Yin-Yang

Yin and Yang is a Chinese philosophy that everything has an equal opposite and that they are both reliant upon one another to bring balance. For example drought and flood, cold and hot, yielding and focused, etc. This philosophy says that neither one is better than the other, but that that they are both needed to provide balance. In fact this Yin and Yang philosophy would suggest that nothing is either good or bad, but that opposites work to bring a balance that provides harmony for the world. However, the Bible clearly shows there is a way that is right and a way that is wrong. They are neither equal, or bring balance through harmony. There is God's way, and man's way. God's way provides life, hope, joy, and eternal rewards, while man's way is a fleeting, unsatisfying pleasure that tells us happiness is based on life circumstance. As God's people, we to be focused on God's promises and be a witness to the world that God offers "joy" that comes from a relationship with Him. I really love this email that was sent by Pastor Dwight from Southview Bible Church.

"Woke up this morning and turned on the news. It's BAD! Stock market is plummeting. Government is corrupt. Oil spill is killing fish and polluting the whole coastline. Unemployment is soaring. Taxes are going up, up, up. It's enough to make you anxious, depressed, and fretful.

Woke up this morning and opened my Bible. It's GOOD! God is sovereign over the days of our lives. He loves me. He has promised to meet my needs. His promise is that the best is yet to come. He has promised to never leave nor forsake me. His grace is sufficient for whatever lies ahead. It's enough to refresh and encourage me throughout the day."

- Pastor Dwight Oswald

How will you define the days of your life? By happiness that comes from circumstances that change daily, or by Joy that comes from God?

Accident, I think not!

Questions for Evolutionists
by Dr. Kent Hovind

The test of any theory is whether or not it provides answers to basic questions. Some well-meaning but misguided people think evolution is a reasonable theory to explain man’s questions about the universe. Evolution is not a good theory—it is just a pagan religion masquerading as science.

1. Where did the space for the universe come from?

2. Where did matter come from?

3. Where did the laws of the universe come from (gravity, inertia, etc.)?

4. How did matter get so perfectly organized?

5. Where did the energy come from to do all the organizing?

6. When, where, why, and how did life come from dead matter?

7. When, where, why, and how did life learn to reproduce itself?

8. With what did the first cell capable of sexual reproduction reproduce?

9. Why would any plant or animal want to reproduce more of its kind since this would only make more mouths to feed and decrease the chances of survival? (Does the individual have a drive to survive, or the species? How do you explain this?)

10. How can mutations (recombining of the genetic code) create any new, improved varieties? (Recombining English letters will never produce Chinese books.)

11. Is it possible that similarities in design between different animals prove a common Creator instead of a common ancestor?

12. Natural selection only works with the genetic information available and tends only to keep a species stable. How would you explain the increasing complexity in the genetic code that must have occurred if evolution were true?

13. When, where, why, and how did: a) Single-celled plants become multicelled? (Where are the two- and threecelled intermediates?) b) Single-celled animals evolve? c) Fish change to amphibians? d) Amphibians change to reptiles? e) Reptiles change to birds? (The lungs, bones, eyes, reproductive organs, heart, method of locomotion, body covering, etc., are all very different!) How did the intermediate forms live?

14. When, where, why, how, and from what did: a) Whales evolve? b) Sea horses evolve? c) Bats evolve? d) Eyes evolve? e) Ears evolve? f) Hair, skin, feathers, scales, nails, claws, etc., evolve?

15. Which evolved first (how, and how long, did it work without the others)? a) The digestive system, the food to be digested, the appetite, the ability to find and eat the food, the digestive juices, or the body’s resistance to its own digestive juice (stomach, intestines, etc.)? b) The drive to reproduce or the ability to reproduce? c) The lungs, the mucus lining to protect them, the throat, or the perfect mixture of gases to be breathed into the lungs? d) DNA or RNA to carry the DNA message to cell parts? e) The termite or the flagella in its intestines that actually digest the cellulose? f) The plants or the insects that live on and pollinate the plants? g) The bones, ligaments, tendons, blood supply, or muscles to move the bones? h) The nervous system, repair system, or hormone system? i) The immune system or the need for it?

J.C. Ryle

There are two ways by which a man may lose his own soul--

1. He may lose his soul by living and dying without any religion

at all. He may live and die like a beast--prayerless, godless,

graceless, faithless. This is a sure way to hell.

2. He may also lose his soul by taking up some "useless kind

of religion". He may live and die contenting himself with a false

Christianity, resting on a baseless hope. This probably is the

most common way to hell that there is today.

Let me tell you what I mean by 'useless kinds of religion".

A religion is entirely useless in which Jesus Christ is not the

principle object and does not fill the principal place.

There are too many calling themselves Christians

who practically know nothing about Christ.

Their religion consists in a few vague notions and empty

expressions. They trust they are no worse than many others.

They keep to their church; they try to do their duty; they do

nobody any harm; they hope God will be merciful to them;

they trust the Almighty will pardon their sins and take them

to heaven when they die.

This is about the whole of their religion.

I warn you plainly that such religion will never take you to

heaven. It may do very well in the eyes of man; it may pass

muster very decently at the church meeting, in the place of

business, or in the streets.

But it will never comfort you; it will never satisfy

your conscience; it will never save your soul.

Neither will it meet the approval of Almighty God.

I warn you plainly that all notions and theories about God

being merciful apart from Christ and except through Christ,

are baseless delusions and empty fancies.

Such theories are purely an idol of man's invention.

They are all of the earth; they never come down from heaven.

The God of heaven has sealed and appointed Christ as the only

Savior and way of Life; and all who would be saved must be

content to be saved by Him, or they will never be saved at all.

It isn't enough to do good deeds, go to church, be baptized, or even say that you believe Jesus died for your sins. In James 2 we see that even the demons believe and tremble. It isn't enough to know "about" God, but you must "know" Him personally. Until you have trusted Jesus as your substitute for your sins and no other thing, you are on a path to hell.

Matthew 7:21-23

²¹"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²²Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' ²³Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

Notice: "I never knew you". These people did "good" things for God, which as Christians we should do (1John2:3), but they didn't really know God. They didn't have a personal relationship with Him as their Lord and Savior.

Do you know Him?

Available?

Let me start off by clarifying, I am not asking a question about your relationship status, or if you have available time to help or do something for me. Rather the question is, are you available from a spiritual standpoint? Visiting our friends Kyle and Leighanne Oswald this weekend, my wife and I attending the Sunday morning worship at Faith Bible Church in Sac City, Nebraska. The sermon was a topical message on availability to Christ. Assuming that you are already a believer, God "dials our number" all the time with opportunities to serve Him. It might not be in what we might consider a big role such as to go into missions, be a pastor, or even start a bible study, but God calls us all the time to do even "little things" to glorify His name. The question is, do you "here am I, send me", or do you respond, "I'm sorry, but Austin is not available to take your call right now, please get back to me later". It seems like it would be so much easier if God would just literally speak to us like he did in the Old Testament and let us know what He wanted us to do. Would we still have excuses though? Moses did, when he told God that he didn't speak well, and that God should send someone else. Maybe your strong suit isn't striking up conversations with strangers, but if God calls you to share the gospel with a random person in need, would you be available, or let someone else more eloquent share it with them? If your coworkers were talking about God and the Holy Spirit was calling on you to jump in, would you answer God's call, or would you just "let the phone ring". The last thing that really jumped out at me from the message, was how we truly prioritize our time. Is there more important things I could be doing instead of watching t.v. for a couple hours? How could I be serving God in this time? However you spend your time, just remember that we only have on life to live here on earth, and we need to make it count for the Lord. There is only one harvest, and then the judgment. Eternity is in the balance, and everyone will end up in heaven, or in hell with no more second chances. For the person that isn't sure if they are going to heaven or hell, now is the time to make a decision to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord (master), and as the substitute for your sin as Savior, and then you can know for certain that you will spend eternity in Heaven. For the believer, now is the time to spread the good news of the gospel. I love the song "Live out Loud" by Steven Curtis Chapman, when it refers to someone who won a million dollars on a game show and says "Picture this "I act like nothing ever happened and bury all the money in a coffee can/ Well, I've been given more than Regis ever gave away/ I was a dead man who was called to come out of my grave/ I think it's time for makin' some noise"". Maybe you need to start answering all of God's calls and maybe it's time that you start making some noise.

Live Like You Were Dying

This past week (January 17-23) was full of planning, preparation, and partying. Our daughter Keira had her first birthday and of course we had to go all out this time around. It went over well, and had a great turnout of people that attended. I look back at the past year and wonder where it went. They truly do grow up fast, and if you blink too often you might miss it all. Isn't that how our lives are here on earth? Just take a look at this timeline of the 1500's to current day. Does it make your life feel a spec on the timeline of history?

How about in light of eternity? I have been thinking of late about just how little time we have on this earth. The world view says that living in this reality, we should live life to the fullest and live it up in the here and now. The world says that to live like you were dying is to enjoy pleasures that this life has to offer, don't deny yourself of anything, and live peacefully and tolerant of everyone. This last Sunday, the message in church was really about our relationships in the workplace and how wherever God places us in our life, he has a purpose and His desire is that we serve our bosses wholeheartedly unto God. Paul talks a lot about our different relationships that we have in life and how we are to live in light of eternity. This got me thinking about really where I spend my time. I spend much of my time online, as do many young adults and teens today. While I do use it effectively sometimes, and even read the bible online in the evenings, I found that I waste a lot of time that could be used for the Lord. That is part of the reason this blog exists, much for my benefit, but also for the few who may stumble upon reading this. I want to make a strong effort to spend all my time serving the Lord in all that I do, so that I don't "blink" my way through life and miss my opportunity to really live. Serving the Lord doesn't have to be in a church, a certain ministry, or teaching your own bible study. Serving the Lord is an constant, active way of life that defines EVERYTHING that you do, with every breath you take. It is in your thought and actions, and it is in the little things that you do every day. Would you live your life any differently in anything you do if Jesus was with you everyday? Would you work harder, watch less TV, read your bible more, or think less about what you are going to do this weekend and more about God? Challenge yourself to live in light of eternity, and if you think your doing all that you can, take Jesus on a stroll with you in your daily routine (He is already there anyway if your a believer) and see if you can refine your life a little at a time. Just remember serving the Lord is a CONSTANT way of life, but you have to have the LIFE first, and that is only found in Jesus.

What Not to Wear - Colossians

The book of Colossians is a new testament book that emphasizes the supremacy and all-sufficiency of Christ. Colossians tells us about Christ's character, sufficiency in Him rather than worldly wisdom, and the believer's union with Christ. As I think about what God had to say through Paul in the book of Colossians, I think about a few things. I think about Christ's character as eternal God, yet also suffering as a man to "reconcile to himself all things...by making peace through his blood." Then I think about how our hope is found not in this world, but in Christ. That our hope isn't in philosophy (Colossians 2:8), or in legalism (Colossians 2:14), in mystical teaching (Colossians 18-19), or in Asceticism (Colossians 2:20-23). Finally, we see in chapter 3, as believers, we see rather what we Should be "wearing" in our lives.

The title of this post being "What Not to Wear", comes from Colossians 3:5-17. To anyone reading, this is what God says is not just fashion suicide, it is the old earthly nature that belongs to the unbeliever. See what verse 5 says; that these things should be put to death! It is the old earthly nature, because the fact is that the majority of the world still lives this way. The Bible says to put to death "sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry." While Paul is speaking to believers here, if your not sure where you stand, ask yourself if any of these things describe you. Sexual immorality isn't just those who cheat on their spouses, or is reserved for the true "players", but this goes for anything that is sexual sin. Have you looked on another person with lust, had sex with someone that you weren't married to, or viewed pornography? The list goes on, and just any one of these, just any one time is sin. If (your an unbeliever, this sin will disqualify you from heaven and the only hope lies in Jesus. Please visit the join the race tab on the home page after reading this post if you want to know more). If you are a believer, examine yourself to make sure your not putting on these old dirty clothes.

Colossians also continues on with a list of what else to stay away from, which is the old nature. It mentions anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language. Really as believers, we should be clothing ourselves with "compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience". So what do you need to work on? I believe God reminded me to be patient when I read this text. For some reason at the time I was being a little irritable and short. God's word comes at just the right time that we need it I believe, and He is always there to help when we seek Him.

If you want to hear about how my patience was really tested, read my next post, which will be coming soon.