Much has happened

I haven't posted here in a long time. In fact I forgot I even had this blog until I saw it in my mom's computer under favorites. I now use a Facebook account for the most part because it is easier to keep in contact with those I know. I may occasionally post here again since I rediscovered it. Here is what has happened in my life so far.
My girlfriend is now my fiancee. Carri and I have been engaged since 2/2/07 and our wedding is planned for 6/28/08. I have stepped out of college for one semester to save up money for the wedding. I am helping at the church with the youth group and the teen Sunday School class. Anyway, I may be posting more in the future.

Family

Yesterday I left Bullhead City and drove 9 hours to Tooele to see my family. I haven't seen them since early in the Spring. My little brother has known I am coming out for about two weeks now, but kept the secret and didn't tell my parents. They were surprised and thrilled to say the least. I was hoping I would be able to get some time to visit them so when this week opened up, I took the opportunity. I love my family. I found out after I got here that my great-grandma, (who also lives in Tooele), had a minor heart attack on Thursday. She is in her mid 90's so this is pretty serious. She is still in the hospital as I am writing this on Monday morning. I am just glad I get to see her again. This will probably be the last time. Before I went to college I would see her almost on a weekly basis, at times I would grudge the thought of having to visit, now I wish I could go back and enjoy every moment. I guess being away at college has made me appreciate and love my family even more. If only I could have learned that when I was a teen.

Storms

Last night was one of the worst storms I have ever had to drive through. I was driving an old 15 passenger van with very bad shocks. The weather was very windy, lots of lightening, and lots of rain, (for Bullhead). I couldn't drive faster than 30 mph or the wind would blow the van in the other lane, literally. In fact it blew one of the palo verde trees over. It was a pretty big tree that the kids had a rope swing in. So, being the young college student living with the 70+ year old couple, I got the task of taking care of it. Actually I didn't mind very much, except that at 11:00 it was already 108+ degrees. Good thing is that I was able to use an old reciprocating saw on most of the branches. I only had to use the axe on the thicker branches and the trunk.

Temple of God

I heard something interesting the other day. A rerun of one of the late Pastor Adrian Roger's sermons was playing early Sunday morning. In the sermon he said that there were no seats for the priests to sit on in the temple. I had never really thought about it before, and it may seem insignificant at first, until we realize that the temple was a typology of the Messiah. The priests never sat down because their work was never finished. There were always new sacrifices to atone for the people's sins. When Christ made His sacrifice, however, He cried "it is finished" and now He sits at the right hand of the Father. He sits, because His sacrificial work truly is over. There is no more need of continued sacrificed, Jesus paid it all!

Psalm 90

This is a sermon I am currently working on. First I break the passage down into logical sections and then break those sections down into a main idea with sub-ideas.
This is a very rough outline, later I will edit this post when I have the final draft finished.

Psalm 90:1-17

Infinite God

1 Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.

2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

I. LORD, He is YHWH, "I am that I am" -the self existing one.

II. Formed the Earth, The Creator was never created.

Finite Man

3 Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.

4 For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.

5 Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.

6 In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.

I. Destruction-"dust," from dust we were formed, to dust we return.
II. Methuselah lived 969 years, not even a day in God's sight.

Sinful Man

7 For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.

8 Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.

I. God is merciful, but also just.
II. God knows everything we do, open sins as well as secret.

Departing Man

9 For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.

10 The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

11 Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.

12 So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

I. Man lives an average of 70-80 years, as a tale that is told=a sigh.
II. Number our days, don't be frivolous, but diligent and discerning.

Gracious God

13 Return, O LORD, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants.

14 O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

15 Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.

16 Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.

17 And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.


I. The mercy of God brings joy in our lives.
II. Our work comes to naught, unless God is in it.

M-theory

I was watching PBS about String Theory, www.superstringtheory.com or M-theory as it is now known. One thing that confuses me is that scientists are still talking about the big bang as if it really happened, and not only that as if it is the only way the universe could have been created. The really odd thing about M-theory is that they postulate that the big bang happened when two parrellel universes collided causing the needed force to scatter into existence the millions of particles. The question that scientist still have not answered is where did all the matter come from? And now the questions are, how did the parallel universes come into existence? Don't get me wrong, I am neither confirming nor denying the existence of strings. But I am denying the process of macro-evolution as creating our universe. God created it. Is it so much easier to believe that a parallel universe collided into our universe and caused the big bang and that for the past 4+ billion years we have slowly evolved from a one celled being into the intelligent life that we are now than to say, God said it and it is? In either situation you are left with one option, either matter has always existed into eternity past and is the uncaused cause, or God has always existed into the past and is the uncaused cause. The problem with matter being the uncaused cause is that matter does not have intelligence and therefore could not produce intelligence, the problem with God being the uncaused cause is that if God created us than we must answer to Him when we die.

long summer

Well for the two people out there who still read my blog, I realize I haven't updated or added any new posts for quite a while. I have only 3 weeks left before I go back to college. This next semester I will only be able to take 4 credits towards my major, everything else I have already taken or conflicts with my schedule. The good thing is that I am able to take 3 credits towards my master's degree this semester. Hopefully I can arrange it so that I get my master's a year after my bachelor's degree. We'll see. But the purpose of this entry is to share what I have been doing for the summer, not what I will be doing in the future. Anywho, I have been helping in Bullhead City as a youth pastor. I started in May and am continuing until the 18th of August. The teens are great. They have really grown this past summer despite me being their pastor. God has really worked in their lives whether they realize it or not. I have about six teens that come regularly, and a few visitors that come once in a while. Two of my teens and I went to Camp Ironwood a couple of weeks ago and God was really working on them, and myself. Unfortunately, after a great spiritual high at camp, the cares of this world and the daily grind have taken their toll on their decisions. They are great people, but they struggle. They are teenagers, and still have a lot of maturing to do, just like we all did. Besides working with the teens doing youth activities and teaching Sunday school, I am also working with the kids in a children's choir, painting the church and occasionally preaching for Sunday services.
I have been busy, but I have learned a lot of practical things that they don't teach you in college. For instance I have had to answer questions I never even thought of, or never thought about having to explain to my teens. One of my teens asked me how I know that my religion is the right religion. I was driving at the time and wasn't able to think of a satisfying answer, so the next day, in Sunday School I answered his question. Unfortunately he wasn't there, his family was, but for some reason he wasn't. My answer was basically an apologetic. I explained that I believe in the Bible because of the Bible. That the Bible never has and cannot be proven contradictory. That there are no errors in the Bible and that the Bible was inspired from God. I also used some philosophy. One of the main goals in philosophy is to explain the problem of the one and the many. I believe that the Triune God of the Bible explains the problem of the one and the many. There is only one God, yet He has three distinct Persons. God is at the same time One, and Three. I showed them also that the basics of almost every religion, except the Christian religion of the Bible, is based on works. There is only one religion based solely on Faith in Christ alone for Salvation. Mormonism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Taoism, and Islam are all based on works for salvation. I don't think that God is just going to say, "majority rules, I guess it'll be a works based salvation." But rather it is "God rules, and what He says goes." And He has spoken to us in His Word the Bible, (I Tim. 3:16).
I am going to miss the people here at Bullhead when I go back to IBC, but I am thinking about coming back if God leads me here again. I certainly do have a burden for them and want to see them serve God with their lives.

What I still believe

The purpose of this post is to show what I still believe and the common ground that I share with all fundamental Bible believing Baptist.

I still believe in the innerrency, infallibility of Scripture.
I still believe in Salvation through Faith alone, (evidenced by repentance), not through works.
I still believe man is responsible for his decision in accepting or rejecting Christ.
I still believe God uses men to further His program for this dispensation.
I still believe God has called men to preach and that Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
I still believe in the Pre-Mill., Pre-Trib. rapture of the Church.
I still believe that Christ died for all men.
I still believe that God loves all men and sent His Son for mankind as a whole.
I still believe that God is Triune, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, omnibenevolent, Just, True, Holy, Sovereign and Love.
I still believe that Christ came to provide Salvation for mankind, that He was crucified, and literally died, that He was buried in the new tomb of Joseph of Arimethea, and that He rose again the third day and in so doing conquored death and hell so that we have the hope of Salvation.
I still believe that God is infinite and man is finite.
I still believe "it is imperative that we deliver the Gospel to those who have not heard, to give them an opportunity to choose God's gift of salvation."
I still believe "the truth of God's Word is simple [and] it is literal."
I still believe for whosoever shall call upon the name of the LORD shall be saved.
I still believe the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Blessings

God is truly blessing my life. Going to college isn't cheap. I looked at my school bill about a month ago and thought I owed about $600 before I can take finals. I thought to myself, "if I work real hard I can probably earn enough through my job, I can pay for the bill myself." I learned last week that my bill is over $800. I thought to myself, "If I work real hard and maybe ask my parents to cover a couple hundred I can still take finals." When I posted that I am becoming Calvinistic I was basically told, in question form, not to expect any support from my parents. I then turned to God and said, "alright you win, I give up. If you want me to continue in school you'll have to provide. I will do my best to be industrious in work and frugal in spending, but if you want me to continue studying for missions I want to rely on You alone. less than 8 hours later my boss calculated how much he owed me and gave me a check for $850. If I remember correctly my school bill is $830. God provides for His children. For those out there who can do math you realize that if I give my tithe and offering than I am still short. However between what I still have in the bank and next weeks paycheck I will still be able to give my tithe and offering out of this check and use next check to cover the difference. God is truly blessing my life.

Weekend

I will be going to Bullhead city to interview for a possible internship. I leave Friday so if there are additional comments that don't get posted don't worry, I will read through and post the comments, Lord willing, by Tuesday May 1. If you think about it pray for a safe journey as it is 5.5 hours driving one way.