Making An Appeal

I have been considering what to write for the past few days and the toll working two jobs has just sort of left me flat. I have been considering posting some advice I left over at Serena’s blog a few weeks ago and I think I will do it now. One of the reasons I had not posted it here is context. The post was in reply to a woman who felt convicted that she should allow G_d determine the size of her family. The problem was that here husband was not on board. The other problem was that it seemed one sided in that it was advice to the ladies and not to men. But the more I thought about it the more I was convinced that there is some advice for the men on this subject as well. I will post it after the advice to the ladies.

"Justine,
You are in a very difficult situation. Family size is one of those blessings that G_d actually will let us determine to some degree. If we refuse to allow him to bless us in that way then He will honor that, but my question has always been why would we place a limit on G_d? On to your question on getting pregnant without your husband’s heart being in it. It most assuredly would be wrong. G_d has placed him as the head of the household and his decisions are final. The anger and mistrust that would happen if you put yourself in a position to deceive your husband about weather or not you would get pregnant would cause problems in your marriage. With that out of the way your submission to his authority does not mean you do not have options. First no method of birth control other than abstinence (not really an option) or either one of you being surgically sterilized is perfect. He needs to understand this because of the second part of my point.
First go ahead and surrender your will to G_d on family size. That means you personally are doing nothing to prevent conception. Then you make your choice known to your husband, lay out your case before him including scriptural references and any other information you can give him regarding your choice. Let him make the decision based on all of the evidence. If he is persuaded then hallelujah, if he is not let him know you will submit to his authority but it will be his responsibility to ensure that no more children are conceived. If he does not wish to do this then he will have to understand any time the two of you have marital relations then a child could be conceived because you have given your will on the subject to G_d.This is from a man’s perspective. Either way you have won because you have submitted your will and allowed G_d to work His will. If two children are all that will have rejoice in those two, If G_D works in your husband’s heart and he gives over his will as well then rejoice in the number of children you are blessed with whether it is one or twenty. He will provide the resources that you will need to provide for them."

This advice will work on any subject that a woman finds herself in attempting to follow G_d and submitting to her husband’s authority.

O.K. men, now for your part, if your wife comes to you and wishes to discuss something that has been laid on her heart and in convicted that this is the correct biblical way to go then you have an obligation to hear her out. Get all the evidence from her (if she has done her homework she will have it ready for you) let her know that her desire to follow G_d is important to you and prayerfully consider what she has said. If it will take more time to make a decision than during that conversation then let her know and keep her updated on your progress. Above all be a man and make a decision, do not keep her in limbo forever.

If after prayerfully considering your wife’s appeal your decision is contrary to your wife’s desire give her clear concise reasons backed up with biblical evidence to support your reasoning. Then it will be up to you follow what you have laid out. As in the above case you cannot force your wife to use contraceptives. The burden will be entirely upon your head because to cause your wife to willfully do anything to prevent a pregnancy on her part would be sin.

Although I will say that the vast majority of times that a wife will appeal to her husband in this way will be successful because a husband that follows the Lord will be able to see if what his wife is appealing to him about is from Yeshua.

Barnyard Welfare

Once upon a time, on a farm in Texas, there was a little red hen who scratched about the barnyard until she uncovered quite a few grains of wheat. She called all of her neighbors together and said, "If we plant this wheat, we shall have bread to eat. Who will help me plant it?"

"Not I," said the cow.

"Not I," said the duck.

"Not I," said the pig.

"Not I," said the goose.

"Then I will do it by myself," said the little red hen. And so she did. The wheat grew very tall and ripened into golden grain. "Who will help me reap my wheat?" asked the little red hen.

"Not I," said the duck.

"Out of my classification," said the pig.

"I'd lose my seniority," said the cow.

"I'd lose my unemployment compensation," said the goose.

"Then I will do it by myself," said the little red hen, and so she did.

At last it came time to bake the bread.

"Who will help me bake the bread! ?" asked the little red hen.

"That would be overtime for me," said the cow.

"I'd lose my welfare benefits," said the duck.

"I'm a dropout and never learned how," said the pig.

"If I'm to be the only helper, that's discrimination," said the goose.

"Then I will do it by myself," said the little red hen. She baked five loaves and held them up for all of her neighbors to see. They wanted some and, in fact, demanded a share. But the little red hen said, "No, I shall eat all five loaves."

"Excess profits!" cried the cow.

"Capitalist leech!" screamed the duck.

"I demand equal rights!" yelled the goose.

The pig just grunted in disdain.

And they all painted "Unfair!" picket signs and marched around and around the little red hen, shouting obscenities. Then a government agent came, he said to the little red hen, "You must not be so greedy." "But I earned the bread," said the little red hen. "Exactly," said the agent. "That is what makes our free enterprise system so wonderful. Anyone in the barnyard can earn as much as he wants. But under our modern government regulations, the productive workers must divide the fruits of their labor with those who are lazy and idle," And they all lived happily ever after, including the little red hen, who smiled and clucked, "I am grateful, for now I truly understand," But her neighbors became quite disappointed in her. She never again baked bread because she joined the "party" and got her bread free.

And all the Democrats smiled. 'Fairness' had been established. Individual initiative had died, but nobody noticed; perhaps no one cared.....as long as there was free bread that "the rich" were paying for.

I know this has been around a while, but Birdie got it in her e-mail from a friend and I felt like sharing it.

Be Carefull Who You Say Goodbye To

Patrick Mead came by and had something interesting to say concerning my post on the word etymology of “goodbye”.

“In Shakespeare's day it had already shortened to "God bye you" and appears in a few of his plays that way. BTW, when JW's or others who deny Jesus equality with God come to my doorpost, that is why I do not say "Goodbye" to them when we are done speaking. The scripture says not to bring the deniers into your home or wish them God speed.”
Patrick Mead

I went and read the verses he left me on the subject and I thought I would post a couple of versions here, plus some information on what Godspeed means.

9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:
11 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.
2 John 1: 9-11 KJV

9 Anyone who runs on ahead [of God] and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ [who is not content with what He taught] does not have God; but he who continues to live in the doctrine (teaching) of Christ [does have God], he has both the Father and the Son.
10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine [is disloyal to what Jesus Christ taught], do not receive him [do not accept him, do not welcome or admit him] into [your] house or bid him Godspeed or give him any encouragement.
11 For he who wishes him success [who encourages him, wishing him Godspeed] is a partaker in his evil doings
2 John 1: 9-11 Amplified

Godspeed
NOUN: Success or good fortune.
ETYMOLOGY: From Middle English God spede (you), may God prosper (you) : God, god; see god + spede, third person sing. present subjunctive of speden, to prosper (from Old English spdan, from spd, success; see speed).
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000

“In the modern world, speed has come to simply mean a rate of movement (e.g. high speed, miles per hour, meters per second etc.), but the English (derived from the Anglo-Saxon) origin of the word meant not velocity, but to thrive, or to prosper. The term God speed, used by some translations of the Holy Scriptures, is a contraction of the saying, "I wish that God may speed you," or in today's terminology, "I wish that God may bless you with success." Both specific uses of "God speed" found in the King James Version have nothing to do with physical motion.”
(Pulled off of a Church of Christ website)

I found What he had to say enlightening as I have never heard this before. What do you think?

NFL Picks Week 12

Ok, due to a brief interuption due to finacial problems I did not get last weeks picks in. As I did not start at the begining of the season, I will not hold it against myself.
At the end of week ten I was 10-4 for the week and 73-39 for the year with a percentage correct of 65.18 %.

Blue = win
Red = loss

Atlanta at Detroit: Atlanta
Denver at Dallas: Dallas :(
Baltimore at Cincinnati: Cincinnati
Carolina at Buffalo: Carolina
Chicago at Tampa Bay: Tampa Bay
Cleveland at Minnesota: Browns
New England at Kansas City: Kansas City
San Diego at Washington: San Diego
San Francisco at Tennessee: Tennessee
St. Louis at Houston: St. Louis
Jacksonville at Arizona: Jacksonville
Miami at Oakland: Oakland
Green Bay at Philadelphia: Green Bay
N.Y. Giants at Seattle: Seattle
New Orleans at N.Y. Jets: N.Y. Jets
Pittsburgh at Indianapolis: Indianapolis

Update:
So far at the end of Sunday I am 9-6. I sure hope Indy can pull out the win.

Update 2: 10-6 for the week.

Well the Colts did it again. Is there any team that can beat them now? Pittsburg was the team I thought had the best chance of doing so. The only other team I can see beating them is Denver, and the Colts will not face them in the regular season.

Going Through the Valley

Sometimes things get a little rough. Our money problems I think are in the low part of the valley right now. Due to the uncooperative nature of SBC my phone was cut off Friday afternoon, hence the reason for no posts over the weekend. I know things are getting on the upswing due to my new second job. I have the potential to add $1000 a month to our income. This will be enough to get us back on track, give us some much needed breathing room and have some savings for the harder times. Even and extra $ 500 a month would do us some good.

The phone was not that big of a need we still had my cell phone that could be used in an emergency, we just did not have access to our usual means of talking to the outside world. This was and is a little harder on Birdie as she does not get out much with us having only one car right now and we cannot afford for her to take me to work each day. To be honest I hope to be able to provide a “new” van for Birdie in the future with the money from my second job.

The bottom of the valley is a rough place to be, but I can see that we are on our way up the other side now and will be able to have our emergency fund and start paying all of our bills on time soon.

G_d Be With Ye

Birdie loves word etymology and she sent me something real neat.

"To show you a sample of how our basic language is rooted in Christianity, even the word "Goodbye" is a shortened form of "God Be With Ye," which was apparently slang of students at Harvard in the 1700's. It was so outrageous at the time that it got the attention of Congress, where speeches were made to try to force a vote to put a stop to it!"

Answers Part 2

Here are the answers to the second half of my questionnaire. Questions 6-9 are directly tied to my calling and of utmost importance to me.



5. What are the roles of the pastor and deacon within a local church body?

This is something I am still studying. My concepts could change as I study this, but I will answer to the best of my knowledge at this time. Initially the local congregations had a pastor or teacher or priest whatever you wish to call him. The problem he was swamped with everyone wanting him to do something for them. This was causing problems with the pastor’s ability to teach the scriptures, as he had no time to devote to study of the scriptures. The solution was the creation of the office of deacon. The deacons were to be the servant leaders of the local church body freeing the pastor to study and serve the church by teaching.


6. How do you see the different spiritual gifts mentioned within the Bible and are they still used today?

There are allot of spiritual gifts mentioned in the Bible. Each one has a purpose to further the goals and aims of Christ. Now the hard part is for people to grasp that they all are still in use today, this coming from a Southern Baptist point of view. The teaching that all the gifts are not used today because we have to Word is one that I cannot swallow.

7. In the Bible, Jesus mentions that those that follow Him will do the things He has done and greater things. What is your take on this?

This question is sort of a follow-up of question #6. And almost is not needed If I get a positive answer to that question. This is sort of a challenge to see if a pastor still believes in the supernatural workings of G_d and whether or not he believes they still happen today. As to my beliefs If you have read many of my posts you will know my position on this.

8. If you find a discrepancy between what the denominational convention says and what the Bible says, which is more important to you?

You would think that this would be a no-brainer type of question, but it is sad that many a pastor or preacher will not take the Word as the final authority in a matter. Many times I have had even lay people confess that one denomination’s teachings are more important than another’s, even if it sacrifices what the Bible say’s is true.
This question also has some meaning to me in my belief that each denomination is there for a purpose and that this understanding should be a uniting factor for the denominations.

9. Have you or has your church been through the “40 days of purpose”? Do you follow the teachings of Rick Warren?

This is question where the rubber meets the road. I have posted some on this already and the best place to read what I have to say on this is here.

10. What is your position on Biblical education? Do you think it is a requirement that a minister go through seminary or are alternative methods acceptable (such as mentoring)?

This question is mostly for my benefit and not an exclusionary question. I believe that there should be more than one method of obtaining a ministry status or gaining the education needed, mainly because each calling is different. The idea of seminary and Bible College is not a bad one and for many people a profitable route, but that is not the case for all people. I think that the more Biblical approach is one of mentoring, and has been illustrated on many occasions within the Bible. That is the path I am taking and I would like to know that a pastor supports that approach

Answers Part 1

Heidi asked what my answers to my questions for a pastor would be? I will answer the first five here and the second five in a new post.

1. Where do you stand on the inerrancy of scripture?

I belive that all Biblical scripture is the inspired, inerrent Word of G-d. To deny this is to make the sacrifice of Jesus meaningless and without need.

"All Scripture is breathed out by God"
2 Timothy 3:16.
"And now, O Lord God, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant."
2 Samuel 7:28
"God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?"
Numbers 23:9
"The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times."
Psalm 12:6
"Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him."
Proverbs 30:5

2. What do you believe concerning the blood of Christ?

The Bible teaches that blood is required for the remission of sins. This was demonstrated through the “perfect” animal sacrifices the Hebrews were required to perform. The problem was that as innocent as these animals were they were not enough to cover all of our sin. G_d knew this from the beginning but used it as a symbol to teach what was required.
G_d knew that only one sacrifice would be perfect enough to justify us to His righteousness. He had to sacrifice Himself for us and did so with His death upon the cross. The blood shed in His death is perfect enough to cover our sin so that He will not see it, but see His own perfection in us.

3. Who or what is the bride of Christ?

The bride of Christ is the people who have accepted Him and the sacrifice he has made for us. The bride consists of those who have chosen to give their lives to G_d, taken up their cross and died unto themselves so that they can be made acceptable in His eyes. It is not a building, place, creed, or specific denomination.

4. What is your take on corporate family worship? Do you allow well-behaved children in the sanctuary during services?

This is something relatively new to me (within the past two years). It is of utmost importance to Birdie. Basically this will give me an idea of the importance of family in that congregation. We have been at a number of churches that have real problems (have even asked in the bulletins to not have children in the service) with children being allowed in the service. I think that a provision for unruly or upset children, but it should involve a parent taking the child to another room and viewing the service via CCTV, basically the old concept of a crying room. No nurseries, children’s church, or separate youth groups. Church should not be about excluding people, but including all people regardless of age.

5. What are the roles of the pastor and deacon within a local church body?

This is something I am still studying. My concepts could change as I study this, but I will answer to the best of my knowledge at this time. Initially the local congregations had a pastor or teacher or priest whatever you wish to call him. The problem was he was swamped with everyone wanting him to do something for them. This was causing problems with the pastor’s ability to teach the scriptures, as he had no time to devote to study of the scriptures. The solution was the creation of the office of deacon. The deacons were to be the servant leaders of the local church body freeing the pastor to study and serve the church by teaching.

Back on-line

I got the old computer back up and running. Basicaly it took reloading Windows to fix the problem but it worked, and it seems to be a little bit more stable for now. I miss my XP computers, XP is a much better operating system than 98. I have one more thing to try with my laptop and then it is off to the manufacturer to get it fixed.

NFL Picks Week 10

12-2 Last week
63-35 total with a percentage of 64.29%

Blue = Win
Red = Loss

New England at Miami : New England
Minnesota at NY Giants : NY Giants
Baltimore at Jacksonville : Jacksonville
Houston at Indianapolis : Indianapolis
Arizona at Detroit : Detroit
San Francisco at Chicago : Chicago
Kansas City at Buffalo : Kansas City
Denver at Oakland : Denver
NY Jets at Carolina : Carolina
Washington at Tampa Bay : Washington
St. Louis at Seattle : Seattle
Green Bay at Atlanta : Atlanta
Cleveland at Pittsburgh : Pittsburgh
Dallas at Philadelphia : Dallas

Update:
As of Sunday night I am 9-4. We will see how the Boys look tomorrow.

Update: Monday 10-4

What a game! Dallas should have lost that one. But in the last 5 minutes the Boys pull a win out of the jaws of defeat. Monday Night Football is going to like Dallas at more of their games.

You Asked for it, You got IT

Joelle asks, “What is the importance of #9? Just curious.”

Joelle, you certainly know how to open a can of worms. I will try to make this as short as I can as I do not wish to get too deep into theological issues I am not yet prepared to battle. I have alluded to a cancer or if you will (as Jimmie puts it) a virus that is infecting the church and growing rapidly. I have mostly alluded to the “church growth movement” when I have talked about these things.

The ““40 Days of Purpose” program is part of the Purpose Driven Life and Purpose Driven Church teachings of Rick Warren. Rick in his teachings has introduced a marketing scheme to grow the “church” which totally denies the sacrificial atonement of Jesus and incorporates pop psychology, and elements of the New Age Movement. People are all too willing to buy into his teachings because they are all about building self-esteem and meeting “felt” needs. He plays a good game and on the very surface what he teaches looks good, but if you scratch the surface and truly look at what he teaches you will see the deception. He preys on the fact that people do not want to be told they are sinners and tickles their ears with what they want to hear.

So you can see why this question is so important, when a good portion of my ministry will be to be one of the instruments that G_d uses to warn His church of the enemy within. I need a home base that is not entrenched with the enemy.

I know there will be some people who read this and want to fight with me on this. I will not engage in any argument concerning Rick Warren at this time, as I am not ready. To be honest I am jumping the gun a little just mentioning it. I want to be able to logically and Biblically show the fallacies in Rick’s teachings and I have not been able to form all of those arguments yet.

Questions for a Pastor

I was asked if I was going to post my list of questions for a pastor. I got some very good advice from everybody. Here is my list as I have it now I may add to it in the future, but I think I can get the feel for a church and a pastor off of these questions.

1. Where do you stand on the inerrancy of scripture?

2. What do you believe concerning the blood of Christ?

3. Who or what is the bride of Christ?

4. What is your take on corporate family worship? Do you allow well-behaved children in the sanctuary during services?

5. What are the roles of the pastor and deacon within a local church body?

6. How do you see the different spiritual gifts mentioned within the Bible and are they still used today?

7. In the Bible, Jesus mentions that those that follow Him will do the things He has done and greater things. What is your take on this?

8. If you find a discrepancy between what the denominational convention says and what the Bible says, which is more important to you?

9. Have you or has your church been through the “40 days of purpose”? Do you follow the teachings of Rick Warren?

10. What is your position on Biblical education? Do you think it is a requirement that a minister go through seminary or are alternative methods acceptable (such as mentoring)?

Somehow it is Fitting

You scored as Maximus.

After his family was murdered by the evil emperor Commodus, the great Roman general Maximus went into hiding to avoid Commodus's assassins. He became a gladiator, hoping to dominate the colosseum in order to one day get the chance of killing Commodus. Maximus is valiant, courageous, and dedicated. He wants nothing more than the chance to avenge his family, but his temper often gets the better of him.

Maximus 67% Neo, the "One" 67% The Terminator 63% Batman, the Dark Knight 63% William Wallace 54% James Bond, Agent 007 50% Indiana Jones 42% Lara Croft 42% The Amazing Spider-Man 38% El Zorro 29% Captain Jack Sparrow 25% Which Action Hero Would You Be? v. 2.0 created with QuizFarm.com

Yeshua Provides

To say that the past month has been difficult for us financially speaking would be an understatement. As I have stated before, I work as a contractor doing quality control testing on medical instruments. Due to the year end slow down the contractors were asked to take some days off basically reducing my pay for the month by over $500. This on an already tight budget. We were able to scrimp and pinch pennies to the point of being able to pay our rent and have a little left over for food. The catch was that I could not pay the electric bill (other than rent my biggest bill). I was trusting Yeshua to provide the way to pay the bill. Rent and electricity are due at the same time ( I always end up paying electricity late due to it). TXU sent out a cut-off notice demanding payment in full for two months (standard practice for TXU) by the 14th I could not pay before the 16th. TXU would not budge on the date ( Have I mentioned I hate TXU?). After work last night (on my new second job) I went and talked to my landlord and told her what was going on and she told me not to worry about it, pay the electric bill and then pay her the rent on the 16th when I get paid (Have I mentioned I have a great landlord?) . :)

On to the other provision for us. Due to our budget problems Birdie and I discussed me getting a weekend job to help make ends meet. I have tried from time to time to do this with little success. I was about at the point of thinking I may have to do the unthinkable and get one of those fast food jobs. That still small voice told me to try one other place. I applied there and inside of a week I had a job. I started Friday. The cool thing is that once I am out of training I have the potential of making more per hour than my “day” job, as this is a consultive-sales position in the home improvement department at Sears.

NFL Picks Week 9

10-4 Last week
51-33 total with a percentage of 60.71%

Blue = Win
Red = Loss

Carolina at Tampa Bay : Carolina
Houston at Jacksonville : Jacksonville
Cincinnati at Baltimore : Cincinnati
Atlanta at Miami : Atlanta
Detroit at Minnesota : Detroit
San Diego at NY Jets : San Diego
Tennessee at Cleveland : Tennessee
Oakland at Kansas City : Kansas City
Seattle at Arizona : Seattle
Chicago at New Orleans : Chicago
NY Giants at San Francisco : NY Giants
Pittsburgh at Green Bay : Pittsburgh
Philadelphia at Washington : Washington
Indianapolis at New England : Indianapolis

Update: 12-2 for the week making me 63-35 total. My winning percentage is 64.29%.

Football note here: Ditto just will not believe me when I say the Colts are going to the Superbowl even after they just crushed their biggest rival. I am not sure what he has against the Colts, but they are the best team in football today.

A Biblical Education

I posted recently on being mentored and thought I might elaborate.

Since becoming a Christian I have questioned the requirement that a person must go to seminary or a Bible College in order to teach and preach about God’s Word. I had never seen a Biblical model that required a formal education to learn God’s Word. The closest thing I could think of was the older Levite priests training the younger priests but is not the same thing. I understand that the original intent of seminary was to be able to concentrate education in one place and have more than one student trained at a time, thus maximizing the teachers effectivness. There is nothing wrong with this, even Jesus taught eleven of the apostles not including Judas who killed himself. Paul did take some time to educate himself after his conversion, but it was not a formal education like he received as a pharisee. The most effective model I have seen is the one of the mentor and student. The model I think of most is Paul and Timothy.

So I am talking to G_d and asking him what I am to do now that I have surrendered to this calling, and I am told that He will send me a teacher. Shortly after that Birdie sends me an e-mail from one of he e-mail loops. The content of that e-mail was on part of a book that the author of the e-mail was writing on having Biblical world view. I get a small voice telling me to contact him. I wrote a long e-mail to him telling him my story, fully thinking that this guy is going to think I am a nut. He writes me back that night to tell me that he would be happy to mentor me, that he thinks the last place a person looking to preach the Word is in seminary,and that although being called to pastor a church by G_d and ordained by the Southern Baptist Church he is not currently pastoring a church and has been put in the unique position to be able to help me.

I shared this before, but I liked what he said about himself so I will share it with you again.
“I am reformed in my theology and extremely conservative theologically. I am irreverent, sarcastic and critical of almost all institutionalized Christianity. If it is not Biblical, I want nothing to do with it.”

His name is Jimmie Kersh. I have also found out that he has a blog as well. It is the first one on my blogroll.

Just Thinking

It has been a while since I posted anything new here partially because I have been studying, partially due to getting into a debate on Halloween over at Evil Squirrel’s blog. I spent way too much energy on a futile effort. (Just a note, never debate someone who will not even read the facts put before them.)

I want to thank all of you for your support and prayers that have been offered so far. Taking up this mantle has not been easy. I forget sometimes that people do not want to hear a message that asks them to step outside of themselves. It is real easy to forget when the people you normaly talk to agree with you. My little debate just reminded me that some people are more comfortable in their complacent skins. How quickly I forget that I was there recently myself. Pray that the Lord uses this to soften my heart and be more understanding of those who are not yet ready.

I also want to ask my readers a question. Due to my time as a Jonah I have not darkened the door of a church in a couple of years. I am being more and more convicted of my need to be involved in a church body for instruction and for fellowship. I also feel led to interview the pastor of any possible church I may join. In that light I would ask you if you were sitting face to face with a prospective pastor what is the most important question you would ask? I have a list almost completed and decided this would be an interesting exercise.