Archive for October, 2013

A Simple Look at the Trinity

Look at the wisdom available at Proverbial Thought!

There is an objection to Christianity, or even within Christianity, which may be raised: the Doctrine of the Trinity.

There are various sources of this argument: Mormons (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or LDS), Jehovah’s Witnesses, Unitarians, Muslims, Jews, and many other sources including some people from church who may have doubts.

The biggest reason is that the word “Trinity” is not used in the Bible. The Trinity is the belief that God is one Being with three distinct Persons (not simply personalities): God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit.

This is true, but there are many things that are believed by Jews, Christians, Muslims, and various cults and belief systems that are not found in scriptures. They are inferred from readings. (One example could be “falling in love with Jesus”. Not in the Bible, but the phrase conveys the need to discover the truth, grace, and love of God that can change your life.)

However, the title says this is a simple look at the Trinity. Therefore, I will merely give a mental exercise which can also be used as a form of apologetics:

To the objection that there is no Trinity and Christians worship three gods:

Look at this man (any man, really). He is a father. There is his child. Do you dispute he is a father?

Look at this same man. Here is his father. Is this man also a son? How can he be two different people.

Look at this same man. He has a license to heal the sick and prescribe medicine. Is this man also a doctor? How can he be three different people.

Obviously I must be talking about three different men, right?

Please remember, there is no perfect analogy for describing/explaining God. This is not me trying to say I understand God. This is merely a tool to help us understand a little better how God can be three and one at the same time.

It is my prayer that this may help you in understanding your faith in a better way or in sharing your faith with others.

If you are not a Christian as you read this, I pray you may understand better what Christians truly believe. Naturally, I hope you would also come to believe as I do in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and Savior of the world!

2013
10/29
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Weekend Words & Sunday Stanzas – 10/27/2013

Get your daily dose of wisdom from Proverbial Thought!

Just read it. It says it all about how important our relationship with God should be.

 

You are able to see

into my inmost being

You know what i cling to

what i harbor inside

be my Lord and Savior

the thing i keep inside

be the first thought

be the final thought

be everything i think of

ever present in my life

my God

      my Friend

my Lord

2013
10/27
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Protection Through Encouragement

Encourage your soul with some wisdom from Proverbial Thought!

12 Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end …
Hebrews 3:12-14, NASB

This will be short and sweet today.

Relationships are very important. The Bible is all about God’s desire for relationships with us through His Son!

Therefore, I encourage you today to encourage each other.

Call your friends and family to tell them you love them.

Share Christ with family and friends who may not know Him.

Lift each other up in prayer, and tell those for whom you pray that you are praying for them!

Be with friends (“in spirit” if need be) who need friends: an ear, a shoulder, a helping hand.

Just love those who are close to you!

Take the time today to show those who are close to you that you care!

Remember: God loves you!

2013
10/22
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Weekend Words & Sunday Stanzas – 10/20/2013

Remember to get some wisdom from Proverbial Thought!

 

God really, really, really loves us. Did you know that?

We should thank Him for that on a regular basis.

Please enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

thank You for Your love

for giving me meaning

     thank You for compassion

     for wanting me as i was

   thank You for Life

   for sending down Your Son

        thank You for loving me

        for loving the unlovable

              the unloved

                    me

thank You for Your love

2013
10/20
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Her Pain Is Mine

Love the poem. Love the people more. Pray for Valerie Baker, Anthony, and their children. Though my only interaction with any of them has been through blogs and Facebook, I can tell you that they are pretty great people. Let us lift this family up to our Lord for strength, peace, and healing!

Anthony Baker's avatarThe Recovering Legalist

Fibromyalgia

I don’t know what you know about fibromyalgia, but whatever it is, whatever causes it, my wife suffers terribly from it. Over the last several years it has robbed my wife of her ability to enjoy many things in life that we take for granted, like sitting, sleeping, getting dressed, washing one’s hair, or even being hugged.

So many people doubt fibromyalgia is real. They say that if it was a legitimate illness, then there would be clearly identifiable symptoms, specific medications or treatments that would work, and even a Jerry Lewis-like celebrity raising money for research. Unfortunately, the only real constant for my wife is pain, and all that comes with never getting relief.

valeriePutting on a brave face is a daily occurrence. My wife was always the hard worker, the entrepreneur, and the aggravating “early riser” who would wake everyone else in the house with, “

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2013
10/15
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Wholly Yours with the David Crowder Band

Make sure you read David’s wise words on Proverbs 26:23 at Proverbial Thought!

Last week we listened to Five Iron Frenzy’s song “Dandelions” and looked how we are like weeds, plants out of place, but the most beautiful flowers in God’s sight when we are in Christ.

Here is another look at who we are, this time through the lyrics of David Crowder.

Consider the following passages:

Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
Genesis 2:7

3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
Matthew 13:3-9

43 “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 45 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
Luke 6:43-45

God created us from the earth, and we are frequently referred to as soil or plants (which grow from soil).

Earth is soil which can support life.

Dirt, on the other hand, is misplaced soil. While things can grow from dirt, usually all you get are weeds or weak plants.

Only with soil do you get strong plants which are capable of producing good fruit. Good fruit are good deeds, good speech, and praise of God.

Weak plants and weeds do not give good fruit. Any good deeds from people like this are tainted by pride or do not have lasting or good results. There is a lack of, if any, praise to God.

And the thing that needs to be remembered is that only God by the grace shown through work of the crucified Christ and through the power of the Holy Spirit can make us clean soil, fertile soil capable of growth and good fruit.

Listen to David Crowder and his band worship God for His creation and grace. Read the lyrics, and I pray grow in some understanding of just how much our God has done for us out of His love for us.

Wholly Yours by David Crowder Band

I am full of earth
You are heaven’s worth
I am stained with dirt, prone to depravity
You are everything that is bright and clean
The antonym of me
You are divinity
But a certain sign of grace is this
From a broken earth flowers come up
Pushing through the dirt

You are holy, holy, holy
All heaven cries “Holy, holy God”
You are holy, holy, holy
I wanna be holy like You are

You are everything that is bright and clean
And You’re covering me with Your majesty
And the truest sign of grace was this
From wounded hands redemption fell down
Liberating man

You are holy, holy, holy
All heaven cries “Holy, holy God”
You are holy, holy, holy
I want to be holy like You are

But the harder I try the more clearly can I feel
The depth of our fall and the weight of it all
And so this might could be the most impossible thing
Your grandness in me making me clean

Glory, hallelujah
Glory, glory, hallelujah
You are holy, holy, holy
All heaven cries “Holy, holy God”
You are holy, holy, holy
I want to be holy, holy God

So here I am, all of me
Finally everything
Wholly, wholly, wholly
I am wholly, wholly, wholly
I am wholly, wholly, wholly Yours

I am wholly Yours

I am full of earth and dirt and You

2013
10/15
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Weekend Words & Sunday Stanzas – 10/13/2013

Here is your reminder to get on over to Proverbial Thought for some daily wisdom!

Perhaps you have heard that time happens in cycles. Everyone goes through cycles. The earth goes through cycles. Our lives go through cycles. The writer of Ecclesiastes pointed this out 3000 years ago (and chapter 3 was made into a song by “The Byrds” in 1965!)

One of the cycles that is evident throughout history is God doing something amazing, people glorifying Him, and then people falling away from God. This happens in many ways, and the most prevalent in the past 2000 years is focusing too much on rules and regulations within the Church/Judaism.

Therefore, we must always go back to the beginning: GOD. In Jesus Christ, the firstfruits of the new righteousness (1 Corinthians 15), we always have a fresh start. May we seek Him first and always.

 

there is a new thing

God is doing something new

He is going back to the beginning

starting with what looks old

God is sick of the religion

that proliferates His Body

the new thing now needs to come

to bring us back to God

it is time to abandon

everything that gets in the way

it is time to turn to the Son

and His grace and peace

2013
10/13
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Seeing Flowers in Weeds with Five Iron Frenzy

Head over to Proverbial Thought for your daily dose of wisdom!

Did you know God loves you?

It is so true.

How much?

Here are a couple of examples:

See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?
Matthew 6:28-30, NIV

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
Romans 5:8-10, NIV

If we were to compare ourselves to plants, it is as though we are flowers. Not just any flowers, but weeds. Due to our sin, we are out of place and only take away from our environment. A weed is a plant out of context. Our sin puts us out of context with God, and all we are able to do ultimately is cause harm.

Something that is quite amazing, though, is that in the hands of an innocent child weeds can become beautiful flowers.

What is more amazing is that, though we are not worth much on our own and out of context, when we turn to God and trust Him, we look like beautiful flowers being presented to Him by His Son who has redeemed us. For at the end of the age, Jesus Christ will return to take His redeemed weeds to the Father:

I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.
Revelation 14:14-16, NIV

This is what Five Iron Frenzy is singing about in this song “Dandelions”.

Dandelions

In a field of yellow flowers
underneath the sun
bluest eyes that spark with lightning
boy with shoes undone.
He is young
so full of hope
reveling in tiny dreams
filling up his arms with flowers
right for giving any queen.
Running to her beaming bright
while cradling his prize.
A flickering of yellow light
within his mother’s eyes.
She holds them to her heart
keeping them where they’ll be safe
clasped within her very marrow
dandelions in a vase.

{chorus 1}

She sees love where
anyone else would see weeds.
all hope is found.
Here is everything he needs.

Fathomless your endless mercy
weight I could not lift.
Where do I fit in this puzzle
what good are these gifts?
Not a martyr, or a saint
scarcely can I struggle through.
All that I have ever wanted
was to give my best to you.

{chorus 2}

Lord, search my heart
create in me something clean.
Dandelions
you see flowers in these weeds.

Gently lifting hands to heaven
softened by the sweetest hush
a Father sings over His children
loving them so very much.
More than words could warrant
deeper than the darkest blue
more than sacrifice could merit
Lord, I give my heart to You.

{chorus 2}

Lord, search my heart,
Create in me something clean.
Dandelions
You see flowers in these weeds.

Gently lifting hands to heaven,
Softened by the sweetest hush,
A Father sings over his children,
Loving them so very much.
More than words could warrant,
Deeper than the darkest blue,
More than sacrifice could merit,
Lord, I give my heart to you.

2013
10/08
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Hope Springs…from a Public School Principal

My friend Pastor Baker at “The Recovering Legalist” tipped me off to this.
I encourage you to read this, and read the letters contained within it as PDF documents.

 

How does this relate to theology?

 

God created us to be thinking creatures, those who are able to study, evaluate, and make decisions. Too many times in our world that is suppressed in one way or another, and when it is praised it tends to come at the expense of God rather than to glorify Him.

 

1 Peter 3:13-16 says:

Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats; do not be frightened.” But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

 

This pastor has taken this passage very seriously, and so should all Christians. To say “that is someone else’s problem” or “but it does not affect me” is the same as saying “I do not care what others have to deal with. This person then lives out what 1 John 4:20 states: “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.”

 

Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, and MIND. Know what is happening in our world and how to stand up against the attacks.

 

Grace and peace,

 

Daniel

Rebeca Seitz's avatarRebeca Seitz's Blog

Y’all are not going to believe this. Well, some of you may.

RechpicA dear friend of mine, Alan Stewart, is a longtime pastor in the Mayberry-esque East Tennessee town of Soddy-Daisy. His church has become known in recent years for its crazy-effective Vacation Bible School programs, which Alan wrote and based on the public domain characters from those incredible children’s tales written by Christians – Beauty and the Beast, Wizard of Oz, The Little Mermaid, and Peter Pan – after realizing several years of other VBS programs had been entertaining, but not effective.

Alan and the church are a go-to resource when the town needs, well, anything. Food, shelter, counsel, money, a listening ear, an answer to a troubling situation. They are what the church is supposed to be, at least in so much as I’ve known them the past few years.

Alan was asked by

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2013
10/06
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Weekend Words & Sunday Stanzas – 10/06/2013

Love God with your mind, and find wisdom at Proverbial Thought!

God loves us in amazing ways. That is the entire point of this poem. It is a brief look at how much God loves us.

how much does God love us

just how much does the One True God love us

He created not just a plant

or solar system

or galaxy

but a universe

how much does He love His prized creation

He never gave up

sent messengers

forgot our sins

sacrificed His Son

how deep does His love truly extend

He left paradise

became one of us

redeemed us

made us His holy children

2013
10/06
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