Psalm 34

Psalm 34
1I will bless the LORD at all times;
His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2My soul will make its boast in the LORD;
The humble will hear it and rejoice.
3O magnify the LORD with me,
And let us exalt His name together.
4I sought the LORD, and He answered me,
And delivered me from all my fears.
5They looked to Him and were radiant,
And their faces will never be ashamed.
6This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him
And saved him out of all his troubles.
7The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him,
And rescues them.
8O Taste and see that the LORD is good;
How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!
9O fear the LORD, you His saints;
For to those who fear Him there is no want.
10The young lions do lack and suffer hunger;
But they who seek the LORD shall not be in want of any good thing.
11Come, you children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
12Who is the man who desires life
And loves length of days that he may see good?
13Keep your tongue from evil
And your lips from speaking deceit.
14Depart from evil and do good;
Seek peace and pursue it.
15The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous
And His ears are open to their cry.
16The face of the LORD is against evildoers,
To cut off the memory of them from the earth.
17The righteous cry, and the LORD hears
And delivers them out of all their troubles.
18The LORD is near to the brokenhearted
And saves those who are crushed in spirit.
19Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the LORD delivers him out of them all.
20He keeps all his bones,
Not one of them is broken.
21Evil shall slay the wicked,
And those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
22The LORD redeems the soul of His servants,
And none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned.

I was going to only use part of this Psalm, but I couldn’t. The whole context of it all makes sense; only using a section takes the meaning out of it. The psalmist was proclaiming the Lord continually with his mouth. We have to stand up for what’s right. The only thing that is right is the Lord. The Lord is the only perfect thing in existence.
The psalmist only boasted in the Lord. I love the way God works. He died so He could take the credit. What better way to Glorify His name. No way can there be boasting outside of God. Only in Christ there is boasting. Boasting that we are forgiven, boasting we are redeemed, and boasting that He still loves us. We can’t get to Heaven on our own. No works will do, but only repentance and putting your full trust in Christ. When we go to Heaven we will be only praising and worshiping the Lord for what He did. Not what we did.
Once one taste and see the Lord they will never be the same. I know from experience. Those who find refuge will be blessed. You will be holy and you will have joy that can only be found in the Lord. This joy can’t be found in money, sex, porn, drugs, fame, or any earthly form. It will only be found at the foot of the cross, with complete humility and surrender.
When you surrender your all you know what the Fear of the Lord is.

Luke 12:5
"But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!”

What beauty we have in a promise that once we repent we escape Hell. What we have in a God that truly judges righteously and just. We fear the Lord because He is the Creator and finisher of everything. Also there is wisdom in the Fear of the Lord.

Proverbs 1:7
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 9:10
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Proverbs 15:33
The fear of the LORD is the instruction for wisdom,
And before honor comes humility.

Psalms 111:10
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
A good understanding have all those who do His commandments;
His praise endures forever.

*It should be noted that no man can fear the Lord if he/she does not know the Lord. If you do not fear the Lord reevaluate your faith to take if you are in the faith.

I love that the Lord redeems His servants. A beautiful promise from God. Our work is not in vain. Are service is met with sacrificial love that has redeem us from the curse of the law. If we are truly saved we have Fear in the Lord and we are redeemed. There is so much to be said from that. That’s why I said context. If you look and search in the Word you get deeper and deeper. There is much that we can learn from God. Some people think when you get saved that’s it and study prophecy and other things. When you truly study the cross you can spend your entire life studying it. The beauty of the cross, the victory of the cross, the meaning of the cross, the wages of the cross, and so much more.
Please study the complexity of the cross. Your jaw will drop and your heart will swell. It will fill you with humility. The cross will make the strong cry and the weak lift their head in strength. The Lord is near the broken hearted, and the humble. The Lord will break the hardest of hearts so that He can get all the Glory. He deserves all the Glory and Honor. Remember we are the servants and God is Sovereign.

Romans 8:28-39

Creation vs. Evolution

Finally...finally I have the video up.

Here I am teaching on Creation vs. Evolution. Fun...fun!

Have fun watching this, I had fun editing it. I get anxious when preaching/teaching anything about God.

It’s close to 20 minutes, so sit back and relax.

Do the Lord's work is awesome, and a lot of work.

"We are the laborers and God is Sovereign."

How Could God Do This to Us?

Everyday I check my mail. Wondering what I will would get. Like all of us we want something good, something that can benefit us for eternity. I received an email from Desiring God, written by John Piper. Everyday I think of the Sovereignty of God. Everyday I get more and more in awe. I get these mixed feelings of confusion and humility. This could only bring one to their knees. If not, too tears, if not that, make sure you are right with God.
Everyday I thank God for His Sovereignty. Everyday I thank Him for being Faithful to me, even when I’m not. This was a really hard thing to say at first, “Lord, thank You for being Faithful to me.” Especially when I have fallen face first into sin and know that without Jesus Christ I’m nothing but a dead man. “Lord, thank You for being Faithful to me.” Oh, how much that hurts and oh, how good it feels. To know that the Living God, the Living Christ is Faithful to us, for what? For His Glory!
God is Merciful more than we can imagine, how that brings me to tears. WHY.....for His Glory! The Lord is Faithful, yes indeed. The following is the indirect email I got from John Piper:

How Could God Do This to Us?
Posted: 01 Nov 2008 02:34 AM CDT
(Author: John Piper)
Thursday in Minneapolis it was so gorgeous walking home I thought: I should write a post on how astonishing it is that no earthquake swallowed up this city today.
Instead God sent warmth and crystal skies and cool breezes and golden leaves and hanging sea gulls over Elliot Park.
Amazing. Absolutely amazing!
We deserved the 52-story IDS tower to fall, and bridges to collapse, and poisonous gas to kill thousands. But instead God gave us over-the-top foretastes of heaven.
This is why everyone is crying out, where was God on Thursday! Where were you God! How could you do this? Why did you let this happen?
Everybody is saying that, aren't they?

Lord, thank You for being Faithful! Here’s a prayer I feel I should say:

Father, I thank You that we are able to come before you. Something we don’t deserve, but whom do we have in Heaven but Jesus Christ. I thank You for bringing us home safely; instead we could be died on the side of the road. Thank You for being Faithful and helping me stay away from sin that hinders my walk with You. I’m humbled by the smallest things, because You are at work in everything (Romans 8:28). For every sun ray and every drop of rain, there You are. For every smiling, for every distress, there you are. All for Your Glory. Father, thank You for being Faithful to us with every little thing and big thing. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Remember “we are the laborers and God is Sovereign.” Like in Romans 8:28 everything happens for a reason, and it happens for the Glory of God. God Bless.

Moment Of Your TIME!

Hey, Guys! What's up? I want to share something with you.

We need to witness everywhere...off-line and on-line.

Here are some simple tips!

This easy and fun.

If you are just learning and starting out to share your faith ,

this will help A lot!

It will give you the prepartions you need when you go out and street witnessing,

because you already have been through the sitution(s), so you are ready to give an answer.

God Bless you guys........and girls.

"We are the laborers and God is Sovereign."

Romans 8:28

Prayer & Petition

HEY GUYS KEEP CCN DAVENPORT IN PRAYER!

I sent out the petition to become an official chapter on the campus. Stay in prayer with me. Excited what God is doing. We are the laborers and God is Sovereign.

He is faithful to save, but we must put our hands to the plow and work.
Everything we do is for the glory of God... everything we do is for the glory of God!

1 Corinthians 10:31
Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Being a Christian we have a HIGH standard to uphold the image God. That is what CCN loves, preaching the GREATEST Gospel too give God Almighty all the glory, because He deserves it. Do what we are told.

"Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation” Mark 16:15.

Whatever will happen, God knows what He is doing. We must always keep this mind. God is Adonai, master and owner.

Romans 8:28
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Sharing My Faith/CCN Davenport

Sharing My Faith

Hey, guys what’s up? I finally got a new video up. I spoke to my communication class about my experiences and goals. So I so spoke of CCN. It was fun; I shared what I could share, because I know they could only take so much.
It was hard because I wanted to say so much out of excitement, you can hear me stumble over my words. I love talking about God, and when I’m on a 3 minute time restraint, I get anxious. At least I know what to say and do next time.

Pray for my class, because I never had a class that showed that they cared for each other. Really 2 students said they “love us (classmates).” We are really open in that class it’s awesome.
Also pray because there were 3 girls that wanted to know more. One lady God was touching her heart, because she said “If I ask for forgiveness, and have backslidden, if I die, will I go to Hell?” I bluntly said “Yes.” Her face went blank. I went on to tell her, “If you are in court and you tell the judge, “I’m sorry,” the just being bound to the law, he still has to carry out the sentence.” I told her she needs to repent and she can’t only believe she needs to put her trust in Jesus Christ. Concern was written on her face. Pray for her, because I was going to talk to her after class, but she had to storm to work.

Walk In the Light

1 John 1:5-10
5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

3 parts in the message of 1 John chapter 1:
1. v. 5 gives the message that Christ has given to John. God is Light, in Him there is no darkness at all. (Theological foundation)
2. V.6 & 7 describe the particle implications of this message (particle application)
3. v. 8-10 clarify a possible misunderstanding of these applications. (Necessary clarification)

Note: I am not going to touch everything at this time.

John talks about fellowship very seriously because it is important to know and understand. To really have Christian fellowship you need to talk about Jesus Christ and what He has done and what He means to you. This is fellowship. Not just getting together and talking about other subject. Fellowship is CHRIST centered conversations. This should be practiced daily. It enables you to see Christ working in other people’s life. The testimony of Christ brings encouragement.
It brings common desire for God on the table. Whatever that may by, or whom that may be with. Even if there isn’t a common desire it will drive you to their understanding of God, hopefully it will do the same to them.
It is sad to see that fellowship is labeled as something else, rather than what it should be. Sometimes it doesn’t happen purposefully. You or your friend can become easily distracted. Bringing in worldly objects and subjects will make you stray.
Proverbs 7:25
Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths.
Important note is that there is NO DARKNESS IN GOD (v.5). Knowing you should be fellowshipping about Christ and not doing so is abandoning the implications in verse 6 & 7. Knowing this it can be fixed and reapplied. Don’t misquote me or take me out of contexts. Its okay to talk about other things, but what is the center of our life should be talked about the most, and that is Jesus. If it’s not maybe you might need to reevaluate your walk.
If you sports you will talk sports, if you love cheerleading, you will talk about cheerleading. If you the love the Lord Jesus Christ, you will talk about Jesus Christ. Again, reevaluate your salvation if you are not doing so. If have no one to talk to that’s understandable, but if you do and you don’t maybe you are not walking the light.
In verse 7 it tells us “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light.” “Walking in the light means living under the controlling desire for God instead of the world—the kinds of life you live if you see things the way God sees them and share his values. But note, it is a "walk"—that is, a way of life, not just an idea, not just a "position" in Christ (as some might say). Walk means life.”1
As easy as it was strayed, as easy it can return. Ridding of those things and once again placing God first will get you back on path. Although it might be hard, it will be worth it. Remember everything is for the glory of God.
Romans 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Reference
1. Piper, J. (February 3, 1985) . Let Us Walk in the Light of God. October 4, 2008, http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/sermons/byscripture/46/476_Let_Us_Walk_in_the_Light_of_God/