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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Godly, effeminate, or macho?

In today's culture you seem to see two types of men. You either get the macho man or the effeminate man. Where are the godly ones?

I'm in the middle of writing a post on this.. So yeah.. It's a preview. ^_^

Monday, January 30, 2012

Multiple

Life can be made very complicated or can be very simple. It seems sin tends to complicate it.

The sermon tomorrow is: http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=13111219580

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Sunday Scriptures

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. ~ 1 Corinthians 1:30-31

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Job 1-2

This book is a book about one solitary man. The heart of this godly man is being seen very closely, as through a microscope.

In this life we possibly won't know why we must suffer through trials. Job didn't know that God was showing Satan what a failure he was, as he tested Job.

The godly man will always have times where he has to stand alone. The evil culture in which you live will always criticize the godly man.

People should know that you are a Christian. Do you stand out? Not because of anything because of you? But because of being blameless, upright, and uncontaminated? Are you standing firm in Christ and making a stand out in this culture, which will always hate you as a Christian.

You can't produce this godliness. But God will produce this within you. Repent of your sins and surrender your life to him.

Next Sermon: http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=13111219580

P.S. I'm going to listen to 3 of sermons from this series per week. The rest of the time I'm going to reserve for blog posts. ^_^

Friday, January 27, 2012

No Time

I ran out of time to listen to the sermon today. :-( But I will tomorrow. ^_^ Never fear, for Daniel is here.

Or at least will be eventually...

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Job 1 - First Sermon

This is a book about a godly man. A very godly man. And we can learn much from this passage, and how we should act under suffering.

Dr. Morecraft brought out the fact that if as a young unmarried man or woman and you want to attract the attention of a godly man or a virtuous woman you must be either a godly man or a virtuous woman. 

What is a godly man? He's a man who understands his obligations to God, his family, his church, his boss, and everyone around him. He understands where he has been placed in this life. He's a man who has integrity.

Job was a very rich man. God blesses the Christian on this earth. But many of us cannot handle money. We would begin to worship it. And so God does not give us wealth. He does not want us to be stumbled by it. But there are a few who are like Job and can handle wealth and not worship it.

 What did Job do when he lost everything? He blessed the name of the Lord. He did not sin and did not become angry with God.

Do you abhor yourself when you sin against God? Do you repent of your self love? Or is that concept so despicable to you that you spit it out and abhor the very thought of abhorring oneself?

May we all be more manly and godly as we grow older.

These were a couple things I got, feel free to leave any others you picked up in the comments. 

Job 1-2 - Sermon #2: - http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?sid=13111219350

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Join Me in Listening to Morecraft’s Series on Job

Today I began to listen to Dr. Morecraft’s series on the book of Job. One aspect he is going to address is who the godly man is, as Job exemplifies it. If as a young man, you want to marry a godly/Proverbs thirty-one woman, you of course are going to need to be a godly man. (As well as more mature.) Another aspect will be about how we live under trials.  Etc.

My mom really liked this series, so I’m going to work my way through it. If anyone wants to join me, please do so. I’m going to try to listen to one sermon every day, Monday – Saturday, and make a post about some aspects of it. (I could also do three sermons a week if six per week is/turns out to be too much. Opinions?) If you want to, you can post some comments/more insights and such, I’ll try to post a link to the next sermon in the series the day before we listen to it. Tonight/tomorrow I’ll be finishing Job 1: the first sermon in the series.

I figure this will be more edifying than reading my typical three sentence posts. ;-)

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Leading You Astray?

"If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. ~ James 1:26"

Have you ever wondered how you can tell if someone is leading you astray? I think this verse helps determine that. If they're not bridling their tongue, are willing to speak of the faults of others readily, or rather easily lessen their wisdom and piety, I think you have some good signs that this is a cult or their religion is vain. We can often identify cults by their impurity and uncharitable like spirits.

True religion will always teach us to do everything in the presence of God.

"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. ~ James 1:27"

Monday, January 23, 2012

Excuses

One big thing you can see in a person who is immature is excuses. They have an excuse for everything. It's not my fault because the sun was in my eyes. It's not my fault because I told someone else to do it. Etc. Etc. Well stop. People who aren't willing to take responsibility for their actions will never be fun to be around. They won't get stuff done. They'll get divorced. They'll live in denial. Do you want to be this person? If not, take responsibility for the mistakes you make. No one likes being around a person who is so proud they won't accept the fact that they make mistakes and are sinners. The humble man will be lifted up. "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." ~ Luke 14:11



Sunday, January 22, 2012

Sunday Scriptures

Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. ~ 1 Peter 1:23

And a couple days ago I passed my 1 year goal. ^_^

Saturday, January 21, 2012

In the World

The message of the world will typically appeal to your sinful nature; especially in today's culture. Most of the messages are extremely humanistic. It's all about being your own god. The messages will typically appeal to your fleshly desires. It's said that when in marketing or creating a product, in order to be successful, you should appeal to elements of the seven deadly sins.

Don't walk around naively believing that you aren't affected by the culture around you. these messages kill a lot of young people and they wander around following these appeals to their lust and pride. Think about what affects you and don't be the one who wanders off into the wide road. The narrow road is narrow for a reason.

Friday, January 20, 2012

Enjoy

Sometimes you can over think things and are no longer enjoying God and His work in your life. You have to be happy with where you are at. That doesn't mean you become complacent. But, you know the feeling.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Work Hard

Most of life is about working hard and consistently. You can have the best ideas, but unless you can work hard and focus for 12-14 hours in a day how will you ever get ahead? Everyone else works 8-10 hours per day. If you want to get ahead you'll just have to work harder and smarter.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

What Gives You Hope?

What gives you hope from day to day? What makes you happy and excited about life? What keeps you moving forward?

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Consistent

Living consistently is hard and rare. Saying one thing and doing it is difficult. Doing something badly and telling people you're going to do it badly is better than saying you'll do something well and then do it badly.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Why?

Why do people disregard laws that God recommended in his laws? Why do they completely ignore laws that were given to the civil government of the Israelites? If the God of heaven gives you civil laws to rule a country by, why would you ignore them in the modern day?

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Sunday Scriptures

But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. ‎~ Philippians 4:19

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Saturday Sayings

The friend is the man who knows all about you, and still likes you. Elbert Hubbar

Friday, January 13, 2012

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Trials

What do you do when the Lord gives you trials? Do you give up? Get angry? Love God more?

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Grumpy

Boy I'm on a roll. Two days of grumpiness. Tomorrow will be better. Must pray and read my Bible more..

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Meh

Some days I just don't feel like writing. Sometimes it's just that I don't want to blog so I mess around with story writing. But there are those days I'm just tired of writing. Communicating. But then it's a lack of communication. And then it all breaks down from there.. Sometimes you have to talk to your family in a loving manner even though you don't feel like it. Sometimes you have to communicate with clients when you're having a bad day.

How do you do it? Because I'm really bad at it... <_<

Monday, January 9, 2012

It's the Little Steps

It's the little things that move you towards heaven on the narrow road, or away. Maybe a little compromise there, a little bad music over here, a couple bad movies, etc. Or you read your Bible more often. You pray to God more. You grow like a plant, or you wilt. Sure, there is a point where you've fallen away or come to Christ. But I can't tell where that is. If we would think of Christianity like a road, with a cross at some point along that road I believe that would be a better approach to living. We don't suddenly become a big tree or die as a little sapling. It generally takes time. I see friends on both sides. Some seem to be slowly walking away, some walk towards.

Even the guy who's saved out of a world where everyone does drugs, cuts, etc, his growth is slow. Yes there is a big change in his life, but he's not suddenly a massive giant in the faith. And many of those guys can fall away over time. Don't look at the big changes, look at the timeline. That's where you will see fruit. Or not.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Sunday Scriptures

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. ~ Hebrews 12:1-2

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Hurt

Sometimes it's the days where you are the most exhausted or hurt that are the best. Or at least the most memorable...

Friday, January 6, 2012

Thankful Friday

Today I'm thankful for the little things in life. Because that's what most of life is about. ^_^

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Angry Letters

I remember reading Dale Carnegie's book, "How to Win Friends and Influence People." And one thing he brought out was how you should write the angry letters. But don't send them. I believe he said Theodore Roosevelt would write the letter, then put it in his desk. He would come back later and read it. Then he would put it back and finally would come back one more time and if he felt it appropriate would send it, but would normally throw it away..

The problem is that some folks tend to send those angry letters without taking a moment to think about it. It surprises me how those I typically think of as "normal/nice" people turn into little demons when I read their writing. And I think much of it is because they don't follow this advice. I oftentimes will write 2 page rants when someone frustrates me or has been spouting off very unorthodox views. But then I let them sit around. And then 95% of the time I delete them.  

I think it can be healthy to release your thoughts through writing. Go ahead and release the anger. But don't send it out for the world to see. You're responsible for the emotional and real trauma you cause. And I find that most of the time, it is very unappealing, unloving, and much of the time ungodly. Just because you're 40 years old doesn't give you the right to release your angry letters/e-mails/blogs/forum posts/comments into the world.

So I ask you the next time you get your tail up and someone's made you angry, to sit down write the letter. Then stare at it. Go to bed. Read the Word. Pray. Look at it again. Go eat dinner. Then do whatever you want with it. 


Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. ~ James 1:19-20

Signed,
A Slightly Perturbed Individual

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Caring Can Hurt

Sometimes you have to grab your kid out of the street to save his life. Sometimes you have to tell your friend the hard truth about how you perceive him heading to hell. Sometimes people have to be church disciplined. Sometimes you have to spank your child, because you fear for his soul. Sometimes you have to give up the good things of life in order to encourage and minister to others. Sometimes you have to give money or time to widows and orphans. Sometimes you have to feel pain when God puts you through a trial.

The question is, do you do it all for the love of God and others? If not, you are nothing.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Love Vs. Duty

I had an interesting conversation with a muslim last Friday night while down at the 16th street mall. He explained to me that the reason he did things. I.e. Praying so many times per day with his face pointed towards the mid-east/why he practices Ramadan, etc. And he told me that he does it because he has to. Otherwise, he's not a Muslim. Then I asked him if he only did it because he had to, or if he did it because he loved Allah. And he replied that it was because he had to. This is ultimately a fundamental difference between Christians and Muslims. Christians obey God's law because they love God. Muslims do it because they have to. Also, one thing that interested me is that they are implying that they are saving themselves. When they do the so many things that they are required to do, they are basically saved. Yet, at the same time they say that God is sovereign. How does this work? They're saving themselves through their works, while at the same time saying God is sovereign?

Monday, January 2, 2012

Families Hate Each Other?

One thing that I appreciate about homeschooling/patriarchy/Christianity is that it tends to bring your family together. I've played lots of MMORPGs throughout the years and I get in long conversations with people. There's been probably somewhere over 100 people I've talked to at some length. They tell me about how different they are from their family. They tell me about how they don't quite hate their family, but they're just nothing like them. They don't understand them. They go home for the holidays and have nothing to talk about. And much of this is because they've been educated in a separate place. Their dad never really cared about them. They never saw him for that fact. Or maybe he was emotionally hurtful to them. Their mom sent them off to school and didn't really want them around. They had nothing to bring them together. Christ wasn't the center of their homes, although some of them called themselves Christians.

The thing is homeschooling and patriarchy get abused on the internet at times. And I just don't think these people understand the real world. After talking to this small group of people, I know that if my dad and mom didn't love me and we spent so much time together, and talked about life and me, I'd be the same as them.

Of course, the detractors always bring up the few bad examples, but every system of thought has people who misuse it and the children will end up the exact same as many of the people I've talked to. But that's beside the point.

Love doesn't come easy. As I look ahead on my life I know that it would be easier to not follow Christ. I know that it would be easier to not homeschool my children. And I realize that being a patriarch in my home is way more work than going to run my marathons every weekend or playing golf instead. But I don't want to be the guy who goes to hell on flowery beds of ease while others fight to win the prize and sail through bloody seas, just because I didn't want to love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Sunday Scripture

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ~ Genesis 1:1

Seems like a fitting start to a new year.