THE LORD

In my previous article, I sought to establish that Jesus’ Second Coming is, indeed, very relevant to our generation now. I did not, however, provide much application... what does it actually mean for us, here and now, for it to be relevant? In other words... what are we to do, knowing that we are in the beginning of the transition period that will end when Jesus establishes His throne on earth? This is a huge question! One could write a book on this subject and not encapsulate everything. With that in mind, we will be looking at the passage we are already familiar with, which is Matthew 24-25, as Jesus lays out some important principles therein as to what we should expect and how we ought to live our lives in response.

"I have been writing this volume while residing in Germany for a teaching trip. I am humbled by penning these 95 theses in the same country as Martin Luther did many years ago. I submit these to the evangelical church of our day and pray that God would allow anything of truth in these pages to bend and change men's hearts back to God." - Greg Gordon - http://www.sermonindex.net **

“It is useless for large companies of believers to spend long hours begging God to send revival. Unless we intend to reform we may as well not pray. Unless praying men have the insight and faith to amend their whole way of life to conform to the New Testament pattern there can be no true revival.” - A.W. Tozer

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Well... I was writing an email, and this really got stirred up in my heart. Probably partly to do with finishing Tozer's book, too. Anyways... I was sitting in bed and considering the books I've read in the last five years, or so, and two in particular jumped out at me that actually both encourage and sadden me.

So, I've been reading A.W. Tozer's The Pursuit Of God and something really jumped out at me as I was reading, tonight. [caption id="" align="alignright" width="83" caption="The Pursuit Of God"][/caption]

"A Generation of Christians reared among pushbuttons and automatic machines is impatient of slower and less direct methods of reaching their goals. We have been trying to apply machine-age methods to our relationship with God. We read our chapter, have our short devotions, and rush away, hoping to make up for our deep inward bankruptcy by attending another gospel meeting or listening to another thrilling story told by a religious adventurer lately returned from afar." (p. 45)

How true is this? In my own life, I have tried to follow devotional guides, I have tried to read one chapter of my Bible every day. I, on an average day, listen to at least one sermon, sometimes three or four.

Oh gosh. I'm watching the end of "The Da Vinci Code". So dumb! It's entertaining if you can watch/read it as a mere story... but the assertions and deceptions contained therein regarding the nature of Jesus are ridiculous! On a different subject altogether, isn't it funny how people can try disprove God, but cannot? At the same time, neither can we prove the existence of God? Ahh, but I am not, cannot be agnostic, either. I experience God, every single day. How could I deny that?

Ahh, I began to write this blog in an entirely different way, but scrapped it. Today I have been absolutely blown away, once again, by the incredible complexity and depth of the Bible. Have you ever tried explaining a Biblical doctrine to somebody? I love it. I love teaching. I love imparting new things to people, challenging what they believe. Sometimes I am scared to do so, not wanting to offend them, or just afraid that someday I will recognise my error. Still... I think teaching is in my blood.

Hey friends! Sorry it's been so long since I have blogged, I don't really have much of an excuse! I'll record a video update sometime this week, though, let you know what I have been up to. Let's get to it! Lately, our desperate need to pursue God has been heavy on my heart. A friend told me the night before last that she, in essence, sensed that something was wrong with the Church. For all we do (and I'm including my present occupation in Youth With A Mission) at times, there seem to be relatively few new people being converted. Why?

Okay, this started out as a blog post, but ended up being too long to be practical. Here is a quick outline of my post, and then you can read the rest by clicking on the link at the bottom. 1. What the Bible says about Homosexuality.

• Verses explicitly referring to homosexuality.
• Necessity for justification of homosexuality.
• How we "interpret" these passages.
• The knowledge of man vs. the knowledge of God

2. Our struggle is with the flesh. 3.

Well, since I seem to suck at putting up regular blog posts these days, I think I'll get at least one in before the weekend, as it will be a bit nuts. Reef To Outback is headed out camping for a week or so, and I'm quite excited. I've been looking forward to it for well over a month, now, and it's almost here! Camping is always one of the best experiences here at RTO, such a relaxing and refreshing time away from everything. We're going to my favorite camping spot of any that I have been to in Australia...

Alright, so I was walking down to The Strand (beachfront) this afternoon, and I was just talking to God as made my way down the sidewalk on Ingham Road. Ever since going through and reading the story of Rebekah in Genesis 24 [download id="6"], and seeing how willing and excited both the servant that Abraham sent and how excited Rebekah was, I have been considering this: what does it mean to be servant-hearted?