Monday, February 21, 2011

Identity.

Loved. Cherished. Free, Veiwed in the eyes of the only one who is Holy. God sought me. Pursued me.Beheld me. I dont deserve Thee. Beautiful only because of CHRIST'S light. Strengthened only by the most High. Humbled, feeling shame for my wrong, Where I should be kneeling down at the throne. Blood shed for all my sin, Bought with a price. Not of this world Not the old life. Sin binds me NO longer. My identity is in Christ
He knew me before the foundations were laid, He wanted me to seek Him, to know His love and His grace. He searches me and knows me, and all I keep secrete, He knows my heart and my mind and all I keep in it. My actions and feelings are not easily concealed, when you come into His presence all is revealed. How He longs for my devotion, my love and my all, I'm so easily distracted, I slip and I fall. I forget what He's done, How He died and how He won. The battle of dark and light are no longer, so why do I let the sin in my life grow stronger? I am CHOSEN and HOLY, all because of Christ. So why do I let sin reign and have any claim on my life? I am saved from the pit, and the death I deserve. So shouldn't God be the only one that I serve? 
I am not perfect. NO I am not. But I'm a daughter of the King. I am a CHILD of God. Forgiven only by the blood. Every day living in dependence on God above. There is no other way by which to be saved. So there is no reason to be living like sheep gone astray. But Jehovah is good and he is sovereign. He is patient with me And redeems all those who are fallen. Be then, an example. Be the light. Be strong in the LORD.  Give up your OWN LIFE! 
 YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN. YOU HAVE BEEN MADE NEW. GO TELL THE WORLD OF HIS GLORY. EXCHANGE THEIR LIES FOR THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH! 

Dream

- One night after having a really deep conversation with a dear friend, I went to bed and I had this dream. It has deeper meaning for me, but hopefully it will be a blessing to you. -

As I laid my head down on my pillow, trying to drift off to sleep. Thoughts of deep conversation filled my head, filled my thoughts has I lay down in bed. The music began to sound, symphonies of beauty begin to surround .me. My vision still blurred, In that moment Only music was to be heard. Two paths lay ahead of me, one narrow and one wide. One hard, one smooth, one covered one clear. The one wide and covered looked beautiful and bright I then chose the one that was appealing to my sight. I traveled then, along the road. It was Fall there, there soon would be snow. I reached the top, the highest point. What lay in the meadow was that of beauty, it was that of charm, It was a place that I didn't;t think would harm. me. I stood in a place that I called mine. It was my place of refuge, with no care of the time. Time was ticking, and that it was, But it was time that was wasting, being so consumed without a care of true love. Then out of the darkness, appeared the likeness of bears, but I knew they were not because of their stare, They looked more malicious more bitter, more jealous of me. I Looked for my own way out and all I found was a tree, But when I climbed it’s branches, I was about to fall, but the beast was right behind me, ready to devour my all. It caught my leg with one painful scratch, It would leave a scar, and a piece of myself I would never get back. I fell out of the tree and ran to another, Thinking I could save myself if I only climb further. I did this time, and I thought that I had won, but much to my surprise this beast had some sons, they were more cunning, more convincing, more charming than most, I thought I could pet them, hold on to them, but I would have to let go. When I did though, to reach out for them, they scratched my arm, falling from the tree leading me into MORE harm. I grabbed and I groveled to the leaves on the ground, searching even more for an answer to be found. I came to the edge, of the cliff from that place, The beasts shied away like they had seen a ghosts face. A voice then I heard, loud and authoritative. I couldn’t ignore it, no matter how much I hated it. It wasn’t me doing the persisting, or me being scared, it was the sin that was within, that was binding me there. But with one loud command of his voice broke my chains, He said Trust me, just trust in my name I spoke out against Him, forgetting his claim, his claim on my life, and the grace that he gave. I shouted a retort as loud as I could, “ But your way is to hard Lord, how do I know that your good?” how many times has he shown me his glory, and how many times have I blinded my eyes? How many times has he given commands and how many times have I asked why?
  My grace is sufficient, and my power is yours, All you have to do is come, Child, I’ve already conquered the world.” 
So it was then I jumped, into the arms of my savior, He carried my shame and he gave me is favor. I was brought to a place more beautiful than the first.  The place of His GLORY, all because he loved first. His way isn’t easy, but it is the way to peace, the way to eternity, there you'll find relief. We as humans are the most underserving, but God says differently, Because He came as a servant. Taking all of my brokenness, he heard my cry. He set me free from bondage, and free from all lies! Just trust in him and he will catch you, he will heal your wounds that have come upon you. And when I woke his mercies were new, May you be in Christ and Christ be in you. 

Friday, February 4, 2011

Answers In Genesis

     
    On Monday, the staff and students at NTBI got the privilege of hearing Dr.Jason Lisle speak during the afternoon elective hour. Dr. Jason Lisle has been involved with Answers in Genesis Ministries for six years. Answers in Genesis is a ministry that comes along side churches and helps train people in apologetics. How to defend the gospel from all angles. Dr. Lisle spoke on evangelism and creation. One of the first points he brought out was that we as a nation have the largest number of churches/seminaries, christian colleges, christian book stores/ resources, and christian radio stations. But we as a Nation have become less Christian. Despite the rising statistics about the number of Christians in the U.S., The Christians that are being “produced” aren’t grounded in good soil so they soon fall away, leaving them just to claim the title of being a “Christian.”
    As a first year College student, I last year, was bombarded with many statistics about young people who leave the church once they leave home. I, however, chose to come to Bible school but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t need to be prepared to give an answer. I was so privileged to have a youth pastor and a church back home in Atlantic, Iowa that prepared us heavily in apologetics and many other foundational truths. 
    One of the basic points Dr. Lisle made was that believers must first have a creation foundation rather than an evolutionary foundation. If you don;t have a foundation firmly based foundation in Genesis, If we as Christians don’t believe in the foundation of the gospel, how are we going to believe the power of the gospel? 
If you went to public  school like I did, you know full well that creation wasn’t even mentioned in biology class. What was taught to me could have been found in a Children's imagination, we came from scum and that scum formed into an ape or a fish or some other creature and then we became man with no explanation of our moral nature, the complexity of our eyes, or the art of language. Its no wonder that when you try and present the Gospel to these people that they reject you because when we defend our faith we hand them, “Just trust in Jesus and it will be ok” 
    Have we lost the art of apologetics? Have we lost the art of creation apologetics? Why have we shifted the emphasis to the power of the gospel and not the foundation of it? The power of the Gospel ( Jesus’ life death and resurrection) will only hold power if it first makes sense. There is no need for Jesus when you don’t see where sin came from. The beginning of the story generally helps you with the plot if you read that first.
Jeremiah 4:3 says , “...Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.” We must first ask the Holy spirit to plow out the thorns in peoples heart and work in us to help with the harvest. Creation Evangelism is a way of plowing up that ground. Preparing hearts for the gospel from the beginning. Dr. Lisle said it this way, “ You cannot separate the gospel from genesis.”
    So how do we prepare ourselves for the battle that we are already in? How do we prepare the next generation for the battle they are in? Six days of the week, people learn that evolution is right and the Bible is wrong, Evolution is right and the Bible is wrong, Evolution is right and the Bible is wrong and on Sundays we learn stories. There is nothing wrong with stories, but when you teach just the stories and no way to defend them, when the storms comes and questions fly, those stories soon become just stories and its seems more logical to believe that evolution is right and the bible is wrong. When we have a biblical foundation, and have been trained to think effectively we can go to college, the work place, or even in the home and refute the questions with confidence. 
    It may not be a salvation issue, but a foundational issue. I hope that Everyone who was listening in on Dr. Lisle speak was encouraged to defend the faith in a more passionate way and I hope that I have highlighted everything enough that you are able to want to dig in for yourselves. With God’s help, we can fight for him. He alone will get the glory, no matter who wins the initial argument. But before you get into a heated debate, ask yourself this, “ Am I trying to win the brother, or the argument?”