was already a newly built Casino on the beach and a Porn shop right off the main city road. Very little time went by after this major disaster and people are right back in the sin they were in before.

After seeing these sights I pondered, “Don't you think that people would think twice before they leap back into the lives they once lived? I mean, a major storm just wiped your whole town off the face of the map three years ago. Shouldn't you have a little more fear of God before your eyes because of it?”

Now, don't hear me saying that “God brought Katrina upon America to punish this nation for it's wicked action!” I am no saying that I know this was a judgment from the Lord to punish sins. Though, I do believe that God caused Katrina (Isa 45:7), it is that I do not know the motives for such actions.

Even still, after a calamity like that happens it is right to step back and ask, “Is God angry at me?” It makes sense that people would begin to question some of their ways and lifestyles because of a disaster. People, however, were not doing that. On the contrary they were going right back into their sins.

With these things in my head I read this verse later on that night, “And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.” (Gen 8:21) The context for this verse is God establishing a covenant with Noah after the flood. Noah made a sacrifice to the Lord and as the verse says it pleased the Lord. Then the Lord says that He will not curse the ground on account of man. I believe that the curse mentioned here is what took place in chapters seven through eight. Namely, the great flood. That is the most obvious curse to be referencing. Then God gives the reason for not cursing the earth again, because the intentions of man's heart is evil from his youth. The problem with this world is that evil resides in every man's heart.

What verse 21 is saying is that changing man's sin problem in this world cannot be brought forth by external influence upon him. The problem of evil in this world dwells in the heart of man. To just change the outside influences whether it be paternal, maternal, cultural, philosophical, or what have you does not solve the evil in his heart.. There must be a change in the inside of man.

The flood bears great witness to this. Even though the world began a fresh with a rigtheous man at the helm and no evil cultural influences, man still falls into sin. One does not have to go far into the Bible to discover that man found himself in the same predicament as before the flood. A disaster of immense magnitude will not remove the evil in this world.

So what will bring about this change in man? It will be by a work of God, but not one done outside of man. It will be a work done on the inside, “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Cor 4:6)

I was reminded while sitting on my bed of human depravity and and need for divine regeneration. Send a horrendous storm upon evil people that takes everything that they have away from them. They, however, will return to the sin that they live in before the storm. Their only hope is the salvation that God brings when He sovereignly moves into someone's heart by means of the gospel. Then their eyes will be open to the Savior who satisfied the wrath of God on there behalf. And the holy Spirit will do a work in their heart that truly changes their desires regarding sin.




Here are some pictures from the trip. You can see the temporary building for Lakeshore Baptist and the old steeple. The Mobile Relief Unit is where we stayed while we were there.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are"

Wow, it has been too long since I posted here. Some of you might have been getting the idea that I never made it back from Lakeshore. Rest a sure that I made it back safely. I have been back for a good two weeks.

“So why the long break from my blog” you ask. Well, I had full and wonderful intentions of sharing my experience at Lakeshore as soon as I got back. But the first three days were filled up with doing the things that had built up because of the trip while doing everything else that I normally do. After those days the whole blogging thing just fell from the priority list. So, each day would come and go with no new post on this blog.

This is tough for me because I was hopping to renew my blog a little bit by posting more often, and more consistently. But atlas, it was to no avail! Not with this long of intermission. But with ever intermission comes the next part of the play!

So, I am back and wanting to pick up where ever I left off...

Going down to Mississippi

I will be down in Mississippi for the next week. I am heading with a group from Immanuel Baptist Church(my church) to Lakeshore, Mississippi to do disaster relief work.

And yes, relief work is still needed down around the coast where Katrina hit. Many people are still without homes and living in FEMA trailers. There are still needs that have to be meet.

Our ties with the city of Lakeshore is Pastor Don Elbourne and his church Lakeshore Baptist Church. He and his church weathered Katrina and became a means for relief work in the town. My church supported them while after the storm and through the process of rebuilding.

Don Elbourne recently preached up here at Immanuel. It was an amazing sermon! It is such an encouragement to hear someone preach on the sovereignty of God that went through such a storm as Katrina.

Where I am

Another summer come, another semester done. I have finished the Spring semester here at Boyce and am looking forward to the summer.

I know that I was not able to post more regularly than I would have liked for the past few weeks. But, when I started my spring break I had several things to get done. From finishing those things came the sprint to the finish as the semester wound down. Finishing books and reviews of books transformed into studying for finals. What looked like a slow finished from my contentment post turned into going from assignment to assignment until the end of the semester.

But now it is the end!

It has been a full semester at that. One with God's hand continually working in my life. Working Christ likeness into my being while showing more of Himself to my mind. I look back and see his hand moving. As usual, It was in no way that I could have foreseen. When I though that circumstances were signifying that God was doing this over there, I was swung around to find myself in a totally different place. Where I thought I need to grow spiritually was not the place that God wanted me to grow. He had other areas in my life in mind to work in. And for those workings I am grateful. It is awe inspiring to sit back and realize that the One who spoke all the worlds into being is interested in my life!

Actually interested is wrong...He's relation to me is much more than "interested,"

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (Eph 1:3-14

He is so much more than "interested."


Well, what about my blog?

I know, I know that I said I was going to start a series on contentment. And I still plan to. The reason my begining plans were thwarted was due to the school work I needed to do. But I still plan to work through contentment. I know I need that virtue!

But, things are going to put on hold for another week. I have a summer class May 5-9. The class starts on Monday and goes to Friday of the same week. Each class goes from 8 in the morning to 5 in the evening.

After which, I have the whole summer in front of me! So there should be plenty of blogging.

A Restful Weekend and Contentment

Spring break has started for me. (Here at Boyce and Southern we actually call this week spring "reading" days to give us a hint about what we need to do during the week. fortunately I have my reading done with, so I do not have to worry about that.) I get to spend the weekend with my family down in Knoxville, Tennessee. After this I have to go back to Louisville because of work.



Driving down here I listened to John MacArthur on contentment. It was a message I needed to here. (What follows is the blend of MacArthur's message and my thoughts. If there is anything profound here, it is probably from MacArthur, directly or indirectly.)

We live in a culture that constantly bombards us with the message that life should be better. Every time you turn on the TV you here the messages: "you need this product," "your are not beautiful enough," "this idem will increase your standard of living to where it should be." MacArthur was right, the degree by which we are told that we should be discontent is as great as it has every been.

What this message does is feed our already fleshly desire to be discontent. Our selfishness pushes us to demand certain "rights" that we think we have. When areas of our lives to not attain to our idea of a happy life we feel offended. We believe that we deserve what we envision what our life should look like. (Of course if we go by what we deserve, we should all be in hell!)

The Christian life, however, is not to be one in want. On the contrary, as the Psalmist say, "The Lord is my Shepard, I shall not want," (Ps. 23:1). God wants His children to be in a sate where they reside with satisfaction and joy, no matter the circumstance. "Because your steadfast love is better than life,my lips will praise you," (Ps. 63:3). No matter what happens in life the steadfast love of the Lord should proves more satisfying. A satisfaction (which is another way of saying contentment) should permeate a Christian's walk.

Contentment is a satisfaction in God that a Christian possess that transcends the circumstances of life. "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice,"(Phil. 4:4). Rejoicing is not a action that one is suppose to do when he feels like it. Feelings have no regard in the matter. Instead, we are commanded to be in a constant state of rejoicing. There is to be a satisfaction underlining our lives that produces a flowing river of rejoicing. Even in the mist of sorrow, joy is to be seen (2 Cor. 6:10a). Gladness is a defining characteristic of the Christian.

How do we receive this contentment? I know that I do not have it in full. There are many times that I am not satisfied with my circumstances. MacArthur walks through the book of Philippians to see what are the characteristics of this contentment:

1. A content person is one that not focused on his own wants or needs but is focused on imparting the gospel to other people's lives.

I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. 14 And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

15 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. 16 The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former proclaim Christ out of rivalry, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. (Phil. 1:12-18)

Paul was under arrest when he wrote this epistle. He was not in best of circumstance. On the contrary, He was imprisoned for his faith.

Yet, with him being in such a circumstance he does not focus on what he does not have. Instead, he says is, "this imprisonment is working out for the best." Why could he say such a things? He did not have any freedom. He would not have the best of living conditions. If his goal was to live a simple live and get by with good things he should feel destituted. But just to get by is not his goal. His goal is to make the glories of Christ known throughout the world. His thoughts to not dwell on himself but on the mission to proclaim Christ to the heathens. Even though he did not have much, he lived according to what drove him. What drove Him was to preach Christ crucified.

It was not just the material things that he went without because of the gospel. He laid aside his own honor for the proclamation of the gospel. In verse fifteen we read about some ministers that would preach Christ in hopes of becoming more famous than Paul. They wished to afflict Paul by thier work. What was Paul's response to such harsh and undeserved actions? "Christ is proclaimed, I am satisfied." This is being sold out for a mission! It does not matter what harm you are doing to me, as long as my Christ is brought before sinners I am happy. Paul is not concerned with himself at all. He is totally fixated on his mission and his calling given to Him by Christ. His own wants are of little too no concern in his own mind.

I think it is just mind rocking to see how the apostle Paul deals with personal attacks. People constantly attacked him and tried to discredit his ministry. Yet, if you watch Paul, He never retaliates against the attacks that will do him harm. He will just sit there and meekly take unjust blows against himself. However, if a person moves his attacks from the person of Paul and onto the message of Paul, then there are words spoken in return. If one dares to try and bring discredit upon the gospel they will meet the broadside of Paul. That is what Paul is concerned with. Not himself but on Christ's glory shown through the gospel.

Back to the text, we see that that a content person sees his task in delivering Christ's message to people. Whether they are lost or saved. He wants to Christ magnified in people's lives. The gospel, not himself, is the concern.

That hits me deeply. I ask myself, "What drives me?" Is in a passion to see the gospel become manifest in some one's life? Or is it just to have good things? Is it to get the wife, get the house, get the children, and have a minister that I look back at with satisfaction? Or is it to give my life away to turn people's eyes on to Christ? Do I look to see where Christ can be proclaimed when I am with out freedom, food, wife, or any other physical position? Or do I sit around and fret because I do not have? What drives me?

This gets into the transcendent part of my definition of contentment. When I am driven to see Christ gloried in people's lives, material possessions are subdued to fulfill that purpose. So without or with, I am to look where the message of Christ can be to someone.




Hopefully I will get to the other points during the week. If not soon.

2. The content person knows that Christ is near.

3. The content person goes to God with thankful prayers.

4. The content person saturates his mind with Godly thinking.

5. The content person learns from a godly example.

Books for School

(Note: This post has been updated!)

Well, here is the reading list for this semester. It is much lighter then last semester. Hopefully I can get in some of my own reading. Without further ado, here they are...

For Worldviews II:

The God Who is There, by Francis Schaeffer.

I actually did not have to by this book, I got it as a Christmas present. I do have to confess...I have never read anything by Schaeffer before. (but the blood of Christ covers all sins!) I am looking forward to digging into one of Schaeffer's works.

The Universe Next Door, by James Sire

From the looks of this book it is a overview of the dominate worldviews of today. Should be a good read.

(*updated)

A World of Difference, by Kenneth Richard Samples

Well, the MacArthur book did not exist! The people at the book store got things mixed up. On the self where the books for classes are little cards hang above them listing what books go to which classes. The card above this worldviews book got the book and the author switched around. The book used last semester was by MacArthur but the book used now is call A World of Difference. They just mixed up title and author. Any way, it still looks like a great read.

English II:

A Manual for Writers of research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. 7th edition.

A book to turn to if I don't know how to write.

Style Towards Clarity and Grace, by Joseph M. Williams.

Looks pretty good. I am (as all my readers can attest to) need to be a better writer. So I am looking forward to going through such books.

(*updated)

Math:

Topics in Contemporary Mathematics. 9th edition.

Well the free book did not work out, they have switched to a new edition than used the past years. Thus my friends gift, sadly, proved useless. But I was still able to get the book of Amazon for around $40. which is fantastic compared to $133!

Ancient Near Eastern History:

Holman Bible Atlas.

And I picked up some books that had nothing to do with classes but got anyway,

Systematic Theology, by Louis Berkhof

Institiutes of the Christian Religion, by John Calvin.

Back to Bocye

Well I am off to school again. I head back Friday, returning to my studies and friends.

God has blessed me over the break with a car. it is hard living away from home in total dependence on someone else to drive you around. More than once I was left with out a ride to some where I needed to be. Out of no where my cousin wants to sell here old car. She needs to get rid of it more than make money. So whatever was left on the car payment was the selling price, $2000. This was a very good deal for what the car was. So, God provide for me in my time of need.

It has been neat to see how the Lord has provided for me. The money I have made from work over the break is just enough to license my car and supply me books for class. The Lord is truly good.

I am going to try my best to keep up with posting. But there is a war of priorities. Do I post something or get further along in a reading assignment. The school assignment usually wins. But I am going to try my best to get some stuff up now and then.

Winter Break

I am back in Knoxville for Winter Break. The only big plans I have are to get a job and spend time with my family and friends. Other then those, there is not much.

First Weekend at Boyce

Here I am at Boyce College. My family and I pulled in Friday, around noonish. Things have been going good for the most part. I have been able to get to know several of the guys. It is different from JBC in the fact that the guys I have meet are pretty much the same page theologically. (I have a strong feeling that I am not going to run into any Deist here)

Here are some pictures that I took this evening.



This is my dorm room; I got the bottom bunk. And the much needed laundry room.

This is Carver Hall. The front, inside, and back.

Now for some shots around the main campus.

Please keep me in your prayers.