Christmas Presents

No doubt your probably thinking, "What is Nick talking about Christmas for?" Well, a while ago my pastor was saying why we give presents at Christmas time. I know some who don't do presents so they will keep their eyes on the real reason for Christmas. That is ok, but when we give presents, we are 'echoing' what God did for us. You see, what did God do on Christmas? He gave us a 'present', Jesus! Now, I'm not saying that that is what Christmas is for. It is about the birth of Christ. But I never knew why we gave presents.

-Nick

Slaves

We're all slaves! Some people don't like that fact, but we are. We're either slaves of the devil, (and our passions) or we're slaves to Christ. Romans 6:22 "But now that you have been set free from sin, and have become slaves to Christ..." So there you have it, right there. But here is the cool part, even though we are slaves to Christ; if we are truly in Christ, we will want to do his will, and obey His command.

Do we fail?... Well... yes, we do, but when we do, we: repent, ask for forgiveness, get back up, and keep going.
One of my favorite quotes says, "It's not about how hard you can hit, it's about how hard you can get hit, get up, and go on."-Rocky Balboa.

One last thing: Romans 6:16 says "...you are slaves to what you obey..."
So what or who do you obey?

All Christ,
~Kade

Responsilbility or Broken Necks

Yesterday, I was weed-whacking before I had to leave for the parenting class I help with. I usually work with kids or the sound system. Anyway, I left the whacker outside and it rained last night. When my parents asked me if I had put the whacker away, I respond with a few excuses. (Notice "FEW"). I was upset and angry about being corrected, and I "hardened my neck". Two minutes later, I was having a bible time with my family and talking about hardening our necks from Prov 29:1. Verse 1!!!! Right off the BAT!! Verse 1 says, "A man who hardens his neck after much reproof, will suddenly be broken beyond remedy." I later asked for forgiveness from my parents and siblings (for setting a bad example), and took responsibility for the weed-whacker.

For His Son's Glory,
-Kole

A little bit of Galations for You

Galations 6:1 "Brothers, if anyone is caught in transgression, you who are sipritual, restore him in a spirit of gentleness..."

Sometimes (a lot of times) I restore people; like my brothers, good... ah, but it's not in gentleness, it's like, "Hey, cut it out, what are you doing!..." Big oops.

Galations 6:3 "For if anyone thinks that he is something when he is nothing, he decives themselves, 4 but let each one examine his own own work, and then he will have reason for boasting."

Uh, I pretty much always think that I'm something, another oops. But when we see ourselves as nothing, then we can see God as much more. And I'd rather see somebody who is really something.

~Kade
p.s. Hey, guys, help me out: It says in Gal. 6:4 "... Then he will have reason for boasting..." What does that mean? Does it mean that if we examine ourselves we'll have reason for boasting, what?
(thoughts?)

Six Flags

"Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth." Have you ever boasted about what you will be doing the following day? I haven't. =) Yea right, we all have at some point. I know some people (including myself), who boast about what they'll be doing in three months!! I remember when it was my 9Th or 10Th birthday, and I was going to go with someone to Six Flags Magic-Mountain, when I was living in California. I know I was boasting. It would have been the first time I went there. However, something came up (I don't remember what) and we had to reschedule. It got pushed back a few times and I never went to Six Flags. I actually went to Disneyland and had a blast! Just wanted to share real quick.

All For The Glory of Christ,
-Kole

Like a Dog

Tonight I have some stuff going on, so I'm pretty busy, but I wanted to share this quickly. Proverbs 25:11 says, "Like a dog that returns to his vomit, is a fool who repeats his folly." That is pretty graphic. Very vivid. If we return to our foolishness, we will be like a dog that returns to its vomit. (I like that)

Do Hard Things,
-Kole

P.S. Also, watch others and remind them of this.

What to call it???

I don't know what to call what I'm about to write. I find it hard to think of a name for this one. Actually, I'm stunned. I was reading that Ancient Wisdom book, and what he was talking about just really convicted me. He asked, "What do you get upset about?" He categorized what the main things people get upset about, and there were three levels.

The first level, is people who get upset when they're ignored. That puts me out of the race. I get really upset when people ignore me. You may not see that I'm upset but I probably am.

The second level, is people who get upset when their insulted. I can still work on this one, but I don't blow if someone insults me.

And the third level, is people who get upset when their harmed either physical, financial, or emotional. Financially I'm in debt already so that one I don't really have a problem with, but physically and emotionally I'll get squeezed.

We may think it's alright to blow-up when these things happen to us, but let me ask you, What did Jesus go through before the cross? He was spat on... He was beat... He was whipped... He was lied about... He was mocked... And He was silent. Why? Was it because he didn't have a defence? He did it to fulfill prophecy. Read Isaiah 53:7. This is amazing, read 1 Peter 2:23. It says, "And while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who Judges righteously." Amazing

For His Son's Glory,
-Kole

Easter

He is risen! (Say it with me) He is risen indeed!

Christ who knew no sin, became sin for us. He died on the cross to save us... but that isn't really
what we celebrate on Easter (I mean, we should be celebrating that every day, but for Easter...). We celebrate that Christ rose from the dead!

I love what Pastor said in his message; "In the old testament it never said that God was the "God of peace"... because they had to made sacrifices! (Hebrews: for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to satisfy God). But when Jesus died on the cross, it was the perfect sacrifice! And it satisfied the wrath of God! And now we can draw near to God. Amazing! He is risen! (Come on) He is risen indeed! :D

All Christ,
~Kade

When was the last time you...

When was the last time you were running and hiding for your life? Or at least from something bad? I run and hide for my life everyday! (or at least I should be) Let me explain why. Prov 22:3 says, "The prudent sees the evil and hides himself, but the naive go on, and are punished for it." Now when I read this I thought, ' This is not like a little game of hide and seek, and if your found, you're it. This is like running and hiding for your life!' Sometimes I'll be talking with a group of people, and I know the conversation is not heading in the right direction, and I stay right there and listen...Why?... I need to say, "Sorry, I gotta do something," or, "Wait, we probably shouldn't be talking like this." And if they insist, insist even more than they are insisting. And if they still wouldn't let up, just walk away. But we (I) need to be prudent and hide. Every time we give in, it fries our conscience. And if our conscience keeps getting fried, and we become numb to evil. That's why I say run for your life!!

For His Son's Glory,
-Kole

Jesus

I was thinking about what it would have been like for the Jews when Jesus came to Earth. In the Bible it says that a lot of them did not believe that He was the true King. When I read that, I think, "Come on guys! Believe in Him, He is God!!!" Well, what if Jesus waited till now to come back, or if I was alive back when He did? If He came to me this day and said, "I am God, follow Me," I probably would have thought He was a really odd person! So intead of looking at the people who didn't follow Him, I think of those who chose to follow Him. I probably wouldn't have been one of those who followed Him unless He did some sort of miracle that would have made me see that He was really God.

-Nick

Get Wisdom (cont.)

Do you remember a few days ago that I did a post on getting wisdom? Well, I did a little more research, and I found out that there are three words used in Hebrew that translate into our English word "fool". The word "eviyl" is used nineteen times in the book of Proverbs, and it means "one who's been acting like an idiot for quite some time." That's another way we can know if we are a fool. We have to ask ourselves, "Do we keep on falling into the same foolish things?"

Also, another way we can tell is by watching ourselves in a conversation. If you are talk, talk, talk, talk....you know there's a problem. Read Proverbs 15:32 and Proverbs 12:15. I know I talk too much sometimes. We need to make sure we are listening.

For His Son's Glory,
-Kole

P.S. Kade and I will be out of town tomorrow, so we probably won't be able to post. But I'll try to post on Saturday, so look late that night.

The Power of God

I don't know if you have heard of the flooding in Arkansas and Missouri, but I am currently at my grandparents who live right where the Buffalo and White Rivers join together. Well, the river has risen about 40 or so feet here, (according to local knowledge). Just watching the river and seeing massive trees uprooted and carried downstream, it reminds me of the power of God. I can't explain it, but it is just such an awsome sight to see.. at a safe distance. I am suprised that there are a few of theses trees still standing. I never understood why we should fear God, but now I can see why! My pastor was teaching one Sunday that there are two ways of coming to God, by Mount Zion, or Mount Sinai (Zion being peacefully (saved) and Sinai being dangerously (unsaved)). Today was definitly a Sinai experience!

-Nick

G.i.G.o.

Matthew 12:34 "Out of the heart the mouth speaks."

So you're probably wondering what g.i.g.o. means, uh? Well, in my family it means "Garbage in Garbage out." What is in our hearts will flow from our mouths. Sometimes when we confront somebody about what they're doing, they'll say "Man, you're just judging me on the outside!" That's right, we are! But what is on the outside reveals what is going on in the inside! If Christ has made a change in us, there will be a change in what we do and what we say; that's the only way that we will ever get rid of the "garbage."

I recall one of my favorite hymns that says "Create in me a clean heart, O God..." And that should be our prayer, because if there's fresh, Nestle Pure Life water, (my Dad works for Nestle)then that's what will come out of our mouths!

All for the glory of God,
~Kade

p.s. the g.i.g.o. is pronounced like g.i.j.o. nice, i know:)

Excuses and Blame-shifting

Why do we make up excuses and blame shift the responsibility on someone else? It may be because we don't want to get in trouble. Or maybe it's because it really wasn't our fault. Regardless, I think the main reason is because of PRIDE. We don't want people to think badly of us, or we think that we would be too responsible to make that mistake. We think ourselves to be better then we should.

So if the problem is pride, what is the solution? The solution is being humble and confessing our transgressions. One way to be humble, is having a right view of God; so that we have a right view of Man and with it our total depravity and need for Him.

Proverbs 28:13 says, "He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, But he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion."

Hebrews 12:1-2 says, "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entraps us (let's say the sin it's talking about is pride), and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Christ, the author and perfecter of faith." We'll stop there. This passage tells us the way to run this race in life is to fix our eyes on Christ. I encourage you, today, to fix your eyes on Christ, and lay aside every encumbrance.

-Kole

Discipline...LOVE IT!!!

I don't enjoy being disciplined. I know I should, but I don't. But today I read Hebrews 12:5-11, and I thought, 'If I am being disciplined that I am one of God's sons. It says in verse 8, "But if you are without discipline, of which you have all become partakers, then you are not legitimate children and not sons." If we are straying from the path of righteousness, and we are one of God's sons, He will discipline us and bring us back. And the end of verse 10 says, "but He disciplines us for our GOOD, so that we might we may share His holiness." That we might share in HIS holiness. Right after that it says, "All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness." It may not seem like that much fun to be disciplined at the moment it's happening, but it will yield the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

-Kole

Get Wisdom

Today, I started reading a book I got a little while ago, and I wanted to post on it. The one thing that the Proverbs makes clear is that you need wisdom. Read Proverbs 4:7. Also, it can't be the 'world's wisdom' which is foolishness, to GOD. Read 1 Corinthians 3:19. Also, there is a difference between wisdom and knowledge. Knowledge is just knowing things. Wisdom is doing things. All true wisdom comes from God, and it's not anything of your doing that got you that wisdom. The author of the book says this, "Wisdom is the best choice with the best result in every situation.

-Kole

Rising to the Occasion

Sometimes, God gives us challenges in our lives and every time He does, it gives us the chance to "rise to the occasion." To show Christ in our lives. Can we do anything for our salvation? No. But we can please God by doing what He has told us to do... and if we do them, we are rising to the occasion.

There's that little saying "W.W.J.D?" That is what we should think when trials come in our lives, what would Jesus do?

Why does God give us trials, you ask? Well, maybe it is for this very reason! To see if we will "rise to the occasion," so people would see Christ through us, in these trials!
We will never really know why God does everything that He does, but that's just need to live by faith!

All for the glory of God,
~Kade

P.S. Kole will post later.

Obedience- is better than Sacrifice

Proverbs 21:3 "To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice."

Let me tell you a little story:
Gutenberg grew up trying to make a printing press, and eventually he did. (He was the inventor of it) He start printing books. Then he started to print... the Bible. Was that good of him to do? Of course! But there was one little problem... He went into debt doing it. He kept borrowing money over and over again, and because he couldn't pay his taxes... he went bankrupt!

So Gutenberg, instead of doing what he was told to do in the Bible (when Jesus says " ...give to Cesar what is Cesar's..."(pay your taxes) He wanted to do something that God had not told him to do. He did want to do something great for God, but...

God is more pleased with us obeying Him, than He is with us trying to please God with our own works. God is pleased with sacrifice, obviously, because it's written "...is more acceptable to the Lord..." So, first, obedience then sacrifice.

All for the glory of God,
~Kade

The Solid Rock

When He shall come with trumpet sound,
O may I then in Him be found

On Sunday, we sung “Solid Rock” at the nursing home. When we sang that line, I sang it out as a prayer to God. It reminded me of a dream I had awhile back—in my dream, I was at church, and suddenly the world collapsed as the rapture took place, and I was taken up to heaven as I wiped my forehead and thought, “whew, now I’m sure I’m saved.”

God has given His children assurance of salvation. We as believers can know that we are saved, as God has sealed us with His Spirit. But that doesn’t mean that we will never doubt, or that we should never examine our hearts to be sure of salvation. After I dreamt that dream I thought, “I should examine myself so that I don’t have to wait until the rapture to find out whether I’m saved.” I’ve examined my life before, but it’s not a one-time event. Christians should constantly be examining their souls.

Anyways, while I was singing this line and remembering this dream, I made the song a prayer to God. First, that I would be examining my life so that I would not fall into sin. I don’t even want to begin backsliding. Second, I prayed that I would never fall into sin to the extent that I lose the assurance of my salvation. Finally, I prayed that whatever circumstance I’m in when Christ returns—I pray that my spiritual state at that time would be godly, not sinful or apostate (fallen away).

On top of that, I decided that I should always be listening for the blowing of the trumpet. I want to be listening for God at all times (if I’m always listening, I will not lose track of my purpose in Christ), both physically and spiritually (the Holy Spirit and the Bible).

So examine your heart, pray that “when He shall come with trumpet sound,” you may “in Him be found,” and finally be listening for God—listen for the trumpet, and listen for the Holy Spirit within you.
Luke

The Ultimate Sacrifice

What was the ultimate sacrifice? Well, just think... In Hebrews, all the Israelites had to offer up sacrifices, but not just once, they had to do it a lot! Heb.10:4 "For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin." This wasn't enough guys, we needed Jesus to die on the cross! The sacrifices just covered the sin.

Heb. 10:10 "By this we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all!"
~That's Awesome! Do I hear an amen?

When Jesus came into the world, He took all the sin onto Himself. This was the "Ultimate Sacrifice" that satisfied the justice of God. God is just (if He wasn't, He wouldn't be God). He will not let the evil go unpunished. But when Christ died, He took all our sin, so that we are made righteous in the sight of God! (Justification). So if Jesus didn't die on the cross, we'd either be dead in hell... or still making sacrifices!:)

All for the glory of God,
~Kade

How to of the Day: How To Be Wise

Today I wanted to post on a Proverb, and the Poverb that stood out to me was verse 20 in chapter 13. It says, "He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm."

I know some people who are not that bright. If you are reading this blog you can be sure you aren't one of them. Altough it might be "fun" sometimes to be around these people, we need to walk with the wise if we want to be wise.

To everyone who walks with Christ,
-Kole

Greed and Discontentment

Today I read a story in my christian literature book, and I was able to pull this principle from the story. The story goes like this, "Once upon a time, there was a man who had moved from land to land because he was never satisfied with the land he had. One day while sitting with a guest, he heard of a group of people who would sell him all the land that he could walk in a day. He reached an agreement whit these people, and set out the next day walking out the land. He would get all the land he walked that day if he reached the starting point before sun down, or the money was forfeit. As he walked he saw good land, and he walked the land. When he turned the last corner he saw he wouldn't make it if he didn't run. He ran as fast as he could and he reached the starting point right before the sun, but he fell down and died from exhaustion. It turned out after running that day that all he needed was six feet to be buried in."

In Phil. 4:11 Paul says, "Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am in." This man didn't learn to be content early on and therefore was discontent all his life. I hope that we all learn to be content with where we are and who we are, because we have Christ and He is all we need.

To everyone who struggles with discontentment,

-Kole

Work... Good?

Work is good? Well, as a teen... I don't really like to work. I mean, I do it a lot, and sometimes it's fun, but over all I don't like to work. Why is that, is it because I'm lazy? uhh... yeah... I'm a little lazy... ask my parents. Sometimes I don't like to work because it's hard or I'd rather do something else. When I do like to work, it's because I'm serving someone, earning money, or it could be that I just don't like things to be dirty. Whatever.

Psalm 128:2 "For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands; happy thou shalt be, and well it shall be with thee."

"Whether you eat, drink or work, do all to the glory of God." Well, it doesn't actually go like that, but it does say all things, and that means work! So not only should we work, but we should do it unto the Lord!

All for the glory of God,
~Kade

Lips, Lips, Lips

Let's put you in a situation. You are with a friend. You meet some of your other "friends" and they ask you and your friend to come with them to watch a movie at the movie theater. Now these "friends" who have asked you to come with them, you know to not be very discerning, or responsible. You know they have watched some bad movies, but they say this one is alright and it's "only" rated PG-13. You ask for a moment and you ask your friend what he thinks. Now your friend is the exact opposite of your other "friends". He is very responsible and discerning. He tells you he thinks we should say "no" and go over to his house and memorize verses from 2 Peter. You know your friend is probably right, but you want to impress some of the guys (or girls) who are there, by doing what they do. What do you do?



It may not seem like a very hard choice, but if you were in that situation you would feel some heat.

Proverbs 10:32 says, "The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked what is perverse." Your friend knows what is acceptable (if he is righteous). Your other friends only know perverse things. I've been in these situations before as you probably have also. What matters is what decision you make.

-Kole

P.S. I will try to post again today, so look back tonight.
P.P.S. Leeland came out with their new CD last Tuesday and you can listen to it for free by going to their website and clicking "listen to Opposite Way". They'll ask you a few questions, like what state you live in; don't worry about answering those questions.

Priestly Service

What do you consider yourself? Hopefully for most of you it is a Christian, right? Well, today during the morning service my pastor was in Hebrews 13:15. It says that we are called to offer ourselves up as priests of God. Along with offering up ourselves we are also called to offer up our service. The Leviticle priests weren't just priests on a certain day, but every minute of the day!! Hebrews 13:15 (a) reads, "Through Him, then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God." That tells us that we must praise Him in everything, not just the good times or the bad times. There are three elements of priestly service; 1) Continual, meaning we shouldn't just be priests to God for a few minutes a day. 2) Consisting in Praise, meaning that we must praise God with enthusiasm. We should also praise God as much as we pray. 3)Confession, meaning we are called to share our knowledge of God to others. Now of course there are plenty of other priestly elements, but those are just a few.

-Nick

Dazzled and Delighted

We need to be delighted and dazzled with Christ every day. There is so much about Christ, that we will never completely know about Him. We're all "worshipers" we like to worship people (like sports stars, singers, etc.) But we need to be worshiping Christ! If we're not, maybe it's that we have other things in our life that are "more important" (to us at that time). The word we use... idols.

So do we get rid of these idols... No! We don't. We could try, but all that will happen is it will be replaced with other idols! What we need to do is "turn our focus on Christ, so that everything else becomes garbage!" Phil. 3:8

All for the glory of God,
~Kade

The Common and Effectual Calling

Romans 1:18-21 "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness… For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them… For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world. So they are without excuse."

So what this means is that God is shown to all man, through His creation, in what He has made! From the beauty of creation, we see God! It’s amazing! But that means that everybody is without excuse. So if a person dies and stands before God (and he isn’t a believer) he will be without excuse.

People are bad, and nobody would ever come to God on their own, but thankfully, not only does God gives us the gospel, but then drags us to Himself.

And this moves us into Effectual Calling. If anybody really wanted to know about God and believe Him, it is only because God put that want there. Before the world, God predestined all those would believe in Him, this means that God planned out everything that would happen, and the lives of those who would believe. So is the gospel for everybody? Yes, but only those who are Called (His Elect) will believe in Him.

Some people say that this is unfair of God, and ask "why doesn’t God just make Himself open to everyone?" But that’s not what we should say, what we should say is, "God thank you for choosing some to believe and didn’t send us all to hell."

This is all for God’s glory… God does everything for His own glory! And you know what, I’m glad that he does... or else I’d be burning in hell. Our God is wonderful!

~Kade

How much do we need God?

I haven’t posted in awhile, but I’ve had something to say—I just keep forgetting or neglecting to share it with you. But I finally thought about it and did something about it, and here it is!

I was thinking the other day about how much we need Christ. I was reading in a book that spoke about how the grace needed to save and sustain a sinner (a sinner who is one of the elect of God) is incredibly great. But not only does God do that for one day for one sinner, but for all eternity, every day, all the time, for all the millions that He chose to save.

And then I realized that I needed so much from God. Not only did I need that abundant, huge amount of grace daily, but I also needed Him to put it on me. When I thought of the grace of God as an incredible rainstorm on a parched desert (with me in it), I realized that even though I was parched and thirsty—I, on my own, would never open my mouth to receive God’s grace. Not only do I need Christ to give grace, but I also need him to open my mouth to receive His gift.

I also applied that to the Armor of God. He’s given me the belt of truth, the sword of the Spirit, the helmet of salvation, and all the other parts of the armor, but I need Him to go beyond giving them to me—I don’t know how to equip them. God alone can equip me with my armor. I am a helpless, unprepared soldier without armor until God both gives me the armor and equips it for me.

So pray that God would open your mouth to receive His blessings, His will, and His calling, and that daily He would equip you with all that you need to serve Him well.

Luke

Blog Pictures

Last Sunday, we all took pictures at the church and we posted one of those on our "about us" thing, at the side. Anyway, we wanted to share these pictures with you, so here they are!I told everyone to look serious in this picture. Do we look serious? ^

Everyone was supposed to have slight smile, and we thought this was the best-respectful picture. This is the one we have on our profile. ^

I told everyone to make it look as though we were just told a really funny joke. Remember this photo for later. ^

Nick thought he should be the funny part of this slight smile picture. ^

This picture was the beginning of the end. I have no clue what Nick and I are doing in this one. ^

Everyone thought I ruined this picture (that's me in the front). I don't look too bad do I? :) ^

This was the first picture we took on the stairs. The next is hilarious! ^

OK, remember that photo I told you to remember. Well, at this point, everyone was sick of me telling them what kind of expression to have for the picture. I told everyone to make this picture seem like they heard another really funny joke. While everyone was holding these lame smiles waiting for the timer to count down, Luke (back-row right) said, "I'm funny!" Right after he said that, he pushed me with his foot, and I fell right on top of Nick. Everyone was laughing, and you might be able to see that I never made it back to my spot before the picture took. ^

This one was also really funny! We were sitting in the 4-10 age Sunday school area, and I started the timer for this picture and went to my seat to sit down. Right before the picture was about to take, there was this lamb right where I was going to sit. I grabed it, threw it and it hit one wall, hit another wall and hit this white board which fell over and hit the camera!! The camera started falling and Kade and I got up to grab it. As you can see everyone thought it was funny, and it would have been a great picture if Nick had been in it. It's not his fault. ^

This is Luke teaching us about...uhh... sorry Luke, I didn't pay enough attention. ^

Later,

Life Savior,

Luke, Nick, Kade, And Myself

A Living Sacrifice

Romans 12:1 "I appeal to you, brothers, to present bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."

So how do we do this, how can we "present our bodies as a living sacrifice"?
Well, when we are saved we are living sacrifices! So there you go... get saved! Because when we are saved our wills are conformed to God's will. So we want what God wants. Romans 12:2 "...that you may discern what is the will of God..."
But there is only one little problem... We are still in the flesh... so our wills have changed, but the flesh still wants sin. But thankfully, we will not always be like this, because of Glorification (where God gives us glorified bodies). This also ties in with Sanctification. Because Sanctification is "God, making us more like His Son, in our inner man." So Glorification-outer man, Sanctification-inner man.

All for the glory of God,
~Kade

Our High Priest

Last Sunday we had Communion at our church, and we have the men (or in this case, young men) share something for Scripture before we partook of Communion. I found something that I wanted to share and after being encouraged by my dad and mom, I stood up and shared this. Hebrews 4:14-16 says, "Therefore, since we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may find Mercy and find grace to help in time of need." These verses tell us of two personal benefits that people who have trusted in Christ have. First, We have someone who can "sympathize with our weaknesses" because He "has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin". And two, we can "come come confidently to the throne of grace," because God knows our need.

Grace, Mercy, and Peace, From God the Father & Christ Jesus our Lord,
-Kole

A song from my favorite group, Casting Crowns, says that when you are sharing the gospel with someone not to strap yourself to it. What? I take it to mean if you are an unbeliever and a christian comes up to you and says you need to come to Christ, you are more likely to do that than if a christian comes up to you and says you need to come to Christ and a ton of other things that you will have to stop. They will think it is to hard to live for God. In other words, tell someone about the Bible, but don't add your denomination, translation of the Bible, the clothes you wear, and so on.

-Nick

Hebrews 3:13

"But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "today", so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." I just wanted to ask you "if and how" this blog has encouraged you. If you would, leave a comment below this post and please share some ways it has encouraged you, so that we and other readers might be encouraged. Also, I know how encouraging it is to receive a comment after a post. That way we know that people are interested in what we're saying. If you want to say ANYTHING, go ahead and comment! And it says, "as long as it is called 'today'." Now, I don't know (and I don't think) that this blog is going to be kept up forever. But we will try to keep this blog up for as long as we can. We hope this blog is encouraging to you. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 says, "Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing."

Your Brothers in Christ,

-Life Savior
(Luke, Nick, Kade, and Kole)
-Kole

God's Sovereign Choice

Romans 9:13 "As it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! For He says to Moses"I will have mercy on on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."

Amazing!

We call this Election. This is where God, before the world, chose those that would be His. The question is not "God, why don't you save so-and-so," the question is "God, why did you save me?"

Everything and everyone brings God glory, even the "evil on the Judgment Day."

(This is going to sound wrong, but stay with me, it's great!)
Lets say that you were a women. And a man was courting you, and he said "I love you, you're the one I'm going to marry." Or what if he said "I'm going to make myself open to anybody, and if you will love me, I'll love you." Which one would you prefer? uh... the first. And it's the same way with God! Before the world He said "I love you, you're the one I'm going to save." He didn't just make Himself open to anyone. It's amazing! And it brings God glory.

We'll never know why God chose to save us... and that brings Him glory.

I think this is one of the most glorious things about God.

All for the glory of God,
~Kade

The Preeimence of the Gospel (part 5)

Hey guys, it is a little hard for me to type because I burnt my hand on a crock-pot. It left a big air bubble on the finger I was touching it with. It sounds gross, right? Anyway here's part five, and hopefully the last, of The Preeminence of the Gospel by Paul Washer. It's pretty long so I would read some today and them some tomorrow. Here it is:

We ended last time with this, "It sent we into such confusion, wondering, "Upon what should I set myself? What can I know with certainty and preach with boldness?" And I decided that I would set myself upon one thing. Learning the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

This is part five. PW: "And for years I've dedicated myself to that one thing. And I know less now than I knew when I began. Not because it cannot be known, but because it CAN BE KNOWN, BUT IT IS SO GREAT!! Me painting a picture of Jesus Christ for you, what chance is there? There is a greater chance that your dog would paint the "Water Lilies" again with his paw. Who can paint this picture? Who can proclaim this message? I remember once, in a moment of fleshly praying I cried out to the Lord and I said, "OH GOD, IF YOU WOULD GRANT ME THIS ONE THING, ON THAT ONE DAY WHEN I STAND BEFORE YOU; PERFECTED IN YOUR HOLINESS AND YOUR GLORY IF YOU WOULD JUST LET ME, ONE TIME, STAND UP AND PREACH CHIRST AND THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST AS IT AUGHT TO BE PREACHED!!! And a sound rebuke came, "Son, even then you will not my son as he ought to be preached!"

PW: Now I want us to go to Galatians for a moment. Chapter 1 verse 6. "I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting him Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel." My friend, I want you to know, we have a lot of gospels floating around in our conservative Bible believing churches in America. A lot of different gospels that are as damaging and as dangerous as any cult out there. Look what we've done. Pray this prayer. No discernment. Is there a working of God? No discernment. Is there repentance working in the heart? Has faith been born? No discernment. Pray this prayer. No preaching. Pray this prayer. AND IT'S ALL OVER. IT IS ALL OVER, AND THAT IS WHY SO MANY PEOPLE THAT ARE CONVERTED IN OUR REVIVALS AND OUR CHURCH SERVICES NEVER COME TO CHURCH. AND THAT IS WHY THOSSE THAT DO, MANY OF THEM ARE JUST AS CARNEL AS WHEN THEY DID NOT COME.

Paul Washer: "Paul says in verse 7, "Which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the Gospel of Jesus Christ." There are many who want to distort the Gospel of Jesus Christ, beginning with the slanderer, himself. If there is one message Satan desires to distort, it is the Gospel, because the Gospel is the foundation. It is our foundation. It is the foundation of Christianity. The acropolis of our faith. DISTORT THAT ONE THING, REMOVE THAT ONE CORNERSTONE AND THE ENTIER BUILDING COMES DOWN!!! And you say, "Well the building hasn't come down." It will. And when it does according to the prophet Ezekiel, then men will ask, "Where was that wall you built?" If persecution where to come to this country tomorrow, you would see the churches the big movers and shakers, throughout this country empty out so quickly it would make your head swim. Because Church has become more like a mall, than a place to worship the Lord and learn from him. MEET OUR NEEDS AND WE'LL COME!! COME IF YOU WANT TO BE A DECIPLE, OR DO NOT COME AT ALL!

PW: "Now he says, verse 8, " But even if we, or any angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, of any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!" Now my dear friend, I want you to take note. The Jew, when he wanted the emphasize something, would use something we call a parallelism, Hebrew parallelism. I'll make one up for you. "The wicked shall not live in the land; the wicked shall be destroyed." Sounds a lot like Proverbs doesn't it? What is he doing well he's saying the same thing twice with a little bit of a different twist. Well why would he do that? That's the way they give great emphasize. That's why it says in the Bible God is Holy, Holy, Holy. And from that you can take the foundational attribute of God, if you can say such a thing, would be his holiness. It never says in the Bible God is nice, nice, nice. It never says that He is merciful, merciful, merciful; but it does say he is holy, holy, holy. And Paul repeats himself here, WHY?! TO GIVE EMPIAHSISE. TO UNDERLINE. IT'S TO SCREAM IT OUT, "YOU PREACH ANOTHER GOSPEL, YOU ARE ACURSED OF GOD!! I always tell people before I go preach at a visiting church I say, "Now, listen to me. There are two things gong on here that are quite dangerous. It is dangerous to preach. Because if I preach to you a message that is not according to the word of God, it is a dangerous, terrible dangerous thing for me. AND IF I PREACH A MESSAGE THAT IS ACORRDING TO THE WORD OF GOD, it is a terrible dangerous thing for you. Because you will be held accountable on the day of judgement when you stand before Him. Preaching is DANGEROUS! And especially the preaching of God's Gospel, and especially when that Gospel is about His Son! My dear friend, God loves His Son more than ANYONE!! And only to the degree that you honor His Son, do you honor God. And only to the degree that you preach His Gospel, correctly, do you honor Him.

PW: "To be Accursed. I want you to know. There are men in modern-day conservative Evangelicalism, that are accursed. Because they are preaching a gospel that is not found in the New Testament. Oh, they'll build big churches, they'll climb denominational ladders, but they will stand accursed on that great day when they stand before Him; before whom all the world stands. And so it is with this, that we go into our conference, The preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Paul Washer: "Now before I conclude this session, or this introduction that was to be this session. Whenever we're dealing with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, there is only reality for us in this Gospel, to the degree that this Gospel has been reveled to us? And if this Gospel has been reveled to you, than listen to me closely and with great fear. If this Gospel has truly been reveled to you, my dear friend, then Jesus Christ will be more to you than a ticket to HEAVEN. WHY IS THIS GOSPEL SO IMPORTANT? "Oh, Brother Paul, because it is our way of salvation; it is our way to heaven!" No. No. THIS GOSPEL IS PRECIOUS, NOT PRIMAIRALY BECAUSE IT IS HAS BROUGHT A GREAT SALVATION TO US. THIS GOSPEL IS PRECIOUS TO US BECAUSE IT IS ABOUT GOD'S ONLY BELOVED SON!!! IS HE PRECIOUS TO YOU?!! IS HE PRECIOUS TO YOU?!! DO YOU LOVE HIM?!!! DOES YOUR HEART BURN FOR HIM?!! IS THERE A PASSION?!! I DON'T CARE WETHER OR NOT YOU THINK YOUR GETTING IN OR NOT!! BECAUSE GETTING IN IS NOT THE TOPIC!!! THE THING IS THIS, IS CHRIST PRECIOUS TO YOU?!!!! I DON'T CARE IF YOU’RE A GOOD PERSON!! I FEAR FOR GOOD PEOPLE, WHO HAVE NO PASSIONATE LOVE FOR JESUS!! WHO NEVER WEEP ABOUT JESUS. WHO NEVER DANCE ABOUT JESUS. WHO NEVER ARE EXCITED WITH JOY ABOUT JESUS!!! WHO ARE NEVER BROUGHT SPEECHLESS AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS, WORSHIPING JESUS!!!! DON'T TALK TO ME ABOUT YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND KNOWLEDGE ALONE. DON'T TALK TO ME ABOUT YOUR MAKING THE RIGHT DECISSION. TALK TO ME ABOUT HIS BEAUTY! TALK TO ME ABOUT HOW PRECIOUS HE IS! TALK TO ME ABOUT HIS WORTH! AND IN DOING SO, YOU'LL HAVE PREACHED THE GOSPEL WELL! YOU'LL HAVE PREACHED THE GOSPEL WELL.

PW's Prayer: "Let's pray. Father? Oh Lord that Jesus Christ, your son, would be real in this place. That He would be real to me! Oh lord, so much of my piety is plastic. So much of my zeal, enthusiasm. So much of my praying, public. Oh that Christ, that Christ, would be made more real and more real in our hearts. That we might worship Him. And adore Him and serve Him; and talk much of Him. We ask these things in Jesus name, and for His saving, Amen."

If you listen to the message, it is a lot more powerful hearing it from him than me writing it out. I hope you enjoy it. It's a little (just a little) long. Come on, it 's a forty minute sermon! I encouage you to listen to this sermon, if any other from Paul Washer. I emplore you to!! I exort You to!!

For the Glory of God's Son,
Jesus Christ!!
-Kole

Dead to Sin, Alive to Christ

Romans 6:5 "For if we have been united with Him, in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His."
Romans 6:7 "For one who has died has been set free from sin. (8) Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him."

This whole chapter is saying the same thing over and over again so that we won't miss the point!
"Dead to Sin, Alive to God!"
~What is "Dead to Sin?" Does that mean that we won't sin? No. we still do sin (I still do it quite often, sadly), but were not slaves to it. Before any of us were saved, we were all slaves to sin, we couldn't "not sin."
~What is "Alive to Christ?" Romans 6:22 "But now that you have been set free from sin, and have become slaves to Christ, the fruit you get leads to Sanctification and it's end, eternal life!" Amazing! Now we are "slaves to righteousness!"
The "slaves" to righteousness is kind of funny, because are slaves to Christ, but if we are really, truely saved, we want to do Christ's will!

All for the glory of God!
~Kade

The first and second Adam

Romans 5:12 "Therefore just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned."

So what is this saying? That Adam failed pitifully. God meant for everything to be perfect, but because this man sinned...all have sinned. And unless somebody else lived a perfect life, we will all go to hell, thanks Adam. Good news: There was a second Adam, and who is this second Adam?

Romans 5:18, 21 "Therefore as one trespass lead to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to Justification and life for all men... So that as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life for all men, through Jesus Christ our Lord."

So this is saying: Adam failed, but Christ was righteous! And because He was righteous, He made the way to heaven! (not "make it possible" He "made the way"). And God didn't leave us like that: Not only did He make a way to heaven, but He drags us into Heaven!

All for the glory of God,
~Kade

Compelling people to Christ

Matt. 28:19 "Go therefore, and make disciples amog all the nations."
Is Jesus saying "if you don't mind, can you...?" No, it's a command! Jesus commands us to share the gospel! I do not do this often enough:(

Now, I think this also means that for all you parents, your ministry is your family!!! And as a brother to eight siblings, it's my ministry!!! I need to work on bringing up the subject of the gospel more in our families, and out.

I loved what my pastor said about when the Jews took Christ out of their temple= that it was signifing that just as Jesus was taken out, He was put into the world, for everybody! So we should be just like that. The gospel isn't for just inside the church, it's for the whole world! We have amazing news, and we need to share it!

Liuke 14:23 "And the Lord said to His servant, go out into the highways and compel them to come." In this story, who are we? The servant...right...yes... your very smart. And what is our job? "to compel people to come." To persuade them to come. I like to think... that we are salesmen for Christ, but instead of trying to sell people junk, we try to sell them the best thing in the world!
But can we realing sell them it? No. Only the Holy Spirit can work in the heart of somebody. But the Holy Spirit sometimes works in us.

All for the glory of God,
~Kade

Justification

Romans 3:23-25 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and we are justified by His grace, through the redemption, which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood to be recieved by faith. This was to show God's righteousness..."

There are two things that we need to have to get to heaven:
(1). Righteousness.
(2). No sin.
We don't have them! So somebody needed to live a perfect life for us... Uh, hello... Christ! This is called "The Atonment."= Where God took our place, took our sin, and gave us His righteousness. (Good deal, uh?)

Now... do we get to heaven by works?
Yes... yes,yes,yes,yes! But it is not by our works that we do, but Jesus'! (Duh.)

So what had to happen about two thousand years ago, about a half-mile outside of Jerusalem?
Jesus had to die on the cross! Isn't it great!

All for the glory of God,
~Kade

(tell me if I missed or messed up:)
Click the comment button, click it, click it, click it... please? You know you want to.

"Little" allowed Sin

~A small hole can sink a big ship, a tiny spark can create a huge fire.
(I know, the "tiny spark" was lame. but... can you do better?! sorry).

~Never spare a"little sin." Once we spare that, we will be open to let in tons of sin.

~"To be sure, no wicked man ever meant to be wicked in the beginning,
But he began by allowing a little transgression in, and that led to something greater.
(When people first allow sin...) "First it startles him, then it becomes pleasing, then easy, then delightful, then habitual, then confirmed, then damned!"
-J.C. Ryle

~We need to break the sin before it gets bigger. How?:
(1). Pray.
(2). Confess the sin.
(3). Focus on Christ.
(4). Stop doing the sin! Duh! By the grace of God.

"That he would be safe from the acts of evil,
and widely avoid the occasions."
-Bishop Hall

(5). By the grace of God, shun the occasion.


All for the glory of God,
~Kade

The Preeimence of the Gospel (part 4)

I hope you guys have enjoyed reading these posts on this sermon by Paul Washer. When I heard it I wanted to post the sermon on here, but I knew that it would be to long and some people wouldn't make it to the end of it. However, I encourage you to listen to it. I will try to post it at the end of this post. To hear it from him is so much more powerful than reading it. I would also encourage you to "Hold fast". :) We left off With Paul Washer asking, "Why is the Gospel no longer good enough? I'll tell you why, because we're not preaching on sin. And men are not afraid of sin, and they are not afraid not of judgement." So here is the last part of Paul Washer's message:

"It says in the next part of the verse, "by which also you were saved if...if... you hold fast." I will not take that conditional clause out of there. Some people say, "Now hold on Brother Paul. What are you talking about here? Your saying they're saved if they keep going, and if they don't keep going they're not saved?" That's exactly what I'm saying. "Well than brother Paul, you’re saying that a man can lose his salvation." No I'm not. I'm saying what scripture says, and it is this. The proof of having been truly saved is that you continue on in the faith. And if you turn away from the faith, it is evidence that you have never come to know him; and even more importantly he has never come to know YOU! The doctrine of Eternal Security AS IT IS PREACHED in America today, is damning many people to hell. BECAUSE WE'VE COME TO BELIEVE THAT SALVATION IS NO MORE THAN A FLU SHOT THAT YOU TAKE!!! YOU ENTER THE SMALL GATE, AND THAN YOU WALK IN THE BROAD WAY, AND EVERYTHING IS FINE!! NO MY FRIEND! THE EVIDENCE THAT YOU HAVE PAST THROUGH THE SMALL GATE, IS THAT YOU ARE NOW WALKING IN THE NARROW WAY, MARKED OUT BY THE WORD OF GOD!! AND IF YOU GET OFF THAT PATH AS A BELIEVER, THE FATHER WILL DISCIPLINE YOU AND PUT YOU BACK ON! BUT IF YOU WALK OFF THAT PATH, STAY OFF THAT PATH, AND THE THINGS OF GOD MEAN NOTHING TO YOU, IT IS EVIDENCE THAT YOU HAVE never, never, never come to know him. And most of the people today because of a false teaching with a regard to this doctrine, are rededicating their lives to Christ when in fact some of them are getting saved and some of them are getting nothing.

PW: "Now we go on. "You hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received." As a first importance my dear friend. As a first importance. I can imagine, Noah, preaching decade, after decade, after decade, after decade, preaching and preaching and preaching. And every day he meets devotional time with his family. "Dad what are you going to teach on today?" "It's going to rain." "Dad you been teaching on that for 120 years." He goes out to the square. "What are you going to preach on?" "It's gonna rain." "Why don't you preach something else?" "Because it's gonna rain." If he can be so faithful to such a small message, if he can give it priority above every other thing, than how much more this message, that is the message, there is no other message! It's like brother Charles Lighter told me one time, I think that someone was coming into the pulpit or something and said they was going to teach on faith. And someone said, "I've already heard a message on that." Or someone stands in the pulpit and says, "I'm gonna preach on Ephesians 1," and two woman stand up walk out and say, "We already heard a sermon on that." You could preach those things all of eternity, and not understand them, not grasp their full glory, how much more the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and how much more is it to be our priority. AND NOT JUST AMONG OUR ADLUTS. AND NOT JUST AMONG ADULT SERVICES. IT NEEDS TO BE EVERYWHERE, AMONG OUR CHILDREN, AMONG OUR YOUTH. AVERYWHERE EXPLAINING, TEACHING, AND PREACHING THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST!!! WE GOT KIDS WHO THE ONLY THING THEY KNOW HOW TO DO IS PAINT PICTURES OF NOAH'S BOAT!! Someone says, "Well can a child understand these things or the Gospel?" Well let me put it this way. A man who has served sixty years as a professor at Harvard cannot understand these things apart from the spirit of God, and with the spirit of God a five-year-old child can understand it soundly. Again let move out of this realm of humanistic, and into the realm of GOD!! WHO CAN DO ALL THINGS!!!

PW: "For those of you who are young here, younger preachers, I want you to know something. I grew up in my Christianity, in a age where there was a new book out on the Second Coming of Christ every week. It sent me into such confusion, wondering, "Upon what should I set myself? What can I know with certainty and preach with boldness?" And I decided I would set myself upon one thing, learning the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Kole: Hey guys I know this is pretty long right now so I will end up finishing it tomorrow.

To my Brothers in Christ,
-Kole