I was just introduced by a friend to a guitarist named Andy Mckee. This guy is ridiculous! As far as I know all his stuff is acoustic. I watched him play on YouTube and was absolutely stunned. I wonder how many hours he's practiced...
Check it out... _ http://tinyurl.com/2wa9j8
Blogged with Flock
MERRY CHRISTMAS to you and yours!!!
It's been a great holiday season for me so far, I hope yours is going well also! I've been spending some great time with family and enjoying some truly excellent food. How's your Christmas been? Any interesting stories, great memories, or new beautiful gifts? Leave a comment and let me know!
I've got one thing I'd like to talk about today in the world of technology. There is a new upcoming web browser called Flock. It's available on Mac and Windows. I've just started experimenting with it over the past few days, but so far, from what I can tell, I really like it. I've been a big fan of both Firefox and Safari, but I think this new browser may have won me over. Anyone, who uses social networking sites (mainly Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube) should definitely check this out. This browser is completely designed for the "social-networker." It has many great features and tools for all you social networking needs. I feel that the features are too in-depth to describe in words... or I just don't feel like taking the time to type out descriptions... but either way, you need to see it for yourself. Check it out!
http://flock.com/
Blogged with Flock
Well, after a little bit of down time, I’m back up on the blog with some different stuff. As I mentioned in the last post, I’m going to start posting some “thoughts” on some more things… news, movies, tech, whatever.
Just saw National Treasure: Book of Secrets tonight. I must say I was pleasantly surprised. The title itself and the trailer had me thinking they should’ve stopped with the first movie. It seemed to me like it was going to be one of those cases where the original was a bigger hit than expected and the production company tried milk it for all its worth with a sequel. Typically the sequel has a rough plot line, a terrible ending, and basically bombs. However, in this case I was impressed. While I still hold that the first movie is better, National Treasure: Book of Secrets kept my attention and was surprisingly interesting and entertaining. It carried a deeper storyline than I expected and had a little bit of a twist at the end. Of course it was good to see the original cast back as well. Just take this movie for what it is (a fictional adventure) and it will be an enjoyable attention grabbing film. The writers even led the audience to believe that there will be a third, which I now would be much more excited to see.
IMDb
Rotten Tomatoes
PluggedIn
So I've decided to start including some news and other interesting things on my blog. It's basically just going to be a place for my thoughts to be out there for you to read. Hopefully you all will find some of this stuff interesting and profitable. I'd love to get some feedback!
~joseph
II Corinthians 6:3-10
"3We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, 4 but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; 6 by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; 7 by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; 8 through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything."
Just another quick thought from my quite time…
“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.”
This command in Colossians 3:23 is huge! Basically what this verse is saying is that in anything and everything you do, you must (it’s imperative… a command) do it “as for the Lord.” Just thinking about this alone makes me realize how important each decision is. EVERYTHING I do I must be doing for the Lord, it must glorify Him and make His name great! That alone is big!
Just as I sat down to write this and started thinking more about it, I was reminded of a passage I studied a while ago that relates to this in a very key way. In Psalm 96 the Psalmist writes, “Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength! Ascribe to the LORD the GLORY DUE HIS NAME…” In my study of this passage I read a commentary by Spurgeon called “The Treasury of David.” In this commentary, Spurgeon talked about how we as sinful humans can never give God all the glory “due his name.” We can’t give Him enough! So, Spurgeon went on to say, since we can never give God all the glory He deserves, we should constantly be striving in EVERYTHING to give God all the glory we can! It must be constant… it can never stop!
So… All this to say, since we can never give God all the glory He deserves, we can also never do enough for Him… We, as followers of Jesus, have to constantly be making choices, going “out of our way” to advance the cause of Christ, to do all things for HIS glory!
In my recent study of God’s Word I came to Colossians 2:13 which in my ESV Bible reads,
“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,”
I love the phrasing of this verse. It’s so blunt. You can’t miss the truth that it presents. “And YOU who were DEAD…” It’s us, human beings that have made ourselves dead. Why are we dead? Read the next phrase: “…in YOUR TRESPASSES…” We are dead because of sin. The sin of one man, Adam, has brought sin and the curse upon the entire human race. We are born in sin and WE can’t do anything about it. We can’t deny it, in our earthly state, we are dead, and WE can do nothing to change that. WE are DEAD!
This seems pretty hopeless right…
Keep reading… there are 3 miraculous, awesome words in this verse, 3 words that changed the course of history: “…GOD MADE ALIVE…” Awesome! We as HUMANS are DEAD, LOST, and CONDEMNED, BUT, GOD has made us ALIVE! How? Again… keep reading. “…having FORGIVEN OUR TRESPASSES.” He forgave us. Those sins that condemned us are gone FOREVER! We, AS CHRISTIANS, are no longer DEAD in our SIN! Because of the GRACE and MERCY of GOD we are made ALIVE! WE ARE FORGIVEN!!!
Glory be to God!
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:…For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.”
It’s funny how God time’s things. Thursday night I was at family bookstore when a completely foreign thought occurred to me. I was standing at the counter as we were checking out when a stack of World Vision child sponsorship folders caught my eye. World Vision is a ministry that reaches out to poverty stricken cultures all around the world. Through individual child sponsorship World Vision seeks to change the lives of poverty stricken people all throughout the world.
The thought popped into my head… “man, I’d really like to sponsor one of those kids.” It had never occurred to me to take action in child sponsorship before. Sure I’d seen the advertisements before, but I never really thought about doing it myself. But of course I talked myself out of it because, “I didn’t have a steady enough income to commit to a monthly payment.”
Last night (Friday), I got to go to a Casting Crowns concert. It was a great concert and a great night all together. As I was walking in, I saw a World Vision table set up, and again the thought popped into my head, “wow, I really wanna do that.” So of course… I went in and sat down to enjoy the concert. Right about in the middle of the night Casting Crowns gave a testimony to what World Vision is all about. Casting Crowns as a band and as individuals are very involved with World Vision. They proceeded to tell us about one of the main focuses of World Vision. World Vision seeks to bring clean water to dry villages. Many women and children in these dry villages spend the vast majority of every day walking an average of five miles to get water for their family. By bringing clean water to the village, the children would be able to attend school, which means that as they grow they would be knowledgeable enough to learn a trade and provide for their families. There were two things that Mark Hall (the lead singer of Casting Crowns) said that made my decision. “With World Vision we will see a whole culture change in one generation,” and, “they're not ‘ministry opportunities’ they’re people.” WOW, this was convicting!
Anyway, all this to say that last night I had the awesome opportunity to adopt a young Indian boy named Yesu Babu! I surrendered to God. Oh me of little faith! I’m excited to be a part of this young boys life and to pour the love of Christ on him. When I surrender God will provide.
Please join me in praying for Yesu Babu and his family! Through the Church the world will be changed! Glory be to God!
“But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh…” Romans 13:14
I just finished reading a couple of Puckett’s posts and they really got me thinking. He was talking about what living the “Christian life” in today’s world really looks like. (For those of you on Facebook check out his notes: “Here I Stand” and “Priorities, Rights, and more…”)
Anyway, I’d already been thinking things sort of along these lines, and Josh’s thoughts helped me get mine together…
Several days ago, in my quite time, I came across a verse I’d heard many times, but the meaning became very clear that night. The verse was Romans 13:14 which says, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh…” There’s so many practical applications in these 14 words. The word provision is defined as, “the action of providing or supplying something for use.” The word flesh here is talking about man’s sinful nature. So… What does it mean to make no provision for the flesh? Literally this means do not even provide a way for sin to enter your life. Avoid sin at all costs! How do we do this? This is something I’m still wrestling with… but I have come to some conclusions… These are simple yet practical. They are things Christians struggle with everyday. If you know watching inappropriate things on TV tempts you, don’t watch TV alone. If you are tempted to view inappropriate things on the internet don’t get on the internet without some sort of accountability. If drinking or smoking tempts you don’t put yourself in situations where these things are accessible. If you struggle with bad language, gossip, or even just unkind words (Matthew 12:36-To be discussed in a later post) constantly think about what you’re saying… get an accountability partner, do whatever it takes! AVOID SIN AT ALL COSTS! These may seem obvious but think about it… do you actually do these sorts of things? Do you do everything you can to avoid sin no matter how hard it is? We have no rights except the right to serve our Lord with all that we are!
I could expound a lot more on this and I may later but what it all comes down to is, “…whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” I Corinthians 10:31. HE is all that really matters! I encourage you and challenge you forget about everything else… follow Jesus at all costs… He is worth all… He is your reason… He is why you exist!
“Marks of the True Christian”… probably something I should know…
I’ve been going through a sort of drought in my quite time lately… it’s been a time where the words on the page seemed to be nothing more than just that… “words on a page.” However, last night I opened my ESV Bible to the book of Romans and a heading caught my eye. Just before Romans 12:9 I found the heading, “Marks of the True Christian.” Being that I am a Christian… I came to the obvious conclusions that these “marks” should be found in me… I don’t know if I’ve ever read this passage in its entirety. Sure, I’ve heard it quoted from many times, and I might’ve even read sections of it, but last night was the first time I truly took these words to heart and meditated on them…
As I began to read I found that the passage literally lists off several characteristics that should be found in all Christians… I found some to be especially convicting…
1. Genuine Love
2. Abhorring Evil
3. Holding fast to good
4. Brotherly love
5. Honor
6. Zeal
7. Fervent in spirit
8. Serve the Lord
9. Rejoice in hope (this is one I need to constantly be reminded of…)
10. Patients in tribulation
11. Constant Prayer (the one that convicted me the most… I mean I do pray a lot but God commands constant prayer… constant communion with Him)
12. Help others
13. Bless those who persecute you
14. Rejoice with those who rejoice
15. Weep with those who weep
16. Live in harmony with one another
17. Don’t repay evil with evil, but always do what is honorable
18. To the best of your ability, as much as is in your control, live in peace with all people
19. Don’t seek revenge
20. Help your enemies
21. “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good”
Read this passage… meditate on these truths… they are direct commands from the breath of God Almighty…
First of all, I want to apologize to any of you reading for taking so long to get a new post out… The past few days haven’t been the best for me… lots of stress, lots of confusion, and lots of anger… A series of events starting a few weeks ago has continued and increased throughout the past weeks and finally climaxed over this past weekend… These events have been very stressful and frustrating for me as they are very close to my heart. Sunday night I attended the Pulse (a gathering of seniors and college age students that meets once a month at our church.) Pastor Andre preached on the sovereignty and sufficiency of Christ. This was an extremely well needed reminder that came at the perfect time. God knows what’s going on… how its going to end… and He’s all I really need anyway… I love God’s timing! (I don’t believe in coincidence…) While this message spoke to me in many ways regarding this situation, the stress, anger, and frustration remains. These aren’t easy truths to grasp and accept in our finite minds. All this to say please pray that these situations would be resolved and also that I would hold fast to the promises of God and not sin in my anger… Thanks for your prayers… love ya all…
joseph
Just a couple quick thoughts on Acts 2:42-47. This passage comes just after Peter's sermon at Pentecost and describes the way the church was at the beginning, just after the coming of the Holy Spirit. This passage describes a different church than what most Christians are used to today. It describes a church focused on community and relationship. Most of us today only see our local body two to three times a week in our "church building." I put this in quotes because the word church refers not to a building, but to just that, a group of people! The greek word for church, "ekklesia" literally means "called out ones"... "ek" meaning "out of" and "klesia" (from "kalew") meaning "to call." So, when one joins a church the literally join a group of people. The passage uses the words "they, every, all, their, and together" 11 times in these 6 verses. It focuses on relationship! It says that they met together every day! They literally acted like a family! Another aspect of the church that this passage emphasizes is how these believers were devoted to the apostles' teachings. In today's church most people yawn there way through church and, if they have quite time at all, they hurry their way through that to check it off some kind of personal to do list. The people of the early church were "devoted" to the teaching of the apostles. They were all about learning more and growing in their relationship to Christ! They didn't trudge through it, they loved it! They desired to learn about their Savior! The pasage also emphasizes that the early church was selling what they had in order to give to the poor. We never see someone these days selling what they have just so that they can give to the poor. Sure people make donations and tithe, but this passage says that these early church members were selling their possessions specifically for the purpose of giving to those in need! One more thing that this passage talks about is found in the first part of verse 43. It's big! It's huge! It says, "Everyone was filled with awe..." This word "awe" can also be translated "fear." Reading the Bible literally I read that EVERYONE (refering to Christians) was filled with awe and fear of God. This is crucial! They realized how BIG God is! They saw how glorious He is! As Christians we MUST fear the Lord! We must see Him for who He really is! He is God! He is Savior! And as Christians He is ours! That's one thing that is truly awesome! This huge God, the creator, is ours! He knows our names!
I guess this is just challenge to the body of Christ, the church, the people to change... I don't know how this looks and I don't know how this change begins. Prayer is crucial! Knowing God is key! Also, please reallize that some of the things I said in this entry were generalizations. I realize that not all Christians or local church bodies are like I described, however, this is an obvious problem in the church today and change is needed!
Everyone knows the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego... but in case not... a quick recap. In the book of Daniel three men are commanded to bow down to a statue made by King Nebuchadnezzar. If they refuse, they are to be thrown into a furnace to be killed. Being that they are men of faith, they refuse to bow down and are thus brought before the king to receive their punishment. Nebuchadnezzar decideds to extend some grace to the men and says that if they will bow down he will forget about their refusal and allow them to return to normal life. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answer the king saying, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up." (Daniel 3:16b-18)
There are two things that amaze me about these few verses. First of all through all of this the three men remain extremely respectful to their authority. It didn't matter that the authority was living in sin and commanding them to sin. They simply refused the sin but remained respectful through it all. The main thing that jumps out at me from this passage, though, is their undying faith in their God. It would've been easy for them to have said that they would've kept their faith if they new for sure they would've survived. They didn't know the outcome for sure though. They had the amazing faith to say, "But even if He does not..." They didn't care what God chose to do with them. They would not fall from their faith. This just goes to show how little faith we have today. Even when things are going great for us we sometimes don't want to trust God with our situations... not to mention when things are bad. Church... Let us strengthen our faith and truly be able to say that we can "sing in the troubled times."
People always like to see amazing wonders, whether it be the Grand Canyon, Mt. Everest, and eclipse... or as it was tonight... a meteor shower. As I was laying on a deck chair on my deck at 12:30am gazing at the stars on this pleasently clear night in Northern Kentucky waiting for the meteor shower that was supposed to occor (which I ended up missing due to the sad fact of gazing in the wrong direction) I began to think...
Why is it that we forget about the beauty of our Lord's creation until he gives us an "amazing show." Every night we walk under the vast expanse of the beautiful amazing universe that He created (See Louie Giglio's messages Indescribable and How Great is Our God) and think nothing more about it, yet when these instenses of irregulartiy come along we are suddenly stunned and in awe of the beauty. It's as if tonight God was snapping His fingers to say, "Hey! Look what's up here! Did you forget? It's amazing! And I made it with you in mind!"
This thought shook my reality of how amazing the univerese truly is. Let us not forget the beauty that is around us and constantly worship God in the splendor of His holiness...
Well, I've been contemplating this creation of a personal blog for a while and I've finally decided that blog creation was the way to go. These entries could go in so many different directions but the general point of this blog is to share "epiphanies" about life, God, worship etc. However, it could also branch out to things such as a daily journal or even advertisement for things such as... the jsquared podcast (http://jsquaredpodcast.blogspot.com) *wink wink. Anyway, this first entry really has no point except to welcome and explain this blog. So I hope what y'all find here is enjoyable and profitable!
Joseph
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