According to Wikipedia (and we all know that this is a very reliable source), the brain can contain up to 13,367,864.5 GB or 10 billion encyclopedia pages worth of information. That's a lot of stuff. I thought you might enjoy the latest half page written in "Ricky's Encyclopedia", otherwise known as: My Brain-
Yesterday's worship service was insane. The choir sounded better than they ever had, Matt related God's omnipotence to our faith in a way I had never thought, and we got to pray for a hurting brother corporately. Good day.
I thought a lot last night about why God would allow this sickness in Curtis to last for so stinking long. Back when all this started and throughout several years way before I even knew Curtis, I'm sure everyone thought that God was either going to heal him or take him home. But instead he has allowed him to battle this for a very extended period of time. We know God's ultimate purpose is His own glory, but along with bringing Himself glory in this trial, He has used Curtis to teach us perseverance, faith, compassion, and selflessness. Oh to see the big picture in everything...
One of our 6th grade students memorized John 1:1-10 this past week. Hallelujah!!
I'm going to write the last small group study for our D-Now today- "Christ-Centered is Cross-Centered". Sign-Up now!!
I'm also preparing to fly to North Carolina to lead a small group and preach at Corinth Baptist Church in March. What will we be talking about? The Gospel pouring out of your very lifestyle... in words and in actions.
I know this is kind of random and scattered... welcome to my brain.
I got to hang out all day with JP yesterday. Megan wasn't feeling well so I decided JP and I were going to have some "Father-Son" time. We spent some time watching cartoons, organizing my tools in the garage, and practiced hitting a baseball off the tee. It was by no means a wasted day, and I know this by the huge hugs and the "I love you daddy" I got frequently throughout the day. Last night I was laying in bed trying to think if there was anything that could have made the day better. Then it hit me- JP watches and imitates everything I do. This is not by any means a new revelation. When I hug mommy... he wants to hug mommy. When I lay beside John in the floor... he lays beside John. When I'm talking to the waitress at O-Charley's... he is talking to her too.
We know that family worship is a must. It's commanded in Scripture (no where clearer than Deuteronomy 6) so we do it. It is our duty as parents to make sure our children know Scripture and it's application and the best place for this is during our regular family worship times. So how do we connect family worship and evangelism?
Our kids must understand that Scripture commands us to share the Gospel. Acts 1:8 and Matthew 28:18-20 are verses we should all be memorizing and practicing. So we teach our kids these verses and then show them the text's application with our very lifestyle. We take them outside to play. When the neighbor across the street comes over to say hi... you lovingly share the Gospel with them in front of your child. When the waitress brings you your food, you ask if she would like to pray with your family or if there is anything specific that the family could pray for her about. Our very lifestyles should be calling others to repent and believe.
JP likes to talk like me too. Phrases like "You want some of this!!' "You like that!!" "You want to ride this train??!!" and others I would rather not mention all came from me. I wonder how long it would take JP to learn to spout off randomly things like "While you were still a sinner, Christ died" or "If you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord, you will be saved" or what about something crazy like "A prayer doesn't save you, but God changing your heart and desires does".
Preach evangelism with your lifestyle... you never know what your kid may pick up.
What am I holding in my hand? You don’t know do you? In fact, you don’t even know if I am holding anything in my hand at all. Maybe my hand is empty, and I am just trying to trick you. How can you know? What I possess is knowable to you only if I choose to reveal it to you. I am holding….drum roll please….a tomato.
How can we know if there is a God of not? To know if there is a God, He too must reveal Himself to us. We cannot discover who God is or figure Him out on our own. Thankfully God took the initiative and revealed Himself to us. The Bible talks about several ways that God has opened His mighty hand to reveal Himself to us. All of these ways can be put into two categories; 1) General revelation, and 2) Special revelation.
I. General revelation:
1. The world He has made:Psalm 19:1 The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. In other words the orderliness found in nature proves that there is an intelligent mind, and immensely powerful being that made all things. Look at it this way, if we see a painting how do we know there was a painter? The painting is absolute proof that there was a painter. If we see a building how do we know there was a builder? Would our intelligent minds ever lead us to believe that the building was the result of an explosion in a brick factory? Absolutely not! Although we may not know who the builder or the painter was, the very existence of the painting and the building absolutely proves that there was a builder and a painter. Psalm 19:1 uses that same logic to demonstrate the seemingly obvious fact that if we see creation then we undoubtedly know that there was a creator.
2. God also reveals Himself to us by the existence of the conscience. The word conscience is Latin. It is formed from two small words, “con” means with, and “science” means knowledge, so conscience literally means “with knowledge.” The word conscience implies that we have an innate knowledge of a standard of right and wrong that is superior to mankind. The Bible would teach that our conscience is damaged by the fall which explains variations in individual understanding of right and wrong, because as Roman’s 1 teaches men suppress the truth in unrighteousness. However, we all understand the concepts of fairness, and guilt. We understand that selfishness is bad, and self-sacrifice is commendable. Why? How do we know that it is good to save life and bad to take it? If there is no God then literally nothing is objectively right or wrong! Racism. Rape. Theft. Arrogance. Nothing is wrong if there is no God, but somewhere in our conscience we know there is a right and a wrong; and therefore we know there is a God.
Rom. 2:14-15 puts it this wayFor when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves,15 in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them. Jew and Gentile alike disobeyed what they knew in their hearts to be right. Since, all mankind knows there is a God and all mankind knows what is right and wrong but chooses their own way over God’s way, God is perfectly just to punish every man because he rebelled against the truth that he knew. All men are without excuse (Romans 1:20), and it is by grace that God even offers the opportunity to repent and believe. In fact, it is solely by grace that God provided us with a sacrifice in which to place our trust!
Now let us go back to tomatoes. Aren’t tomato’s wonderful vegetables? Are they? Well…The answer is actually no, they are not wonderful vegetables and that is not a matter of opinion. Regardless of whether you believe tomatoes are wonderful or not, tomatoes are not vegetables they are fruits. Some of you may have known that, for years I did not. I was unsure what made a tomato a fruit, but I cared enough to find out.
To really figure out if a tomato is a fruit or vegetable, you need to know what makes a fruit a fruit, and a vegetable a vegetable. The big question to ask is, DOES IT HAVE SEEDS? If the answer is yes, then technically, (botanically) you have a FRUIT. This, of course, makes your tomato a fruit. It also makes cucumbers, squash, green beans and walnuts all fruits as well. Along with the fruit from a plant or tree, we can often eat the leaves (lettuce,) stems (celery,) roots (carrots,) and flowers (broccoli.) Many of these other parts of the plant are typically referred to as VEGETABLES. Now don't go looking for tomatoes next to the oranges in your grocery stores; fruits like tomatoes and green beans are usually (alas, incorrectly) referred to as "vegetables" in most grocery stores and cookbooks.
When I show you a tomato you do not automatically know everything that is knowable about a tomato, and let’s face it….Who really cares? I just want to eat it anyway. It really is not that important. However, I used it to serve as an illustration of how that many people approach God. They look at nature. They recognize the conscience. They rightly deduce there is a God, some may be more comfortable calling Him a “Higher Power.” They do no want to become “religious fanatics,” and they feel that believing in God is good enough. James responds to this type of belief with an intense, attention grabbing response. James 2:19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe -- and tremble!
God does not call men to simply believe in Him, he calls them to know Him. Phil. 3:8-11 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ9and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.Important question, can we have the “knowledge of Christ Jesus” V. 8, obtain “faith in Christ” V. 9, or “know him and the power of His resurrection” V. 10 by looking at the heavens or contemplating our conscience? No; and that brings us to the next way that God has revealed Himself to us. Come back soon for Part II; Special Revelation.
As worldwide population continues to grow church attendance is declining, and thus there is a dramatic worldview shift. The textbook, pop-culture, and the media have replaced the Bible as authorities for faith and practice. False doctrines derived from Darwinism, Marxism, Feminism, Secular Humanism, Psychology, and countless other unbiblical sources, have emerged from a society that has discarded Divine Revelation and have contaminated or replaced God’s standards even in many professing churches of the Lord Jesus Christ. People have seldom heard relevant biblical preaching, and they feel the church has nothing to offer them.
The Bald and the Bearded has a unified vision. We want to restore people’s understanding of the role and purpose of the church. We are convinced that the church does have a role in reversing this disturbing trend, but the church is not the only institution that must be involved. The church and the family are both holy institutions, ordained and established by God. The Bible reveals that the family is an integral part of the unfolding of His eternal purpose for the redemption of sinners. This great and gracious salvation—purposed by the Father, accomplished by the Son, and applied by the Holy Spirit—is in great measure passed on to succeeding generations as parents faithfully disciple the children God gives them. The problem is cyclical. A lack of leadership in the church has led to decay in the family, and a lack of strong male headship in our families has led to weak leadership in the church. Therefore, the biblical order and unity of the family are crucial to the stability and health of the Church of Jesus Christ and visa versa.
Which came first? That I do not know, but this I do; the only resolution to this problem is repentance and reformation. We must confess our failures, reject the traditions of men, and wholeheartedly return to God’s revelation for the establishment and nurture of the family in loving obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church. Our fervent prayer is that our God will raise up Spirit-filled, Christ-centered, families through our ministry at Ebenezer Baptist Church and through this blog to the glory and praise of God.
It is the parent’s job to teach their children to know and to love the One True God. Parent’s are instructed to teach God commands “diligently to (their) children, and (to) talk of them when (they) sit in (their) house, when (they) walk by the way, when (they) lie down, and when (they) rise up. (To) bind them as a sign on (their) hand, and they shall be as frontlets between (their) eyes. (To)write them on the doorposts of (their) house and on (their) gates” (Deuteronomy 6:7-9). Thistext implies a lifestyle of worship instead of a life that involves worship. Our lives must be God-centered instead of simply involving the church as a good community event. Ebenezer Baptist church is adopting as its vision, “Equipping your family for a lifestyle of worship.” I do not have that ideal perfected in my own family, but I invite you to join us as we strive toward it together. Ask questions, give feedback, join the cause of equipping families for a lifestyle of worship.
* The content of this post was greatly influenced by NCFIC (The National Center for Family-Integrated Churches)
I cannot stop thinking. Before I got to Ebenezer, whenever I needed to shutdown I could, but something happened that keeps my mind is constantly turning. I think about whatever is said (Matt calls it the constant filter we have running), whatever I'm reading in Scripture, whatever situations we're facing at church or in the home, and amazingly... I sometimes churn all this around in my head simultaneously. I think that is why my mind is so extremely cluttered at the end of the day. Here are some things I'm working through:
I'm reading through the Bible this year in a way I've never done it before. I'm just jumping from Old Testament to New in no certain order, and I'm really, really liking it this way. Is there a method any of you use that you've truly enjoyed?
I have a three year old that whines... a lot. Any suggestions to make him stop?
Family Worship... We all know we should be doing it. But my question is have any of you found a certain time that works better for your family? Morning or Evening?
When you come across a passage of Scripture that is difficult, what are your first steps in handling the text?
I remember watching NBC's "The Today Show" a while back where they interviewed some parents who had taught their newborns sign language and had potty trained them at an extremely young age. How nice would it be if John (my 5 month old) was potty trained?? Anybody who knows sign language can feel free to give me any tips on this.
Please feel free to shed a little light on some or all of these...
1 Peter 3:15 instructs us to "regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you."Wow, what a challenging exhortation!There is an ever growing number of threats to Christendom. Is this verse saying that it is the Christian's job to defend against any and all threats, objections, attacks, and false gospels? As unrealistic as that sounds, yes, that is exactly what Peter challenges us to do. Most church people think that they are living up to "regarding Christ as holy," by abstaining from using His name as a curse word, but this exhortation goes much deeper than that. When we truly regard Christ as holy we will by nature begin to fulfill the great commandment Matthew 22:37-38 "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38 "This is the great and foremost commandment." When we love the Lord with all of our heart then we will care about the things of God. When we love with our soul, or life, then our purpose will be to live for His glory. And lastly, when we love with our mind we will seek to know the Lord, and that includes being able to defend His existence, His nature, and His Word to "everyone who asks reason for the hope that is in us."
At first I Peter 3:15 does indeed sound unreasonable, but let's look at it this way. The God that entrusts us with our heart, soul, mind, and strength requires us to use those gift for His glory. He gave us those gifts for that reason, and to use our heart, our soul, or our mind for anything else is to rob God of the glory He is due. The unreasonable thing is to use even one second of our spare time for selfish ambition or vain pursuits when "every good and perfect gift is from above (James 1:17)." We must offer those gifts back to the giver. Our lives must be living sacrifices (Romans 12:1-2). We must mourn over lost time, recognizing that all of the free time that we have wasted doing things that do not matter was granted to us for a purpose; He calls us to use every fiber of our being for His glory. We have no excuse for our excessive, God denying ignorance of His Word, His Law, or the evidences that prove His Lordship over humanity when we consider all of the luxuries we have been given (computers, cars, wealth, education, ect.). No one is doing the "best they can" or anywhere close to "good enough." Even if we start viewing every moment as a stewardship, and use it to the best of our ability, fulfilling I Peter 3:15 will be a lifetime quest that we will never perfect. The Bald and the Bearded want to strive toward it with you. Ask questions. We will try to help you find answers. I hope this portion of our blog will begin to equip leaders with a trusted ally in the battle for our culture, one soul at a time.
One of the most watered-down doctrines of Christianity has become the Gospel. It happens to be the most important. Many have perverted this beautiful truth into something man-centered where, instead of repentance and trusting solely in the saving grace of Jesus, you are told to walk an aisle, raise your hand, or join a church.
So what is the Gospel? The greatest news ever. Piper explains it here:
