There isn't too much to report and my mind is frozen as to what to write about. My church started the truth project. It seems like it is going to be good. I still have a wait and see attitude about it. The group is either going to go really well or they are going to kick me out when I speak about man's depravity. :D

Football season is about to begin. I'm a Titans fan and a Gators fan. Always remember to respect the,

If I haven't mentioned it I bought an ESV Study Bible. I love it! :D There is a wealth of info in it. They really did a stand up job.

Finally, I'll leave with this quote from Richard Baxter,

I cannot but look upon all the glory and dignity of this world, lands and lordships, crowns and kingdoms, even as on some brain-sick, beggarly fellow, that borrows fine clothes, and plays, the part of a king or lord for an hour on a stage, and then comes down, and the sport is ended, and they are beggars again.

I don't have much this week. I was so busy with my dad's hospitalization I didn't have time to put anything together. So until next week why don't I leave you with a majestic puritan prayer titled Resting On God.

O God, most high, most glorious, the thought of Thine infinite serenity cheers me, for I am toiling and moiling, troubled and distressed, but Thou art for ever at perfect peace. Thy designs cause thee no fear or care of unfulfilment, they stand fast as the eternal hills. Thy power knows no bond, Thy goodness no stint. Thou bringest order out of confusion, and my defeats are Thy victories: The Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

I come to Thee as a sinner with cares and sorrows, to leave every concern entirely to Thee, every sin calling for Christ's precious blood; revive deep spirituality in my heart; let me live near to the great Shepherd, hear His voice, know its tones, follow its calls. Keep me from deception by causing me to abide in the truth, from harm by helping me to walk in the power of the Spirit. Give me intenser faith in the eternal verities, burning into me by experience the things I know; Let me never be ashamed of the truth of the gospel, that I may bear its reproach, vindicate it, see Jesus as its essence, know in it the power of the Spirit.

Lord, help me, for I am often lukewarm and chill; unbelief mars my confidence, sin makes me forget Thee. Let the weeds that grow in my soul be cut at their roots; grant me to know that I truly live only when I live to Thee, that all else is trifling. Thy presence alone can make me holy, devout, strong and happy. Abide in me, gracious God.

Spent the weekend at the hospital. My dad has CLL. He has been undergoing treatment for a number of months now. The initials drugs he was taking didn't really work as wekk as expected so he is now undergoing a clinical trial drug. I don't remember the name. All of that has destroyed his immune system so he is vulnerable to anything. Well, last week he suddenly got an infection in his knee. I got a call last Thursday that it was life threatening. I'm happy to say that it looks like the infection is gone. They do not know what it was but it appears to be gone.

On a side note, I got to find out more about my dad's church. I didn't think much of the church initially but have higher hopes now. The church seems to be good doctrinally but my dad only takes out of it what he wants which isn't good. I may attend in the near future to get more of a feel for the church. I chatted some theology with my dad's Sunday school teacher. He seemed to be solid. Thanks for all of your prayers

Lastl, I'm so grateful for the sovereignty of God. To know that God is in control of everything is such a comfort. I'll end with one of my favorite and one of the deepest verses in all of Holy Writ,

4 Who has done this and carried it through,
calling forth the generations from the beginning?
I, the LORD -with the first of them
and with the last—I am he."

When one looks at the context one understands that God is talking about history and He speaks of it in creation language (see chap. 4). God is with the first and last of the generations. Trillions of years from now God is already there. God is already in the Kingdom of His Dear Son. He is outside of time. Nothing happens without God's say so. There is no such thing as purposeless evil or tragedy with God. It all happens according to His will What a comfort that is.

Over the weekend I startedreading 1 Corithians. I'll be in 1 Corinthians in my studies for the next few weeks. These are just some notes I made while studying 1 Corinthians 1.

1. Who is Paul writing to? He is writing: a) to the church of God, b) to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, c) to all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Clearly Paul is writing to only believers and not to everyone. This is very important when getting to chapter 15. (vs. 2)

2. Why is Paul thanking God? a) Because of the grace given them (given by whom?) in Christ Jesus. b) Because in Christ they have been enriched in every way. (vs. 4-5)

3. Who will confirm (bebaioo beb-ah-yo'-o: to stabilitate (figuratively) -- confirm, (e-)stablish.) until the end? God, not our works, will keep us strong til the end. (v. 8 )

4. Who has called us into fellowship with His Son? Did we call ourselves into fellowship with Christ or was it God who caled us by His grace?

5. Paul then gets into the first issue with the Corinthian church which are the factions or divisions. What is his cure for these divisions? The gospel! Paul wants the Corinthians to turn teir eyes away from men and back on to Christ. He starts this process by asking, was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name ooof Paul? (v. 13)

6. In verses 20-31 pay special attention to who is doing all of the work: 1:20-God made foolish; 1:21-God was pleased...to save; 1:23-24-to those whom God has called; 1:27-But God chose; 1:27-God chose; 1:28-He chose; 1:30-It is because of Him; 1:31-Let him who boasts boast in the Lord. Why?

7. In verses 1, 2, 9, and 24 Paul talks about believers being called. In every one of those verses God is the one doing the calling and it is effective.

8. Notice verse 21, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

9. Notice verse 24, But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. It is clear that only those who have been effectively called by God are able to believe the gospel.

10. Then in verse 26 Paul tells the Corinthians to think of what they were when God called them. That not many of them were wise or influential or noble. They weren't the best the world had to offer. But God chose them anyway. Why? So that no one may boast before Him (v. 29). He wants and deserves all the glory. Paul goes on to say in verse 30, It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus. Since God is the one doing all the work for His glory Paul rightfully quotes Jeremiah 9:24-25 summarizing the passage, Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.

11. I'll finish by quoting an excerpt from Dr. Bruce Demarest's great work The Cross and Salvation, The apostle addressed the brothers and sisters at Corinth as those whom God "has called...into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 1:9). Jews and Gentiles who receive only the external call regard the gospel as "a stumbling block" and "foolishness," respectively (1 Cor. 1:23). Only when efficiently called or drawn by the Spirt do people judge the Gospel "the power of God and the wisdom of God" (v. 24); only then do they respond positively (not problematically) to the hearing of the Word. In the same chapter of 1 Corinthians, we read that the effectual call comes only to those persons whom God has chosen for Himself (eklegomai, 3 times in v. 27-28 ). God's effectual call to salvation, which flows from His soveriegn pleasure, undercuts the human tendency to boasting (v. 29).

I hope this was as much a blessing to you as it was to me over the weekend. God is fully soveriegn in His work of salvation and it is all of grace. It is not man plus works or God by His grace enabling us to earn our salvation. In that chapter it is all of God through Christ. Amen! :)

I love watching shows on the sun or looking at images. Here is one image that is just cool,

And here are some cool facts about the sun,

1. Size: The Sun is roughly 1.4 million kilometers (900,000 miles) across. For comparison, the Earth is about 13 thousand kilometers (8000 miles) wide. This means it would take more than 100 Earths to span the width of the Sun! About one million Earths would fit inside the Sun.

2. Mass: Lets start by saying the Sun is VERY heavy. It's so heavy it's hard to write the number out, so scientists use scientific notation. The Sun's mass is about 1.98892 × 1030 kilograms, or about 4.4x1030 lbs. That means there are 30 zeros after the first number. Of course we can't weigh the Sun directly, but the Sun's mass can be estimated using its gravitational effect on the planets and cross-checked by calculating its weight based on its composition. The Sun's density is up to 150,000 kg/m³ (150 times the density of water on Earth).

3. Composition: The Sun consists of hydrogen (about 74% of its mass, or 92% of its volume), helium (about 24% of mass, 7% of volume), and trace quantities of other elements, including iron, nickel, oxygen, silicon, sulfur, magnesium, carbon, neon, calcium, and chromium. The Sun's composition can be determined by looking at its elemental spectral emissions.

4. Temperature: The Sun's temperature depends on where it is measured. The Sun Photosphere, the part we actually see and experience on a daily basis, is a about 5000-6000 degrees Centigrade. This is relatively cool considering the interior of the Sun is measured in the MILLIONS of degrees (between 10 and 15 million) depending on pressures and magnetic forces that fluctuate in the fusion reactions going on in the core. Interestingly, although the Sun generally gets cooler from the middle towards the surface, the layers above the surface, such as the Corona, are again measured in millions of degrees.

Here are some more facts I got from blessthesun.

There is so much about the sun I'd like to talk about but I can't find the words. Another thing I like to do is look at the sun although I don't do it often as it can cause serious damage,

The important damage caused by the sun is damage to your macula. This
area of the retina is responsible for your central vision, which is also
your area of highest visual acuity. If this small area is damaged, then
your vision can drop from 20/20 to 20/400 even though only a few degrees of
the total visual field has been compromised.-Tom Stickel-

Our entire existence depends on the sun. It can do a lot of good or a lot of bad. Now stop and think for a moment. That is just the sun. If you can't handle the sun, which is just a creation, what do you think it will be like to stand before the One who created it (Gen. 1)? And God created it on one day by just speaking it into existence. To Him it is a plaything. You and I can't even get near it or we'll be burned in seconds. Think on that! Why?

14It was also about these that Enoch,the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, 15to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against Him."

Have a nice day and may the Lord bless you. :)

I saw this the other day and thought it was funny.

1. You can name at least 5 puritan authors and at least one of their major works.

2. You end everything you write with, "Soli Deo Gloria."

3. You will only allow t-u-l-i-ps to grow in your yard and the neighbor's around you.

4. You carry around your Martin Luther bobblehead so that during your frequent debates at least someone will agree with you.

5. You own either a Reformation Study Bible, ESV Study Bible, or a MacArthur Study Bible.

6. You yell "Charles Finney" when you stub your toe or someone cuts you off in traffic.

7. You emphasize the words elect, predestined, called, and so on in small groupswhenever you get a chance to read.

8. You celebrate Reformation Day every October 31st, even if you are by yourself.

9. You own various calvinist t-shirts.

10. You believe what the bible says.

I have been studying Paul's letter to the Romans for the past few days. I found this while reading William Hendriksen's N.T. Commentary on Romans. I thought it was perfect for this week's blog post. The beauty of justification by faith, as taught by Paul, is God does it all. Justification is comes thru Jesus Christ alone. To try and add anythingto Christ's mediatorial work is to defecate on the Son of God Himself. Here is a summary of justification,

A. God's gift (Romans 5:15-18 ).

B. The product of His grace (Romans 3:24; 4:16; 5:15).

C. Free (Romans 5:16).

D. It is not of works (Romans 3:20).

E. It is the opposite of condemnation (Romans 8:1, 33-34).

F. It deprives man of every reason of boasting (Romans 3:37).

G. It is appropriated by faith, even that faithbeing God-given (Eph. 2:8-9).

Lastly, here is a good quote by Dr. Wayne Grudem on this jubject,

Justification is an instantaneous legal act of God in which he (1) thinks of our sins as forgiven and Christ's righteousness as belonging to us, and (2) declares us to be righteous in his sight.
Wayne Grudem Systematic Theology (pg. 723)

Don't really have anything for this week so I'll spit out some random thoughts...

1. I love christian fellowship. By that I mean getting together with other family members in Christ and talking about God's Word and what God has done in our lives.

2. The Lord has been working in my life. For almost a year now I have hated my father for various things. I know hate is wrong and have gone to the Lord about it many times, but the anger is still there. I talked to a number of godly men about it and they told me to go talk to him about it. I've avoided that like the plague but it seems the Lord has left me no choice. Pray it goes well.

3. In my current studies I'm in Romans 2-3 and Psalm 96. Paul's letter to the Romans is amazing. He spends almost 3 chapters proving the utter depravity of man and why we need the gospel of Christ. I'm so thankful for justification by faith because goodness knows we could never earn or keep our salvation.

4. Lastly, been playing NCAA10 recently. Being a Florida Gator I couldn't be anything else n good conscience. Those of you who aren't gator fans I pray God grant you repentance.

5. I had pizza again the other day. If there isn't pizza in heaven I may come back although I'm not really worried about it. Manna in hebrew means cheesy covered bread.

6. Lastly, I'll leave with this quote from J.C. Ryle,

One plague of our age is the widespread dislike
to sound doctrine. In the place of it, the idol of
the day is a kind of jelly-fish Christianity--a
Christianity without bone, or muscle, or sinew--
without any distinct teaching about the atonement
or the work of the Spirit, or justification, or the
way of peace with God--a vague, foggy, misty
Christianity, of which the only watchwords seem
to be, "You must be liberal and kind. You must
condemn no man's doctrinal views. You must
think everybody is right, and nobody is wrong."

This is one of my favorite topics. When I read Acts 18:1-10 or Ephesians 1:1-11 I just stand in awe of the Lord. That He would choose me from eternity past and set His love upon me (Jer. 31:3) despite knowing beforehand my extreme hatred of Him causes me to break out in praise. But what is election? Anthony Hoekema states,

Union between Christ and his people was planned already in eternity, in the sovereign pretemporal decision whereby God the Father selected us as his own. Christ himself was chosen to be our Savior before the creation of the world (1 Pet. 1:20); Ephesians 1:4 teaches us that when the Father chose Christ, he also chose us.

R.C. Sproul defines it this way,

Theologically, the principal issue of predestination in the Bible has to do with God selecting people for salvation beforehand. The Bible clearly does teach that somehow God chooses people for salvation before they're even born. Virtually every Christian church believes that, because this concept is so clearly taught in Scripture.

Lastly, Stanford Murrell defines it this way,

The doctrine of election teaches that before the foundation of the world God decreed to show mercy and grace to some but not all members of the human race. Sin was no surprise to God. He knew that men would fall and that souls would need redeeming. In justice, God could have left all men to themselves but He chose to save some and manifest His mercy. The doctrine of election must not be separated from the doctrine of man's ruin and redemption. Many passages set forth the concept that God has an elect people whom He has predestinated to salvation and eternal life.

Are there any passages that support election? Absolutely! :D

God is Sovereign Exo 15:18; 1Chr 29:11-12; 2Chr 20:6; Psa 22:28

1. He exercises that sovereignty in actively ordaining everything Deu 32:39; 1Sam 2:6-8; Job 9:12; Job 12:6-10; Psa 33:11; Psa 115:3; Psa 135:6; Isa 14:24; Isa 45:7; Act 15:18; Eph 1:11
   • Including matters of "chance" Pro 16:33; 1Ki 22:20, 34, 37
   • The wicked actions of men Gen 45:5; Gen 50:20; Exo 4:21; Jdg 14:1-4; Psa 76:10; Pro 16:4; Isa 44:28; Amos 3:6; Act 2:22-23; Act 4:27-28
   • The actions of evil spirits 1Sam 16:14-16; 1Ki 22:19-23; 1Chr 21:1/2Sam 24:1
   • The good actions of men John 15:16; Eph 2:10; Phi 2:12-13
   • The actions of good angels Psa 103:20; Psa 104:4
   • The actions of animals Num 22:28; 1Ki 17:4; Psa 29:9; Jer 8:7; Eze 32:4; Dan 6:22
   • The operations of all creation Gen 8:22; Psa 104:5-10; Psa 104:13-14; Psa 104:19-20; Mark 4:39
2. Man is not permitted to question his sovereign acts Job 33:12-13; Isa 29:16; Isa 45:9-10; Mat 20:1-16; Rom 9:19-24

God elects [i.e. chooses, predestines, foreordains]

1. His angels 1Tim 5:21
2. His peculiar people, Israel Exo 6:7; Deu 7:6-8; Deu 10:14-15; Psa 33:12; Isa 43:20-21
3. Individuals to salvation Psa 65:4; Mat 24:24; John 6:37; John 15:16; Act 13:48; Rom 8:28-30; Rom 9:10-24; Rom 11:5-7; Eph 1:3-6; Eph 1:11-12; 1The 1:4; 1The 5:9; 2The 2:13-14
4. Individuals to condemnation Exo 4:21; Rom 9:13; Rom 9:17-18; Rom 9:21-22; 1Pet 2:8

His motivation in election

1. His own good pleasure Eph 1:5; 2Tim 1:9
2. The display of his glory Isa 43:6-7; Rom 9:22-24; 1Cor 1:27-31; Eph 2:4-7; Pro 16:4
3. His special love Deu 7:6-8; 2The 2:13
4. His foreknowledge Rom 8:29; 1Pet 1:2
   • Which means his special love Jer 1:5; Amos 3:2; Mat 7:22-23; 1Cor 8:3; 2Tim 2:19; 1Pet 1:20
   • But not:
   • Any good [nobility, wisdom, power, choice, seeking] he foresees in anyone Deu 7:7; Rom 9:11-13; Rom 9:16; Rom 10:20; 1Cor 1:27-29; 1Cor 4:7; 2Tim 1:9

Those who usually disagree with this majestic doctrine do so because it takes salvation away from their hands. They are no longer the masters of their own fate and they hate this. They do not want their eternal destiny in a sovereign God's hands. In other words, they don't want the Potter to be the Potter. Dr. James White speaks of this in a great article titled,

The Potter Has Rights Over the Clay.

Read it and ask the Spirit to open your minds to the truth. Man does not accept these things naturally.

I read this quote by the great puritan Thomas Books. It is a warning to those who teach a false gospel.

"The prophets who lead my people astray." Micah 3:5

Satan labors by false teachers, who are his emissaries
to deceive, delude, and forever undo the precious souls
of men! They seduce them, and carry them out of the
right way into by-paths and blind thickets of error and
wickedness--where they are lost forever!

As strumpets paint their faces, and deck and perfume
their beds, the better to allure and deceive simple souls;
so false teachers will put a great deal of paint and garnish
upon their most dangerous principles and blasphemies, that
they may the better deceive and delude poor ignorant souls.
They know sugared-poison goes down sweetly. They wrap
up their pernicious, soul-killing pills in gold! "Peace, peace!
they say, when there is no peace." Jeremiah 6:14

"Beware of false prophets, for they come to you in sheep's
clothing--but inwardly they are ravening wolves!" These
lick and suck the blood of souls! These kiss and kill! They
cry, 'Peace, peace!' until souls fall into everlasting flames!

False teachers handle holy things with wit and trifling, rather
than with fear and reverence. They are soul-murderers! They
are like evil surgeons, who skin over the wound--but never
heal it. False teachers are hell's greatest enrichers! Such
smooth teachers are sweet soul-poisoners! This age is full of
such teachers--such monsters!

They eye your goods more than your good; and mind
more the serving of themselves--than the saving of your
souls. So they may have your substance--they care not
though Satan has your souls! That they may the better
pick your purse--they will hold forth such principles as
are very indulgent to the flesh.

These are Satan's great benefactors, and such as divine
justice will hang up in hell as the greatest malefactors!