I love reading the Psalms. Psalms is probably my favorite Old Testament book to read just for fun. It’s like plunging both hands into a large pile of diamonds and precious stones and drinking in the richness and beauty of each one as they dribble through your hands. They offer instruction in how to enjoy and trust Christ in the midst of the most harrowing tragedies; they offer deep truths fit to create a profound, all encompassing, bursting love and worship of God. Perhaps one of my most quoted verse lately is a verse found in this goldmine book. I’d like to talk about it and it’s implications. The verse is the small, yet powerful, Psalm 119:68

“You are good and do good;
teach me your statutes.”

You are good
I love this part! The truth that God (that is who the You refers to) is good. I think it’s very significant that this statement goes before “and do good“. I think the reason why this comes first is to show that God is good… REGARDLESS of how we perceive His actions. That is, God is good not because He measures up to what “good” is, but God is good because “good” is by definition whatever God is. What an amazing assurance! That there is not some… standard of goodness God must measure up to or uphold to be considered good, but God is that standard. Who He is and what He does is by it’s very nature and definition the highest good imaginable. That is assuring because this allows us to know that whatever may happen to us, it is ultimately good; good by nature and good for us (Romans 8:28). Because God works ALL things after the counsel of His Will (Ephesians 1:11) and God is by nature good, all things we encounter as believers are for good. We can rest our hope that no matter how seemingly bad a certain situation is, God is good and He does good, and He allowed this seemingly bad situation to occur. And knowing that and trusting that produces a worshipful spirit and reverent awe that leads to one seeking to be obedient and to serve such a great and powerful God and wanting to know His statutes.
May His power and sovereignty produce in us the peace that goes beyond all understanding.
Soli Deo Gloria

It’s been a while since I’ve posted on here, and I’d like to offer a few excuses reasons.
1. School!
School is pretty hectic lately. This week I’ve been off on Fall break, but since August 8th until now, I can count on one hand the nights I haven’t had homework, band practice, band performance, research, reading, or projects to do. I’m taking a heavy load this year and it’s hurting. Please pray that I may “work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men” because it’s hard for me to care about school since it’s A. Wrong on so many levels and about so many things. B. A distraction from my spiritual devotions and studies. and C. I could be working a job and making money to support missionaries or my church or my family whenever God would grant me one.

2. I got out of the habit
I got out of the habit of writing on my blog, and therefore it’s hard for me to stop. If you like my blog, please encourage me with a comment or something (especially now) because it means a lot to know people read what I write. Even if it’s just, nice post! I’d greatly appreciate it.

Lord willing, I’ll take back up where I left off and continue writing and blogging for His glory and to edify whatever saints may read this. That’s my prayer and purpose in this. May His name be great among the nations.

Though I may picture...pictures. Or something along those lines.

“[God] didn’t create you to be average, He didn’t create you to barely get by, to have all kinds of things holding you back. You gotta get the right vision. God created you to be totally free. To have peace in your mind. To walk in divine health. To have good relationships. To have plenty to pay your bills. God created us as victors and not victims.”

And with those rousing and slightly cheesy words, a prominent “Christian” leader finishes his “sermon” to literally thousands upon thousands of itchy-eared listeners who then eagerly donated their money to help pay for the ceiling that changes color. I hope you know who I’m talking about by now because I’m certainly not one to name names.

Oh yes, time to take a swing at the Prosperity Pinata and see what heretical candies come out this time! Wasn’t that such an intense analogy? I think so. But regardless, the prosperity gospel. What’s so wrong about it? I mean, why not attack fortune cookies?

Well…I’m working on that post!

But really though. The exegetical works of Joel Osteen, Creflo Dollar, T.D. Jakes, and crew surely have earned their place next to the Fortune Cookie Book on the bookshelf, but the thing is Fortune Cookies don’t claim to be Christian. It breaks my heart to see people swept up by this heretical movement that claims it is always God’s will for us to be healthy, wealthy, and living an “abundant life”. Especially when the Bible is so clear about what Christians should expect. 2 Timothy 3:12 says, “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” Hmm… Every Christian will be persecuted? That doesn’t sound very prosperous. Well, the Prosperity Preachers often say that those with the most faith get the most blessings…so who can you think of who had a lot of faith? Hmm… Maybe Paul? Surely Paul had this wonderful life the Prosperity Gospel promises…

“Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches.” – Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 11:24-28. Hmm…

I may be a little snarky, but only because this is such a horrible, dangerous teaching! Firstly, when God’s Will is for you to always be healthy, then when you are sick it has to be your fault. It’s either because you’re saved, or you don’t have enough faith. Therefore, the reason your son isn’t healed of his Autism is because you don’t have enough faith. Nothing strikes me as a more horrendous example of this then when Rick Burgess’ 2 year old son drowned in his backyard. And people actually sent him emails saying that the reason his son died was because his wife and he had too little faith. The evil that comes from this doctrine is sickening. Secondly, it destroys any hope of grace and salvation (because after all, calling people sinners doesn’t make them feel good) and replaces it with a works-righteous moralism that says, If you be good to god, god will be good to you and make sure you have a wonderful life and everything you want!

All I have to say to that is this:

Tweets from the Decisional Regenerationalist himself! And I think I just made a new word!

1. I think it’s time for a haircut!

2. I bought Spurgeon’s book, The Care and Keeping of Facial Hair!

3. I’m kinda sick of singing “Just as I am”.

4. I traveled away from the revival and spent four days in the woods, like a wild man.

5. Today we had very low attendance at the revival, I think it’s time to send in the clowns.

6. I will be preaching on Acts 16:14 and how Lydia decided to let the Lord open her heart so she could respond to the gospel.

7. Today at my revival two men, five women, 3 children, and a bullfrog all made decisions for Christ!

8. Howard the town drunk re-dedicated his life to Christ for the twice today! Once in the morning service and again at the evening!

9. Well, after last weeks performa….revival, we have $300 and… well, I hope all those people got converted!

10. My preaching was so stirring today, I rededicated my decision for Christ!

As my senior year of High School looms closer, I begin the crazy, scary, tumultous process of choosing and applying at colleges. The day I thought would never come is rapidly approaching and I can’t wait to start my college life and finally become a “Christian in College”. After much prayer and consideration, I think I will be attending Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia. It is a VERY good, solid, Christian school and I can’t wait to go there. But before I can go, I have to apply! Part of the application process is a 2-3 page “Spiritual Autobiography”. So as I write this, I’ll post a few paragraphs for you to proofread and maybe understand more about my Christian walk. So without further ado, here is the 1st and 2nd paragraphs of my “Spiritual Autobiography”.

“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances” Ezekiel 36:25-27. As I sit here and begin to write about the path God has brought me down, no passage of Scripture better seems to capture the entirety of His work in me than these verses from Ezekiel. When I look back over the time since I was saved, I see God cleansing me and causing me to walk in His statutes and giving me His Spirit. From my childhood until today I can see the path God has led me down, first to Calvary and now unto glory.

The first thought I remember having about God was in the context of a small Primitive Baptist Church my family went to. My grandfather was the principle elder of Mountain Fork Primitive Baptist Church, and every Sunday my father, mother,  brother, and 3 sisters would all pile into the car to go listen to him preach. The Primitive Baptists often fall into the heresy of hyper-Calvinism and because of that, my father believes that he is predestined to go to Hell, and uses that as a justification for his licentiousness. My mother has very liberal church upbringing and has a very strange mix of different beliefs including Baptismal regeneration, a hint of hyper-calvinism, and a host of others. I have very little hope or assurance that any member of my immediate family is truly born again. And this was the atmosphere under which I was raised. Religion was never a focal point for my family and as such I had very serious misgivings about what Christianity truly was and very low regard for church. To me church was a waste of 3 hours when I could be sleeping or reading. So when we stopped going to church when I was about 11, it wasn’t a big deal. The only effect it had on me was that I slept more, read more, and sinned more.

So today I open air preached for the first time! Last week I went out after church and just read John 3 by myself at the Big Spring Park, but I don’t consider that preaching since I just read John 3.

But today I was planning on going with Tiffany and Chase, but Chase bailed to go build a fence, so Tiffany and I went to the park by ourselves. At first it was very intimidating since I was still scared to death, but we decided to move to a new spot, over on the steps of the Art Museum. What an amazing decision that was. As we approached the stairs, I saw someone standing on top of the stairs, seemingly reading from a book. I looked at Tiff and asked, “Do you see that? Is she…reading Scripture?” We hurried our pace and as we came in ear shot, the blessed words of Matthew 5 came in to my ears and Tiff and I both broke out in huge grins. And along with this lady were two men. We talked with the two men and with the lady once she was done! It was amazing. After a long time of praying for an evangelism group, here was a group that went out almost every week! It was amazing. Since we were Christians, once they realized we were Christians, it was like we’d known each other for years. Their names were Glenn, Paul, and Liz. Once Paul got done preaching, they let me preach. I read from James 4 and talked about how our lives are like vapors and we must come to Christ or be destroyed. Once I got done, I was actually booed by some hecklers! Then we all went to another location and I preached from 2 Corinthians 5. It was awesome! I loved hanging out and preaching with those people. Hopefully we’ll be able to get together more often. We have each others’ emails and will definitely go witnessing more. Glenn just couldn’t get over the fact that Tiff and I were 17! It amazed him. Praise be to God for this blessing. I can’t wait to go out to open air preach more!

It’s that day of the week again! The day where I scour the filthy underbelly of the interwebs that is Youtube to find at least one video that’s worthy of Christian attention. Ok, just kidding. There’s a lot of wonderful Christian videos on Youtube. And here’s a hilarious one that might just make you stop listening to Norm Geisler and start listening to James White!

Taken from the John Macarthur Study Bible

One of the great tenets of Scripture is the claim that Jesus Christ is completely sufficient for all matters of life and godliness! He is sufficient for creation,salvation, and glorification. So pure is He that there is no blemish, stain, spot of sin, defilement, lying, deception, corruption, error, or imperfection.So complete is He that there is no other God besides Him; He is the only begotten Son; all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in Him; the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily in Him; he is heir of all things; He created all things and all things were made by Him, through Him, and for Him; He upholds all things by the word of His Power; He is the firstborn of all creation; He is the exact representation of God.

He is the only Mediator between God and man; He is the Sun that enlightens; the Physician that heals; the Wall of Fire that defends; the Friend that comforts; the Pearl that enriches; the Ark that supports; and the Rock to sustain under the heaviest of pressures; His is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty on high; He is better than the angels; better than Moses; better than Aaron, better than Joshua; better than Melchizedek; better than all the prophets; greater than Satan; and stronger than death.

He has no beginning and no end; He is the spotless Lamb of God; He is our Peace; He is our Hope; He is our Life; He is the living and true Way; He is the Strength of Israel; He is the Root and Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star; He is Faithful and True; He is the Author and Finisher of our faith; he is the Captain of our salvation; he is the Champion; He is the Elect One; He is the Apostle and High-Priest of our confession; He is the Righteous Servant.

He is the Lord of Hosts, the Redeemer – the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth; He is the Man of Sorrows; He is the Light; He is the Son of Man; He is the Vine; He is the Bread of Life; he is the Door; He is Lord; He is Prophet, Priest, and King; He is our Sabbath rest; He is our Righteousness; He is the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace; He is the Chief Shepherd; His is Lord God of hosts; He is Lord of the nations; He is the Lion of Judah; the Living Word; the Rock of Salvation; the Eternal Spirit; He is the Ancient of Days; Creator and Comforter; Messiah; and He is the great I AM!

Joyeux anniversaire!!

In honor of our good friend Mr. John Calvin let’s all sing Happy Birthday in French…No? Ok then. Today is John Calvin’s 500th birthday! Because this year is his 500th, there is a lot of focus on him in major ministries such as Desiring God. Whole conferences centered on his life and his teachings and how they exalt Christ. I have heard silly person (Monica Dennington) after silly person (Tony Campolo) say that we’re heretics because we “follow” a man. And the people who follow them say the same things!…That’s pretty ironic I find. What I love about Calvin is that he truly exalts Christ. Everything the man taught was aimed at, as Spurgeon says, “the placing of the eternal God at the head of all things”. Calvin really believed that “salvation is of the Lord.” (Jonah 2:9) and taught it. He wrote, spoke, and taught with Christ at the center of everything. His commentaries on the Bible are some of the most insightful and useful commentaries around, and his Institutes of the Christian Religion is by far one of the best books you can buy. He was not perfect and had flaws like the rest of us, but his influence on not only Western theology, but the whole of Western society is unmistakable. So read Calvin and study him, not for his own sake, but instead to see Christ in him and to see how he exalts Christ in everything he does. I don’t follow Calvin. I follow Christ. Calvin was a sinful man who was used greatly by God to expound and teach the Scriptures in a marvelous way.

May God give us more men like John Calvin. May God raise up those who truly seek to put God at the head of everything.

Happy Birthday Calvin!

“He now ascends into the highest strain of glorying; for when we glory that God is ours, whatever blessings can be imagined or wished, ensue and flow from this fountain; for God is not only the chief of all good things, but also possesses in himself the sum and substance of all blessings; and he becomes ours through Christ. We then attain this by faith, — that nothing is wanting to us as to happiness. Nor is it in vain that he so often mentions reconciliation: it is, first, that we may be taught to fix our eyes on the death of Christ, whenever we speak of our salvation; and, secondly, that we may know that our trust must be fixed on nothing else, but on the expiation made for our sins.”
John Calvin’s Commentary Notes on Romans 5:11