I encourage you to watch this sermon given by Billy Graham. (link at bottom) I have never watched any of his sermons before but after watching this I plan on watching many more. It's 33 minutes, which might be a little long, but if you can squeeze it into your busy day, I promise that the Holy Spirit will use it to have an impact on you.
The Holy Spirit and you - Billy Graham
Thursday, February 22, 2018
Tuesday, February 20, 2018
Did you know?
This morning I want to have some fun with this post. I have fun when I do most of my posts but this morning I want to have fun. Have you ever read how old some of the people used to live? I just read that over this morning and it blew my mind!
- Adam 930 years
- Seth 912 years
- Enosh 905 years
- Kenan 910 years
- Mahalalel 895 years
- Jared 962 years
- Methuselah 969 years
- Lamech 777 years
How was this even possible? I think the answer might come in Genesis 6 which I will read tomorrow, but I am awfully curious. Think about that life expectancy. The crazy thing is, is that all of those people were having kids when they were in their 100's or later!
You probably read this through and thought...why did he post about this. There is a fact that I didn't tell you. Enoch, the son of Jared, never died. Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years. Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away. There is no record of Enoch ever dying. He is the only person ever, who did not have to experience death. If that doesn't blow your mind, I don't know what will. Enoch is what I wanted to encourage you with today. He was so ridiculously faithful that God took him away. I would've loved to meet someone with that much faith. I don't know much about Enoch other than the fact that he never died, but I wish I did know more. I encourage you to have faith like him. He must have been doing something right. I want to make sure you understand that I am not saying you will never die if you have faith, but maybe I am. Would you consider dying death during this short time that we are on earth? I probably sound crazy saying that. We have faith in God and we have never seen Him. We have faith that as believers that when we die, we will go to heaven, then we will live forever. So if you have ridiculous amount of faith do you really die? Something to think about. Yeah we are going to die, but think about it. When my time comes I know that it's going to be the beginning to life forever.
- Adam 930 years
- Seth 912 years
- Enosh 905 years
- Kenan 910 years
- Mahalalel 895 years
- Jared 962 years
- Methuselah 969 years
- Lamech 777 years
How was this even possible? I think the answer might come in Genesis 6 which I will read tomorrow, but I am awfully curious. Think about that life expectancy. The crazy thing is, is that all of those people were having kids when they were in their 100's or later!
You probably read this through and thought...why did he post about this. There is a fact that I didn't tell you. Enoch, the son of Jared, never died. Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years. Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away. There is no record of Enoch ever dying. He is the only person ever, who did not have to experience death. If that doesn't blow your mind, I don't know what will. Enoch is what I wanted to encourage you with today. He was so ridiculously faithful that God took him away. I would've loved to meet someone with that much faith. I don't know much about Enoch other than the fact that he never died, but I wish I did know more. I encourage you to have faith like him. He must have been doing something right. I want to make sure you understand that I am not saying you will never die if you have faith, but maybe I am. Would you consider dying death during this short time that we are on earth? I probably sound crazy saying that. We have faith in God and we have never seen Him. We have faith that as believers that when we die, we will go to heaven, then we will live forever. So if you have ridiculous amount of faith do you really die? Something to think about. Yeah we are going to die, but think about it. When my time comes I know that it's going to be the beginning to life forever.
Monday, February 19, 2018
You can be used!
Charles R. Swindoll writes:
You have been set on earth as a unique jewel, as a gem that has certain sparking possibilities when the light of the Son hits them. As you glisten and gleam, you encourage, enlighten, and strengthen those who are lost in the gloom of their personal swamp. Even though you may feel insignificant and not gifted, God can use you!
You have been set on earth as a unique jewel, as a gem that has certain sparking possibilities when the light of the Son hits them. As you glisten and gleam, you encourage, enlighten, and strengthen those who are lost in the gloom of their personal swamp. Even though you may feel insignificant and not gifted, God can use you!
Sunday, February 18, 2018
The Fall
As I was preparing my journal for my daily bible reading today, I really had no clue in the world what I was going to post about. My mind has been racing all over the place the past couple of days. Life really hit my right in the mouth and I was a little behind getting things done, but as the week concluded I was all caught up. I say my mind has been all over the place because this is a busy time of year. We just finished up the regular season and start conference tournament this week. We head out to the NAIA national tournament in two weeks and then our season will be over. So along with basketball, school has been very busy along with trying to figure out what I want to do over the summer. My focus, my mind, and my heart might be all over the place right now but one thing remains and that is my relationship with Jesus Christ. Through it all He is there and the Spirit is inside of me doing work that I cannot comprehend on my own. In Christ, that is where I find fulfillment in the midst of all the things that I am going through. Today in my journal I wrote, "THE WORD FILLS YOU WITH LIFE." I wrote that after reading Genesis chapter 3. I didn't write that because of what Genesis chapter 3 said...I wrote it because as soon as I opened up my bible to read, my day entire mindset about today changed. I was filled. Now that experience I feel when I read the bible and spend time with the Father is a feeling like no other...that is because it is true and real fulfillment...the only kind! I want to encourage you with that, but that isn't the whole point of my post about "The Fall." I shared that because I know that we all long for some type of fulfillment in our busy lives and the answer is right in front of you. Sometimes you just have to do something about it.
The Fall
I started reading a chapter of Genesis a day a couple of days ago because it's a book that I haven't read in a very long time. Today, I landed on Genesis chapter 3. I am sure that you have all heard that story of how Eve was deceived, she took a bite of the apple, along with Adam and then everything changed. Reading it today, there were some new things that stuck out to me that I hadn't noticed before. Bare with me, it's 19 verses of scripture.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or so you will die." "You will not certainly die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knowns when you eat form it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good evil." When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for good and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of God and the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they kid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, "Where are you?" He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid." And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commend you not to eat from?" And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" The man said, "The woman you put here with me-she game me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it."The the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." So the Lord God said to the servant, "Because you have done this,
'Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel."
To the woman he said,
"I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you."
To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat from it,'
"Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food rom it
all the days of your life.
It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until your return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.
Looking at this passage and reading through it a couple of times now, there are some things that make me wonder. I really wonder what the earth was like before Adam and Eve sinned. The serpent, which was a snake (I think), was literally saying things. Did all wild animals talk? If so I can't even imagine how cool that would be. Adam and Eve also noticed that they were naked. I can't comprehend what it would feel like to be naked and have no idea that being "naked" is even a thing. Also, I guess there would not be any pain in childbirth if it wasn't for Adam and Eve. That is something that I won't have to experience first hand, but I am sure there would be a lot of woman who would be thankful for no pain during childbirth. I also wonder what the Lord God meant when he said:
"Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until your return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return."
How did Adam and Eve get food before the fall? All of the things I have addressed really make me think.
I think one of the most important ideas you can take away from this story is that one decision can change everything. The serpent made the fruit from the tree look so good and appealing that Eve said yes. Be careful of the areas in your life where you are caught in the midst of a decision between something temporary and something eternal. Don't believe the lies that Satan throws at you, Eve was deceived and everything changed. Just because something is appealing and looks the best for you and someone tells you that its the best decision to make doesn't mean it's the right one. Be careful in your decision making because one wrong decision could ruin some things in your life that you have spent your entire life building up.
If you can take one thing away from this post, I hope that you understand how one decision can change everything. You know what the cool part is? We serve such a loving God who gives us so much grace. We are human, we sin, we make bad decisions sometimes, but in the end we are still God's children and still loved by Him. So if you make the wrong decision don't get too down or upset about, spend time working on how you're going to make the right decision the next time,
~ you are loved ~
The Fall
I started reading a chapter of Genesis a day a couple of days ago because it's a book that I haven't read in a very long time. Today, I landed on Genesis chapter 3. I am sure that you have all heard that story of how Eve was deceived, she took a bite of the apple, along with Adam and then everything changed. Reading it today, there were some new things that stuck out to me that I hadn't noticed before. Bare with me, it's 19 verses of scripture.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or so you will die." "You will not certainly die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knowns when you eat form it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good evil." When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for good and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of God and the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they kid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, "Where are you?" He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid." And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commend you not to eat from?" And he said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" The man said, "The woman you put here with me-she game me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it."The the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." So the Lord God said to the servant, "Because you have done this,
'Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel."
To the woman he said,
"I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you."
To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat from it,'
"Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food rom it
all the days of your life.
It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until your return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.
Looking at this passage and reading through it a couple of times now, there are some things that make me wonder. I really wonder what the earth was like before Adam and Eve sinned. The serpent, which was a snake (I think), was literally saying things. Did all wild animals talk? If so I can't even imagine how cool that would be. Adam and Eve also noticed that they were naked. I can't comprehend what it would feel like to be naked and have no idea that being "naked" is even a thing. Also, I guess there would not be any pain in childbirth if it wasn't for Adam and Eve. That is something that I won't have to experience first hand, but I am sure there would be a lot of woman who would be thankful for no pain during childbirth. I also wonder what the Lord God meant when he said:
"Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.
It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
until your return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return."
How did Adam and Eve get food before the fall? All of the things I have addressed really make me think.
I think one of the most important ideas you can take away from this story is that one decision can change everything. The serpent made the fruit from the tree look so good and appealing that Eve said yes. Be careful of the areas in your life where you are caught in the midst of a decision between something temporary and something eternal. Don't believe the lies that Satan throws at you, Eve was deceived and everything changed. Just because something is appealing and looks the best for you and someone tells you that its the best decision to make doesn't mean it's the right one. Be careful in your decision making because one wrong decision could ruin some things in your life that you have spent your entire life building up.
If you can take one thing away from this post, I hope that you understand how one decision can change everything. You know what the cool part is? We serve such a loving God who gives us so much grace. We are human, we sin, we make bad decisions sometimes, but in the end we are still God's children and still loved by Him. So if you make the wrong decision don't get too down or upset about, spend time working on how you're going to make the right decision the next time,
~ you are loved ~
Friday, February 16, 2018
An Important Conclusion About God's Timing
Charles R. Swindoll writes:
In His time, in His time
He makes all things beautiful
In His time.
Lord, please show me everyday
As You're teaching me Your way
That You'll do just what You say
In Your time.
How much we fail to see when we miss God's timing! If I look at life strictly as it is laid out before me, if I fail to see it through the lens of faith, I curse and swear and fight. I shake my fist in God's face. But when I see it through His eyes, in His time, the beautiful picture come together; and as it does, I give Him praise. I see purpose in tragedy. I see reason in calamity. I see His sovereign hand at work as He is reminding me He is still in charge. And I acknowledge my need for greater dependence. As I do that, I willingly relinquish the controls to Him. So easy to say. So hard to do.
God has made everything appropriate in His time. That's such an important, never-to-be-forgetten statement! It's the first time in this skeleton of thought that the writer has given you something he can build on "above the heavens." In the margin of my Bible, I find an alternate rendering of the word appropriate. Literally, the Hebrew word means "beautiful." God has made everything beautiful in his time. When He gives the perspective we need, our times become "sensible" and "meaningful." When all that falls tougher, when the pieces of the puzzle fits into one another, beauty emerges.
In His time, in His time
He makes all things beautiful
In His time.
Lord, please show me everyday
As You're teaching me Your way
That You'll do just what You say
In Your time.
How much we fail to see when we miss God's timing! If I look at life strictly as it is laid out before me, if I fail to see it through the lens of faith, I curse and swear and fight. I shake my fist in God's face. But when I see it through His eyes, in His time, the beautiful picture come together; and as it does, I give Him praise. I see purpose in tragedy. I see reason in calamity. I see His sovereign hand at work as He is reminding me He is still in charge. And I acknowledge my need for greater dependence. As I do that, I willingly relinquish the controls to Him. So easy to say. So hard to do.
Thursday, February 15, 2018
I don't understand
Do you ever go through your life on a daily basis and you feel like you do not understand the things that God is putting you through? Our lives are a roller coasters. You have days where you feel like you know what God's plan is, and other days you have no idea. It even goes deeper than that. It's not just his plan you might question, but things He puts you through. The last week and a half I have been trying to understand what is going on. It's not like I am lost, I get to spend time in the word and encouraging people everyday, but I know that there is more out there for me. I have had a lot of homework and tests the past couple of days and have felt mentally exhausted from it all. Why is God putting me through this? School isn't like this all the time. Why now? Seriously though...do you ever feel this way? I know that in a couple of days everything will clear up and I'll feel charged up again, that is just how it seems to happen over and over again. Here is the thing, I don't think that we were meant to fully understand these things. God is mysterious and part of his mysterious greatness is us not being able to comprehend what is going on. That is what make God, God. God wouldn't be God if we knew and understood the reasons for everything.
When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to observe the labor that is done on earth-people getting no sleep day or night-then I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all their efforts to search it out, no one can discover its meaning. Even if the wise claim they know, they cannot really comprehend it. (Ecclesiastes 8:16-17)
I hope that this post was encouraging to you today and that you could understand it. I struggled thinking about what I wanted to encourage you with today, and I believe what I shared was what the Spirit wanted me to. So, next time you feel like you don't understand what is going on in your life, don't worry, you are not alone.
Tuesday, February 13, 2018
Foreign Waters: Pericles
Have you ever tried something new that you never have done before? I titled this post "Foreign Waters," because last week I did something that I never have done before. I went to a Shakespeare play. I have never had anything against Shakespeare, I just never really had a reason to get into it or watch a play. You might be wondering how I ended up at Pericles, the play that I watched. I am taking a Shakespeare class with four of my buddies and we were required to go. Shakespeare is not my cup of tea by any means, but it has been fun because of my buddies and making a couple new friends in the class. There is a dude who sits at table with us who is a theatre major and he was in the play so we were excited to go and support him in Pericles. Note that my buddies and I are all athletes here at Bethel and nearly everyone else is a theatre major. They are way more knowledgable with what is going on and the class and they still enjoy having us in there, well at least I hope so. Even though we have to do things like walk around the class room reading Shakespeare in iambic pentameter we still have fun. We attended PericlesThursday night and like I mentioned above, we were somewhat excited because we were looking forward to watching a couple of our classmates perform. As I was sitting and watching, I developed such a great appreciation for the theatre students and what they do. My favorite part about the night was that I got to watch people do the things they loved and were passionate about it. It was nice because it was different then what I am used to. I am used to watching my friends who are on various sports teams compete on a weekly basis, but classmates who were in theatre? I had never experienced anything like it. I enjoyed it because they are all so talented and put so much effort into it. Pericles might have been lengthy but I enjoyed it from beginning to end.
Why did I tell you I want to Pericles? I told you because I want to encourage you to try something new. Do something that you have never done before and your eyes will be opened to many things. It doesn't have to be play. It can literally be anything. It's as easy as stepping out of your comfort zone. It's also as easy as showing your support to someone that might think you do not support them. I don't except anyone who was in that play to read this and I didn't post about it so that they could see it. I just cannot get over how cool it was to see classmates who I'm unfamiliar with do what they love and do it so well.
Next time you have the opportunity to try something new, do it. It might be a little awkward but so what. Maybe it's awkward for other people to do the same thing in return. It might be totally awkward for someone who was in Pericles to ever come to a basketball game, but if they ever do, I will be super thankful and pumped about.
When it comes down to it...we are all different and are all given our own special gifts and talents from God. Embrace them and use them to serve God and that is what matters, that is why he blessed you with them in the first place.
Why did I tell you I want to Pericles? I told you because I want to encourage you to try something new. Do something that you have never done before and your eyes will be opened to many things. It doesn't have to be play. It can literally be anything. It's as easy as stepping out of your comfort zone. It's also as easy as showing your support to someone that might think you do not support them. I don't except anyone who was in that play to read this and I didn't post about it so that they could see it. I just cannot get over how cool it was to see classmates who I'm unfamiliar with do what they love and do it so well.
Next time you have the opportunity to try something new, do it. It might be a little awkward but so what. Maybe it's awkward for other people to do the same thing in return. It might be totally awkward for someone who was in Pericles to ever come to a basketball game, but if they ever do, I will be super thankful and pumped about.
When it comes down to it...we are all different and are all given our own special gifts and talents from God. Embrace them and use them to serve God and that is what matters, that is why he blessed you with them in the first place.
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