Just a drop

Perspective

2012-02-03T21:57:00.000-06:00

This is probably a worthless post.

Everybody else is talking about the Elephant Room and so therefore i am thinking about it.

I was at one of the video feed sessions. I have attended Harvest Bible Chapel on a number of occasions. I have books on my shelf from a few of the participants. Now, that doesn't make me an authority. At best, just a little familiar with the people and issues out there.

There are basically two sides to this debate. The backers of the ER2 and the people who think it was a bad idea. And mainly it has to do with T.D. Jakes.

I really respect a lot of people on both sides. I consider myself reformed theologically so that might naturally pigeon hole me to one side. I have read some of their writings on the subject, and yes I like it. I agree with what say. Yes, poor decisions might have been made, and no, not everybody teaches the same thing we do.

But you know what? I liked the ER2. I benefited from it. I learned from it. I am better prepared for ministry now than I was before. My heart was stirred by their wisdom, and my mind was provoked by their philosophical differences.

But the problem is, nobody is saying that. People are only talking about the damage that was done. And I am sure wise people than me can give a better diagnosis of what really happened.

People get all up in arms about decisions other people make. He made the choice. It happened. But nobody seems to care that a 22 year old pastor in training was blessed by those conversations (and its not like I am super important, or that anybody cares).

I am not trying to pick sides. I just think that if you had no understanding of the biographies of the ER2 participants it all would have been pretty enjoyable. Gained wisdom. Gained discernment. Gained awareness of roadblocks down the road (Yes even from Bishop Jakes).

That's what I got out of it. Maybe if we tried harder to be edified we would find more things to be edified by.

I am guilty of this too. Sometimes the controversial fire is fun to play in. But I just wanted to provide a little perspective to the couple people who read this.

"Always at the utmost"

2012-01-21T21:09:00.000-06:00

I was reading a couple of weeks ago and came across this quote:

"Sin aims always at the utmost; every time it rises up to tempt or entice, might it have its own course, it would go out to the utmost sin in that kind. Every unclean thought or glance would be adultery if it could; every covetous desire would be oppression, every thought of unbelief would be atheism, might it grow to its head"
(John Owen, Of the Mortification of sin in Believers p.53)

In general I don't believe that. Nobody really does. We don't think of sin as a "grave that is never satisfied" (also Owen).

Then I was reading in 2 Samuel 11. David and Bathsheba. John Owen and David suddenly collided into a vivid picture in my mind. David the "man after God's own heart". His sin also "aims always at the utmost". His lustful look from the roof top led to adultery, murder, and enormous consequences.

Ya my sin does that too. It's never satisfied. It will push to it full fruition. To the its greatest extent.

Now I beg to God that He would help me unmask the evil that dwells within me. Give me eyes to see sin the way He sees it.

Preaching

2012-01-12T09:59:00.001-06:00

I have been listening some great preachers recently. Great men who are excellent communicators. A lot of this comes through podcasts on my ipod while I work.

Then this last Sunday my wife and I visited a smaller church. The sermon was....well average. Normal. Nothing special.

After he got going I realized how I much I had gotten used to really good teaching. Right about when I was going to tune out this mediocre sermon a quote I read popped into my head.

"The mature worshiper is easily edified."

That's when I realized how immature it would be to ignore this sermon.

So I listened hard and tried to be edified.

Marriage

2011-12-21T13:27:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I have time to write and things to say. Other times I have no time and things to say. And still others when I have time and nothing to say. I'll let you guess which one it is.

Enjoy this video....I like old people.

Piper, Carson, and Keller on Sustaining the Covenant of Marital Love from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.

Einstein's Indicment

2011-12-11T20:52:00.000-06:00

I was recently reminded of this powerful quote. It is from John Pipers "Let The Nations Be Glad". Truly the God of our churches and Bible studies is too small.

"Charles Misner, a scientific specialist in general relativity theory, expressed Albert Einstein's skepticism over the church with words that should waken us to the shallowness of our experience with God in worship.

"The design of the universe...is very magnificent and shouldn't be taken for granted. In fact, I believe that is why Einstein had so little use for organized religion, although he strikes me as a basically very religious man. He must have looked at what the preacher said about God and felt that they were blaspheming. He had seen much more majesty than they had every imagined, and they were just not talking about the real thing. My guess is that he simply felt that religions he'd run across did not have proper respect...for the author of the universe."

The charge of blasphemy is loaded. The point is to pack a wallop behind the charge that in our worship services God simply doesn't come through for who he is. He is unwittingly belittled."

Let this be a call to believing in a God we can't wrap our minds around. Or would even want to.

A call to believing in a God that is infinitely transcendent.

Now try and put that in the context of the incarnation. There is an overwhelming thought...

Mistletoe

2011-12-03T21:55:00.000-06:00

Does anybody know where you buy stuff like this? No reason...just wondering :-)

Productivity vs. Staying informed

2011-12-03T21:49:00.004-06:00

I have been thinking about how to stay informed.
With world events...
New books, movies, events...
Theological discussions...
And just plan good articles and blog posts.

The internet contains such a wealth of information. That's no new revelation, however it has been more overwhelming to me recently.
1-2 hours daily are easily burned keeping up with only a few websites. They are great sites with insightful thoughts (far better than the ones found on here) and good resources. However, two or three click throughs on their links and I can watch 30 minutes fly by in the pursuit of relatively helpful information. Sure every now and then you hit a gold mine of knowledge and wisdom. But how rare are those in your experiences?
(I am not meaning to bash on the majority of writers on the internet, just my ability to adequately consume them).

At what point does my productivity suffer at the hands of being informed. I am sure they is some peak balance I could reach where I stay just informed enough in order to maximize my productivity (not just productivity, but also stewardship of my time). Perhaps consumption could be pitted against production in this discussion.

How many valuable thoughts are being produced through all this massive consumption? Or do we just feed quickly without using the information to develop something worthwhile?

So many more questions need to be asked. But that's just kind of where I am at.

Oh, I also thought i would share my new internet rules that i have established for myself in the light of this on going debate in my mind.
1. Check email 3 times a day (morning, noon, and evening)
2. Clear browsing history and bookmarks once a month (those are the biggest reason I get distracted when I sit down at my computer).
3. When I sit down to open a browser its limited to one minute (A stop watch sits by my computer).
4. Schedule 30-45 minutes on the weekend to browse. I don't want to cut myself off from everything out there. But I do want to monitor my consumption.

What are your thoughts? How have you practiced this discussion in your life? Give me feed back. Go ahead, produce some thoughts rather than just consuming them.

Thanks

2011-11-18T22:18:00.001-06:00

"Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you." 1 Samuel 12:24

There is a theme verse for this next week.
Just this past week I ...

Walked outside yesterday and felt a cool breeze come across my face.

Sat down and rested after a full day of work.

Ate a meal of wonderful food.

Had a long conversation with a good friend.

Was given a week off of classes.

Went on a date with my wife.

Read a good book.

Woke up every morning.

Slept in a comfortable bed.

Made new friends through a bible study.

And the list goes on...

Little things? Yeah. Great things? Yeah.

Thank you Lord.

Different

2011-11-09T08:15:00.000-06:00

I once wanted to do big things. Hard things. To fly overseas and do ministry. Preach at a large church. Do full-time ministry at a camp or para-church ministry.

Good ambitions. Great maybe.

But then my wife and I decided to get pregnant. And it wasn't until the test came back positive that i realized that some of those things may not happen in the same way now. It's not that I can't do ministry any more.

It's that ministry looks different now.

It took me a while to come to the conclusion that God wasn't calling me to do some huge super cool ministry. He was calling me to do something different.

Be a father. A daddy

The Spirit is settling that into my soul.

And I couldn't be more excited about it!

Every Poem

2011-04-28T11:31:00.000-05:00

Micah Bournes :: Spoken Word from Antioch Church on Vimeo.

Prayer

2011-04-08T18:33:00.002-05:00

Sometimes you just need encouragement to keep asking. This was it for me this week.

Pray For Rob Bell

2011-02-26T13:16:00.006-06:00

Rob Bell's latest book is releasing soon. Love Wins.
Please watch the video below, and truly with all your heart pray for Rob Bell. And those under his teaching. And those who read his book.

The glorious Gospel of an all loving God is being destroyed by this kind of teaching.

LOVE WINS. from Rob Bell on Vimeo.

I agree with Rob Bell's thesis. Love does win. But that means people go to hell.

How much is Christ worth?

2011-01-23T19:43:00.004-06:00

I have been reading in Matthew 25 recently and I was shocked.

When was the last time I gave up something of immense value for Christ.

The story goes like this. Jesus is eating a meal with his disciples.

Mary interrupts and anoints Jesus with extremely valuable pure nard. Other gospels say that this perfume was probably worth around 1 years wage.

I have not idea where Mary got that much money. How did she ever afford something like that? How many years had she been saving up? How many of her possessions did she sell to buy something like that?

I don't know.

But I do know that she though Jesus was worth that much. And probably a lot more.

When I finished reading I couldn't get a question out of my head. How much is Jesus worth to me?

Really, how much is He worth?

Would you consider spending a year's salary (however much it is) on Christ?

My old youth pastor reminded me the other day that "What we sacrifice for is what has our hearts."

Does Jesus really have your heart? How much is He really worth to you?

In the Old Testament the ideas of worship and sacrifice were inseparable. Somehow our 21st century Church has changed that....

What might undo the gospel in our generation....

2010-11-09T15:55:00.001-06:00

Forgetting....

2010-10-19T19:08:00.004-05:00

I forget so often.

Life moves too fast and I forget.

I don't want to. I don't try to.

My mind gets caught up in the present and future and I forget the past.

This mostly has to do with my past summer. So many people I met and got to know and now I have forgotten them. The men and women I shared the gospel with I have forgotten to pray for. I moved on. The missionaries I lived with all summer...nearly forgotten. A man who may have been close to Christ....I forgot...to beseech God on his behalf.

My pastor gave me the chance to share for a few minutes about my summer for a Sunday morning service. I shared a story about Rawhi and how Greg and I had shared the gospel with him. I shared it very matter of fact.

When I sat down my pastor got up and looked at me and said "don't stop praying for him, that was a great opportunity".

That would have been fine...only I had never really started praying for him. Maybe right after it happened i did. But I had forgotten to pray for that soul.

That is "one grain of sand on a thousand beaches". I always forget to pray for people. People that I love and I know need prayer.

Take this as a reminder to pray for people in your past. Think back 6 months, 2 years, 10 years.

Think of names, write them down, and remember them....

Church Multi-site?

2010-10-19T19:03:00.001-05:00

Here is an interesting video for those interested in Church planting. Listen to these men's hearts....they are passionate about raising up preachers!

Multiple Sites: Yea or Nay? Dever, Driscoll, and MacDonald Vote from Ben Peays on Vimeo.

Final Post from Jordan

2010-07-27T09:20:00.003-05:00

Two days till Kansas City, four days till Chicago, six days till Karen...:-)

Pictures

2010-07-27T05:50:00.002-05:00

Here is me with all of the Arabic nouns and verbs I know. Its around 150 words.

Here is the youth group that i have been working with all summer. Great group!

The sunrise at Wadi Rum....a beautiful place.

We climbed a mountain (ok large hill) in Wadi Rum.

Here is one team of kids from our first day of camp.

The Gospel - Part 4

2010-07-23T01:41:00.000-05:00

Review: Part 1: Man as sinful, God as holy Part 2: The justice of God: Condemnation and the need for sacrifice. Part 3: Christ as Substitute, Man as righteous Part 4: Everyday implications of the Gospel
If you have heard the gospel before and believed it praise God! That is truly a glorious work of God in your life. Let me ask you if it has changed everything. If you once were without the gospel, and now you have believed it, has it changed everything? Is your life radically different because of the gospel? Because that is exactly what the gospel does. It changes everything. That is what we are going to look at today. The implications of the gospel.
I think there is a myth around the Church today that the gospel is intended to save you from hell and after you have reached that point its not worth talking about. The gospel gets you saved and that’s it. But I believe that is a lie and goes against everything the Bible teaches. The gospel saves yes, it is so much more than that. If you have been led to believe that gospel is just a get out of jail free card I am sorry, but you have been misled and lied to. If you get bored of the gospel or if it feels irrelevant to you than missed the message of the Bible. Every bit of God’s interaction with man in history is focused in this message. The gospel is everything! Therefore the gospel changes everything!
We are going to look at four ways our lives should be different because of the gospel. There are hundreds of ways, but I am going to focus on only four. The gospel doesn’t just save us, it changes everything about the way we live.
I. We do not live under the control of sin.
We talked about how man is condemned because of his sin. What is present condemnation? God has given Him to lusts of His heart, degrading passions, and depraved mind. We were given up to be enslaved to sin as part of our condemnation. So if Christ has taken our condemnation on Himself, and the believer who is “in Him” has no condemnation than what? Those who trust in Christ are no longer enslaved to sin, (or under the control of sin)
Turn to Roman 6. Here Paul deals with this new identity we have. Before all we know is enslavement to sin, but now we have freedom. Can somebody read Vs. 6-7? Ok, so our old sin died with Christ on the cross so we can no longer be slaves to sin (vs. 6), but we can be free from sin (vs. 7). What does vs. 11 say? We are to “Consider ourselves dead to sin” (Vs. 11), “sin shall not be master over you” (vs. 14) and again he says in 18 that we are “freed from sin”.
This is huge news! Man has been condemned to live in our destructive sinful lifestyles but now us believers have freedom from sin because of Christ. Christ conquered the power of sin and death on the cross so that you can live for righteousness. There is so much power in what Christ has done on the cross.
Don’t feel guilty by this. I know that we as believers still sin. But we should take comfort and confidence in the power of what Christ has done. He has killed sin in our lives. So whether it’s laziness, selfishness, anger, pornography, an eating disorder, pride, arrogance, a lack of self-control, lust, or whatever you struggle may be, Christ has conquered all of its power on the cross. Embrace that, rely on that, and trust that Christ has dominated all of sin’s power on the cross.
II. We live free of guilt for our sins
Let me explain what I mean by this statement. I do not mean that Christians should not care when they sin. I do not mean that we are supposed to be so callous to sin that it doesn’t even bother us. Because Christians should feel conviction of sin, and it should grieve us. One of the Holy Spirit’s main jobs in our lives is to convict us of sin. Feeling conviction of sins is good, it is testimony of the Spirits work in your life. This is what leads us to confession and helps maintain the intimacy that we have with God.
What I am talking about here is feeling guilty about already confessed sin. Believers should not feel guilty about sin that they have already confessed. 1 John 1:9 talks about us confessing our sins and Psalm 32:5 talks about God forgiving the guilt of our sins. We know that God forgives our sins and our guilt when we confess.
Believers should not live crippled by shame and guilt. If you have confessed your sins to God He has forgiven you. Don’t worry about “forgiving yourself”; focus on the fact that God has forgiven you. When we continue to feel guilty for sins we have already confessed we are spitting in the face of the cross and ignoring what Christ did there. Christ has died for your sin and guilt, you don’t have to carry that anymore.
Satan will tempt us and accuses us and tell us how guilty we are, but we are no longer guilty of sin, we are covered by the blood. I am a part of a leadership team at Moody along with a good friend of my named Josh. Sexual sin, removed from leadership, but living free from guilt. Embrace the cross and what Christ has done by not letting yourself feel guilty for your sin. Christ took your guilt and punishment on the cross. Live free from shame and guilt because of what Christ has done.
III. We preach the gospel
We should seek to preach the gospel in any and every circumstance and our example for this is Paul. Turn to Philippians 1:12-18. You guys know this. I have been saying from the beginning that one of my goals is that you would preach this message. Paul desired that in any and every circumstance the gospel would be preached.
Paul is in prison when he wrote this and here is what he said vs. 12. Why is the gospel progressing? Because Paul is telling everybody! Even the guards know what’s up. In vs. 18 “What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense of in truth, Christ is being proclaimed; and in this I rejoice. Yes, I will rejoice.” In 1 Cor. 9:23
Paul’s life had been so drastically effected by the gospel that he had to tell everyone. When something impacts you that much you can’t hold it in. My life has been impacted by the gospel. That’s why I am at Bible College, that’s why I am a part of a church, that’s why I am here in Jordan, that’s why I am talking to you today. The gospel has changed my life in such an incredible way that I want that for you to. I want Christ to touch your life like He has mine.
Anybody who have been impacted by the gospel must preach it. That is why I wanted to teach on the gospel. So that even if you have already believed this message you will know it well enough to be able to show others. I want you to preach the gospel because of Christ. Because of what Christ has done!
IV. We live for the purpose of glorifying Christ
This may seem simple, but it is revolutionary if we take it seriously. Your purpose now, because of what Christ has done for you is to glorify Him. Read 1 Peter 4:11. Listen to that last part again “So that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” Another famous verse 1 Corinthians 10:31 “whatever you do, do all to the glory of God”. This changes everything for a believer. The unbeliever, and everyone in the world, they live for their own glory, for themselves. But we live for Christ exaltation. “For me to live is Christ”. Now I don’t want you to think about your parent’s life, but think about your own life. Here are just a few ways that I thought of that should be effected by us trying to give all the glory to Christ.
1. The way we spend our time: What you spend your time on shows what you value/honor. So what consumes your time? Movies, Facebook, sleep, video games, just hanging out? Are there ways we can use our time to bring God more glory? Is it obvious that Christ is everything to you in the way you spend your time? Christians have a greater purpose in the way we spend our time because we live for Christ!
2. The way we spend our money: “Show me your checkbook and I will show you where your heart is”. What do we spend our money? Food, movies, music, entertainment? This isn’t a guilt trip, but a heart evaluation. How can I bring Christ glory with my money? Is it obvious that Christ is everything in the way you spend your money? Christians have a greater purpose in the way we spend our money because we live for Christ!
3. The way we date: Just two thoughts here. Believers should date with purpose and with purity. Purity not according to the world standards, but biblical standards. “Not even a hint of immorality” (Eph. 5). This goes far beyond what most believers convictions. Set your standards on the Bible not other Christians. Purpose: Date for a reason: Marriage. Not to have fun, or because you like each other, or to because you like the attention of a cute guy or girl. Christians have greater purpose in the way we date because we live for Christ!
Why do I say all these things? Because of the gospel. Because of what Christ has done for us. The gospel effects everything in our lives. Christ is everything!
Hallelujah, All I have is Christ. Hallelujah, Jesus is my life!

The Gospel - Part 3

2010-07-23T01:40:00.000-05:00

Part 1: Man as sinner, God as holy: The stark contrast. Man is a sinner from birth and God is completely holy and morally pure.
Part 2: The Justice of God: Condemnation and the need for sacrifice. Man is condemned by God both now and for eternity. God is completely just in His condemnation of man.
Gospel Part 3: Christ as Substitute, Man as Righteous
Two Goals: 1. That you would believe this message 2. That you would preach this message.
Up to this point we have been painting a picture. Piece by piece we have slowly been looking at the gospel message. We have laid the background and the foundation but now we arrive at the centerpiece of this story. Everything else in history has been building up to this point.
We have looked at the condition of man and his current and future state of condemnation. God has looked this situation and made the most incredible move in the history of the world. He sent Jesus Christ. This is the most important event in history. Everything before that point had been leading up to His arrival and everything since His life on earth has been drastically affected by Him being here. All of history hinges on this event. Therefore what you believe about this event matters more than anything else. So I want to focus on Christ today. What who He was, and what he did that changed history.
Christ
The person of Christ: Christ was both fully God and fully man. Orthodoxy says that he has two natures (Human and divine) and that they are with out mixture, separation, division, or change. And it is crucial for us to believe that Christ is both human and divine because this is what the Bible teaches (Deity: John 1:1, 5:23, 10:30, Titus 2:13, Hebrews 1:8) (Humanity 1 Tim 2:5, John 1:14, Gal. 4:4). I will not take the time now to defend these facts.
He didn’t come to be a good teacher, or to simple show people how they should live. He didn’t come to simple be a good example to people, or make people feel warm and fuzzy. He came to save us from this condemnation. He came “to seek and to save the lost”(Luke 19:10). From the announcement of His it was said that He would “save His people from their sins”(Matt 1:21). He was said to be the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). How does Christ do this? By being our substitute.
Christ as Substitute: Explain what that means. What is a substitute? Sub-Teacher, sports, cooking recipe etc. One person or thing in place of another. This idea is found all over scripture, and this is the core reason Christ came. Christ became our substitute taking God’s wrath and condemnation on Himself when He died on the cross.
Isaiah 53:4-6.11. This is the probably the best description of Christ being our substitute in scripture. This is a prophecy where Isaiah is giving an extremely accurate picture of what the Messiah (Christ) would do. Read 4-6. Griefs, and sorrows are just poetical analogies for sin and the effects of sin. These griefs and sorrows were carried by Christ on the cross. We thought that God was punishing Him for His own sins, but he was “wounded for our sins”.
It is important here that we note that Christ was perfect, sinless. (Hebrews 4:15, Acts 3:14, Hebrews 7:26, 1 John 3:5). Vs. 9 “He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth.” Why is it important for Christ to be sinless? Christ had to be perfect otherwise He would have to die for His sins. And the only person who could be perfect is God. All sinners, are under condemnation and sentenced to death. Christ had to be perfect otherwise this would not have worked. Christ was not wounded for His sins, but for ours. (Look at the parallelism here. Two lines go together and state a similar idea different ways.)
Vs. 5b-6 The punishment we needed to have peace with God was on His shoulders. The stripes, the blood from His shoulders brought us healing. Each of us is a sinner and we have all turned away, so God took all of these turnings away (sins) and laid them on Him. Here is the punishment we are all deserving of falling upon Christ. It is clear that this is talking about the cross. And he did this all willingly vs. 7. I often ask people “Why did Christ have to die? I hope you know the answer.
So here is the picture. This is something called Imputation. Anyone have any idea what that means? Imputation means transfer or transaction or an exchange. There are two parts to this idea, and the first one is this: Our sin and guilt is imputed to Christ.
It goes on to explain in more detail what happened to Him. And then verse 10 is incredible startling. It pleased God to crucify Christ. I don’t understand it all but I know that this was part of God’s plan. This was God’s will. And this brought Him glory. For His glory. God is obsessed with His glory and this brought Him great glory! Isaiah calls the crucification a sacrifice (or guilt offering) just like OT. As rose this to heaven God was glorified.
This is our Old Testament picture of substitution, but is this same thing taught in the NT. I would whole heartedly say that this is what Christ taught, and what the other NT writers describe. 1 John 2:2 says that Christ was the propitiation (the satisfaction of God’s wrath) for our sins. Romans 5:8 “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us”. Before we were close to righteous, in fact we were still sinners and enemies of God, Christ died for us. Ephesians 1:7 “In Him we have redemption through His blood the forgiveness of sins.” So through Christ’s blood we are forgiven of our sins. 1 Peter 3:18 talks about Christ dying and calls it “The just for the unjust”. Or you could say the “righteous for the unrighteous”. 1 Peter 2:24 “Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness – by whose stripes you were healed.” 1 Corinthians 15:3 says “of first importance I tell you” “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures”. Jesus taught this as well. Matthew 20:28 “The Son of Man came…to give His life a ransom for many”. Again at just hours before His death Jesus talks about what His blood will do. Matthew 26:28 “For this is my blood…poured out for many for forgiveness of sins. “
The greatest thing about this Christ didn’t have to do this. There was no rulebook in heaven that said Christ had to take our place. But the Father willed it, and the Son did the Father’s will. Christ suffered enormous physical pain, but that was the easy part. He was rejected by everybody who once followed Him, everybody He trusted (if you have ever had trust broken you understand how painful it is) was gone. And then as He hangs on the cross in an act that nobody can really understand God turned His back on Christ. Here is where it really gets real. The perfect Trinity that had eternally existed in perfect unity, intimacy and love was broken. God looked upon Christ and saw sin and He poured out all of the wrath that we deserved on Christ! All the wrath and indignation that we stored up for ourselves. And Christ didn’t have to do any of it. The Father willed it, and the Son did the Father’s will.
Then Christ was raised from the dead showing that God accepted this sacrifice for our sins. Our faith would be hopeless if Christ didn’t rise. In the resurrection we have assurance that God wrath was poured out on Christ in our place. We can trust that that sacrifice was enough to satisfy God because God rose Him from the dead. What is the purpose of all of this? Christ died but for what purpose? So man could be righteous.
Man as righteous
I said there were two parts to imputation. The first part is our sin being imputed (or transferred) to Christ. But the second part is Christ’s righteousness being imputed to us. So man can be righteous. Righteous/perfection is required of man otherwise there is judgment. We need righteousness and it comes through Christ.
Turn to 2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us.” “sin for us” is a very specific Greek word, and it means sacrifice for sin. The Father made the sinless Son a sacrifice for our sins. But for a very specific purpose. What is the purpose here? “That we might become the righteousness of God in Christ”. The purpose is so we can become the righteousness of God, no longer face God’s condemnation, no longer be considered sinful before God, but now we can be righteous.
This righteousness comes through faith. Romans 3:21-22 The righteousness of God has arrived in Christ and it is for all those who have faith. Romans 1:16-17 The righteousness of God is found in the gospel for everyone who believes (or has faith). This faith is trusting what Christ did on the cross as payment for your sins. Nothing else brings you righteousness; nothing else takes the payment for your sins. Every other ways leaves you under the wrath of God. There is salvation in no other name than Christ (Acts 4:12). Trust Christ and Him alone. Forget about yourself, and any good things you can do on your own. Trust Him on that cross alone because nothing else saves. Forget every other way you were hoping would get you to God. Just look at what He did for you.
Hallelujah all I have is Christ. Hallelujah, Jesus is my life.

The Gospel - Part 2

2010-07-23T01:39:00.000-05:00

Review from part 1. Man is a sinner from birth. God is holy and morally pure in every possible way.

Part 2. The Justice of God: Condemnation and The need for sacrifice.
Goals: 1. That you would believe this message 2. That you would preach this message.
I know this is not fun and happy stuff to talk about. Man as sinful and the condemnation of man. You may be wondering if I am really going to spend two weeks emphasizing such depressing topics. “Yes they may be true, but are they really worth emphasizing?” But I have been assured time and time again in my study that these are extremely important topics.
In order for you to really grasp what is coming you have to understand this. In order for you appreciate, enjoy, and understand how epic this message we have to emphasize this part of the message. If we ignore the first part of this message than the second part of the message will seem trivial and unimportant. If man as sinner and condemned is not clearly understood and emphasized then the rest of the story will seem worthless. Never forget this part of the message when you are preaching. The gospel message dies when you take away this part.
I am sorry if you are depressed by discussion of man’s sinfulness and condemnation. However, I would encourage you to praise God that He has allowed you to see the weight of your sin.
Lets pick it up where we left off: Man as sinner and God as Holy is a significant contrast. Not only is it a significant contrast it is also a significant problem because man being a sinner leads man to be condemned by a Holy (perfect, morally pure) God.
I. Our sin condemns us (Romans 1-2)
Not only are we sinful beings (if you don’t understand this than please talk to me afterwards), but this sin brings about God’s wrath. There are two judgments that we are going to look at: present condemnation and future condemnation.
Present condemnation. Please turn with me to Romans 1:18. We are going to work our through a large chuck of verses here so follow along with me. Read 18-19. The wrath of God has been revealed. Like a play where the curtain is pulled back to something can be seen. Why is there wrath here? Sin (unrighteousness and ungodliness). It says that God has made Himself known to us, but we suppress (ignore, reject, oppose) the truth. Like when your friend calls and you don’t want to talk with him. How has it been clearly shown? Vs 20. Clearly seen in creation. 21-23 talks about us not honoring God as He deserves, and taking our worship elsewhere.
Therefore condemnation. This is condemnation in this current life. Vs. 24 “God gave them up”. What does this actually mean? He gave us up to three things vs 24, 26, 28. What did he give us up to? 1. Lusts of their hearts and impurity, 2. Degrading passion. 3. Depraved mind. God, as part of our condemnation has given us over to sin. In some ways this can be considered divine abandonment. We are left to wonder around indulging in the things that are destructive and lead to death. There is no life in sin. Sin only leads to destruction. Titus 3:3 talks about being “enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy hateful, and hating one another”. As our punishment God has given us over to be enslaved to this. I have met so many people like this. Armitage drugs, alcohol, and sexual addictions are rampid and it destroys people. Many great cultures and empires have been destroyed by sin. This is the wrath of God for rejecting Him and His truth.
So often we forget about this condemnation. We only look at the eternal wrath of God, but right now man is under the judgment of God. This is crucial to understand, and we will come back to this point.
After He lists the things that we have been given over to vs. 32 makes a pitiful statement about man. Can someone read vs. 32. We knew the laws. We knew the consequence of the laws. And we broke them anyways and we encouraged other to do the same. Surely man is guilty and justly condemned.
Future and Eternal condemnation of man. Romans 2:5-11. Read 5-6. Not only now is there condemnation today, but we are also storing up for ourselves wrath in the future day of judgment. The righteous judgment of God and because we know he is righteous He will “give to each according to their deeds”. So what you earn is what you will get. Vs. 8 is man’s judgment. We know that we suppress the truth, and have been given over to the lusts of our hearts. Therefore wrath and fury. What does Vs. 11 tell us about God? God is just.
What is this justice exactly like? What does God demand as payment for this great offence against Him? He requires a blood sacrifice to pay for our sins. As you look at the Bible as a whole and the way it uses blood, it essentially symbolic for life. Blood = life. So when I say that God demands a blood sacrifice I mean he demands a life. Essentially this is a death sentence. In Hebrews 9:22 it is explained that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Just look at the Old Testament sacrificial system and how blood is used as a picture of how sins would be forgiven. Hundreds of animals were sacrificed daily in order to give a picture of what was needed to pay for sins. But God demands human blood, because Hebrews 10:4 tells us that “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” The OT was merely a picture, the real story is human blood.
We have established that everyone is a sinner, therefore everyone is under God’s condemnation. First we are under His present day condemnation, and then the future condemnation. In this future condemnation everyone is marked for a death penalty. Everybody has to shed their blood to pay for their sins. God cannot simply forgive our sins. Because then He would not be just. There has to be payment for sins
This blood sacrifice, this death sentence is eternal punishment. The Bible describes it as: Everlasting fire, wailing and gnashing of teeth, everlasting destruction, separation from both the presence and the power of God. Revelation 20:11-15, Matthew 25:46, 2 Thess. 1:6-9.
Justice of God
Is anybody wondering if this is fair? Does this seem a little too harsh to anybody? “I mean really God, it was just some sin, why do you have to condemn me for eternity? Why do you demand my life as a blood sacrifice?” Isn’t God being over the top with His punishment?
Perhaps this is a good point to remind ourselves of the holiness of God. God is morally pure. You could describe Him as divinely perfect in every possible way. God is holy, and therefore God is just. We must remember that it is God who sets the standard for justice, not man. How can the created really question the Creator.
We should also remind ourselves of how great our offense is to God. Sin is contrary to the very character of God. Sin robs God of the glory He is truly worthy of. Sin gives the glory that God deserves to something else. God is obsessed with Himself receiving glory and sin gives the glory to something else. Therefore God hates sin and sinners and has to judge them. If God’s condemnation of man seems harsh or unjust, we should remind ourselves of God’s holiness, and how great our offense is against Him.
Conclusion: So what now?
God has condemned men. Man is both currently under judgment by being given over to their sins, and they will be in judgment in the future. God demands a blood sacrifice (a life) to pay for sins. He cannot simply forgive sins, but because He is just there must be payment for sins. Therefore we are doomed to pay for our sins with our lives and eternal torment.
And God is completely just in doing this. Here is man’s condition. May God have mercy, and may God present another way.

The Gospel - Part 1

2010-07-23T01:35:00.002-05:00

I am posting all of my notes from my last four messages to the Youth Group here. This is partly for myself (just so I have a copy online) and also if anybody is interested in what I talked about.

Opening thoughts:
1. When I say the gospel, I don’t mean the Gospel of Matthew or Luke, although those accounts teach the gospel. What I mean by the word Gospel is a biblical understanding of God’s salvation for man. This is the Gospel message that the whole Bible is telling in one way or another. The point of the scriptures is the Gospel.

2. There is nothing more important than this. I cannot emphasize this message enough, or spend enough time talking about it. This message has changed lives, and effected history, and it is currently changing lives and shaping the future. This message has impacted the world more then anything else in history. This message has changed my life. I hope I have your attention. If I could choose one thing for you to understand or know in life it would be this. I honestly don’t care if you learn anything else. I would rather you learn nothing else then this.

3. I have two main goals: 1. That you would believe this message 2. That you would preach this message. I want to be straight forward, and blunt about my intentions. I will try to repeat these goals often. These are in order of priority. First beyond all other things I want you to believe this message. I am preaching for your faith!

4. I want to emphasize that this is one message in four parts. I am not going to try and preach the whole thing in one night, which means that it will not feel complete to you. You could compare it to an episode of Lost or 24. You do not expect to see the whole story in one night and you enjoy being left hanging. While I may not leave you hanging you can still approach this series in a similar way. I will paint a portion of the picture each time, and hopefully by the time I finish you will see the masterpiece that God has created.

5. You may not like everything that I teach. Everything we will talk about is not easy to swallow. But doubts and questions are wonderful. I encourage you to doubt your faith and seek answers to those doubts. Because if this faith is true then it will easily stand up to your doubts, and you will be stronger in your faith if you have gone through a time of testing it.

1. Man as Sinner, God as Holy: The stark contrast
I am going to throw a lot of scripture at you today. Some I will just read others I will have you turn to. PLEASE BRING YOUR BIBLES. By the end I want to you to clearly see the intense contrast between man and God. Let me start by speaking of Man as sinner.
I. Man as sinner:
It is commonly believed by the everyday person in the 21st century that man is basically good. We simple do bad things sometimes because we have bad influences or are put into bad situations. But ultimately man has a good heart with good desires. I want to begin by utterly rejecting all parts of this idea. This is a lie that is in direct contradiction with scripture. Man is a sinner from birth. Let me define Sin =”any lack of conformity active or passive to the moral law of God.” Simply: Anyway that we are not exactly like the law of God is sin. This may be failure of act, or thought. 1 John 3:4 “Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.” Sin is anything against the law of God.
Why do I say that everyone is a sinner? Romans 5:12 teaches that all have sinned. “Therefore , just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” 1 Cor. 15:22, through Adam all die, for the same reason; because all have sinned. Adam’s sin made us sinners. An important point: we are not sinners because we sin, but rather we sin because we are sinners. It is not because I have done something wrong that I am a sinner. It is because I am a sinner that I did something wrong. Psalm 130:4 asks a profound question. “If You, Lord, should mark iniquities; O Lord, who could stand?” This is a rhetorical question, that requires really no answer. The answer is no one!
Turn to Romans 3:10-18: quoting from a few Psalms he is building his case for man being a sinner. Read. What he is saying here that this is everyone! Point to people. We are all sinners. And then the very famous and shocking words of Romans 3:23 – For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Ephesians 2:1-3 Dead in trespasses and sins. We conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh. We were by our very nature children under the wrath of God. This is not sick, or almost dead. But completely dead and under the wrath of God from the beginning. And this is because of sin.
James 2:10 – If we stumble in one point of the law we are guilty of all. Psalm 51:5 : We were brought forth in iniquity. From birth I was sinful! Luke 17:10: Teaches that even if we do all that we are asked to do we are still “Unworthy servants.” Jeremiah 17:9 : The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.
Turn to Isaiah 64:6: Read. The shocking thing about this is not that our wrong doings are filthy, but that our Righteousness is filthy rags. Sin is against the way of God and is so defiling that it corrupts our character making the best we can do is still filthy. The language he uses here in the Hebrew is very graphic and disgusting. This is our condition as man. From our very beginning and by our very nature we are totally sinful.
II. God as Holy:
Let me first say that I am not trying to define God because that is impossible to do. Instead I am going to describe part of the way that God describes Himself to be. God is Holy! Holy can be defined as: entirely otherness, completely separate. Moral purity. So essentially holy is fully different from everything and anything that we are. How do we know that God is holy?
The dwelling place of God: Tabernacle and temple: It had a place called the holy of holies. It could have just been called Holy. But instead they called it the holy of holies! Basically saying that there is no way that there could ever be anything more holy then this dwelling place for this holy God! (*Ridiculous repetitions)
Turn to 1 Timothy 6:15b-16 “Dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see”. Listen to the glory in that passage! And those are just the ways his dwelling places are described! Unapproachable light? Holy of holies? WOW!
Lets look at the different ways God’s holiness is described. 1 John 1:5: “God is light and in Him there is no darkness”. Light and dark are common analogies for sin and holiness. It is not saying that God is kinda like light, or lives in light, no God is light. I love this next one. Exodus 15:11. The Lord is described as Glorious in holiness (*ridiculous repetition). He could have just said holy and that would have been glorious enough, but Moses here takes it a step further by calling it gloriously holy!
This holiness is completely God’s. Revelation 15:4 - “Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before you, for your judgments have been manifested.”
Holy is not a small isolated characteristic of God, but it is one of the most used description of God and the things of God. As you read through the scriptures you will see that it is used hundreds of times to describe who God is. God is Holy!
How do we even begin to understand what this holiness is like? Isaiah gives us a picture of the heavenly throne room. Turn to Isaiah 6:1-4: So here is the picture, the heavenly temple filled with the Lord’s glory. And here are these angels flying around shaking the foundations of the temple with their voices shouting “HOLY HOLY HOLY!”
R.C Spouls: “The Bible says that God is holy, holy, holy. Not that He is merely holy, or even holy, holy. He is holy, holy, holy. The Bible never says that God is love, love, love, or mercy, mercy, mercy, or wrath, wrath, wrath, or justice, justice, justice. It does say that He is holy, holy, holy, the whole earth is full of His glory.
Revelation 4:8-11: We have a second view of the heavenly throne room. There are 24 elders and a bunch of creatures surrounding the One on the throne. And four of these creatures are continually crying out “holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.” (*ridiculous repetition), and as these creatures are crying out the 24 elders fall down before Him and worship.
*Ridiculous repetition: Something that is repeated far beyond what is necessary for the purpose of making a point that we would otherwise never understand.
Do you understand who God is? Do you understand who man is? God is holy, man is sinful.
This is the foundation of the gospel.

Update

2010-07-22T07:26:00.004-05:00

Here is a picture of me with the English students on our "graduation" night.

Here are the boys from the camp after they got their medals.

So somehow this chant started up at our kids camp this week...

(Insert creative title)

2010-07-17T07:17:00.000-05:00

I struggled to come up with a title for today's post....if anybody has any ideas I am taking bids.

Lifehouse

2010-07-17T06:16:00.004-05:00

This never gets old....There is so much scripture packed into these lyrics, listen carefully.

Bedouin Buses and Baby Diapers part 2

2010-07-11T00:10:00.002-05:00

Here is the second part....

Bedouin Buses and Baby Diapers part 1

2010-07-10T15:12:00.003-05:00

Here is part 1 of my latest video. It was too big of a file to upload in one piece.

Dome of the Rock a no-go.

2010-07-10T05:31:00.002-05:00

Here is a video Greg took of me getting denied entrance into the Dome of the Rock....along with a post game interview.

Thrice uploads in one day....

2010-07-03T14:09:00.001-05:00

So here is an actual update video.

The latest pics

2010-07-03T05:57:00.003-05:00

1. Our set up at the family center for showing World Cup games to Bedouins
2. On the walls of the Old City in Jerusalem.
3. Greg and I with our ya micas at the Western Wall.
4. Exploring Hezekiah's Tunnel.
5. On the roof of a hostel over looking Jerusalem.

A taste of Jerusalem

2010-07-03T04:23:00.002-05:00

Here are just a few of the places I visited in Jerusalem.

Video and some stories...

2010-06-26T13:33:00.003-05:00

Welcome to special guest day!

Did Jesus preach Paul's gospel?

2010-06-25T08:45:00.001-05:00

A phenomenal sermon that I have listened to numerous times. A must for every believer!

T4G 2010 -- Session 6 -- John Piper from Together for the Gospel (T4G) on Vimeo.

Pictures

2010-06-25T07:52:00.005-05:00

A few recent events:
1. The Mosque from our front yard on Friday afternoon.
2. We adopted two kittens yesterday from the side of the road.
3. Hooking up a satellite dish at our family center so we can host a community event to watch some World Cup games.
4. Having a pool party on a hot day

A littie Arabic

2010-06-20T14:15:00.002-05:00

This is a little taste of what my Arabic lessons are like...

Number #6

2010-06-19T08:41:00.004-05:00

The next video.....

Supporter Shout-out!

2010-06-15T03:54:00.003-05:00

Pictures #2

2010-06-14T03:06:00.003-05:00

Here a few recent pictures:
1. The instructions for swimming in the Dead Sea
2. Me swimming in the Dead Sea
3. Me on top of Mount Nebo (Deut. 34)
4. A Bedouin shepherd with his sheep outside our office building.
5. Arabic tutoring

Video #4 from the Middle East

2010-06-09T15:00:00.000-05:00

Enjoy all you wonderful people!

Happy Birthday Countdown...

2010-06-04T16:05:00.002-05:00

A special video for a special person. Today is Karen Adams birthday!

Jordan....after two days.

2010-06-01T23:01:00.002-05:00

A few pictures

2010-06-01T13:53:00.005-05:00

Chicago Airport

2010-05-30T11:02:00.002-05:00

A thrilling post from a empty airport....

First Video Post

2010-05-24T13:31:00.003-05:00

Here is my first video post! I hope to be doing this pretty regularly over the summer. Enjoy!

The countdown...

2010-05-18T13:09:00.006-05:00

I will be leaving for my summer internship in only 8 days. Next Wednesday I will be getting on a bus that will take me to Kansas City. There I will have some briefing during my time in KC as well as a chance to make all final preparations. From there I will leave catch a plan, fly back to Chicago, and then straight to Jordan.

It seems like I will be leaving very soon, only there is a lot of things happening before then.

1. My girlfriend comes into town in 2 days.
2. My brother is getting married in 4 days.
3. I will be taking the GMAT exam in 8 days.

All three of these things are going to take up quiet a bit of my time leading up to my departure, so packing will have to find its way into a very busy schedule.

I am looking for prayer partners who will commit to praying for me while I am on my internship. Ideally here is the way that I would encourage you to pray. Pick a day of the week (Sunday-Saturday) and set a reminder for yourself to pray for me every week on that day (Let me know what day you choose so I can be praying for you as well). Besides praying for me on that day continue to check this blog for more updates.

Here are a few things to be praying for now:

1. My studying for the GMAT. For those of you who don't know I am taking the GMAT exam in order to apply for business grad school. How well I do on this test will dramatically effect where I end up after my time at Moody. Please pray for confidence and good study time.

2. Packing. I still have yet to start packing. There are many little details that still need to be taken care of that I hope I will remember. Pray for clarity of mind and the ability focus on what needs to get done even through all the busyness.

3. Mental and Spiritual Preparation. The summer will be long and hard with many unexpected twists and turns. I need to prepare my heart, and mind for the work I will be doing. Pray for a servant heart towards both the missionaries I am staying with and the local believers. Please also pray for preparation for the teaching times that I will have when I arrive. May I speak the words of truth.

Thanks you to all who are praying and keeping up with me.
It's only by His grace,

Sawyer

The Man Who Has Won

2010-05-06T12:31:00.001-05:00

Men this man described is something to emulate. There are many Christ-like qualities found in here...

The Man Who Has Won
I want to walk by the side of the man
Who has suffered and seen and knows,
Who has measured his pace on the battle line
and given and taken the blows.
Who has never whined when the scheme went wrong
nor scoffed at the failing plan--
But taken his dose with a heart of trust
and the faith of a gentleman;
Who has struck and sought and given
and scarred with a thousand spears--
Can lift his head to the stars of heaven
and isn't ashamed of his tears.

I want to grasp the hand of the man
Who has been through it all and seen,
Who has walked with the night of an unseen dread
and stuck to the world-machine;
Who has bared his breast to the winds of dawn
and thirsted and starved and felt
The sting and the bite of the bitter blasts
that the mouths of the foul have dealt;
Who was tempted and fell, and rose again,
and has gone on trusty and true,
With God supreme in his manly heart
and his courage burning anew.

I'd give my all--be it little or great--
to walk by his side today.
to stand up there with a man who has known
The bite of the burning fray.
Who has gritted his teeth and clinched his fist,
and gone on doing his best,
Because of the love of his fellowman
and the faith in his manly breast.
I would love to walk with him, hand in hand,
Together journey along,
For the man who has struggled and won
Is the man who can make men strong.
-Anonymous

Public Worship

2010-04-29T20:04:00.004-05:00

For some reason I just really like this video. Keep watching the whole thing, and I hope you are moved.

After you have watched the video read: Psalm 40:9-10 and ask yourself what your praise looks like...

1 Month Away

2010-04-24T09:35:00.003-05:00

Hey friends!

I leave for Jordan in a little over a month! I am really excited, but I just realized that some of you may not realize what I am so excited about. So I decided to share with you guys a little more about what I will be doing this summer.

1.Teaching: I will be teaching studies. According to the information I have received from the people I will be working with I will be teaching studies three days a week. Two of these studies will be youth, and the third will be for new believers. I really enjoy teaching the so this is a very exciting opportunity for me.
2. Arabic: I will be studying Arabic three mornings a week. While this is extremely intimidating it is also a really cool opportunity. I really enjoy talking with Muslims and the majority of the Muslim world speaks Arabic, so it will be a valuable skill.
3. Relationship Building: At least a few days a week I am scheduled to do spend time building relationships with Jordanian Muslims. I am not really sure what this will look like but it sounds like a real learning experience.
4. Visiting leaders: The other thing that has been mentioned that I will be doing is visiting and network with pastors in the area.

Thanks to all of you who are pray or financial supporters!

Sawyer

Internship Update

2010-03-22T20:08:00.002-05:00

Praise God for His wonderful grace and love. He had provided bountifully for my all of the costs for my summer internship. The plane ticket has been purchased, I am in contact with the missionaries and all things are beginning to come together very well.

Please pray:
- For my ministry as RA at Moody. I am learning more and more that I know very little about what it means to minister to people with real needs and struggles. Pray that I would have a humble attitude as I lead the men on my floor.

- I still have a 7 weeks of school between me and Jordan. That means a lot of homework while also doing all the prep work that living over seas for a summer requires. Please pray that I would be devoted to my studies and that it would impact my spiritual walk.

Thank you for everyone who takes the time to read this. Feel free to leave a comment or email me if you have questions: Sawyernyquist AT gmail.com

Sawyer

How Often Shall We Pray?

2010-03-11T19:30:00.006-06:00

"As often as the language of prayer is in my heart;
as often as I see my need of help;
as often as I feel the power of temptation;
as often as I am made sensible of any spiritual declension or feel the aggression of a worldly spirit."

- Jeremiah Lanphier - 1857

May prayer continually be on your lips and may it become the joy of God's people!

The Gospel

2010-03-04T16:30:00.004-06:00

I have been concerned recently.

I have been presented with many problems in the world.

- HIV/AIDS

- Homelessness

- Sex/human trafficking

- Struggling inner city communities

and the list goes on and on...

But my concern is not with these problems. Oh please don't get me wrong. My heart breaks for these problems. Millions of people are effected daily by such problems in the world. And I know these problems are the main part of the Church's mission.

What concerns me is the solution I have been presented with for these problems.

For HIV/AIDS, adopt orphans.

For human trafficking, donate money to an organization such as ISanctuary and International Justice Mission.

For troubled inner cities, build community centers, work at creating better school, or provide after school tutoring.

And the perfect solution that God has already created is being put on the back burner at best, and forgotten altogether at worst.

The Gospel:

The perfection and holiness of God.

The utter sinful and hopeless nature of man

The blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the sins of man.

The redemption of all who believe in the work of Jesus Christ as payment for their sins.

I rarely hear this message from the social justice crowd as the solution to the worlds problems. Instead I hear about effective social justice actions. Where are the heart stirring emotional messages about effective preaching of the gospel!

This video is from Matt Chandler about making the gospel explicit and not assumed. It think it fits very well in this context.

Matt Chandler - 20/20 2010 Session 1 from Southeastern Seminary on Vimeo.

Familly Man

2010-02-28T16:31:00.000-06:00

This is a neat video by Andrew Peterson called Family Man.

"Family Man" from Trevor Little on Vimeo.

Welcome

2010-02-17T16:32:00.003-06:00

To anyone has has recently received my prayer letter and is visiting this sight for the first time...Welcome! I will be updating this blog as often as possible leading up to the trip, and then very regularly during my time in Jordan. So bookmark this page and stop by as often as the Spirit leads.

For those of you who did receive my letter I would love to hear from you. I am desperately seeking prayer support during this preparation time, and especially when I reach the field. If any of you are interested in joining my prayer support team leave me a comment or send me an email and I will make sure that you are kept well informed with requests.

I am so excited that God has led you to join me in ministry.

May His great grace wash over you,

Sawyer

Prayer Letter

2010-02-15T22:04:00.002-06:00

Grace and peace to you,

I pray this letter finds you tightly in the grasp of our Savior, and that you have found His mercies to be new this morning. I am writing to you from downtown Chicago where I have just finished my sophomore year at Moody Bible Institute. I am studying in the World Missions department with a specific emphasis on Evangelism/Discipleship. Every student at Moody must complete an internship in their particular field before they are permitted to graduate. Because I am a World Mission major I was drawn to a foreign field in order to fulfill my internship. I searched many different organizations and several opportunities were available.

I settled on a 9-week internship in Amman, Jordan with Avant Ministries in summer 2010. I will be working with an Avant missionary couple at Jordan Evangelical Theological Seminary (JETS). I will be joining them in training Middle Eastern believers at JETS in the area of church planting. This is a truly remarkable opportunity for me to do church planting work in a Muslim country. These are two things that I am very interested in doing once my time at Moody is complete. This is not just a missions trip, but specific career training for my future.

Ever since I have received confirmation of my acceptance to this internship my heart has been driven to prayer. I am seeking nothing more than to be a useful vessel for His kingdom. I am unable to do anything without abiding in the Him (John 15) and for this reason I covet your prayers. My strength is insufficient but His grace is enough, and through my weaknesses I am strong in Him (2 Corinthians 12). In my seeking to be a minister of the gospel of Christ I am in desperate need of strength and wisdom from His throne. Therefore, I plead with you to fall on your knees on behalf of Christ’s gospel, and His laborer. There is of course a financial need, but it is nothing compared to the need of prayer and the gospel. I have been blessed to have already received half of the $4,500 needed. If the Lord leads, other gifts can be made payable to Avant Ministries and sent to:

I desire that you would be devoted in prayer with me for the gospel of Christ (Colossians 4:2-3). Be blessed and may the Lord sanctify you in His truth (John 17:17).
For the fame of His name,
Sawyer Nyquist

Questions email me at Sawyernyquist@gmail.com

Announcement

2010-02-08T22:36:00.002-06:00

I wanted to inform all you faithful blog readers (I know there aren't many) that this blog will be going through a little bit of a transition. Hopefully this blog will remain a place of encouragement for you, but perhaps in a different form. I will still post thoughts and meditations when I have the time, but for the next several months this blog will become a video blog to keep you updated on my internship.

For those of you who have not heard I will be going to Amman, Jordan this coming summer for 9 weeks. This blog will be my main avenue of communication with the world. I hope to regularly post video updates of what has been going on in my time in Jordan.

I am earnestly seeking all the prayer support I can receive, so if you would like to be a minister partner with me please check this sight for updates.

May the grace of Christ overwhelm you,

Colt McCoy

2010-01-08T11:44:00.002-06:00

I am not a Texas Longhorns fan, but I am a fan of those who trust in Jesus Christ. Colt McCoy was injured in the National Championship game in his senior year. He spent the majority of the game on the sidelines. His post game interview told more of the story. Where did an attitude like this come from? Maybe this video will explain a little more.

10 Questions

2010-01-01T16:51:00.005-06:00

These are 10 questions (adapted from Kevin DeYoung) that I am asking myself this year. I would encourage you to take adapt them to your own life. Then find someone who will ask you these question consistently.

1. Am I spending time slowly reading God’s word and memorizing Scripture?

2. Am I having consistent, focused, extended times of prayer, including interceding for others?

3. Is the spiritual discipline of fasting a regular part of my life?

4. Am I aware of my sins and consistently confessing them?

5. Am I disciplined in my use of technology, particularly is it my main form of entertainment?

6. Am I going to bed on time?

7. Have I been intentional about building strong relationships with guys on my floor?

8. Have I taken time this week to rest from school and busyness?

9. Is my homework just school or is it impacting my spiritual life?

10. Have I done anything out of the ordinary to cherish the most important person in my life?

What a view...

2009-12-24T15:04:00.001-06:00

Dating

2009-12-16T19:10:00.005-06:00

This is a topic that I have thought quite a bit about over the last several years. I will admit that it began with the book "I kissed dating goodbye". But don't let that stop you from reading the rest of my post. Much to my surprise I have grown more liberal (ick! I don't like that word, how about "open") in my views on dating.

A lot of these views I have developed through my interaction with students both here at school and back home. The first thought I have is this false dichotomy that a lot of guys (I am one, so I will speak for us, if you are not one and have a different view i would love to hear it) fall into. This dichotomy says there are two ways to date and only two.

1. The person that I date I will marry.
2. I am not worried about marriage right now, just getting to know people (this could also be called casual dating).

Forgive me if you do not fall into either of these categories but this is the main debate I hear raging and I think it really disappoints me. To over simplify them, the first one over emphasizes commitment, and the second one under emphasizes dating and the commitment that goes with it. I have serious problems with both.
I struggle the "over commitment" side because it is neither realistic nor healthy (if you disagree please say so but I am trying to keep this post short so I will not explain further). My problems with the second idea of dating is the level of respect you place on dating, and it creates both emotional and social problems (again I will explain more if needed).

So this is the debate that takes place all the time. If someone starts talking about dating people flock to one of these two sides.

But I beg you friends to look at a third option. I propose something in the middle of the two in terms of commitment.

This third option says that I hold a high respect for dating. I believe it build emotional ties and this seeks to respect and protect that. I will give dating more meaning and purpose. I also believe you can save yourself a lot of first and second dates by being very selective in who you take out.

Guys if you are going to ask a girl out you better know her well enough in order to take her out for at least a few dates. Why? Because if after one date you realize she is not what you are interested in you did not know her near well enough (...you might have been driven by her looks, something girls don't appreciate). Take a girl out because you know her well and you are attracted to her for a potential wife, not because you think she might be a cool girl and you might end up liking her. Show a little more respect for the girl you are taking her by making it mean something.

Let me ask this. Will a girl feel more respected and cared for by being asked out on a causal date, or a committed date? She will know that you did not just ask her out on a whim, and that you are prepared for a level of commitment because you know her well enough. She will know that she is being asked out not just because she is attractive, but because you respect her personality and character.

Be selective in who you take out on a date. Hold a high view of dating. Respect the girl that you are taking out (btw:never think that you are doing a girl a favor by taking her out) by caring for her in the best way possible. Understand that dating should have a goal, and it is not just getting to know a bunch of girls (Hint: it starts with an "M").

I would argue that dating with more commit is the most enjoyable way to date.

This post is meant to stir up some discussion. I feel like people struggle to have healthy conversations about dating. So please, discuss.

Shadows

2009-12-09T16:16:00.002-06:00

This song has become a new favorite. If you are a longtime reader then you might remember this post from a while back that also talks about shadows....

Reformation

2009-11-02T20:12:00.000-06:00

In honor of Reformation Day I would encourage you to watch the following. Watch this in light of my last post on dogmatism.

Theology

2009-11-02T16:51:00.004-06:00

I am sure we have all wondered about it in one way or another.
What do I believe about God?
What is my theological view on this?
Do I have a biblical theology?
How does my theology affect my actions?

Those are all good questions that should be asked at some point in your life, but I am not looking to answer any of them here. I want to bring up other questions. Questions about your philosophy of theology (doesn't that sound deep?!?).

What I am wondering about is dogmatism. And as usual I will probably bring up more questions than answers. This has recently become my place to vent my thoughts, struggles and questions.

So when should you become dogmatic about your beliefs? And to what extent should you ever be dogmatic?

For example: Let's say that when I was 15 I believed doctrine X. I believed this because it made sense in my mind. But when I began to test it against more educated mind a few years later I realized I was wrong. It was good that I was not too dogmatic about it otherwise I would still be in a lie.

So at what point have you studied enough to be dogmatic?

How sure do you have to be of your belief before you are set in them?

But there is always more to learn. Always more to know and understand. Can we really ever reach the point to be dogmatic about our beliefs?

If there are plenty of godly educated men who believe differently than you, can you still be dogmatic? Shouldn't you give the other guy some credit?

At what point do I say I am set in what i believe and nothing is going to change that?

Can our theology ever be set or stable, or does it need to be adapting and growing as our understanding grows?

Wouldn't it be foolish to have a closed minded belief when you are still so young? But what if you are old? Can you ever reach the age where you say "This is it! This is what i believe and it is right!"?

On a more personal note: I don't know what my theology is. I would feel foolish being dogmatic about what I believe at this point in my life because i know so little.

Is anybody with me?

I welcome any thoughts you might have....

Thoughts and Questions for the Church about the church

2009-09-22T17:59:00.005-05:00

Many of the following questions and thoughts are pulled from my journal. One day I returned from church with many thoughts on my mind, the following is what I wrote down:

Should we try and draw people into church? Is our goal to have programs and events that are attractive and will bring unbelievers into the church?

Is our goal to have as many unbelievers in the pews as possible? Is that really the purpose of the church?

Do outreach services really have place in our Sunday morning services?

Should there really be different types of churches for different types or people?

Do we need a artsy church, a ghetto church, a mega church, a house church, a black church, white church, in order to make people feel comfortable?
I understand that the church both transcends and engages culture but have we taken it to far?

I wonder if the only reason why we try and have so many different types of churches and church services is because we are more concerned about the lost then the church itself.

I would have to argue that the church is not meant for unbelievers. While I am still working on a personal definition of the church (a great exercise I would recommend for everyone), I would love to hear you thoughts on the topic.

Sometimes I wonder if we are missing the mark when it comes to church....

That's My King!

2009-09-18T12:33:00.003-05:00

Just a video to encourage you...

Evil

2009-08-28T20:22:00.003-05:00

Sometimes I wonder.

It's obvious I know.

But do you ever wonder about evil?

Here is a common belief i have heard passed around during my time at Bible college: Being sheltered from the world is hurtful, and being exposed to the world can be beneficial to your development in the real world.

Have you heard it too?

I can see their point of view. There is a little logic to it. If you are not aware of the sin and evil of the world, then when you are suddenly thrown into it (perhaps when you graduate high school and leave home) you will be overwhelmed.

I don't really want to start and argument about education choices, but this is often the debate between homeschooling and public schooling. "Should we expose our children to the public school(the world)?" is often the question that is asked.

And to often I think we make the wrong choice.

Think about this verse.
"I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil."

Too often we think we have to "understand what's out there".

But the Word tells to be innocent of evil.

Watch this for some more thoughts on the topic.

The Church

2009-08-07T16:53:00.005-05:00

I know.

Rather general title.

But that is ok.

This post is mostly an encouragement to my fellow Moody students. The area of the Church is perhaps where God has grown me the most since my coming to Moody.

When I came to Moody in the fall of '08 I was a solid attender of Church. Yet when I came here I felt casual enough about Church not to take it seriously until late in the semester.

Brother and sisters, it's not about being a regular attender. It's about a community (outside of school) of believers that is doing the work of the Lord. Outreach to the community. Prayer on behalf of fellow believers. Praise for the work that God does in His childrens lives.

I am 100% behind the institutionalized Church.

For those of you who are in bible college please listen. Your church does not complement you schooling. It is not a side dish next to your entree of school work.

Your Church is the entree. Your time in class and at bible college is a complement to your time as a part of the church. One will last, the other is over after four years.

I do not believe you can have a complete bible college education without being an active member of a true community of believers.

Bible college is a para-church organization. God never promised to bless the para-church. Only the church.

Brother and sisters, I beseech you, be a part of the church!

A great song from Jars of Clay

2009-08-05T11:04:00.000-05:00

I’ve been living out of sanity
I’ve been splitting hairs and blurring lines
I am a house that is divided
In my heart and in my mind

I use one hand to pull closer
The other to push you away
If I had two hands doing the same thing
Lifted high, lifted high

I have a broken disposition
I’m a liar who thirsts for the truth
And while I ache for faith to hold me
I need to feel the scars and see the proof

And if we just keep digging we can reach the foundation
Of our souls
And if we just keep cutting all the chains from our hearts
We’ll lose control

And it feels like giving in
It feels like starting over
It feels like waking up, and you know it’s coming
It feels like a brand new day
Open your eyes

For the love of.....

2009-08-04T11:19:00.006-05:00

What do we love?

Interesting isn't it. What if I got more specific and asked what you love about this world? I am sure you could get spiritual and say God's beautiful creation, but what do you love in this world that is not of God?

"Do no love the world,or the things in the world."

Well I guess that was easy but what else does the Word say.

"If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world - the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions - is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever."

Meditate upon the things that you love in the world. Money, house, wife, husband, vacation, education. What are the things that you desire the most? What are the things that are holding you back from wanting heaven right now?

God has clearly shown me that I have loves in the world. He has also clearly shown me that these are sinful and will never last.

May you love be only for Him and His gospel.

Close your eyes.....

2009-07-24T16:11:00.003-05:00

and worship for a few minutes...

Sactification....

2009-07-23T14:14:00.005-05:00

I just wanted to share with you guys a great exercise that God has been using in my life in order to sanctify me. It sort of felt like homework at first but now I love it. I am doing what i call "detailing" 1 Corinthians. Basically what that means is going into great detail and outlining the book.

Why?

Well it has always been easy for me to read the Word and while I understand a decent amount of it and how it all fits together there were always some passages that I did not get. I would read it and (after enough question marks popped up in my head) just keep moving.

This exercise has forced me to get what it is talking about. I have to be able to fit every verse into my outline so I need to understand Paul's train of thought.

This has been excellent for me and I would highly recommend becoming a student of the Word and doing the hard work it takes to detail a book.
1 Timothy 4:12

Surpassing Value

2009-07-23T11:31:00.011-05:00

I recently got very excited when I read a verse.

"More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,"

Again and again I read it. It was not like this was the first time for me to read it, but one phrase did catch my eye more this time then any other. "Surpassing value". Paul does not tell us what Christ surpasses in value because it is implied that it surpasses everything!

Through out this summer I have constantly been wondering to myself how much of what I am doing really matters. Songs and video clips like the ones I have already posted have been haunting me. Am I using my life for something of value? Not just in the big picture, but does everything I do matter?

This verse provides me with the ultimate prize to be seeking. Something that really matters. Something that is of all surpassing value.

If we want our lives to matter and glorify God then we must be totally in love with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Read the rest of the passage.
"But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,
and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,
that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead."

This is the prayer for my life and yours...strive for Him like nothing else.

Do Something

2009-07-10T08:00:00.003-05:00

Sometimes I can't help but wonder why people think comfortable is the place to be. The example of the Apostle Paul comes to mind. By pushing his limits and giving his all he became one of the most influential people in the history of the world.

Biblical Church?

2009-07-07T10:58:00.003-05:00

Is the American Church biblical?

I Corinthians 1:10
"I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought."

According to the World Christian Encyclopedia there are 33,820 denominations within Christianity.

I Corinthians 3:3
"You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men?"

"I am Calvinist","I am Arminian ". Sound familiar.

Beseech our great God that he would not bring revival but unity to the American Church.

I Don't Want To Waste My Life

2009-06-16T15:45:00.006-05:00

Powerful video....

Books...

2009-06-04T13:37:00.004-05:00

Just wanted to share my summer reading list with you guys. Sometime over the next few months I plan to read....

Crazy Love - Francis Chan

Humility: True Greatness – C.J. Mahaney

Riven - Jerry Jenkins

When I don't Desire God - John Piper

Along with my school reading and books for being an RA I think that will keep me plenty busy. If you know of any good ones I should read let me know.

Is this possible?

2009-05-17T16:57:00.006-05:00

I want to tell a story for you.
John 13
The chapter starts by explaining how Jesus' time had come, and that He would be betrayed soon. It starts by telling us He loved His own, to the full extent, even to the end (vs. 1). It makes it sound like this was his only task on earth.

And then He proves it to us. He gets down on His knees and begins to wash His disciples dirty feet. That was love. I had figured that out.

But somehow I never connected that with what came next. Right after He washed their feet, Judas betrayed Him.

What? Did that really just happen?

Did He just wash the feet of the man who is going to kill Him?

Yes.

Near the end of the chapter it says "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

The disciples did not get it. They did not see the whole picture. They heard what Jesus said and thought "can't be that hard".

But when only a few hours later Jesus was hanging dieing on a cross I wonder if they got it. He loved Judas to the very end.

Within a few minutes of Judas calling the authorities on Him, Jesus washed his feet. How can you wash the feet of the person who is about to run away to betray you?

Is this really the love that God called us to? When he said "love as I have loved" did He really mean it?

Is that possible?

Life again.....

2009-04-17T16:58:00.003-05:00

I try avoid writing too many personal posts. I figure what God's teaching me is always more important than what I have been up to recently. Yet here I go, telling you about my life.

Easter weekend was a great experience for me. While almost all of my friends went, I was still able to have a wonderful weekend with Karen and my church friends.

On Wednesday, if you have not yet heard, my dad was announced as the 9th president of Moody Bible Institute. This was a long time coming, and my brother and I were forced to keep the secret for almost four months. The entire day was remarkable! I would go into more detail, but I would probably bore you. Just know that his has been a huge monument in my life. My family will now be moving to Chicago, and I will be able to take summer classes, and have plenty of other benefits.

And the last thing I wanted to share was the fact that Junior Senior Banquet is tonight. Now I am only a freshman, but by God's grace I have been blessed to be dating a senior. So Karen and I are looking forward to having a great night tonight!

I feel utterly and fully blessed at this point in my life. I can look out the window and see a beautiful city, under a beautiful sunny day, looking forward to a night out with a beautiful woman! Praise God!

Hebrews 9:22

2009-04-12T10:31:00.002-05:00

"and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness."

Thank you for the blood of Christ, through which we may have union with the Father.

Pain

2009-04-06T10:22:00.005-05:00

"I am convinced that there is nothing that God uses more to grow us in Him than pain."

That is a quote from Michael Easley.

Pain hurts. Pain grows us.

"It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes."

That is a quote from the Psalmist.

Pain hurts. Pain teaches.

"The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the LORD tests hearts."

That is a quote from the wisest man to ever live.

Pain hurts. Pain tests and tries.

Pray for pain, to become more like God's Son.

Pain is what Christ endured for us.

Just Think.....

2009-03-18T10:33:00.004-05:00

Ok, this may be a little outlandish, but I am willing to take a chance. Here is a statement that recently came to mind and I would love to hear your feedback.

"The number one instrument/tool/outlet/trait that God uses to bring Himself glory is humility".

Ok, have you thought about it? Do you get the jist of it? Now read Philippians 2:5-11. I know you have read this before, but just stop and think about what it's saying.

Jesus humbled Himself by becoming man.
Then by being willing to die - even on a cross!

Two of the three most important things that ever happened on this earth (barring the ressurection) were acts of selfless humility!

Now keep reading.
He was exalted because He was humbled. He brought great glory to God (vs. 11) because He was exalted.

Don't miss the beginning of the passage though."Have this attitude..."

Our attitude is to be one of humbling ourselves in order to exalt the Name of God! The greatest acts that Christ performed (the ones that brought the most glory to God) were selfless acts of humbling Himself!

Go and do the same!

Blessings

2009-03-04T12:08:00.003-06:00

This is just a post to tell you all of the amazing things that God has done for me this semester!
God has given me a floor full of guys who are an encouragement and entertainment during a stressful school year.
God has given me great classes to study in and excel in.
God has given me the incredible opportunity to graduate in three years
God has given me an extremely blessed relationship with Karen
God has given me the amazing opportunity to become and RA next year here at Moody

Praise God for the amazing things he has done in my life!

Believing God

2009-02-15T09:00:00.002-06:00

Believing God is coming alive to me. I am learning that when I go to my knees God is mighty to work and save! I can't get into the details of everything but there are several things that God has clearly had a hand on in my life these past few weeks. And after every little event that happens where I know God worked, it drives me to my knees more and more.
Prayer used to seem a little dull and maybe even boring, but now it has come alive. I drop to my knees and say "God I know you are mighty to work here and do this", and truly believe it.
Not only does it push us to ask great things of God by believing him, but it allows to give up control. We see the way that he has worked in the areas I have petitioned Him about and it makes me want to drop all areas of my life into his hands.
There are some pretty big choices going on in my life right now, yet for some reason I have the peace of God. I am not stressing, only trusting.
You may wonder what the formula is for believing God. What do you have to do in order to feel good about giving God everything. But there is no secret, the answer is found on your knees. Once you experience the goodness of God through prayer your only desire will be to humble yourself before the throne and believe that God is mighty to save.

Now what?

2009-02-07T22:01:00.003-06:00

I have just finished Founder's Week here at Moody Bible Institute, and I am having trouble processing it all. I heard 15-20 messages this week from some of the best speakers in the nation and I have to ask my self "now what?" Perhaps my favorite quote of the week was "It's a scary thing when the people of God can hear the Word of God and do nothing". It is simple, so easy to become complacent with the truth that we hear.

Every week you may walk into church and hear teaching from the scriptures, yet remain the same for years. I know you have been there, we all have. But we have to kick this North American complacency towards the scriptures. We must continue to ask ourselves "Now what?"
"What difference does this make?"
"What about this message should push me towards Godliness?"
May we never forget what a blessing and honor it is to be entrusted with the entire Bible. The oracles of God have been given to us, and we are causally shoving that truth aside.
May it never be!
Let us flourish in Godliness because of the truth that we are blessed with!

Hope To the Poorest

2009-01-30T23:16:00.002-06:00

Here are 12 artist of with huge platforms of influence making a change in the world. Everyone of them being selfless enough to cut an album of new songs for the poorest communities of the world. 100% of the proceeds go towards those who are the neediest. Please support this effort.

Oh teach me Lord....

2009-01-30T18:36:00.006-06:00

I have spent the last month or so in the first 10 chapters of Proverbs, and I must tell you that it has been one of the most blessed time in the word probably ever in my walk. Concentrating on a small portion of scripture for a significant time really brings about truths. Virtually every verse has spoken to me in some way, but I will share just a few of them with you so that you can hopefully be blessed to.

Proverbs 4:18: "But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines brighter unto the perfect day".
Once we are in Christ we have become that shining light, but that is not all. We are to shine brighter and brighter day by day as we near that "perfect day". This is the act of sanctification...daily becoming more and more like Christ. Let us shine brighter today than we did yesterday.

Proverbs 9:10 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."
Our only foundation for learning, truth, understanding, and any sort of knowledge is found in the "Holy One". Before we are ever to understand this world, or spiritually truth, or why our marriage suffers, or how we can share our faith, or study the bible with any sort of comprehension, we have to find God. He is the irreducible minimum that we must reach before we will ever have a foundation for knowledge. 10:25 says "When the whirlwind passes by, the wicked is no more, but the righteous has an everlasting foundation" The foundation that we have is in the knowledge and understand of God. All wisdom built on man's folly will fail!

Proverbs 2:4-5 "If you seek her (wisdom) as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God."
How often do we seek truth like we would money? How often do we spend more time working for money and for "hidden treasures" then we do for the understanding of the Lord? What would it look like in your life if you sought after wisdom the same way you do for money? What if you longed for the wisdom of the word more then you did trying to make a fast buck? We all do it so don't try and justify what you are doing. We all get caught up in the game of making money, just to spend money. But what if we spend our time earning and seeking something that would make us and everyone we encounter richer? Wisdom! Desire and long for that.

I only wish I had time to unpack all the truths in every one of the verses of Proverbs, but by the grace of God I have homework to do. Search and long for the truth and you will be blessed for your diligence....I know I have.

Preach the Word!

2009-01-09T22:44:00.010-06:00

Perhaps what has become one of my favorite passages of scripture....

2 Timothy 4:1-5
I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom:

preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,

and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.

But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

I could probably write many posts about this passage (and I might one day) I want to encourage you today with just a few things.

1. Be ready and prepared to teach always. The times for evangelism and teaching often come when we are least prepared for it. I can think of numerous times (and perhaps you can too) when the chance to share truth with someone came and went without me being ready for it. The verse says

"in and out of season". This also requires us to be "approved workman who need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth". May we all learn to find no other fulfillment or truth in anything besides the Word of God. Let us apply our lives to becoming filled with its truth.

2. Don't water down truth. The passage speaks of people who have become tired of sound doctrine and they want to hear what they want to hear. I have seen this a lot more recently where people are willing to forsake truth. But here is what is more important; don't just sit back but preach the word! Even when it is no longer tickling ears! Even when you are an intolerant bigot! I beseech you in the presence of God the Father: Preach the Word!

A New Year

2009-01-01T18:15:00.006-06:00

So like every other blog in the world, here is a post about the new year.

If you are like most people you are taking advantage of this new start to make a few changes in your life. Some people call these resolutions, other just think of them as improvements. Here are two of my new year goals/encouragements.

Dream:
for, about, and to the glory of God....

A life that does not dream does not really live. Not only does dreaming give us a passion for life, but it is something God wants us to do. To get so fired up about something He has put on your heart pleases Him. Take time this new year to not just live on the same way you always have, but dream about the great and mighty things that God can do in and through your life if you are willing.

Seek Him:
daily, hourly, unceasingly....

As an out fleshing of the first point, we can't dream for His glory if we are not in tune with Him. This goal is a mixture of "seek first His kingdom" and "pray unceasingly". Our goal should be to live our lives in constant communication with our Father, so our will can be conformed to His.

May God bless you this new year as you grow in His glory as you head towards eternal glory.

In The Fullness of Time

2008-12-25T10:49:00.002-06:00

Luke 2:13-14
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests."

Praise to our great God and Father for sending His Son! Glory in the highest!

Never Silence Life

2008-12-22T10:33:00.002-06:00

"Every 22 seconds a child dies. Not of starvation or of unclean water, but because someone made a choice for them. Someone didn't want to be inconvenienced so they made a choice. A choice to silence that inconvenience, even though it was because of something they had done. That inconvenience is an innocent child, and they are being silenced every single day.

In America alone 1.37 million children are aborted every year; 3,700 a day. My generation is a part of the biggest holocaust in history. 1/3 of my generation has been killed. And it's 1/2 of my generation that is doing the killing. And what have we done about it? Nothing. We say we don't like it but we don't stand up for it."

Will you be a voice for the voiceless?

www.neversilencelife.com

Gay Marriage....you choose

2008-12-17T12:38:00.000-06:00

A recent article by Newsweek magazine (http://www.newsweek.com/id/172653/page/1) takes a biblical look at homosexual marriage.

Then in response (http://www.reformation21.org/blog/2008/12/newsweek-on-gay-marriage.php) Carl Trueman blogs about it.

Please read both to get a complete look at the topic. This is a topic that has to be addressed and we need to understand the argument if we wish to be relevant in today's culture. Go ahead and comment with your thoughts.
Sawyer

Short-term missions?

2008-12-02T21:53:00.000-06:00

Perhaps this is a little strong but this is a message that I feel must get out. Enjoy.

A phenomenon has struck North America. While this phenomenon may pass most people by as normal, those in the missions arena see short-term missions trips as a huge turn in the way that America does missions. According to a survey by Robert and Joseph Priest over 50% of seminary students have gone on short-term missions trips and a full 97% plan on going on a trip in the future. This phenomenon is quickly over taking traditional missions. The Wall Street Journal estimates that $4 billion dollars are spent on short-term missions trips each year. What was once unknown in the missions world fifty years ago has now become the major form of missions with more then 2 million Americans going on these trips. Now those in the missions industry must answer what has become a billion-dollar question. “Are short-term missions trips effective and necessary as a means of evangelizing the lost?” I argue that not only are short-term missions (STM) trips ineffective, but they are also uneconomical, with misplaced motivation and purpose.
Now I know that I am going to step on a lot of toes here, but that it often the best way for people to realize that change is needed. I also don’t want to pretend like all STM trips are bad, because I know they are not. I am sure everyone reading this knows at least someone who has had a life change or at least been effected by a trip. Yet we also must open up our eyes to the much more prevalent facts that face us with STM trips, and that are harmful to the missions world. Let me first start by defining what I mean by a short-term missions trip. In Priest’s study it is shown that 87% of short-term trips are less than 30 days, and 72% are two weeks or less. Because the majority of trips are this length I will define STM trips as a trip of 1-3 weeks with a religious emphasis. These types of trips usually come out of a church or missions organization, usually with a large majority of the participants being students.
Short-term missions have been called the “amaturization of missions” and this nickname carries more truth then many of us like to believe. First of all the people that are going on these trips are ill prepared in several ways. Take for instance your typical youth group trip, and the people that it contains. Of course, the leaders of the trip pick the best of the youth to go on the trip, but from a practical standpoint even the best from a youth group are ill prepared for ministering to people of a complete different culture. After speaking with missionary friends of mine this is often the biggest problem. The team comes in with a very “American” attitude without understanding that that type of attitude is more hurtful than anything else. But the team members can hardly be blamed, they may have had only a couple of months of preparation for this trip, and there is no way that they can relate, or fit the culture in such a short time. It is both foolhardy and simply minded to think that a teenager or college student will have the same ability to minister to people in another country as a career missionary who has spend several years living and interacting with the people. Perhaps the biggest reason that short-term trips lack effectiveness is because the people on the trips have little or no training.
The second issue I want to bring up with the way that STM trips are ran has to do with the purpose. Again there are exceptions but some of the main reasons I hear of is to expose the people to missions. Often youth groups will take these trips in hopes that after seeing the work of the missionary students will commit their lives to go on the mission field. The reasoning behind both of these purposes is selfishness. I heard it put well by a friend one time who said “for the first time ever missions has become about the people going”. Since the first century missions has been solely about reaching the people they are going to. But now we have this sort of “drive-by” missions where people hope to swing in for a bit to see if this is right for them. And if they do not get a life-changing call to missions the trip was failure. I once heard a STM team share about their trip, and the one thing that they shared was how much the locals ministered to them. They told about how much joy the natives had even though they lived in slums. I couldn’t stop thinking that it should be the other way around? Since when do we go on missions trips in order to have the people we went to minister more to us then we minister to them. In an article by Leslie Pelt she speaks of a Nigerian church leader who said “We are realizing that short-term missionaries come mostly for their own experience not necessarily for what they can contribute to the ministry.” This has become the state of our missions in America. We are a consumerist country and we can only think to gain from everything we do, including missions. In the same article by Pelt she says “ Those who say ‘let me first go and see what the mission field is like’ are no different than the one who said to Jesus in Luke 9:62 ‘first let me go and bury my father’ Jesus said ‘No one who puts his hand on the plough and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God’”.
As the great real estate rule of thumb says “location, location, location” this is another downfall of STM trips. In the study by Priest he shows a graph of the destination of around five thousand STM trips. Mexico was by far the most popular destination. In South America, Brazil, Ecuador, and Peru were the most popular. Kenya and South Africa are the main choices for trips to Africa, and in Asia, China by far is the most popular. Now here is where the problem lies, these are not the countries that need missionaries. Mexico, according to Russell Ash in his book “The Top Ten of Everything”, has a higher percentage of Christians then any other country. Other places Kenya are sending their own missionaries out, and are not in need of American teams. China, also among the countries that is sending missionaries out, has more Christians than any other country. I am really shocked by all of this, because the countries that need these teams the most are getting passed up by the countries that already have a very strong Christian presence. This makes both the time and money that the team spends even less effective.
This last point about location is a little more understandable because of the accessibility of these nations. The countries that need to be reached the most are the hardest to get into for career missionaries and nearly impossible for STM teams. But then the question must be asked, if we can’t get into the countries where we are needed most then why go on such a trip? The answer boils down to the purpose of taking these trips. If you are merely trying to expose people to missions in the hopes that they will one day dedicate their lives to the cause, why not go somewhere where there is little hostility and welcoming smile when you get there?
Finally, the main question that judges the effectiveness of these trips is are people going on these trips and becoming full-time missionaries? Or are they returning and giving more to missions? Are they spending more time in prayer for missionaries and the lost? It all boils down to pray, give, and go. First, lets start with the “go”. In the article by Pelt she shares the numbers that between 1985-88 there was a 45% increase in people going on STM trips, but only a 7% in career missionaries. These numbers are twenty years old and we all know from observing that the numbers have only grown towards the short-term side. The Southern Baptist Convention’s International Missions Board has about 4,200 career missionaries, but they send out around 30,000 short-termers a year. So it is clear to see that the amount of short-term trips has not lead to more career missionaries, in fact it may have even hurt the numbers in some cases. People who feel that they have the “call” on their lives can go on a STM once every couple of years and feel like they are doing what God has called them to do. In some sense we have microwaved missions because now people can go on STM trips and feel like they have done the great commission. The other two important factors to look at are praying and giving. In the Wall Street Journal article titled “The ‘Great Commission’ or Glorified Sightseeing?” they share a stat that says only 16% of people who went on a short-term trip reported a “significant positive impact”. And this included things like prayer, friendships, and financial giving. The fact is that after the initial high of these trips very few people make any sort of life change. This is probably the number one thing that makes short-term missions hard to support.
From the biggest cynic who says STM trips only purpose is to keep the airlines in business, to the biggest advocate who believes that even the 16% mentioned above is worth doing STM, everyone needs a proper prospective of STM trips. Yes, this paper takes a strong stance on this issue but it’s when people sugarcoat things that things often get worse. The facts are that STM teams are often very under-trained, go for only selfish reasons, and go to areas that do not need their help. These are all generalizations but when they represent the majority of trips they are worth stating. The basic idea of short-term missions is broken, and needs to be scrapped. It is time that we open our eyes to the worthlessness of these trips and rethink the way that we lay do missions.

The Strength in Pain

2008-12-02T11:11:00.002-06:00

If you have not checked it out please read this book.

Like a muscle that has been lifting the same amount of weight for months, our lives are never going to get stronger unless we push ourselves. Yes, it may have been hard to life that ten pound dumbbell five months ago, but now it no longer takes any effort. You did grow at the beginning, but when we become satisfied with lifting what we are then the muscle will never get stronger. In our lives the moment we reach a level of comfort we stop growing. When I got to college it was at first tough to adjust to this new way of life. But now after almost a full semester, I have found a nice level of comfort in college life. And that is exactly the worst thing I could do at the moment. When I am not growing I am almost moving backwards. The only way to get out of the normal things that I am used to doing, or that I can do easily is to push yourself. The world tells us to find our niche and stay in your comfortable life, because you worked hard for it. But in some way that is the same as reaching a level in lifting weights. I don't know any guy out there who says he thinks he can lift enough, but they always want to lift more. They worked hard to get where they were, so that now that they are here they can push themselves even more. But its not just so we can life more, it is so we are more effective in the way we live our lives. We are more healthy and stronger, which gives us so many more things we can do in life. The same is true with the way we push ourselves. When we push ourselves beyond the point we are at is when we open up so many more things in life. Take school for example. Some work hard to get "C's". They push themselves to get there, but when they become satisfied with that they never get higher. But the benefits of getting higher grades are numerous. Admission to college, or graduate school, just to name a couple.

Don't do things you are happy and comfortable with because that is when you are hurting yourself the most. Let us all aim to never reach a level where we are satisfied with where we are at.

Short but good

2008-12-02T11:09:00.001-06:00

An article worth checking out. The Wall Street Journal on short-term missions trips. Find it here....

Greatest and least.....

2008-11-15T00:36:00.003-06:00

For a while humility has seemed kind of ambiguous to me. Am I not right? This thought was provoked again the other day when in chapel D.A Carson spoke about Matthew 11:11. "Assuredly I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist: but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." The least in the kingdom is us! Jesus is saying that those in the family of God are greater than all the saints before Him. This makes us realize how special we really are. I mean we have the spirit of God with us at all times, and that is something that those before the 1st century did not have. And then other times we are dust, and ashes. We are fully depraved living a life that is but a vapor. Yet we are greater than Abraham and John the Baptist? How can I view my self properly when I don't whether I am the least or the greatest? Am I first or last? Wretched sinner, or redeemed saint? Surely we must be able to draw the line somewhere. I know that I am holy and righteousness in the sight of God, yet we are called to be humble servants.

I know that Jesus Christ is the Alpha and Omega, but what am I? I am what I am through and because of Jesus Christ. I boast in what Christ is in me, and not what i have without Christ.

On my own I am the least.....

Yet through Him, I am holy, righteousness, redeemed.....

I find myself in his majesty, Through Jesus Christ I am humble because of how great He is. Without Christ I am humble because I have nothing of my own to boast in ......

A must watch....

2008-10-30T15:01:00.000-05:00

www.braveheartedgospel.com/video-run

Obama

2008-10-27T22:21:00.002-05:00

Now i know this is a little off topic compared to what I usually write, but i felt it needed to be said.

Is anyone else tired of hearing about Obama? I am really starting to get sick of people talking about why Obama should not be president. "He's a socialist", "He's a Muslim" "He's not an American citizen"...and the list goes on. Everybody seems so set on proving Obama as an evil man, that they dont care to talk about McCain. They spend all their time saying why Obama should not be president that no one cares to defend McCain. Republicans are starting to hurt themselves because no one is saying McCain can do the job, they only say that Obama shouldn't or can't. It is time people started defending themselves instead of attacking the other person. Yes i know that is the way politics are always done, but some people are getting sick of it. After all of the anti-Obama notes and messages i have read i am almost more inclined to vote for him, or at least say something nice about him. Republicans need to realize that they are shooting themselves in the foot. People need to know why McCain should be president, not why Obama should'nt. For goodness sake, we talk more about Sarah Palin then we do about McCain! Whats up with that.
This is just a little bit of a frustrating that has surface recently, but feel free to tell me if I am way off line here.

A Lesson learned, a lesson understood...

2008-10-22T20:18:00.003-05:00

1 Peter 1:22-2:3

"22Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. 23For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24For,
"All men are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
25but the word of the Lord stands forever." And this is the word that was preached to you.

1 Peter 2

1Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3now that you have tasted that the Lord is good."

Again I am amazed at the depth of bible passages. What seems so confusing on the surface, becomes crystal clear with just a little work.

Before you read too much of what mortal man writes, read many times over what the our Holy God has written (aka the verses above).

Ok, now here is what I found in these verses. First make sure you don't just start in chapter 2, or you will miss all the context. The last few verses of chapter 1 tell us who he is talking to. He is talking to those who are "born again", and who have obeyed "the truth". So because we know he is talking to Christians what he says next we can hopefully apply to our own lives. He says now that you are believers look at the Word of God, and how amazing it is. It is eternal! But before we can get into the word we must rid ourselves of the things of this world. He compares us to babies in the faith just learning to eat what we crave, and that what we crave is the spiritual milk of the word of God so that we can grow in our salvation. Why do we grow, because we have tasted that the Lord is good.

Has the bible ever gotten stale? Hard to read? Not alive, but even boring? We have lost our craving for the spiritual milk that the bible is to us. And we have lost our craving for that because we are eating the things of this world. Malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander are filling us so we are no longer hungry for the "taste of God".

Ever go through the buffet line, and see all the sweet desserts first? Does the smell of the greasy burgers reach your nose before you reach the salad bar? We stop and fill our lives with the things that please the flesh before we go to the part the nourishes our bodies. The body longs for the things that look good and tasty, but deep down you know what you should eat, but we still splurge for that fried chicken.

But Peter is telling us we have to get rid of those fatty foods in our life! Forget it! Lose it! Never go back again! Look for the food that is eternal! Its time to taste that the Lord is good! And once we taste it, we will never want to go back to our old eating habits. When we stop feeding our lust, pride, envy, and anger, we can begin to taste the fruit of the spirit. We can drink in the word of God, and see how amazing it really is.

Prayer

2008-10-17T17:01:00.003-05:00

How do we pray in the hard times?
What can you do when your last resort of prayer seems to have failed?
Can prayer fail?
When no answer comes, and nothing changes how do we keep praying?
What makes us have the faith to keep going on? You are on the verge of tears and it feels like you are talking to a stone wall. Now what?
I lift up words, to what seems like empty skies. I pour out my heart on an alter that will never burn. I cry from the pain within yet the shallow world around never notices. My knees are calloused, my eyes heavy.
What does it all mean?
Is this nothing more than a show of faith in a faithless God?
Are all my thoughts and dreams lost on this one area that I really thought I believed?
What makes me think that I am right about anything?
How can I ever feel like these questions will have answers?
Answers and action seem like far away concepts. I would rather bottle up these words than allow them spill out and touch nothing. Yet whether they are verbalized or not, they are there.
And again I ask, who am I to know the answers to these questions?
Who am I to figure out these answer?
Who am I to think that I understand how prayer does or does not work?
Can I know the ways of The Almighty?

So to You, my God, I commit my spirit.....move at Your will.....

Expectations

2008-10-03T17:58:00.002-05:00

We all have expectations, lots of them. But what happens when our expectations fail or fall short. The main thing I am thinking of now it our economy. We are on the verge of a second depression, something the experts said would never happen again. This is far below our expectations for our country, because for so long we have always led the way when it comes to economic stability, but now we are struggling and people don't know how to handle it. And to tell you the truth I am excited about it. Not because i am unpatriotic, or because I don't like my money, but because believe in the power of a sovereign God. Yes, we need to be doing everything we can to get out of this semi-depression, but if or when we don't we get to watch God's power. We serve an almighty supernatural and sovereign God, who saw all of this coming. When we begin to understand how amazing that last sentence is (and I am not saying I do), it will change every bit of our lives.
I look at this struggle our nation is having as another opportunity that God has willed so that he can show his great power to us in a new way. Whether that means He is going to pull us out of this economic struggle in a remarkable way, or if we slowly crumble as a nation, I believe that God will be praised and glorified through it.
I would encourage you all to take this lesson to a personal level. And, I feel like I may be repeating myself, praise God in the hard times. If you are being pro-active in your Christian life, praise God because he has brought this time in our life as the best possible thing for you. We all must refuse to put God in a box and think that he does not have a perfect plan for this.
And the last thing I wanted to say is that hard times are another opportunity for us to ask God for the big things. A lot of times in life we get caught up in the small things in life, and praying about my sore throat or quiz tomorrow morning and we forget that while God loves every part of our lives, he is also an almighty powerful God who can do the big things we ask. So when you are put in the hard times (economic struggles, sickness, and death) we need to think of it as a chance to praise God, and praise God for the chance to ask big things of him that HE CAN DO!
"Lord may you work mightily in this land, and display your power in every way fitting that could bring you glory. Lord we wish to see you move like only you are able to."

Holy

2008-09-23T23:55:00.002-05:00

Sometimes I don't feel like getting real deep. I just want a truth that I can understand and run with, with out too much thought. I read a quote the other day "You can be as holy as you want to be". While I can't say that I agree with all of the implications of that statement, but taking it at face value can really give us some truth. One thing that God has really been convicting me of is holiness, and how much I have failed. The Old Testament says time and time again to "be holy for I am holy", but so often we do not emphasize holiness in our lives. My prayer recently has been "what can I do to be holy today", or at the end of the day reflect "what did I do that was not holy today". I would encourage those who read this to think deeper about those questions, because you then begin to think about what holiness really is, and while you may never really figure it out, it is a good pursuit. Seek daily how you might become a holy vessel to the Lord.