He is my friend,
and my master
He is my LORD,
and my provider.
He is always near,
yet transcendent above all the earth.
He is the focus of all time,
yet BC and AD are inadequate to describe His impact.
He is the focus of the all time best seller,
and in this book, the Bible, you too can meet my master, my Savior.
His name is YHWH.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Friday, October 22, 2010
A Great Birthday
This past week was my Birthday. Thanks to many of you who said hbd on my facebook page. It was a constant stream for most of the day. Woke up to a few signs around the house Annie posted after I went to sleep. Sneaky! When I got home from Seminary that afternoon, there were signs all over the house from the kids. Cameron just loved the one he put on the toilet...cracking himself up. They all jumped out from behind the couch when I came in the door and yelled "happy birthday".
That morning was started off as usual with the men's bible study I lead at church. we read an article on prayer by George Mueller. Didn't tell em it was my Birthday. They said they'd get me back for that, and they did. Later that same day, I had class with my pastor Jack Hughes at Seminary. He was informed it was my birthday, and so 70 men sang happy birthday to me. Was fun. Later that evening while Ann was at Sem wives, Jack, his son and John B took me to Ventura Blvd for sushi. Was a great time.
The family and I will be heading to the beach tomorrow, Lord willing, to celebrate.
The Lord continues to provide for us in amazing ways. This week we received some financial help, a new keyboard for our mac at home, a dell computer, and much prayer from those many beloved people in our lives. God is good.
That morning was started off as usual with the men's bible study I lead at church. we read an article on prayer by George Mueller. Didn't tell em it was my Birthday. They said they'd get me back for that, and they did. Later that same day, I had class with my pastor Jack Hughes at Seminary. He was informed it was my birthday, and so 70 men sang happy birthday to me. Was fun. Later that evening while Ann was at Sem wives, Jack, his son and John B took me to Ventura Blvd for sushi. Was a great time.
The family and I will be heading to the beach tomorrow, Lord willing, to celebrate.
The Lord continues to provide for us in amazing ways. This week we received some financial help, a new keyboard for our mac at home, a dell computer, and much prayer from those many beloved people in our lives. God is good.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Syntactical What?
Analysis. My latest painfully pleasant assignment at The Masters' Seminary is to write a syntactical analysis of Isaiah 1:18-20. It's a beautiful passage showing YHWH's willingness to forgive even the most grievous of sins. And then if the people do listen to Him, he will not only forgive them but bless them mightily. What a great God! Many brain cells have died in the process of writing this paper (they've overloaded), but I gave them a nice burial. Still praying the Lord (Adonai) resurrects them at His second coming. Until then, I press on. 8)
YHWH (Capitol "LORD" in the NASB95) is so gracious and kind. Was at Starbucks this morning "buying" a cup of coffee with my empty starbucks bag (if you turn in the empty used bag, they give you a small coffee) when I saw a friend from Church. He gave me a $5 so I could buy something to eat as well. I pocketed the $5 (sorry brother) and will use that to buy a bag of coffee beans at the local grocery store - turning that into many cups of coffee. God is good.
Our home desktop computer is dying. Please pray for it. We've milked it for 6+ years now. One of the bulbs in the monitor burned out two years ago. This means we have to turn the computer on two times in a row to override the monitors "fix me now" mode. My kids probably just think all computers need to be turned on twice! ha. Annie uses this Mac computer a good bit. Pray it lasts.
Taught Sunday School class yesterday on 1 John 1:1-4. The joy of Fellowship in Christ and with other believers. Not just any joy, but complete Joy. Many in our culture what to be lone-ranger Christians. They work hard all week and then take it easy at Church, not serving much and not giving as much effort to the body of Christ as they do their jobs. This is difficult because the American employer expects much. I was there. I understand. Yet, they miss out on the blessing of fellowship in the body and deprive others in the body of fellowship with them. Around AD 90 when 1 John was written by the Apostle John, Christians were being tortured and put in prison for their faith. So complete joy was something that would have gotten their attention right away. Our culture is just the opposite. We are a "serve yourself, make yourself happy" culture. I pray we, including myself, align ourselves under the authority of God's word and submit ourselves to His plan. John says he has touched the "Word of Life". How do you touch a word? You can if the Word becomes flesh and dwells among us. John says the Word was "manifested to us". Jesus, came to our world, to impact our world; to seek and to save the lost, and to bring fellowship to a new level among believers. An intimate joyful complete level. Press on toward fellowship with the Holy Father (no I don't mean the Pope - see http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/index.htm ), with His Son Jesus and with the body of believers. For in that, you WILL have complete joy.
YHWH (Capitol "LORD" in the NASB95) is so gracious and kind. Was at Starbucks this morning "buying" a cup of coffee with my empty starbucks bag (if you turn in the empty used bag, they give you a small coffee) when I saw a friend from Church. He gave me a $5 so I could buy something to eat as well. I pocketed the $5 (sorry brother) and will use that to buy a bag of coffee beans at the local grocery store - turning that into many cups of coffee. God is good.
Our home desktop computer is dying. Please pray for it. We've milked it for 6+ years now. One of the bulbs in the monitor burned out two years ago. This means we have to turn the computer on two times in a row to override the monitors "fix me now" mode. My kids probably just think all computers need to be turned on twice! ha. Annie uses this Mac computer a good bit. Pray it lasts.
Taught Sunday School class yesterday on 1 John 1:1-4. The joy of Fellowship in Christ and with other believers. Not just any joy, but complete Joy. Many in our culture what to be lone-ranger Christians. They work hard all week and then take it easy at Church, not serving much and not giving as much effort to the body of Christ as they do their jobs. This is difficult because the American employer expects much. I was there. I understand. Yet, they miss out on the blessing of fellowship in the body and deprive others in the body of fellowship with them. Around AD 90 when 1 John was written by the Apostle John, Christians were being tortured and put in prison for their faith. So complete joy was something that would have gotten their attention right away. Our culture is just the opposite. We are a "serve yourself, make yourself happy" culture. I pray we, including myself, align ourselves under the authority of God's word and submit ourselves to His plan. John says he has touched the "Word of Life". How do you touch a word? You can if the Word becomes flesh and dwells among us. John says the Word was "manifested to us". Jesus, came to our world, to impact our world; to seek and to save the lost, and to bring fellowship to a new level among believers. An intimate joyful complete level. Press on toward fellowship with the Holy Father (no I don't mean the Pope - see http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/index.htm ), with His Son Jesus and with the body of believers. For in that, you WILL have complete joy.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Luke 10:41-42
41 But the Lord answered and said to her, “aMartha, Martha, you are bworried and bothered about so many things;
42 abut only one thing is necessary, for bMary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
At TMS, it is sometimes hard to focus on things other than school work. There are many men who are becoming brothers to me there. We pray together, study together and strive to honor Christ in our lives together. But sometimes I still act and feel like Martha did. She was more concerned with all the details and checklists instead of realizing that she had an opportunity to sit at Jesus' feet. She had God incarnate in her living room and was more concerned with dinner preparations.
Only 3 times in scripture does it summarize life down to "one thing". 1. Psalm 27:4 where King David's singular focus in life was the worship of God. 2. Paul says in Phil 3:13-14 that the one thing that he does know is a pressing on towards the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Paul wanted to be with Christ in heaven and it drove everything about his life. 3. Our passage in the gospel of Luke where we find Mary and Martha having Jesus over for dinner.
Friends, nothing in life is more important than Christ. Not dinner plans, nor contributions to society, nor political endeavors, nor work; Nothing!
Please pray that I seek to sit at my Savior's feet as Mary did. May Jesus also say to me that my time with him "will not be taken away". I pray the same for you.
Seek Jesus while He may be found.
Dave
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