Created in Christ for Good Works

This video reminds me that it is easy to forget these things happen in our world and become numb or passive to it. Remember what the Lord has called us to:
"We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."
"in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works"
"those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works"
"let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful."
"as we have oppurtunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith."
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."

Let us walk as ambassadors for Christ. He was compassionate towards us, so let us be full of compassion towards others. He was gracious towards us, so let us be full of grace towards others. He loves us, so let us love others.

"open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die. Open your mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy."-- Proverbs 31:8-9

"Deliver those who are drawn toward death, and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, 'Surely we did not know this,' Does not He who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, does He not know it? And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?" ---Proverbs 24:11-12---- We cannot say we didn't know.

Soldier

This is Chris Murray. In this video he mentions obedience, discipline, and self-control. Something I enjoy about Murray is that he has a soldier-like mind-set (by the way, he's about to go to boot camp so it fits him). This is a good thing..."let us endure hardships as a good SOLDIER of Christ Jesus. No one engaged in warfare gets entangled with civilian pursuits that he might please Him who enlisted him as a SOLDIER"--2 Timothy 2:3-4. Soldiers understand that it will not be easy...so they learn to endure hardships. Too often we crumble and give up when it gets hard. "You must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God". Being a soldier is not just a feel-good-fest as many feel-good-preachers would have you believe...NO! You must fight! And it will get hard!

Am I a soldier of the cross? A follower of the Lamb? And shall I dare to own His cause or blush to speak His name?
Should I be carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease, while others fought to win the prize and sailed through bloody seas?
Are there no foes for me to face, shall I not stem the flood? Is this vile world a friend of grace to bring me on to God?
Sure I must fight, if I would reign. Increase my courage Lord. I'll bear the toil, endure the pain, supported by Thy word!

A soldier is not entangled in civilian pursuits! He is not entangled with the affairs of this life. His life is consumed with training and fighting, training and fighting, training and fighting. So he has no interest nor time for the things of this world.

In Philemon, Paul addresses Archippus as his "fellow soldier" (Philemon 2). Do we see ourselves this way? Are you training? Read the word, memorize the word, study the word! It will equip you to fight (2 Tim 3:16-17). Are you fighting? "Fight the good fight of faith"! Are you fighting well? "I do not fight as one beating the air"... so then, it is possible to fight badly. In other words, your fighting but your not landing your blows. "I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should become disqualified". Are you preaching the gospel? Are you making disciples? What I mean is: Are you making soldiers for Christ? Are you making soldiers for Christ who become equipped to make more soldiers for Christ? Lord,help us to fight!! Are you praying in the Spirit?---Ephesians 6:18 ( the context on this verse is war against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places). Are you pulling down strongholds, and casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of Christ (2 Cor 10:3-6)? Are you prepared for that? Lord, make us soldiers!

Pray for me, that I would be a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

PS: Satan, who hates you, wants to steal, kill, and destroy your ability to fight and your effectiveness in fighting. How could he be trying to do that in your life? Too busy? Not training? Light training? Depending on your flesh (usually revealed by a lack of prayer in my life)?

Lunch with Lemonier

This is my bro, Eli Lemonier.

Psalm 141:1,8---LORD, I cry out to You; Make haste to me!....In You I take refuge; Do not leave my soul destitute.

Psalm 84:1-2---My soul longs,yes, even faints for the courts of the Lord; My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

Psalm 63:1---My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You...

Isaiah 26:8-9---The desire of my soul is for Your name and for the remembrance of You. With my soul I have desired You in the night, Yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early...






Random video of Samuel...I absolutely love this little guy!!

Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart"--Jer 15:16

This is a video of a village in Malawi rejoicing because they have just received God's written word! "my tongue will sing of Your word, for all your commandments are right"--Psalm 119:172

Something similar happened to Ezra and the Israelites in Nehemiah 8:5-6, "Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people...when he opened it, all the people stood up. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. Then all the people answered, "Amen, Amen!" while lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground."
Wow...Is this your response to the living and powerful Word of God? Has it ever been? If not, test yourself: "He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God."--John 8:47
Or maybe you have loved and rejoiced over the Scripture of truth in the past, but that hunger for the truth has faded? Remember:
"The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward.

Christ, our Passover!

1 Cor 5:7---"...Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us." Our Passover? What does that mean? Exodus 12:13,23---"When I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you...When HE sees the blood the Lord will pass over and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses." Did you catch the meaning? The wrath of God abides on men...God will destroy men because of there sin (John 3:36). But if we have Christ as our passover Lamb, Who was sacrificed for us, taking the wrath from God that we deserve, we will be saved from death!!!
I like what Clay said about the snow. After snow falls, all you see is beautiful white. All the dirt is covered. "though your sins are like scarlet they shall be white as snow"---"These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." (Is 1:18, Rev 7:14) It is the blood of the Lamb that makes our sins white as snow.
"To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood"!!!! Praise God!!!

Also included: a little side lesson from Samuel to "to good and share for with such sacrifices the Lord is well pleased" Heb 13:16. I'm not sure he was a very cheerful giver though. =)

Brothers

Blaine...AKA BL (brother-n-law)...Love you bro, I'm praying that you would take up your cross daily (that means you die daily) and follow Jesus! Blaine's right..Proverbs 14:12 says that there is a way that seems right to a man but its end is the way of death. So what do I do with that? Truth: there will be things in my life that seem right to me, feel right to me, look right to me, sound right to me, but it only leads to death. So then I pray that we will all be like Jesus who was in the garden of Gethsemane, praying in agony, troubled, deeply distressed, exceedingly sorrowful, sweating great drops of blood, asking that, if it was His Father's will, that this cup would be taken from Him, NEVERTHELESS NOT MY WILL, BUT YOURS BE DONE. To Jesus this way (drinking the cup of His Father's wrath) did not seem good, did not feel good, did not look good, But He declares...NOT MY WILL, BUT YOURS BE DONE!! "Not unto us O Lord, not unto us, but to Your name be glory"!! Luke 22:41-44, Mark 14:32-36



Chase Watson..good word bro...Great to see God conforming you into the image of His Son!



Jake Crouch...my cousin-n-law...Hilarious!
This is an interesting song. Reminds me of a question: Are you ignorant of satan's schemes? (2 Cor 2:11).. The devil is here to steal, kill, and destroy (Jn 10:10). How is satan trying to do that in your life, your training, your witnessing, your marriage, etc.? Are you unaware of his schemes?

Study the Word

"Ezra set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach His statutes and rules in Israel" --Ezra 7:10. Study the Word about what we should be doing!

"The works of the Lord are great, studied by all who have pleasure in them."--Psalm 111:2. Study the word about who God is and all His greatness!

"The heart of the righteous studies how to answer"--Proverbs 15:28. Study the word to be able to give an answer.

We need God to change our hearts to desire and love His word. We need Him to work a hunger in us to study the Scriptures. BUT...if the desire is not there, what do you do? Disobey by ignoring His words? NO!! Persevere!! God is a rewarder of those who DILIGENTLY seek Him! "I will run the course of Your commandments for YOU shall enlarge my heart"

The gospel and a new baby

"shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace"--Eph 6:15. Be consumed by the gospel!! .






I got this one from Dustin Cook's blog (Burningforrevival.blogspot.com)

country music culture

Sorry for the bad visual.

Samuel likes snow

My son, Samuel, I love him so much!

"Come now let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow"

"Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow"

"As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. "

The Blizzard

This was an intense snowball fight between me, my wife Lydia (the one with the rocket arm), the Blizzard (also known as Jake Walker), and his fiance Kara "soon to be" Walker.

Jake and Kara have been a real joy to be around. I met Jake a little over a year ago....is that right Jake?....and soon after met Kara. We (me, lydia, jake, and kara) started meeting up once a week and studying the Scriptures on marriage and other related topics. One thing encouraging about them is that they really seem to be coming to God's word with a blank slate. What I mean is.....They are trying to come to God's word with no preconceived notions about marriage, being a husband, being a wife, children, money, etc.... " Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on you own understanding" (Prov 3:5) So then trust God, believe His word, and don't be led by your common sense. "the thoughts of man are futile, blessed is the man whom You instruct O lord" (Psalm 94:11). It has been said often that God gave us common sense and we should use it...But I disagree. God has said "don't lean on your own understanding" and "the thoughts of man are futile" If Gideon would have used common sense he would have never went to war with only 300 men. If Joshua would have used common sense he would have never walked around the walls of Jericho. If David would have used common sense he would have never faced off with Goliath. The 10 men who spied out the promised land did use there common sense and suffered the consequenses of missing out on the Lord's promise! The thoughts of man are useless!! Lord, instruct us...open our eyes to Your Word...help our unbelief!!

Jake and Kara: Keep seeking the Lord! "Send out Your light and Your truth, let them guide me."

First Blog

The fam!!