College - Time is Slipping Away!

AHHH!

I am very weary of going to college, nit because I know not what God has called me into, but WHERE!

I have looked at several colleges and language schools and right now I do not have peace about any of them. I am the first as far as I know in my family called in foreign missions.

I have a passion for French and I want to pick up other languages to be fully global. I know that God is in complete control but that does deny the fact I am only human and I cannot fathom what his plans are for my life much less tomorrow.

Please pray for me in my endeavors that I may find the center of the Lord's will.

Every Tribe and Tongue

Revelation 5:9-10

And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to break its seals; for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase for God with Thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. “And Thou hast made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.”

(From Purgoturio)
http://purgatorio1.com/?p=442

Creation's Groans and the Saints' Sighs

"We know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body."
—Romans 8:22-23.

We were once an undistinguished part of the creation, subject to the same curse as the rest of the world, "heirs of wrath, even as others." But distinguishing grace has made a difference where no difference naturally was; we are now no longer treated as criminals condemned, but as children and heirs of God. We have received a divine life, by which we are made partakers of the divine nature, having "escaped the corruption which is in the world through lust." The Spirit of God has come unto us so that our "bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost." God dwelleth in us, and we are one with Christ. We have at this present moment in us certain priceless things which distinguish us as believers in Christ from all the rest of God's creatures. "We have," says the text, not "we hope and trust sometimes we have," nor yet "possibly we may have," but "we have, we know we have, we are sure we have." Believing in Jesus, we speak confidently, we have unspeakable blessings given to us by the Father of spirits. Not we shall have, but we have. True, many things are yet in the future, but even at this present moment, we have obtained an inheritance; we have already in our possession a heritage divine which is the beginning of our eternal portion. This is called "the first-fruits of the Spirit," by which I understand the first works of the Spirit in our souls. Brethren, we have repentance, that gem of the first water. We have faith, that priceless, precious jewel. We have hope, which sparkles, a hope most sure and steadfast. We have love, which sweetens all the rest. We have that work of the Spirit within our souls which always comes before admittance into glory. We are already made "new creatures in Christ Jesus," by the effectual working of the mighty lower of God the Holy Ghost. This is called the first-fruit because it comes first. As the wave-sheaf was the first of the harvest, so the spiritual life which we have, and all the graces which adorn that life, are the first gifts, the first operations of the Spirit of God in our souls. We have this.

I do not know a more beautiful sight to be seen on earth than a man who has served his Lord many years, and who, having grown grey in service, feels that, in the order of nature, he must soon be called home. He is rejoicing in the first-fruits of the Spirit which he has obtained, but he is panting after the full harvest of the Spirit which is guaranteed to him. I think I see him sitting on a jutting crag by the edge of Jordan, listening to the harpers on the other side, and waiting till the pitcher shall be broken at the cistern, and the wheel at the fountain, and the spirit shall depart to God that made it. A wife waiting for her husband's footsteps; a child waiting in the darkness of the night till its mother comes to give it the evening's kiss, are portraits of our waiting. It is a pleasant and precious thing so to wait and so to hope.I fear that some of you, seeing ye have never come and put your trust in Christ, will have to say, when your time comes to die, what Wolsey is said to have declared, with only one word of alteration:—

"O Cromwell, Cromwell!
Had I but served my God with half the zealI served the world,
he would not, in mine age,Have left me naked to mine enemies."

Oh, before those days fully come, quit the service of the master who never can reward you except with death! Cast your arms around the cross of Christ, and give up your heart to God, and then, come what may, I am persuaded that "Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come. Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." While you shall for awhile sigh for more of heaven, you shall soon come to the abodes of blessedness where sighing and sorrow shall flee away.The Lord bless this assembly, for Christ's sake. AMEN.


Charles Spurgeon

See the full sermon at http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0788.htm

Prayer Requests

China (China Aid Association)

May 27th and 28th, 2006, 30 house-church leaders from Langzhong City, Sichuan Province were arrested and forced to pay fines. Eyewitnesses and family members of the victims reported that the arrests happened from 11 a.m. on May 27th until 9 a.m. on the 28th during a fellowship meeting. Fifteen members of the Public Security Bureau in six police vehicles raided the meeting. Eyewitnesses say that during the arrests and interrogations, Christians were abused inhumanely by constant heavy beatings. Though some of those arrested were released on the 28th, on morning of the 29th, 14 house church leaders received criminal detention notices. They are:

Li Ming
Wang Yuan
Li Jinbo
Li Chengxi
Shi Zhihe
Gou Yongcai
Jin Jiyun
Wang Shuhua
Gou Qingju
Ke Xiufang
Sun Changfen
Hu Yongju
Zhang Shulan

Liao Zhoulan Pastors Li Ming, Wang Yuan, Li Jinbo and Jin Jiyun are major leaders of the Chinese House Church Alliance which was established in 2004. It is made up of approximately 300,000 members from various house church movements scattered across 21 provinces. CAA also learned that in recent weeks a number of house churches from Beijing, Shangdong and Guangdong were forced by the local authorities to close.

Pray Jesus will draw close to the prisoners with His loving comfort. Pray God will protect them from further beatings. Pray their faithfulness to Jesus will inspire Christians everywhere to seek a closer walk with our Savior and Friend.

Prayer Update from Voice of the Martyrs

Lend Me Your Ears . . .

When choosing a new church, one looks for good biblical preaching. What is good biblical preaching. Here is what "9 Marks" as in the nine marks for a living church has to say.


What are the different kinds of preaching?

Anecdotal - a sermon in which the preacher primarily tells engaging stories with a moral lesson.

Biographical - a sermon in which the preacher traces the life of a biblical character and draws contemporary moral implications.

Topical - a sermon that has a topic in mind prior to consulting the text, and then searches for one or more biblical texts that address the topic chosen beforehand.

Textual - a sermon that refers often to a particular Biblical text, but does not take the main point of the text as its own.

Expositional - a sermon which takes the point of the text as the point of the sermon

Expositional preaching expounds what Scripture says in a particular passage, carefully explaining its meaning and applying it to the congregation. It is a commitment to hearing God's Word and to recovering the centrality of it in our worship.

God's Word gives clear primacy to exposition. Many preachers and pastors today question whether the Bible really gives us any reason to think that expositional preaching is the best way to preach. But the prophetic nature of preaching and the performative nature of God's Word reveal exposition to be best suited to unleashing the power of the text. Exposition is primary because preaching is prophetic. To say that preaching is prophetic is not to say that it is either predictive or ecstatic utterance - preachers are ambassadors, not prognosticators; and their source of revelation is God's mediated written word, not His immediate verbal word. It is rather to say that preaching is about receiving God's word and communicating it to God's people in a way that is faithful to God's intention. Preaching is prophetic because it conveys God's Word to God's people. Exposition best handles the prophetic nature of preaching because the expositional sermon is unique for taking the point of the passage as the point of the message. It is therefore the best way to remain faithful to the content and intent of God's Word in any given text.

Preaching often becomes like taking pictures with a disposable camera - no zooming, no panning, focus isn't guaranteed, and panoramics are unlikely. Expositional preaching is like graduating to a telephoto lens - it gives you the ability to take a wider diversity of Scriptural snapshots from new angles and more perspectives with higher resolution, richer texture, and variable scope.

Visit the website to see the other nine marks - http://www.9marks.org/

Why do people blog?

Honestly, why do people blog?

I do not have the answer to this very imposing question. You would think that I would have a very reason for using this site, but I don't. I have never passed out my blog address to anyone except one person. It is funny I catch myself acting as if many eyes are watching, but the truth is that nobody cares.

Blogging, narcissistic? Not for some.

Anyway, (simple crutch word in the English language which do not mean any way but, I have a loss for words and please hold as I ponder my next dubious statement) I believe that I blog out of a sense of duty.

If someone could tell me what that duty is, I will be most pleased.

Last Thought: Happy Father's Day!

Mission Trip 2006 - Alabama

Please pray that the Lord is glorified in all that we do in Mobile / Dauphin Island Alabama!

The youth choir is going to help clean up the wreckage from the hurricanes. We will be ministering to the communities and sharing the gospel with tons of people. Please pray that God will use us as vessels for his good and perfect plan. Please pray that our attitudes are fixed on Him and not what the devil wants us to be caught up in. Please pray that lives will be impacted eternally.

The Example of John Owen, a Puritan - Piper

I mentioned earlier that the old Puritans called this drawing near "common with God." We need to learn from them. J.I. Packer says that the Puritans differ from evangelicals today because, with them: communion with God was a great thing; to evangelicals today it is a comparatively small thing. The Puritans were concerned about communion with God in a way we are not. The measure of our unconcern is the little that we say about it. When Christians meet, they talk to each other about their Christian work and Christian interests, their Christian acquaintances, the state of the churches, and the problems of theology - but rarely of their daily experience of God.

According to Packer the greatest of the Puritans was John Owen. Owen's experience of communion with God is a great example for us. God saw to it that Owen and the suffering Puritans of his day lived closer to God and sought after communion with God more earnestly than we. Writing a letter during an illness in 1674 he said to a friend, "Christ is our best friend, and ere long will be our only friend. I pray God with all my heart that I may be weary of everything else but converse and communion with Him." God used illness and all the other pressures of Owen's life to drive him into communion with God and not away from it.

But Owen was also very intentional about his communion with God. He said, "Friendship is most maintained and kept up by visits; and these, the more free and less occasioned by urgent business . . ." In other words, in the midst of all his academic and political and ecclesiastical labors, he made many visits to God.

And when he went, he did not just go with petitions for things or even for deliverance in his many hardships. He went to see his glorious friend and to contemplate his greatness. The last book he wrote - he was finishing it as he died - is called Meditations on the Glory of Christ. That says a great deal about the focus and outcome of Owen's life. In it he said, The revelation . . . of Christ . . . deserves the severest of our thoughts, the best of our meditations and our utmost diligence in them. . . . What better preparation can there be for [our future enjoyment of the glory of Christ] than in a constant previous contemplation of that glory in the revelation that is made in the Gospel.

The contemplation Owen has in mind is made up of at least two things: on the one hand there is what he called his "severest thoughts" and "best meditations" or in another place "assiduous meditations," and on the other hand relentless prayer. The two are illustrated in his work on Hebrews. One of his greatest achievements was his seven-volume commentary on Hebrews. When he finished it near the end of his life, he said, "Now my work is done: it is time for me to die." How did he do it? We get a glimpse from the preface:

I must now say, that, after all my searching and reading, prayer and assiduous meditation have been my only resort, and by far the most useful means of light and assistance. By these have my thoughts been freed from many an entanglement."

Thus Owen drew near to God by prayer and assiduous meditation and found light and freedom. In this way his was a zeal to draw near that accords with knowledge. This is the kind of zeal that we want. This is the sweet personal knowledge that keeps the zeal in bounds and makes it burn the more brightly. With this knowledge and zeal let us draw near day by day and hour by hour.

Read the whole article here:

http://www.desiringgod.org/library/sermons/97/032397.html

Senior Citizen

Today when the bell for class to end this morning I felt this cool sensation traveling up my spine. All of a sudden I had a grin on my face and I knew just what to do once I exited the building.

I AM A SENIOR! HIGH SCHOOL IS ALMOST OVER! O-V-E-R!

I am so exited. I am ready to let go of the high school drama and finish strong.

Time

Two Weeks ago, I was struggling to keep my head above the water with last minute school issues. This is how I felt.

"Where does time go in the winter time? Does it hibernate so you lose track of it? Where does time go in the spring? Does it jump forward because it cannot wait for flowers to bloom? I do not know. Recently, I lost my mind. Currently, I am pondering upon its whereabouts. Honestly, no joke. I have just now realized that it checked out Thursday and I need it back but I cannot find it. There are no handbooks or science guides to instruct me on my search, or road sign to point me on my way. There are no television shows to inform me, or words to tell me where to begin. I am currently checked out for life in general. Do I sound insane? I did not even know that the train was coming; I just got hit in the middle of the tracks of life, broad-sided. Gone. Tired. Weary."

Looking back I praise God for taking care of me! This past (and last for a while) week of school was a blessing. How I often forget who controls the universe is in control of my life. Just trust Him. I cannot stress it enough! This whole year has been about trusting God to handle life's problems and let him sit in the driver's seat. It was so hard to stand back and feel helpless, but I was not alone. I hate when it takes the heard times to teach us what we should have already known. If we could give it over every day, life would run, in my case, a whole lot smoother.

I Need Thee Every Hour

I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord;
No tender voice like Thine can peace afford.

Refrain:
I need Thee, O I need Thee;
Every hour I need Thee;
O bless me now, my Savior,I come to Thee.

I need Thee every hour, stay Thou nearby;
Temptations lose their power when Thou art nigh.

Refrain

I need Thee every hour, in joy or pain;
Come quickly and abide, or life is in vain.

Refrain

I need Thee every hour; teach me Thy will;
And Thy rich promises in me fulfill.

Refrain

I need Thee every hour, most Holy One;
O make me Thine indeed, Thou blessèd Son.

Refrain

I do not know why I love this hymm so much. I play hymms to cool nerves and relax. One night I opened my hymnal and found this song immediately. I found the words soothing to my weary soul.

http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/i/n/ineedteh.htm

J'irai

J’irai sur la fin de l’Univers, loin de toutes mes inquiétudes, loin de toutes les réponses non connues de l’humanité, loin de toi, loin de tout ce que je voudrais te dire et je ne peux pas te dire, loin de moi. Quand je reviendrai, peut-être le monde sera autre. Nous serons autres... peut-être.

par Mariana Fulger

A Christ-Centered Church

While the definition of the word “Puritan” remains a matter of some debate, there is no doubt that ecclesiastical issues were close to the heart of every Puritan preacher. Despite the fact that in creed and sermon the doctrine of the church was incessantly expounded in terms of the covenant and of grace and the doctrines of Christ’s threefold office, historians of the period have not paid much attention to the strong Christocentric nature of the Puritan doctrine of the church. A full exposition of John Owen’s ecclesiology is beyond our present purpose, which is merely to demonstrate that Owen’s views of the church’s nature, composition, authority, mission, ministry, and worship have strong and direct ties to Christology.

The Nature of the Church
In the writings of John Owen one can find the following definitions of the church. The first is a definition of God’s house, his Zion:

By the church of Christ I understand, primarily, the whole multitude of them who antecedently are chosen of his Father, and given unto him; consequently, are redeemed, called, and justified in his blood;—the church which he loved, and gave himself for, ‘that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word; that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy, and without blemish,’ Eph. v. 26, 27. And, secondarily, also every holy assembly of mount Zion, whereunto the Lord Christ is made beauty and glory,—every particular church of his saints, inasmuch as they partake of the nature of the whole being purchased by his blood, Acts xx. 28. (8:286)

The church exists in visible structured societies, and must do so, since man was created to act in society, and the “principle end” of living in society is the glory and worship of God. To create a holy worshipping society, God revealed his will to Adam in innocence, and, after the fall, with a specific view toward the coming of Christ, to Adam’s descendants. Owen often calls such a society a “church-state” to signify all the various ecclesiastical structures since creation: households of patriarchs, the nation which covenanted together at Sinai, and the particular local church of the New Testament era (a “gospel,” or “evangelical, church-state”). By any definition, it centers on Christ.

- Richard Daniels

For the rest of the article visit:

http://www.johnowen.org/media/daniels_christology_owen.pdf

Bad Books

In English, I must read The Catcher in the Rye. I cannot take the language! I feel like every page sullies my mind to a point of non-recognition. I told my teacher that I felt that the sexual undertones and promiscuous content left much to be desired and I wished to switch books. I was ignored on the grounds that now days you must accept the language and more on she replied. She asked me how I could pick up a book that did not contain language or sexual content and I said easy. I quoted Philippians 4:8 and she looked at me like I was crazy. I failed the quiz because I refused to finish the book assignment. It frustrated me. Tonight I finished the book assignment and read excerpts aloud to my father and he was also disgusted. Arrg! I am not sure what to do next but comply with her wishes.

The Nicene Creed

Circa 381 A.D.

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible;And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father; by whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; he suffered and was buried; and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father; and he shall come again, with glory, to judge both the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord, and Giver of Life, who proceedeth from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spake by the Prophets. And I believe one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church; I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.

AMEN.

Chicago Photos

The Sears Tower

Do I need to explain this one?

Chicago Stock Exchange

College Photos of Importance

Tribute to the Pretzal and Libral Arts at Austin College

The only thing I enjoyed at Knox College

One of the Several Buildings at Austin College

Wheaton's Mastadon

Bible Verse du Jour

"And the LORD, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed."(Deuteronomy 31:7-9)

Puritan T-shirts

I am doing a project on several Puritan authors and when I was searching the web I found these two t-shirts. they make me chuckle.

Sands of Time

Okay, I was looking at the date for my last post and I realized that I have been living in warpspeed. I have been incredibly stressed recently. Possibly because I have been struggling with school and I am about to make my very first C in my whole life! Last semester I had an A average in Physics and now I am going to have a C. I am not thinking clearly at all. I just got back from visiting colleges with my Dad. First we visited Austin College in Sherman, Texas. I loved it, despite the lackluster surroundings of Sherman. Rien! The pre-med adviser greeted me wearing blue-jeans and a sweatshirt. He was very laid back and from what I gathered, really cared for his students. The campus has a real strong sense of community and there is a bond between all of the students and faculty. The students are often invited over for dinner and call their professors by their first name. The community service station had coloring book pictures on the windows. (I know that was a random statement but I love coloring books!) The second college I visited was terrible! I visited Knox College. On paper, I thought this college would be my number one pick, but in person, it was cold and the tour guide was a wreck. I felt so sorry for him and I thought to myself if I went here I would be in a living nightmare. The college lets the students vote on rules and policies along with the curriculum and teachers who get fired. His major he had been working on was deleted by the students and now he was reorienting himself in other fields! The whole campus is student-run and the curriculum is based on mini research projects throughout the year.

The last college was Wheaton. I did not really take hold of the three chapel services a week idea and my Dad did not appreciate the attitude experienced after visiting the financial aid office that if you do not have enough money to go there, just forget it. Oh well. It was too formalized if that even makes sense. If I had to make a comparison between the other two and Wheaton, I would say that it was friendlier than Knox and had a sense of mission but lacked coloring pages posted on the wall and a working relationship with the teachers. But, when I interviewed the French prof, he thought that since I spoke clean French that my Dad also spoke French fluently. I shook my head and said no, I just have a really good teacher that loves the language and teaching.

On the last day my dad and I visited Chicago! I love Chicago.

All in all, my Dad and I had a wonderful bonding experience and like my airplane bathroom phobia, I did not have to make extra stops, only the meal stops were made. At least now I no what I want in a college and a rule of thumb for looking at other colleges.