Lessons from my father

A friend of mine posted this to facebook:


The series is called Lessons From My Father, and from what I have seen, it is very good.

I'd like to talk specifically about the scenario in the video where a town lost electricity. The majority of society collapsed. From just losing electricity! You see, this sort of shocked me, I'm ashamed to say. I grew up thinking what most people consider "tough," was normal. My friends and I always had the same mindset growing up. If we wanted something we got it, by building, earning, whatever. We never thought it would be given to us, and most of the time we'd get it after a great deal of working for it. Unfortunately, the rest of society is not that way.

During the aftermath of Katrina, something that's always stuck with me in my mind was a video clip of a single mom getting interviewed. She had lost her home, and belongings, and was sitting on a curb. The interviewer asked what she was going to do next, and what she said shocked me. "I'm just going to sit here till someone comes to take care of me." All I could think was what a horrible mindset.

Thinking about myself, I have a very "If it's to be, it's up to me." mindset. That's one of my sins sometimes, because I find it hard to trust that God will take care of me, and instead turn inward. However, it is most certainly a gift from God as well, because it instills a Get-R-Done, and I will survive attitude in me. That attitude has most certainly helped get me through some difficult times in life, and as long as I realize, that it comes from God, and not from me, I am blessed with success.

My dad always told me, "Don't sweat the small stuff." Funny how dad's have those words of wisdom that stick with ya for years after. I believe I've learned a lot from my dad. As a kid he did a lot of hiking, growing up as a missionary kid in the Philippines and Napal. By the time he had me and my siblings as kids, he had developed a dislike for camping. Sleeping on the ground, hiking through the woods, just wasn't his thing. He did, however, let us go camping with our friends, and my sister and I readily did that. Most wouldn't call my dad "tough." He's a computer programmer, wears glasses, etc. However, he was the one that instilled the mindset of a sheepdog within me, we trained side by side in martial arts, he taught me from a young age about God, he taught me to shoot, all that good stuff. His mindset is one of a survivor and a sheepdog.

I hope my readers will check out the other videos in the series, and teach others how to be sheepdogs.

Till next time, God bless!

Godly dating

Lately the Lord has guided me to Mars Hill Church's website, and I have been watching their sermons. Below is an excellent one on Godly dating.



Here is the post I wrote on dating before.

In everything, always consult the Lord first. If it is the Lord's will for you to be married and to find a Godly spouse, it will be so, but it will be on God's terms. His ways are perfect and pure. Who is man to question them? Who is man that he thinks he knows better than God?

It is hard to be single, our hearts long to be with someone. Be careful and discerning in who you choose. It should be someone you are ready to live with the rest of your life. One man, one woman, one flesh, one lifetime. That is how God intended it, and that is the way I intend to live.

Some thoughts

I have noticed that everyone has a longing for the love of the Lord, weather they admit it or not. We all have something within us that knows Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, yet for so many years we suppress it, and try and push it down.

That, I believe, is why atheists care about us believing in Christ. Logically, if there is no God, what would they care about who we worship? But deep down they know the truth, though they will not admit it. So a fear of what will happen wells up, and instead of surrendering, they fight (as every sinner did once). 

I think it's something like, if I can make them stop believing, than it must be so. If they lose faith than there really is nothing to fear. Throughout history we see empires, rulers, warlords, etc; trying to destroy God's word, and His people, yet the Lord is gracious, and still has a use for His people.

Through it all, He reigns victorious, and continues to use us, such wretched people, to His glory. How great the feeling that comes with doing His work! How great His love! How great our sin, yet far greater, His mercy!

Appearances

The city of Charleston, Illinois; has decided to ban the discharge of toy guns.

WEAPONS: A. Discharge of Weapons: It shall be unlawful to discharge any firearm, air gun, BB gun, pistol, cannon,toy gun, bow, mechanically drawn bow, or any type of mechanical device projecting pellets, arrows, missiles or projectiles, leaden or otherwise or any other type of missile excepting in a regularly established shooting gallery or unless fired or discharged for ceremonial purposes with a weapon that may cause a report but does not deliver a projectile capable of causing serious injury and with the approval of the Chief of Police; 

So nerf guns are illegal to discharge. This is the way the world deals with things. They deal with appearance, not with the  problem. So they teach safe sex instead of abstinence, and when this fails, they have abortions, killing taking another life to solve what they view as a mistake. They ban the tools instead of the crime. The make the appearance of security. They make the appearance of a lack of evil. The problem comes that evil still exists. That we cannot destroy evil by ignoring it.

In order to destroy evil, it must be fought at every advance. So who do we turn to for protection? The police? They are spread thin, and for the most part, can only arrest the person after the damage is done. The people at ground zero must be the first line of defense. They must protect themselves, and those that are in need. Therefore, they must have the best means of defense available: firearms.

But it is not only with firearms that appearances are placed ahead of the problem. Abortions are a way to keep up appearances. Instead of going through a long pregnancy, and then parenthood, why not just have it finished before it begins? Because, an abortion is murder of innocents, and no matter what you tell yourself, you will have to live with what you do. I know of some that have aborted, and then were haunted every day from that day to this about how it could have been had they not taken the life of their baby.

Fortunately, even with murder, there is forgiveness by the Lord Jesus. It is still hard to forgive yourself, but through Jesus, there is forgiveness, and not only that, but redemption and justification. It would still have been better had they not done it in the first place, but there is nothing to great that it was not covered by Jesus love.

Thoughts on good works, and God's grace.

As Christians, we do not believe that we are saved by good works. Rather, by grace. Everything we have ever done or ever will do is forgiven. Even our doubts about God. If we are saved by grace, then we are free. That is not to say that we should do evil and get away with it. Only that we do not do good to get salvation. Because of our salvation, we do good works, for the glory of God the Father. You see, it is not that we do something to get something, but rather, that we get something, therefore we do something. The doing is a product of the getting. Our salvation does not come because of anything we have done. God does not see anyone differently. We were all dead in our sins at some time. God's grace is available to all, but not all will accept it. 

That brings us to the subject of God's elect. Some would say that only God's elect may be saved. I believe that it is only God's elect which will accept God's grace. Though it is open to those that are not the elect, they will not accept it. Should they accept, then they would be God would have already elected them. God wishes everyone to come to him, but knows already which ones will, and which ones wont. That is not to say that we should not evangelize, because God's elect will be saved somehow if they are His elect. We should evangelize, we should go into all the world and preach the gospel. 

I believe that God uses His people to advance the kingdom. How incredible that He should use such wretches as us. That we, saved by grace, but still failing to live up to that grace every day, could be used to fulfill the will of the Lord of Hosts. We are broken, yet can still be used for good. It is incredible looking at history and seeing in what ways God used the most evil of men to do His work. If He can use such men to advance the kingdom, than He can most certainly use you, and me. 

That is not to say that we are any better than those we know to be evil. We are all evil in God's eyes, unless we are covered by the blood of Jesus. I would say it is only by God's grace that we can even do good. That without God, we would all be worse than Hitler, Stalin, etc. I believe that the only reason there is any good in this world is because of Jesus. God's love for His creation is shown throughout life. The very fact that we can feel emotion is evidence of this. That we can feel happy, that we can feel love. That we can tell right from wrong. That those who do evil are eventually put to justice. How incredible! And how awful it would be, if God did not exist!

The Lord is full of mercy and grace. His grace is offered for all, yet few accept it. However, at least the option is open to them. How terrible to be one who grew up in the church, and saw the good that was around them, yet still rejected God! How great God's love for us! How great the hate of God is shown throughout the world! Oh that they would just turn back to God and accept such a love! Oh that they would stop running from and fighting with God! Oh that everyone would be saved! But, alas, it is not so. Alas, they have turned from God and His love, and have instead gone with the world.

How wretched is the man who has, at one time, walked with the Lord, but now follows the world. Oh how the Lord cries for him to return! And oh what joy to be brought back into God's presence! Even the prodigal son, while he was running from his father's hows, was still his fathers son; and oh how his father rejoiced when he came home! Blessed is he who was lost, and is now found! May he never leave again! May he go out into the world and proclaim what he has seen, and the great love that he has found! Hallelujah! Amen!

How deep the Fathers love for us,

How vast beyond all measure.

That He should give His only son,

To make a wretch His treasure.

How deep the pain of searing loss,

The Father turns His face away.

As wounds which mar the chosen one,

Bring many sons to glory.

Behold the Man upon the cross,
My sin upon His shoulders.
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice,
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin the held Him there,

Until it was accomplished!

His dying breath hath brought me life,

I know that it is finished!

I shall not boast in anything,

No gifts, no power, no wisdom.

Yet I will boast in Jesus Christ 

His death, and resurrection!

Why should I gain from His reward?

I cannot give an answer!

But this I know with all my heart,

His wounds have paid my ransom!

Oh how beautiful those words are! Oh how much meaning they have! To every Christian they should have deep meaning. To me, it gives me chills any time I hear it. Because of what I have done, Jesus had to die for me! And so, now that we are saved, we do not keep abstain from doing evil because we fear  God's wrath, Jesus paid it all. We abstain from doing evil, and instead do good, because I do not wish to disappoint God, and instead, wish to please Him. Because He first love us, we love Him. It is the love of a perfect Father, and we, the imperfect sons, show love towards Him, though we can never love Him as fully as He loves us. 

Quote of the day

The Anti-Gunners (let's call them anti-self defensers shall we?) freak out when they see large amounts of firearms in the hands of civilians. Why would we ever need them? Are we planning on fighting a war? We must be terrorists!

Well, the fact that it is an inalienable right should be enough, let's give a few more reasons. The 2nd Amendment was set up to guarantee that we are governed, not ruled. Like wise, it was set up to guarantee the right of the people to defend themselves against all enemies, both foreign and domestic.

With that, I give you the quote of the day:

"You cannot invade mainland America. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass." -Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese Admiral

The Japaneses came close to finding out that that was true, but fortunately, they didn't. The question is, does that still hold true today? If an enemy force invaded, would there be a rifle behind every blade of grass, or just another sheep cowering, waiting for the slaughter? Something to ponder.

Dark Matter

The universe by all statistics, shouldnt exist. The ammount of matter that we can detect is not enough to hold it all together. The universe should be chaos and destruction, but obviously it is not. We live, we breath, we see, there is order. Scientists have seen this, and say there must be something more. There must be something we cannot see. They call this "Dark matter," and "Dark energy." This substance is apparently not made of atoms, cannot be seen by anything we've created, cannot be felt, etc.

I submit that they have rejected God, therefore, they look for other explenations. Those explenations seem to get wilder and wilder. Is it not clear that God is holding the entire universe together? That all of this order couldn't be random chance? That we have a maker?

I look around at the world, and I see a world held together by a perfect, and loving God who has created it all. A God that cares, and loves, so deeply for His creation, that He would not give up on it even when the creation destroyed itself. I also see a creation that has rejected its creator, and wishes to go its own way. To create its own reality.

So the unbeliever looks around the world, and sees a world that shouldn't be in existence. That has no explenation using modern science methods. Yet, they have rejected God, and, in fact, have created the lie that there is no God. No creator. No savior. So they explain the creation of the universe by the big bang theory. They explain the order by dark matter. They explain our existence through the random chance and adaption of evolution.

The problem is, God still exists, and no matter how many answers you come up with in modern science to explain where we came from, and why we exist, another problem comes up. The thirst for a solution will never be explained fully by science. It cannot. You can prove something that isn't true, at least for a while. Sooner or later, the false theories get shot full of holes, and the quest for knowledge begins again. The quest only ends when you put God into the equation. He is the only answer to all of this.

Remember.

Last Easter Sunday, 3 US Navy SEAL snipers simultaneously shot 3 Somalian pirates holding Capt Richard Phillips hostage. Let's do the math shall we? One pirate + one million dollar ransom = one million pirates. On the other hand, one pirate + one .50 BMG  = one less pirate in the world. Million dollar ransom costs a million dollars, .50 BMG costs about two dollars. Just something to think about.

Oh yeah, happy Easter! He is risen! Praise God! We are free! Free of sin, free of death. We live because of Christ! Amen!



Hope you all have a blessed time with close friends and family! Live for Christ!

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