Thy kingdom come...

Beautiful feet

2008-12-17T00:21:00.006-05:00

I have been moved to tears just now. I was on one of my favorite boards and came across a thread that pricked my heart something heavy.

A pastor in Kansas City (I assume) posted an urgent thread requesting prayers because his church plant is seeking to meet with the pastor of a church located in one of the toughest areas of the city.

His intentions are to meet with this pastor, share his heart, and HOPEFULLY gain the use of the facility to minister to this harsh section of the city...

It got me thinking... here's a guy who's married, and could start a megachurch and make some cash if he wanted to. But instead of all that... he opts to jump into the deep end of the pool, and minister on the doorsteps of the drug dealers and killers. A move that could likely get him or his family hurt on the wrong day.

How many times do we water it down so our neighbors and coworkers won't be offended? OUCH.

How many times do we leverage the Gospel for personal gain?

I'm encouraged.. i guess that's the point i'm looking to make..

To every missionary, to every minister on the blocks and street corners, to every martyr... keep running with those beautiful feet you have. Run that gospel until we're inspired to either run with you out of the fullness of our inspiration, or from the conviction of our cowardess. RUN!

Christ Toothpaste?

2008-11-12T21:19:00.006-05:00

Have you ever been around a person you just knew was a Christian's Christian, they stub their toe and something "less than holy" comes out of their mouth? How about riding with someone you looked up to in the faith only to find that their witness on "the highways and byways" wasn't one that glorified Christ to other drivers (even with a Jesus fish on the back of their ride or my favorite, the "F8ith" license plate). I'm sure we're all guilty as Christians, no matter where we are in our walk, of instances just like these and sometimes worse. It's called sin, and it's something none of us can escape. However, these momentary glimpses into our fleshly shortcomings shouldn't be the things that others can look at our lives and see as the norm.
When we look at scripture, we see a picture painted of the kind of person who's attitude, outlook, and emotions are completely under his control. The kind of person who's never brought down by circumstance, who's never downtrodden in countenance, and has tamed fits of anger and frustration into patience and graciousness.

How is it that such people able to achieve these things? What is it about them that sets them apart from the rest of us? For the unsaved it would be God's grace, for the Christian, it would be God's grace plus the work of the Holy Spirit. Let's check Galatians for some Biblical perspective on how we ought to act if we're indwelt with the living Spirit of God.

Galatians 5:19-26
"19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality,
20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,
21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another."

If we live by the Spirit of God, then it would make itself known in us by providing the kinds of "fruits" listed above. This applies to every area of our life. When we are dealing with those who would be our enemies, we're still bearing fruit. When situations in our life arise that are less than favorable for us, the world should see us going through it while "bearing fruit". The Bible is actually very specific concerning the way Christians should face trials. James 1 teaches us the following:

James 1:2-3
"2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness."

So here the Bible actually tells us that as we grow, our progress is actully measured and given to us in our trials. R.C. Sproul had this to say regarding verse 3 of this passage

"Trials can be considered pure joy only when there is knowledge that they are designed by God for a purpose. They are tests of faith given in order to develop perseverance. In turn, perseverence produces mature Christian character."
- Reformation Study Bible commentary

This is also illustrated in Romans 5.

Romans 5:3-5
"3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."

So there, we have a clear illustration of how and why a Christian can and should handle trials with a grace that should stun all onlookers. It's not because we're good people. It isn't because we were raised well. It's solely based on the fact that the Holy Spirit dwells in us and because of His work that we are good trees able bear good fruit.

Christ also promoted this principle several times during His ministry. Here's a quote from Jesus found in Luke 6.

Luke 6:43-45
"43 For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit,
44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush.
45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks."

So we know that it's what is IN us that determines what comes OUT of us.

This presents a whole new perspective on trials and temptations that Christians endure during the race of life. We're able to see them as a sort of gauge to measure our growth and maturity. It allows us to see the areas where we need to focus on developing. Much like the law is a tutor that leads us recognizing what sin is, ultimately leading us to turn and lean on Christ, we see trials achieving the same thing in our day to day lives. Showing us the areas of our shortcomings so that we're able to turn and depend on the Holy Spirit to help us grow in those areas. We should be monitoring closely the kinds of knee-jerk reactions we give to all circumstances. When you squeeze a tube labled "Crest", you expect toothpaste as opposed to glue. So we bear the label and name of Christ, what comes out when we are squeezed?

Theology Technology

2008-11-10T22:02:00.001-05:00

For almost all of my adult life, portable computing technology has been a part of my spiritual life. No matter how small a role, it's always been a benefit to me somehow. In everything from jotting notes, recording Bible studies, writing down scripture references to look up later, taking down ideas for topics to study on, and even just devotions and Bible reading. It's always been something that I've used more and more over the years to help myself grow spiritually.

I started out the way everyone normally does, taking notes with a pen and pad every Sunday, but found that my notes would always get lost, or become difficult to organize. (And even lost a ton of them along with my main Bible when my car was "unexpectedly towed" *blush*). Ultimately, I'd get too frustrated with either looking for the darned things or trying to figure out which hand drawn outline went with what note and what order they went in according to the topical series being taught on. PDA's saved my note taking life!

So years later, I've evolved from taking notes on a monochrome Palm Vx to a miniature laptop like Redfly paired to my AT&T Tilt. The thing I have started to notice lately, however, is how much notice I've been getting. As my function and mobile computing ability has developed, the devices I use have gotten a little bigger, and so it goes.

While reading a discussion on another message board about my review of the Redfly, one of the participants in the discussion mentioned that he didn't think that laptops or PDAs had a place in God's house on the Sabbath. This got me thinking.

Obviously I don't see anything as a problem with using technology in church, but I can see an argument for those that do. There are definitely pros and cons to using devices like the Redfly. Easy access and storage, the ability to backup notes to more than one device, and sharing with family and friends, are great benefits, but there are also drawbacks. I experienced one such drawback not too long ago.

As the sermon was starting up, so was I, then discovered that a recent change I made to the OS had broken the software I normally use to take notes. So for the first 5 to 10 minutes of the sermon I was troubleshooting to correct the issue. I learned my lesson since then and haven't had any problems since. I've also noticed that another guy I fellowship with started bringing in his 17-inch laptop to take notes as well, which is much more noticeable than my 9 inch Redfly.

With all the resources available to us online, technology is a natural progression to how things can be done in the church. Think about it, we've gone from displaying lyrics to music on overhead projectors to laptops and projectors, announcements are now done with accompanying Powerpoint presentations, entire church services are broadcast on TV and the internet and even the Bible is available freely in just about every translation known to man with a few clicks of the mouse.

This started me to thinking about how churches are currently using technology. Recently John MacArthur released his entire sermon library on-line, the ESV study Bible comes with a key that unlocks an online version that comes complete with with commentary, my church offers the sermon outline and the mp3 of the weeks sermon free of charge weekly.

The change is undeniable and even expected, the Church is already using technology to make the gospel more widely available. With more powerful portable devices becoming more and more available and the prices becoming more accessible, isn't it about time for Congregation 2.0?

Is this what we REALLY wanted?

2008-11-05T00:06:00.000-05:00

As I sit here in my bedroom and listen to our new President elect, scratch that, our first AFRICAN AMERICAN President elect, I wonder how many african americans like me are feeling how I'm feeling. I don't mean that they were anti-Obama from the start like I was. I mean that this victory is bitter sweet, admittedly for me, it's more bitter than it is sweet, but I can deal with that. What I want to know, from my fellow african americans who are Christians and voted for Obama, the questions I pose to you are the following.

1) Do you support gay rights? Obama does.
2) Do you support a pro choice view that considers children a "punishment" for failing to practice abstinence? Obama does
3) Do you support a liberal world view? Obama does
4) Do you support a homosexual agenda being promoted in our schools? Obama does

I have tons more questions... but i'll limit my thoughts to these few here and deal with it. God is sovereign and His will is done. But I wanted to leave my brothers and sisters in Christ with something to think about while we're celebrating our new President. I will support Obama in office because it's my civic duty, but these are my thoughts. Anyone have any mature feedback? Preferably Christians (black or white).

Review: Celio Redfly - A blessing and a curse

2008-11-04T21:48:00.010-05:00

For the past few weeks, I've had the opportunity to live "life on life" with the Celio Redfly. For the uninitiated, the Redfly is much like the defunct Palm Foleo. It is a mobile companion that simply seeks to enhance the users Smartphone experience by adding a few luxuries. In the case of the Redfly, those would be a nice 8 inch screen that doesn't just zoom in or blow the devices screen up to an ugly pixilated blur, it actually changes the resolution! So those spreadsheets or word documents become easier to edit and create on the run, but it does have its limits, but more on that later. It also adds a larger keyboard, a VGA-Out port for monitors or projectors, and 2 USB ports which are very useful! All while touting a hefty 8 hour battery rating. While I haven’t had time to thoroughly test that theory, I can say that whatever the battery life actually is, it’s pretty satisfactory!

The hardware itself doesn't do any of the processing work. In fact, as far as I can tell, the only thing it runs on its own is the video processing. So apart from using this with a windows device (which at the time of writing this was the only device supported), this thing is utterly useless unless you like to stare at the nicely portrayed "Redfly" logo. Which is not a bad thing! Say you're at your local Starbucks and someone decides to swipe it... the thief actually makes off with an expensive paperweight, because all of the data and processing power comes from the Smartphone. So to make it perfectly clear, the device itself does absolutely nothing, but when used in conjunction with a Windows Mobile Smartphone, it makes that Smartphone look pretty nice.

Eye Candy - The Hardware

The hardware itself, I have to say is very attractive. From the decorative raised curves on the top, the prominently displayed "Redfly" logo, the sharp looking reflective burgundy coloring and matching track pad, to the lovely screen, this thing doesn't LOOK like a simple cell phone add on. In fact, anytime I've been seen in public with this thing I get quite a few comments/questions/curious looks. The most common responses I get are "that's cute" and "it's a WHAT-'fly?". Let me tell you... trying to explain what it is and what it does to the "less than tech savvy" is a task. For most, the curiosity tapers and thins when I tell them that it isn't actually a laptop. That says a lot about who is buying this thing.

For the average consumer, a netbook or a laptop would probably be best. Even when shopping for a case in a computer store, I was stopped when comparing the carrying options to the device. "What is that?" the store rep asked (two of them). I tried explaining what it was and they pressed me for more information. "Is it a Windows machine? No... That must be Linux..." the other rep added. I pulled out my AT&T Tilt and said "nope... it's neither, it's my cell phone". At that, they both quickly lost interest. So cosmetically at least, this thing has been a big success with others, myself included!

The two features I was the most curious about before ordering, were the VGA and the USB ports. My mind raced with USB possibilities. The first thing I did once I got it back to my office was plug my 60GB USB drive up to see if it would work. It was a no-go. However, every USB Flash drive I tried has worked flawlessly. The day I bought my case I also picked up a 4GB flash drive. It worked perfectly! The next day I took the flash drive back to exchange for a 4GB micro SD to replace the 2GB micro SD I currently used. I got home, swapped the cards, put the 2GB card into a USB flashcard reader and plugged it in. The Tilt picked up both cards perfectly. I even transferred some of the data from the 2GB card over to the 4GB card with Resco Explorer. It took a little while but it did the job! I tried out a wireless keyboard and mouse I have laying around the house, and they both worked flawlessly. I also attached my computer monitor which worked as expected. When displaying on a monitor or projector, the image displays at a 800x480 resolution and shows an odd grey block that covers the remaining bottom portion of the display. I don’t know why they couldn’t just have it black or just not display at all, but it’s a small issue and doesn’t detract from the usability of the function.

Aside from looks, this thing is actually quite hefty. Not hefty as in “cumbersome” mind you, but hefty as in “this device doesn’t feel cheap or flimsy”. Heavy enough, however, for one to be quite wary about damaging the device if dropped. Here’s one area where it seems that Celio was one step ahead. A large majority of the outer portion of the device is completely rubberized. Both the top and bottom portions of the shell, in fact, every portion of the outer shell colored in the attractive burgundy tone mentioned earlier is in fact rubberized, giving the carrier a measure of confidence in grip and hold. Even the rubber feet on the bottom have a decent grip on most desktop surfaces, so you don’t have to worry about it sliding off the table and smashing on the floor.

One complaint I’ve heard others give concerning netbooks and sometimes laptops in general is that the keyboards have a little give and bend slightly under pressure. No such thing can be said about the keyboard on the Redfly. While it does have some give, it’s not enough to be readily noticeable unless you’re looking for it. It’s certainly not enough to be felt while typing. The Keyboard is also a bit smaller than regular keyboards, but I was able to become quite used to it in a small amount of time. The shortcut keys are easy to identify because they’re all located on the top row of keys (the function keys) and do what you’d expect them to. The Bluetooth connection is quick and responsive, and the track pad works just the way you’d think it would. So all in all, the hardware itself does exactly what it’s supposed to.

Software and Performance

There isn’t any software on the Redfly itself to speak of, so what I want to address here, is how the software on the smartphone takes advantage of the hardware. Things like resolution, video playback, keyboard response times, sound emulation, and the like are all issues that books can be written on. Some things work perfectly, and others, way less than stellar.

First I’ll talk about video playback. At the present time, there isn't any. In my limited experience with this, it seems that once the Smartphone is attached to the Redfly, all video processing is done via the onboard processor, which no developer has written anything for. This unfortunately isn’t limited to just videos. Most of the games I play (Warfare Inc. for example) will not render on the device, or even boot up for that matter. All video players that I’ve tried will boot and render sound, which by the way only renders via your smartphone’s speakers as the Redfly doesn’t have any built in, but the players don’t render any video. To its credit, most of the other applications take full advantage of the increased resolution. All of the Microsoft Pocket Office applications, Palringo IM, EReader, Pocket e-Sword, Olive Tree Bible Reader, the picture applications, and the file explorer for example, all worked without problems.

Internet browsing does leave something to be desired, unfortunately. While Pocket Internet Explorer does take advantage of the full screen, it doesn’t improve the page rendering very well at all, and because of the video processing issue already mentioned, currently, alternative browsers like Opera 9.5beta and Skyfire also do not work. This is very unfortunate as most of what users will be doing will involve internet browsing. The current version of the Opera browser (8.65) does, however, work very well. Web pages were snappy and rendered nicely as if this were a full fledged desktop browser. I love the Opera browser and hope issues with the 9.5beta version are resolved quickly as this is the version being included with a lot of the newer HTC devices like the HTC Diamond and Diamond Touch Pro.

I also tried the device with remote desktop services like LogMeIn, and it performed above and beyond what I thought my cell phone was capable of. I was even able to set the color and screen resolutions up so that it was optimal and fit pretty snugly on the screen with great readability. Now there’s a great use for that 3G connection! The web page rendering speed really doesn’t have much to do with the Redfly itself because it’s all done on the phone, so tests on how fast web pages load won’t be much different than if you were using the phone on it’s own.

Speed, however, is a factor in typing. Even using the Bluetooth connection, there is no noticeable lag behind keystrokes and letters on the screen, unless you’re typing a text message. I have used the Redfly every Sunday to take notes in both the new members’ classes and sermon notes for the last 3 weeks. I’ve used applications like MS OneNote Mobile, Pocket E-Sword, and Pocket Word with much success and satisfaction. However, the one thing I dread using it for is typing text messages. Emails type fine however, but text messages are another story. At first I thought it may be a problem with the threading (I use Windows Mobile 6.1), so I deactivated threading and tested again to no avail. It’s quite an annoying issue. I type at about 60-70 wpm (I’m sooo sloooow), and the rate the words appear on screen is utterly ridiculous. Imagine typing a message, let’s say around 100 characters long, completing your thought, and ready to send… but you have to wait to see if you made any typing errors for up to a full 10-13 seconds after you finished typing (I actually counted… and it was only 82 characters.). As I said, this can be quite annoying.

As I mentioned, the reading tools I use (Pocket E-Sword, Olive Tree Bible Reader, and EReader ) all work wonderfully. For consuming electronic reading material, the Redfly really does a great job with its larger screen. And with a rated 8 hour battery life, that’s a lot of reading for me! I have yet to have this thing die on me when I really need it. I don’t use it for long periods of time most of the time (except if I’m in a bind and really need to get some web browsing done), so I always have plenty of juice to get done what I need. On average, I’d say I end up charging this device maybe two or three times a week. And mostly to top it off if I know I’m going to be using it the next day. I love to be able to listen to a sermon while tabbing between programs like pocket word and E-Sword while reading and keeping notes.

This device has taken typing to a whole new level. I didn’t use Pocket word much until I got the Redfly. OneNote was another useless application to me until the Redfly showed me how useful the app could be, especially when paired with OneNote syncing. I’ll save my doting over OneNote for another time and just say that I love that program, both on the Tilt and the PC. Yet, even with all of these great uses, if you’re ever side by side with someone on an Asus (as I was on a recent trip to a conference with a friend who uses an Asus 1000H ), you’ll find that your experience in comparison with theirs… is less. While I was able to keep pace and hold my own while we were taking notes, during breaks, the Asus was the clear winner when it came time to fire up the wifi and browse some of our favorite websites. He was able to visit a message board, start a thread and post it all before I was even past the hotel registration page. I never did make it to the actually internet before I gave up trying after he ran circles around me. I’ll add that we were literally sitting right next to each other, so he was able to watch in quiet satisfaction while I labored to keep a smile and pretend that everything was working exactly as it should. While I am happy that the Redfly does in fact make using a smartphone better, it does not make it better or equivalent to the experience of using a full fledged computing platform.

While not an exhaustive list of issues I have with the Redfly, it’s definitely a list of my big concerns. Given that they’re promoting this device (at least on their site) to IT groups as a replacement for work laptops, I would definitely throw a fit if I was handed one of these by my local IT guy and told that this was the device I had to work from. For spreadsheets and word documents, it’s excellent, but not for much beyond that.

Life Application – Recovery after the purchase

So the big question is… “Brian, are you happy that you shelled out the cash for this device?” My answer is of course… yes! I can see you scratching your head already so I’ll go ahead and preemptively address your questions and confusion (because I’m a prophet and can read thoughts. Duh). I purchased this device for $200, which is way less than the current asking price of about $400. I could never see paying above $200 for this device given the options in other netbooks of the same size that compete for the same market essentially. At $400 you get a lot less bang for your buck when you can spend another $50 to $60 bucks for an Asus 1000H and get a ton of usability and features. I think for what I paid, I’m getting a good amount of usability for my money. I work with spreadsheets all day long, in an emergency I have a perfect way to email edits to word and excel documents while out and about. While the browsing is less than satisfactory, at least it’s there, and if you sign up for LogMeIn (which is free) you can take advantage of a full computing experience, including browsing, whenever you need one with some obvious rendering speed drawbacks, but they’re not significant with the right settings.

The real benefit to me is the larger screen and keyboard with portability. This IS available with netbooks, but I don’t want a 3rd computer to have to sync my data with. I want to take my notes, bring them home and have OneNote import them without me thinking about it. I want to be able to have all the files on all my computers synchronized without any extra steps. A third computer would likely draw me to abandon using one of them eventually because of this. Also, a netbook is $400 vs. the $200 I paid. Extra features like USB and VGA-Out ports are very nice, but not likely to see much use from me save for the occasional emergency file transfer or mouse usage. For me, the idea was to get something that would allow me to type faster and more accurately, rendering apps and data on a larger screen making them easier to use, while not creating an additional place to store data. For those of us who are tech savvy, one thing we will always be if we keep multiple devices, is tech redundant (i.e. Always having more than one device that can play mp3s, videos, store files, type documents, browse the web, or clean your shoes…. Ok... I’m wishing with the last one).

What I needed, was a cheap way to do my emails, blogging, note taking, and reading. While leaving some things to aspire to, the Redfly fit the bill… quite literally and without breaking my pockets.

The Celio Redfly can still be purchased at the $200 price point until November 17. Act quickly! Head over to the Celio Corp store website and pick your vendor of choice!

http://www.getredfly.com/REDFLY.htm

Wolves in sheep's clothing?

2008-11-03T18:48:00.001-05:00

Over the last few weeks, I've been giving a LOT of thought to the church and how it's to handle false doctrine and those that operate under the "banner of Christ", without actually holding to Biblical teachings.

It's quite a dilemma! I find that there are two extremes in most cases. There are those that choose simply to accept them and shrug their shoulders at their teachings, and there are those that opt to throw labels like "heresy" and "false convert" on them and then exclude the offender from the body of Christ.

In the past, I've definitely been the latter, but things are changing rapidly for me lately, here are my thoughts.

We've changed churches (again?!?!?!). Prayerfully this time, it's final. We really feel like this is the place. It's a part of the Sovereign Grace fellowship that C.J. Mahaney has put together, and, so far, I can say that I agree with the doctrinal stance of this church!

Last Sunday, in the new member class, we started discussing the "gifts of the spirit". The class leader asked if anyone had any questions, so I raised my hand. I asked about how to tell between FALSE use of gifts like tongues, and the like and how we should go about telling others NOT to support ministries that demonstrated this false fruit. The answer I received really surprised me.

He opened his response by saying that I should first check my heart for signs of pride and self-righteousness. *GASP - SHOCK* ME?!?! Self-righteous!?!? The opening landed on me hard. He went on to discuss that we don't know if the offenders are sincere or not. They could REALLY be trying to serve God with whatever it is they know to do! He gently reminded me that any knowledge of Christ that we have been given, wasn't because we were so smart to figure it out, but it was a gift given by the Holy Spirit.

This prompted MANY conversations with very close friends. I shared what I'd been told, and discussed it at length with many different people. Ultimately I was turned to a book by Randy Alcorn. The brother I spoke with had told me about this book before so it was kind of funny to me how it came that we were talking about it AGAIN (about 2 weeks after the first conversation). He had a copy and he let me borrow it. The book is called "The Grace and Truth Paradox". I have to say, that I found myself nodding so much I had to take frequent breaks to calm myself because I kept getting excited!

Then later that same week I received an email from a friend (whom I had NOT discussed this with) with an excerpt from the Puritan John Newton that said:

I am not to expect others to see with my eyes! I am deeply convinced of the truth of John the Baptist's aphorism in John 3:27, "A man can receive nothing--except it be given him from Heaven." I well know, that the little measure of knowledge I have obtained in the things of God--has not been owing to my own wisdom and teachableness, but to God's goodness. Nor did I learn everything all at once--God has been pleased to exercise much patience towards me, for the past twenty-seven years--since He first gave me a desire of learning from Himself. He has graciously accommodated Himself to my weakness, borne with my mistakes, and helped me through innumerable prejudices, which, but for His mercy, would have been insuperable hindrances! I have therefore no right to be angry, impatient, or censorious to others, especially as I have still much to learn, and am so poorly influenced by what I seem to know!

I am weary of theological controversies and disputes, and desire to choose for myself, and to point out to others, Mary's part--to sit at Jesus' feet, and to hear His words. I cannot, I must not, I dare not--be contentious! Only, as a witness for God, I am ready to bear my simple testimony to what I have known of His truth, whenever I am properly called to it.

So a confirmation for me (Aside from the made up words... "teachableness"?). This has made me change my views on how I handle a lot of things, but especially my speech about those whom I consider to be "wolves in sheep's clothing".

Here's my view in short. While we ARE supposed to judge the fruit of those who claim to be Christian, and we are to season our speech with grace concerning those we consider to be off in stance. I don't think we are to IGNORE them, I don't think we are to VALIDATE them either. Share the truth, with Love and Grace. Randy Alcorn kept making the point during the reading that Christ wasn't full of just grace, nor was He just full of Truth. I like Randy's illustration best for describing it. "Christ wasn't 50% grace and 50% truth. He was 100% grace and 100% truth." Christ held both at once. We are to do likewise. While not condoning a false version of the gospel to be presented, we should help to correct others in a way that reflects Christ's method best. TALK TO THEM, don't just LET people be led astray, but do it in love. And if they don't receive God's words and wisdom, don't take it personal. Keep in mind that it's not YOU they reject, it's CHRIST. They also reject because the Spirit has not opened them to receiving, so shake the dust from your feet and move on. LOVE THEM, of course, continue to preach to them if you can! When a fireman enters a burning building and finds occupants unconscious and unable to help themselves (sinners dead in sin and unable to help themselves), he doesn't scoff and insult the helpless (how DARE they reject the true gospel!). His attitude isn't one of pride (I'm conscious.. they're NOT, glad I'm not THEM). Because he CARES about the well being of those people he makes an attempt to save them (preaching and teaching the truth, not allowing others to be deceived BECAUSE of love, not out of pride, hate, or arrogance). If he is unable to save them he has to regretfully move on (no injury to pride, but saddened because this person could not be reached or helped), however if he is able to rescue them, everyone rejoices!

That of course is a very loose analogy, but I think it fits. So when discussing the teachings of those we find to be unbiblical with those that follow them, are we critical or caring? If we happen to find ourselves in discussion with a teacher who presents false teachings are we lovingly corrective or abusive and harsh? Any thoughts?

Tech Reviews too?!? Celio Red Fly… coming soon!

2008-09-30T19:42:00.003-04:00

Some of you know, some of you don't, but I'm a technology geek! Ever since my first computer back in 97 and my first PDA in 2001 I've been inseparable from either or both (sometimes simultaneously, LOL).

So I've just ordered a Celio Red Fly and I'm pretty excited about it. I've recently started taking notes in church on Sundays with my cell phone (AT&T Tilt). It works pretty well, I've got some Bible software loaded and MS Onenote makes it pretty easy to take some decent notes. I can add bullet or numbered points, bold, underline, italicize, etc. So I love the setup. I can even come home and plug it up to my PC and have my notes backed up to my PC with MS Office 2007!

The only thing I would change is the small screen. I also work heavily with spreadsheets at my job, and being able to edit them on the go with my tilt gives a little push in productivity in those "Gotta have it done" situations like over the weekend when I'm out and about with my family. However, the screen size can really be a hindrance when dealing with large spreadsheets or multipage word documents. So this is where the addition of the Red Fly is really great!

A brief look at the device and you immediately think laptop, but you'd be wrong. It's a lot less and that's not necessarily a bad thing. I'll give my pros and cons of the device in the future.. and I MAY do a video. Still deciding on that one. Here's a quick breakdown of the features.

Hardware Specifications:

Size:
1 x 6 x 9 inches

Screen:
8-inches; 800 x 480 pixels

Weight:
2 lbs.

Battery:
4,500 mAh (lasts 8 hours with typical usage)
REDFLY can also use its battery to charge most smartphones via USB cable

Connectivity:
Bluetooth
USB (2 ports – supports USB Keyboards, mouse, and usb storage drives)
VGA (1 VGA out port for connection to projectors or external monitors)

The Red Fly is a Windows Mobile Smartphone accessory. It simply adds a larger screen and keyboard to the device. Some might be aware that similar functionality is available for FREE with software for a PC, however, those solutions don't actually change the resolution of the smartphone.. it's simply a copy of the phones screen on the pc. If it's not clear to you now, just wait until the review and hopefully I can answer some of your questions (like… "what's the point?!?"). LOL. Stay tuned!

2008-08-21T14:43:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone.. we just got back from the hospital and wanted to share with you guys the GREAT news. In this age where its acceptable to murder children... theres still ONE traditional family that REJOICES with the BLESSING of a child.

thanks for all your prayers and support.. it's a GIRL!!!! despite my earnest prayers and fasting (lol)... God, in His infinite wisdom has been gracious in giving me another little girl. PRAISE GOD IT'S A GIRL!!!!!

2008-04-30T07:22:00.002-04:00

Saw this video on another website and it really encouraged me! Check this out.

The Humility of Christ

2008-04-21T11:39:00.004-04:00

I’m sitting here at work doing my little spreadsheets and listening to Timothy Brindle’s “Killing Sin” album and the song “The Humility of Christ” cues up. Because I’m working intensely (on a spreadsheet), I’m kind of half listening, but near the beginning of the song, it kind of grabbed me.

Timothy begins to describe the birth of Christ and two lines really hit me and made me start to think:

“Let me ask you if you seem confused with this/

God passed through His own creatures uterus/

I admit this is odd, but the Bible can persuade me/

An omnipotent God crying as a baby?!?!?”

Let’s take a moment to break this down for a second and put it all into perspective. Here we have one person from the Trinity, The Word become flesh, the ruler of the universe, the King of the Jews who rules both physically and spiritually… and yet he made himself so small… so fragile, so meek to become an infant little boy?!? It seems so opposite of the way Christians or humanity as a whole work today. It seems so many times we all struggle and wrestle with ourselves and each other to climb to the top of the pile. Yet, here we have the one who deserves the honor and praise so much that it’s required, but he puts himself at the bottom of the deck. He took off the power, the deity, the Holiness He had, and became one of us. Flesh like you and me, and was STILL God! It boggles the mind how… but more importantly WHY He would do something like that!

An illustration I like to use to demonstrate God’s patience is to contrast it with the patience we have. I’ll paint the picture of an artist or something and say things like “now say you had a picture you wanted to paint. You had it all planned out in your head… but as you begin to paint, it wasn’t turning out as well as you thought it would... what would you do?” Of course the answer is start all over right? Why did God go through all the trouble? Was it because He loved us so much? I don’t think that’s the whole reason, but certainly part of it. Was it because of His limitless patience? I think it played a part… but not a majority of it. Well what do the scriptures say about it? What reason does the Bible give that God would go through all of that rather than just wipe the slate clean and start over. The simple answer is, God wanted the glory! OH HOW HE DESERVES IT!

The simple fact is, there’s nothing about anyone on Earth that could make God have a change of heart! Plainly put, He planned and ordained everything from the beginning. I like the illustration I used in the previous paragraph, but there’s one glaring obvious flaw people don’t pick up on all of the time. It assumes that the fall of man caught God off guard. It assumes that God didn’t have any clue what would happen once he started this “people project”. That of course is wrong, but I do it like that so that I can bring up another point. That point being the HUGE difference between God and man.

How limited our intelligence, foresight, potential for planning ahead… it’s all predicated on other circumstances we don’t control. We can’t create or manipulate events all the way through. For all of our planning, for all of our thinking, there are still uncertainties. Companies can plan to build buildings 5 or 6 years into the future, but when the time comes and those 5 or 6 years have passed, every company will stop to examine its condition at the time to decide if beginning that building is something they can afford to do. I was in a conversation with a co-worker where this was exactly the case. A company had began to build some office buildings in our area a few years ago with the idea that they’d be able to fill them up with occupants, however during the building process, turns in the market means that now, people and businesses aren’t willing to spend as much, so the building is finished and barely occupied now.

It isn’t so with God. He knows every second that passes. He’s seen it all already, and we’re all in His stage play. He’s planned everything in such a way that He would be magnified by those who love Him throughout history. He hardened Pharaohs heart so that the Israelites would witness His might with the splitting of the Red Sea and the destruction of Pharaoh and his army. He has allowed sin to exist so that we would be able to experience His grace and kindness. Would we know how GOOD our God is without evil to contrast His goodness? He only allows it for a time, and those who will open their eyes to witness His splendor will be kept for eternity having borne a testimony to God’s glory and being able to worship Him rightly because of it. With that in perspective, let’s take another look at the marvelous work He has done by coming to us in such a humble fashion.

A holy and matchless God, who formed the universe with a few words, made himself into the likeness of His own small creation and saved them from His own wrath. Someone so High and Mighty, deserving of all the horns of the Earth announcing his entry, chose to come to us in the most humble conditions, in the most humble place, in the most humble way. Why? So we could look back into history and witness this even in our Bibles and see that His coming is two-fold. The first part was to free the slaves from the bondage of sin and the second, to gather those who He chose to save. Praise our God!

Have you earned the right to serve God's purpose?

2008-04-14T10:22:00.006-04:00

I'm late with this article. Sure.. I know. I've been tangled up in other things (like debating why this was a GOOD thing (http://hcr.fm/forum/showthread.php?t=28202). So now I'm ready to give my formal opinion on this matter after having tested my opinion against the iron of other believers and I still feel the same way. This was a GOOD THING!

I could make sarcastic comments like "American Idol has already done more evangelism and witnessing than most of America's 'christian' population", but that wouldn't serve any purpose other than bolstering my pride (puffing up my chest because I feel "I'm right"), or offending my brothers and sisters in Christ. So I'm trying to discuss this in love, and being honest with myself and taking an honest look at scripture and what it has to say on the matter, and I don't see anywhere in the Bible where this can be viewed as a bad thing! In all of the questioning, the investigating, and the debating, I've found consistency on both sides. On my end, there seem to be plenty of Biblical examples that relate to the unsaved doing works in the name of God and it still being counted as useful for the Body of Christ, and on the opposing side, I can tell, there is this over all nagging feeling that something just isn't right about all of this! That's something I can agree with, but I think the mistrust is misplaced here.

I'll concede a bit, sure, I didn't rush out to buy the P.Diddy gospel album, and to this day I still wouldn't recommend it, but to me these are two seperate issues that do share a lot of similarities. So much so that it's hard to justify one without hypocritically denying the other if that's the road you want to take. The more I think about it, the more I want to take a universal stand on all of it. Either I'm okay with the lost (And we assume the role of judge here when we try to decide this) doing music for the worship of God, or I'm against it all. In all honesty, I'm leaning towards allowing it all. Take a good look at the title of this article... "the right to serve God's PURPOSE". I worded it like that purposefully because I wanted to make the destinction about my argument. I wanted to make it clear that I'm not in agreement with the view that sinners cannot be used by God. NO ONE has to EARN the right to be used by God. In fact, I believe EVERY SINGLE INDIVIDUAL on Earth, is serving God's purpose. That being the case, God had already ordained that song to be sung on American Idol, just as God ordained Hurricane Katrina, or 9-11, or any other catastrophe that may cause us to look at God and shake our fists like "WHERE WERE YOU!!??!!??". Firstly, That's blasphemy and secondly God ordained those things. (Let me take this time to say also to anyone reading this that may have lost a loved on in a catastrophe, I mourn with you and you have my prayers! May God bless!).

I don't want to get too far off course of the topic, but very briefly, let me explain. I'm not saying God willed those things as some kind of punishment to those who were affected or lost their lives, or some kind of rebuke against the nation or anything like that. I believe, as stated before, that EVERY single thing that ever happens on Earth was planned and ordained by God... why? For his GLORY. The Earth is FULL of his Glory. To believe that anything can catch God off guard or by surprise, is to lower God in his position as... well... God. How can we believe that God knows all things but forgot about this one little thing that ended up hurting people. We have to believe that God knew and allowed it. God allowed the flood and saved Noah and the animals in the ark. God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. God ordered the nation of Israel to go to war. Sometimes we may need to do a check on who we believe God to be. God can use the wicked like he used pharaoh to magnify himself! The Bible records that God himself, hardened pharaohs heart and made it wicked! So that God would be magnified by Israel! He used the sinful, to magnify His name for those He loved and chose! Same thing here. God used those who may be in sin to magnify His name before those he chose!

Of course there are a ton of arguments that would warn against this, but I have to side with scripture. It sends the wrong message! It opens the door to all kinds of people doing gospel albums! Again, I must side with scripture. Which to me clearly says "as long as it's done to glorify God..., as long as Christ is preached, I rejoice!" (Phl 1:18 What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.).

In my gut, I don't agree with people who are obviously living in sin doing gospel songs. My argument in the case of American Idol, is that these people didn't choose the song, it was chosen for them so holding them individually accountable for the merit of their worship seems silly to me. They were trying to win a competition, there may have been those who actually DID enjoy and WANT to sing the song out of worship for God.

This is still something I'm wrestling with, but overall, I'll need to submit my thoughts to what scripture teaches and what brings God the most glory. AMEN!

Just a quick note....

2008-03-27T08:27:00.002-04:00

For now... reviews are on hold. I won't be doing CD reviews for a moment while I get some things in line. I'm trying to decide if they'll be apart of the site at all or not. Pray for me while I pray about this decision... if you've sent me music to review.. my apologies. I WILL still finish those, I'll get them done soon by God's grace (and if I can win over my fleshly procrastination, LOL). In the meantime, you guys sit tight, I'll have more edifying content on the way!

Grace and peace
-btate

Do you fit the description?

2008-03-27T08:08:00.003-04:00

A quick preface here. This was recently posted on a message board I frequent.. and has been the greatest eye opener, besides the Bible of course! I pretty much run all of these and thought this may help any of those visiting here. I hope you're blessed and edified... and mostly encouraged to grow in this area. Grace and peace! -btate

SIGNS OF PRIDE

1. Insecurity. Research reveals clergy as one of the most insecure of all professional groups. Insecurity is the root of many unhealthy and ungodly behaviors. It provokes us to want the lavish praise and attention of others too much. Much of pride is motivated out of one’s unmet need for self-worth. Finding one’s identity and security in Christ is a must to avoid pride.

2. The need to be right. Ever encounter someone who has a hard time being wrong? This is a symptom of pride. The need to be right prevents one from appropriately evaluating issues as well as themselves (Galatians 6:3). A person who needs to be right has an exalted investment in himself or herself and thinks that he/she knows better than others. In religious circles, the need to be right is frequently manifested through always saying ‘God told me’ or ‘God showed me’.

3. Being argumentative. Individuals, who argue their point of view, especially to those in authority over them, are allowing pride to get the best of them. At the root of their argument is a belief that they are right and the other is wrong and that their will should prevail. It is appropriate to advocate for a point of view or position but not to do so in such a manner that you are more invested in your opinion than in arriving at a mutual understanding.

4. More invested in being heard than in hearing. When someone develops a pattern of needing others to listen to them rather than first hearing others, pride is motivating the need. The need to be heard is common among clergy who are insecure. Oftentimes, the individual does not feel loved or valued unless people "hear them out." In truth, this is often just an expression of insecurity and pride.

5. Anger. Anger is a self-justifying emotion. This means that the nature of anger is to prompt us to justify our position and blame another for the wrongdoing. Justification of self leads to denial of our own complicity or wrongdoing. The scripture warns that the "anger of man does not accomplish the righteousness of God." (James 1:20). An individual who is angry a lot is suffering from pride.

6. Irritability and impatience. Even though I am a counselor, it was only recently that I learned that the root of impatience in my life is anger and therefore pride. When we are unable to be patient with another and are irritated, it demonstrates a haughty view of self. We feel that our views, time or needs are more important than the other persons. This again is more an indication of our pride than someone else’s slow movement or imperfection.

7. Lack of submissive attitude. Submission is the voluntary placement of oneself under the influence, control or authority of another. When an individual pledges their submission to you or another, yet is critical or argumentative of that authority, then pride is the hidden issue. The test of humility and submission is being able to say ‘yes’, maintain a positive attitude and trust God, especially when the decision of your authority goes against your grain or better judgment.

8. Not easily corrected. Ever work or live with someone who won’t receive any negative or corrective feedback? This too is pride. Before he died, a pastor in the East Valley was noted for being easily entreated and able to receive corrective feedback from others. He would thank the person for the negative feedback and commit to pray about it, seek counsel and get back to the person with what conclusions he came to. He was a role model for many of us.

9. Receiving correction but not changing. I worked with a man who often would receive my correction and say thank you for the feedback, but would never change. This too is a form of pride. The individual was placating me and people-pleasing me, telling me what I wanted to hear but not really taking the feedback to heart. His insecurity and fear prevented him from truly changing.

10. Needing others to take your advice. Counselors, such as myself, easily fall into the trap of having to have others take their advice. Advice should always be offered without strings attached. If you find yourself resenting the fact that your advice is not followed, look deeper at the motivating issues in your life.

11. Needing to proclaim your title or degrees. A good friend of mine requires everyone to call him ‘pastor’, saying that he has deservedly earned the title. Demanding that others call you ‘doctor’ or ‘pastor’ or ‘bishop’ is usually a way of making you ‘one up’ and them ‘one down’. Once again, pride is fueling the requirement.

12. Being stubborn. Webster’s dictionary defines stubbornness as "unduly determined to exert one’s own will, not easily persuaded and difficult to handle or work, resistant." The root issue of stubbornness is willfulness, which is ‘I want what I want when I want it’. Another name for pride.

13. Comparisons and competition. 2 Corinthians 10:12 makes it clear that comparing oneself with others is unwise. Comparison is a form of competition. It is often overt. For example, emphasizing the size of one’s church, the number of converts, etc. However, it can also be the subtle sin of heart that inwardly grieves when another is more successful or rejoices when another pastor’s ministry enters hard times. The motive of heart is pride.

14. Thinking you have no pride issues. Thinking that you don't ever struggle with pride could be a very good indication of pride. I believe we all struggle with pride on some level.

15. Proclaiming your humility. This one is tricky - it can be manifested by refusing help, but being always willing to give and give (whereas true humility has no problem saying 'I need help!'), it can be manifested with false affection and compliments which make you look good to those on the outside (such as using terms of endearment to make people think you are loving when in fact, you despise the person) and it can also be seen in some cases by proclaiming your constant and consistent innocence when you believe you are wronged.

Took a little break .... but God....

2008-03-07T10:55:00.002-05:00

Took a minute to breathe... hope you guys don't mind! I've been overwhelmed with all the requests for reviews, have some other things going on in my personal life (pray for me guys!), but I'm back on the saddle!!!! My apologies to those who've been visiting regularly waiting for new content.. it's coming!!! Peep the upcoming articles list over on the right hand side of the screen, some really interesting interviews coming up, some good devotionals, and I have a few surprises I'm working on as well. I'm also looking to transition to a regular domain soon, so be looking for a new web address soon.. whenever i decide on one. LOL.

Be blessed, thank you for your prayers!

Grace and PEACE!

b.tate

Ready Writer - Conduit

2008-02-20T00:34:00.009-05:00

I had my reservations with this one. I'll be honest.. I hesitated on this CD. I was purposefully waiting for everyone else to get theirs so I could hear about how it was before I considered buying it. I'll say this... Brinson does not know how to leave me alone, and I'm glad he didn't. As CEO and spokesman of Godchaserz Ent., he does an EXCELLENT job putting out notice of upcoming events and CD releases of his artists. You can tell he has a love for God and what he does concerning his ministry. I had reservations for many reasons, most of them because of my own narrow mindedness. For those who don't know me, I've been pretty picky about the theology of the music that I digest. After being convicted recently about my own pride and prejudices I held against brothers of different theological views, I began to let my guard down a bit. This CD was the killing blow that destroyed my theology wall. Even though I may not agree with some of the theology on this album, none of my beefs involve core element of Christ's death, resurrection, deity, or any other topic I would classify as VITAL to true Christianity. That being said... I'll just pray for my brothers out of Christ love (LOL, I'm kidding!). Seriously, with that being said, let's look at "Conduit" by Ready Writer off of the Godchaserz Ent. label.

With closed eyes, and bracing my ears for the unexpected I pressed the "play" button and began my audio journey down the road that is "Conduit" from Ready Writer, and I was very pleasantly surprised. As the sample blared, the kick and snare slammed against my ear drums, the gritty rhyme schemes from the brilliant mind that is Readywriter began to pour out of my headphones. Immediately I was caught up by this young mans strength of character behind a mic. Not only was the delivery of punchlines timed perfectly with the track, but for whatever reasons I found myself pretending to hold a mic myself and following along with his words. This album is lyrically intense for the most part, you'll find a few places among the pile of words and instruments to rest and just nod your head without thinking too hard, but for the most part you'll be nodding viciously while your mind races trying to keep pace with the verbal triathlon that runs the length of the CD. Adding to the verbal melee were label mate Jovan Mackenzy, Brinson, Young Fitz, and Disciple. There were a few low points for me, a couple of tracks will find the "skip" button a place of residence more often than not. While I can appreciate the message behind both "Woman's Love" and "Get Clean", for me the production just didn't match the quality of the lyricism and ultimately watered both songs down. But overall this was very solid offering from the God Chaserz crew. Favorites include "God's Plan", "Emails", and "War of Mind's". That's not to say that there aren't other tracks that won't make you want to either grab your Bible and try to keep up, or get up and dance. While not being counted among my favorite tracks, the single "This is Jesus Christ" is at least the catchiest tune on the album.

When pausing from the mental workout being given by our trainer, Ready Writer, to look at the production on the album, you notice the wide variety of styles being offered on this one disc. With tunes crafted by the likes of Brinson, Teddy P, recently reviewed Lesun, J. Pierre, and a host of other producers, Conduit lays out a spread fit to give listeners of every musical taste a sample of his lyrical prowess. As stated before, this is a lyrically intense album, so even if some tracks didn't catch my fancy production wise, that doesn't necessarily mean that the MC didn't.

After listening to this album from cover to credits, top to bottom and in between all of the crevices, I find myself unsatisfied. Allow me to clarify. When discussing this album with Brinson, he mentioned that sometimes he has to go back and listen again to some of the things said and even days later he'll finally understand a punchline or hook. I'm definitely finding that to be the case. I keep saying it and I'll repeat once more, this is a lyrically intense album. One of the things I find so intriguing about Ready Writer's style is that he doesn't make everything plain. A lot of the meat of what he's saying is hidden behind some of the metaphors and similes he uses. I had to listen to the first few bars of "God's Plan" just to get what he was talking about. Honestly, I just got it while listening and writing this review! So when I say unsatisfied, I mean "the theme park just closed, and I know that I missed a couple of the roller coasters"! Fortunately, I own the album and am free to glean to my hearts content. Overall the album started off very strong for me and kind of tapered off a bit for me because of some of the production, however lyrically the MC stayed on point in delivery and style for the most part. Over all, this is a very decent effort from Ready Writer and crew. Cop it and keep it. This ones a good listen.

What Do you Believe and why?

2008-02-17T15:17:00.010-05:00

You ever ask yourself that question? Why do I believe what I believe about the Bible? Why am I apart of the religious denomination I’m in? How solid is the foundation I’m building my relationship with God on? When you REALLY think about it, that's a VERY important question to ask for a lot of reasons. What you believe about God effects everything from how you view God in Sovereignty, how you interact with God, how you view God and His Holy Word, and most importantly the things you say to others about God!

These are ALL VERY important issues that EVERY Christian should inspect in their own lives OFTEN! So many of us in The Body take what Pastor says or what Bishop says about a topic and hold that as the ultimate truth! We accept what we hear from the pulpit as the final authority, rather than holding it up and comparing to the scriptures. How backwards is that?!? EVERYTHING anyone ever tells us should be subject to the Word of God.

Now I know that a lot of times, it becomes really easy to misinterpret scripture when reading on your own. That’s why wisdom encourages the use of Bible study tools like a concordance and some Bible commentaries. Use discernment in deciding which version of the Bible to read and which commentary to purchase. I personally add to that mixture the use of sermonic podcasts. I listen to a lot of R.C. Sproul, Way of the Master Radio, John Piper, Paul Washer, and John MacArthur. From my own studies, I’ve decided to listen to them because they most closely match what I believe to be proper expositional teaching vs the freestyle type of preaching done in many churches today. That's not to say that I agree with EVERYTHING they teach. For instance, R.C. Sproul is a theologian I hold a lot of respect for, but when it comes to infant baptisms our opinions are different. Not that I know any better than him, but I don't seem to find any place in scripture that teaches that children are to be baptized.

It's important to remember when reading scripture, that we don't read God's Word to find a passage that may support what we think, but that we read in order to gain a better understanding of God. When we excuse ourselves and allow ourselves to read scripture and eisegete things into the text that wasn't originally meant, we are in danger of creating idols for ourselves by fashioning a God that fits the description of what we want our God to be like. This is why I support expositional teaching over thematic teaching. When reading a passage of scripture, it's easy to distort meaning when we hop about the entire Bible attempting to make sense of a verse (at least is shouldn’t be done without the use of certain tools), instead, a person would read a verse in context with the other verses leading up to and after that particular verse to get a proper context of scripture.

To quote Flame “A scripture could never mean what it never meant before to its original readers and author”. In other words, the verses and scriptures we read should mean the exact same thing to us, as it did to the original audience and author. Bearing in mind grammatical and historical diffferences of our day and the time in which the text was written.

So many times we use God’s Holy words OUT of context and laugh and joke about it, without realizing that God is a HOLY God, and as such, His Word should not be taken lightly. We should strive to understand God’s Word in its FULLNESS to help us gain a deeper and richer understanding of our Heavenly Father!

I won’t forget a conversation I had with a good friend. We ventured into a theological topic and just as soon as I started getting into it, responded with “See, I believe that the devil will use all this theological stuff to trip believers up sometimes”. It hurt me to my heart to hear him say this, but it gave me a lot of insight on how high up the view of God’s Word he had. I agree that too much of anything can be a BAD thing a lot of times… but NEVER too much of God’s word. It’s deeper than any ocean, and even wider than the same. Most certainly it's important enough for us to delve deeper and attempt to learn ALL we can! The Bible describes itself as containing milk for the simple and meat for the deep. One could argue that spiritual growth and a relationship with God can flourish by dining on the basics of the Bible, but I honestly believe that any lover of God would want to graduate from the surface and simple things concerning the Bible and move to have a deeper relationship with a Saviour that saved their soul. Being mindful of ourselves in the process however because we all know that "knowledge puffs up". So we should ensure that our motives for wanting to grow spiritually and in knowledge of scripture should solely be based out of a desire to know God better.

There are portions of scripture that CAN be understood without digging too deep, but from my own personal studies, with friends and alone, I’ve discovered that a majority of scripture requires that we give it our utmost attention and priority to properly unpack and understand. It’s because of a sloppy approach to hermeneutics that we have a lot of the divisions we have today in the Body today! I’m not referring to the small disagreements believers can sometimes get into (spiritual gifts, anointing, etc). Rather the more important and VITAL things like the Sovereignty of God, the Deity of Christ, and the Trinity as examples. Without proper view of such things, one cannot even HOPE to even believe in the same God revealed in Scripture.
A lot of times, we choose to be stubborn and hold on to what we WANT to believe, even if it contradicts scripture. We’d rather BE right than GET it right (IRAAC, "I'm right at all costs"). It’s hard to fathom that sometimes mom or dad MAY have had it wrong. What a hard pill to swallow when you have to UNLEARN a lot of the things you’ve been taught because you find that your beliefs are found nowhere in Scripture, but rather in the twisting of the meaning of scripture or simply holding on to traditions!

I would just like to encourage you, reader, if you’re serious about the truth, and God’s Word, then please take it seriously enough to know that God doesn’t need an editor, or a proof reader (“see, what God MEANT to say here was….”). Submit YOUR will, to the authority of Scripture and conform yourself to it’s truth. Study to show thyself approved...

Amen.

Lesun - The KISS Album (Keep It Short & Sweet)

2008-02-13T19:49:00.011-05:00

Ok... since this is the first OFFICIAL album review I'm just going to go over some of the basics here. There's a visual version, and i Kept It Short and Sweet (pun intended this time... how appropriate). Click the thumbnail to get a visual song by song rating, complete track listing, a rating and a quick blurb about the album with my overall opinion. Then there's the extra something for those of you who like to read. A full length, in depth review. I don't rate Intros, Interludes, or Outros unless they make an extreme positive or negative effect on the album. In this case none of them were musical so they weren't rated. On to the review!!!!

Ok.... I'm a humorous fellow, so I appreciate when artists take the time and spend the effort to make me laugh, entertain, and feed my spirit all at once. This is certainly the case with this album. Right out of the gate Lesun offers his heart to us by sharing what a long road it's been and thanking those who had helped him along the way... but then he's distracted... check the album out to hear it for yourself. It's unexpected and hilarious. The KISS album (Keep it Short and Sweet) is a GREAT display of lyrical talent and vocal ability all submitted for the glory of God, while having a good time in the process.

Moving into the music you're immediately greeted with a bevy of BANGERS! Check the first 4 rated songs on the thumbnail.... those are some of my favorites on the album. I have to say that Lesun did an EXCELLENT job picking his beats on this project. Thankfully, he had the lyrical chops to keep pace and handle the tracks like an experienced MC. His tone and delivery did a lot to make the listening enjoyable, and you can tell he felt comfortable with what he was doing at all times. He even smoothes it out a couple of times and puts on his "crooner" hat to seranade the listener a few times. A very welcome change of pace! Normally when you have an artist that tries to both sing and rhyme, you end up with very little talent on both sides supplemented by an overload of pride. He doesn't overkill the vocals like most church choir solo artists do, opting to keep the tunes mellow and even featuring OTHER vocal artists on some of the same tracks he sings on top off, pumping out a plethora of voices to please the audio pallete. It wasn't all high points for me however. "Something You Don't See Everyday" just didn't seem to fit on this album to me. Taking into account the over all feel of the album, the southern flavor of that track seemed a little out of place. But you could appreciate the effort though.

As I keep mentioning, I was impressed thouroughly by the quality of the production. With contributions from production powerhouses like Tony Stone, Theory Hazit, Lesun himself, G.P., Tone, Duan Wade, and Roc Beats, K.I.S.S offeres a WIDE range of musical styles that cross a wide range of genres. There's plenty of ear candy to keep that neck going with bobblehead action.

Although I didn't rate them, I really enjoyed the interludes as well. It gave a lot of insight into his personality, led smoothly from song to song, and gave opportunities to laugh along with him, feel for him, and just generally get to know him. It's always nice to feel like you know the artist at the end of listening to an album. The constant interuptions from the "KISS" clip from an artist everyone should know, kept the mood light and the album on its heels. A very comfortable album from top to bottom.

This isn't a theology album. It's definitely not one of those albums you'd turn to for help to exegete a passage of scripture, or to prepare for a sermon. That doesn't mean that this album doesn't edify or build you up spritually. As a matter of fact that's QUITE the case. I'm finding that I start my day with "BPM's" stuck in my brain every morning which encourages me to draw closer to God on the daily, helping me by reminding me of where I came from, and where I am now. This isn't an album you'll put in and wonder if the artist is saved or not, this is DEFINITELY CHRISTIAN Hip Hop here. He tastefully manages a balance of content that SCREAMS JESUS while at the same time is just good music.

The bottom line man, this is definitely one of the best Holy Hip Hop albums I've heard in a while. I'll be recommending this album to all of my friends and family, especially those that aren't currently in the faith. So obviously.. my recommendation to you...

GO COP THAT JOIN SON!!!! Currently available at 3hmp3.com and from his website, www.BruceLesun.com

Extreme Witnessing from the homies over at GodChaserz Ent.

2008-02-12T19:58:00.004-05:00

Brinson and crew get it in for God with a local. PRAISE GOD the young man gave his life to Jesus after this encounter(I would TOO!!!). The song at the end is by ReadyWriter off of his new album Conduit. You can get it at www.GodChaserz.com. Keep your browsers locked in here to peep the review coming in about a week!

One of THOSE days....

2008-02-11T17:38:00.001-05:00

I just had a long day. I've got some family issues that have cropped up today, I'm hitting a writer's block on my stories and articles, I had a generally unproductive day at work.... It's one of those days where I could really justify having a horrible attitude if I wanted to, but for some reason I still have a smile on my face. People have talked about me, some truth some lies, I've even been threatened with legal action today. Somehow, I still have JOY! My wife and I are still bubbling over with a peace that surpasses all understanding and it is so comforting!

Don't get me wrong... It's not every day we handle things the way we are today... Which is why this is such a treat. I have my days where I'll just shut down and it would be difficult for anyone to know that I'm Christian (oh like YOU'VE never had an off day...lol)! So today is a victory to me. Today flesh was defeated at least in this small area.... And I am encouraged. All glory to God...

Grace and Peace

Powerful Praying

2007-06-19T14:57:00.002-04:00

Just to be clear, my view on this has changed recently, but this article is being kept for reflection later and for comparison to later material that will show up here. Hey.. we all grow spiritually right?

Beezy

Just some notes I took from a sermonic podcast I listen to and thought I'd share.

Sermonic Notes

Lon Solomon "Prayer" - Part 8 of the series "Spiritual Boot Camp"

How do you pray with the power to reach the possibilities of God's promises in our lives? How do we pray with the authority and power that the believers before us had?

Promises of God regarding answers to our prayers

(ASV) Eph_3:20 - Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

(ASV) Jer_33:3 - Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and will show thee great things, and difficult, which thou knowest not.

(ASV) Jas_5:16-17 - ....The supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working. Elijah was a man of like passions with us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain; and it rained not on the earth for three years and six months.

What are the requirements we should meet in order to pray effectively?

There are 4 principles every believer should keep in mind when praying before God.

1. Pray with clean hands and a pure heart.
Psa_24:3-4
Psa_66:18

We need to ensure that we clear our hearts of any sins we may be harboring, anything we know we've done wrong, Something we should do in every prayer is to repent of these things before we make requests. We need to make sure our hearts are in the right place and cleaned.

2. Pray with a forgiving spirit
Mar_11:25-26

We need to ensure that we clear any hard feelings or anger and bitterness towards anyone else before we continue in our prayer. From Jesus' own lips he tells us that our prayers will be effectively ignored if we are harboring hate or ill will towards any of our neighbors. When we pray with these things in our hearts, it's like trying to grow a garden in soil heavily mixed with salt. NOTHING can grow in soil of this kind. You can't mix prayers and these sort of feelings and expect to reap anything fruitful.

3. Pray in faith
Mat_21:22
Mat_13:58
1Jn_5:14

When making requests from The Father we should ask with the belief that we will receive the blessings we ask for. Matthew 13:58 says Jesus didn't perform miracles in his own hometown because they did not believe. What good is it for God to reward unfaithfulness? What benefit to the body is unbelief? This kind of wavering mind is not rewarded. We need to have a strong understanding that God WANTS to fulfill our requests according to his word and his promises. God WANTS to ensure blessings in the lives of his children, but not just for blessings sake. By blessings it doesn't necessarily mean "stuff" but also includes love, peace, and security knowing that we are his children and that we are taken care of in him physically and eternally. We can pray for whatever we desire! Praying for wealth and success are not off limits! HOWEVER, we need to understand that these things shouldn't be for our own vanity (see number 4). Remember every granted prayer is according to his will for our lives and his ultimate plan for salvation for the people of this world. However God chooses to answer such prayers is up to him and not to be limited by any circumstance, human interference, or limitation of any kind, including unbelief.

4. Pray with the Glory of God as our motive
Isa_42:8
1Ki_18:36

Our prayers shouldn't be vain. What we request should directly go to our personal desire to see God glorified in the Earth. If we're praying for wealth and success for our own vanity, then this prayer is NOT in line with the will of God, however praying for wealth or success for the advancement of The Kingdom agenda is perfectly fine and we can expect God to reward this kind of prayer. God is interested in revealing his power in might in our lives as well as everyone else's. When Elijah went against the prophets of baal (1 Kings 18), his prayer to God was not one requesting that God would prove him right in front of others. He didn't ask for retribution or harm to anyone. He simply asked that God would take the opportunity to prove his might. The Bible doesn't say that any time passed between the time of the prayer and the time of God's action. The Bible shows that this was an immediate response to the prayer Elijah offered up. God immediately took the opportunity to show himself strong and mighty before the people.
With these principles in our hearts, we open ourselves to be used more completely and powerfully by God. When God can see that we would make no effort to take any recognition or praise, rather we would take the attention received and say "HEY! LOOK AT GOD!!", God is more willing to use us as vessels of His glory.

This is how a believer can wield the true power of prayer in life. By remember that it's to be used for God's glory, only when our hearts are pure and forgiving, and strong with faith that God will perform.

Amen.

So inspiring....

2007-05-31T22:49:00.001-04:00

I'm sitting here watching "The Big Idea" and each story that comes up on the show... truly inspires me. I'm so confused right now in life because i have so many options!!! It's not a terrible problem to have... unless you're the one with the problem. I can go do the music thing (really.. i CAN sing) - chase down american idol next season. I could go ahead and go to school... i don't know.. ITT tech or something.. get myself some certifications, start my one man Geek Squad operation and slowly work that baby into a franchise with my own 2 hands. I could start up some of these websites i keep getting these ideas for just about everyday. I've started a little black book of ideas, and i'm putting something in it just about everyday. I've got a couple people looking at me like "hey.. tell me your idea.. i'll sign the check for however much i can spare.. git er done". I'd like to be a millionaire. I'd like to be comfortable. I'd like to be secure... but i'm so scared of tripping over myself. AAAARGH. What's the next step here? I'm not GREAT at anything in particular (except singing)... but i'm GOOD at plenty. In a few years... or mayber just a year... we'll see where i'm at....

Christians & The war & President Bush & The war...

2007-05-30T11:20:00.001-04:00

so i'm cruising today through some of the other blogs on this site and i come to one with an interesting article about how Christians today blindly support the war, Bush, and plainly... murder for a Holy cause. When i think about how I personally feel about the war, most of the time, i don't tie God to it's cause, or it's continuance. Do i support the war? That's a long answer.. but in short.. YES. Why? got a minute? pull up a chair.

I can only speak on what i know. During talks like this people always go into conspiracy theories about Bush protecting oil lines, or struggles to stay in power or what have you. But i tend to go with the obvious, as they say.. "the simplest answer, is mostly the right answer". Do i believe he lied to get congress to approve the war? Well.. the fact of the matter is.. this all started (as far as i know) from reports of weapons of mass destruction being produced in Iraq... good excuse to man up to me. However... no weapons were found. Now... we're at war to prevent terrorist attacks, help build a diplomatic community, and stamp out terrorism in general.. ok.. cool with me. It's VERY unfortunate that people have to die for things like this. It just plain SUCKS. My heart goes out to the families of those who lost loved ones, my prayers are with you.

To keep from saying something that might invite an attack from Rosie Oddonnell.. i'll stop there and change gears for a second. I also think that we've been there FAR too long. It's time for American troops to wrap it up and come home. I'm lucky enough not to have lost anyone i'm dear to that i know of so far... but things can change rather quickly. But i wouldn't be surprised to find out later "oh.. you remember so and so from such and such? yeah.. they were killed in an ambush..." or "they went down in that helicoptor crash...". Crazy eh?

Bottom line though.. i DO support a tactic based on a strategic offense executed to prevent attacks on homeland soil.. i DO NOT support a tactic that continues to fumble the ball and put human lives in danger longer than necessary. This war happens to fall in both camps.

Anyways... how about that article i was talkin about eh? the link below

http://www.lewrockwell.com/vance/vance111.html

i didn't read the whole thing... just fyi.

Bundle of joy....

2006-09-05T19:13:00.001-04:00

So my little girl turned 2 this past sunday. the in laws came to party and my brother in law moved into his own place. oh yeah. got my first couple of songs recorded now too. i'll post those laters. for now i'm going to watch Blues Clues with my little one. yall b eezy. Big Beezy.