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Showing posts from June, 2019

Creation from Nothing: Foundation Two- You Can't Change Yourself

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"When you send forth your Spirit they are created, and you renew the face of the ground. May the glory of the Lord endure forever, may the Lord rejoice in His works. Create in me a pure heart, Oh God. Renew a steadfast Spirit in me. This is what the Lord says: 'Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord. But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart and test the mind..." -Psalm 104:30-31, 51:10, Jeremiah 17:5-10 We live in the age of self. We have always been about self, but now more than ever before, Self is King. Self is god. Self is gospel. It's subtle, and sneaks into our mindset. Facebook memes fill the news feeds of millions of how important self is. It's a thin line. We don't reject ourselves in the way of not taking care of ba

Creation From Nothing: Foundation One- Worshiping and Glorifying God

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"By the Word of the Lord the Heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. By His great outstretched arm of power. There is nothing too hard for you." -Psalm 33:6, Jeremiah 32:17 God our Creator, our Father, the only One true God who eternally reigns as God... God who has no beginning, who IS. God who is unconstrained in being, the absolute greatness of all things seen and unseen. God who we depend on, and He depends on nothing. God who said, "I AM WHO I AM" to Moses. God of the Ages, Holy, Ancient of Days are a few of His names. That's the best I can do to describe Him to you, that is not even scratching the surface...that is no where near the surface, or close to even picking up a pen up to write. You know the majesty of the 7 wonders of the world? When sunsets catch our view and breath? When the ocean waves crash and rush to you? When the moon looks like we can touch it, or is in just the right spot? So many thin

Hupomone -- A Patient Endurance

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I can remember the first time I heard this Greek word, Hupomone (noun). (pronounced hoop-om-on-ay') It literally means remaining under the Divine Presence while being tested. I was sitting in the church my dad was pastoring at the time, a rural church in North Carolina. It's been well over 10 years ago. I was sitting on a pew with my friend Sarah, kinda toward the front. I don't remember anything about the sermon that day, just the word Hupomone. Sarah and I looked at each other and giggled like girls do, and Sarah blurted out, "What's humopone?!" My dad, the gracious man he is, answered her interruption. For the next few months Sarah and I would run around randomly saying, "Hupomone!" several times in a row. It really is a fun word to say. Looking back on it, what a great thing to do. What if there were people running around yelling Greek words at you to remind you, Endure! Endure! Endure! Endure! Endure! People probably thought we

Believing Creation From Nothing: Essential to Christian Faith Foundations

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" Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." Psalm 51:10 This topic is one that has been churning a while in my heart. I can remember sitting on the beach a few years ago with my pad of paper, and my Bible. Feet buried in the sand, as the surf reached my chair, I was staring out into the ocean pondering the works of creation, and the Creator. This post will serve as an introduction and overview to the new series outlining how believing Creation from nothing is the very foundation of understanding the Bible, and God. If you get creation wrong, you will get everything else wrong in scripture. Every single truth we read in the Bible points all the way back to the beginning and Creation. In order to correctly understand Jesus and His crucifixion we have to look at Creation. Creation points to Salvation, the Resurrection, and the Second Coming. It confirms everything Jesus said about Himself, and Jesus' miracles confirmed Him as Cre