Christmas Photos!
Roy and Lynette Stogsdill (Also known as Grandma and Grandpa)
Terry, Carrie (and Caden, due in March), Kimberly, Jason
The family playing Mexican Train Dominoes.
Our second Christmas together.
This house had a musical light show. If you tuned into the radio station, you could enjoy the lights as they danced to the music. Very cool.
5:38 AM | Labels: Christmas 2006 Photos | 1 Comments
Merry Christmas to all. As Kimberly and I celebrated the Incarnation, Death, and Ressurection of Christ Sunday, our pastor read from Galatians chapter 4:1-6. If you can't recall it go back and read it. It speaks of the insufficency of the law to save us and the sufficency of Christ to save us and His power to make us sons and daughters, fulfilling the promise made to Abraham. The focus, though, is the necessity of Christ being born 'of a woman' and 'under the law'. Sinless and Righteous. The New Adam, the King of kings, the Last Prophet, the Eternal High Priest. Must we sing? Yes, we must. Lastly, I would point you to a link entitled "What would not be if Jesus had not been".
5:11 AM | | 2 Comments
This section was taken from an article at www.bbc.com.
Saby Madrigal, an 18-year-old college student who worked for a month at a shop to save up for a PS3, stood and queued outside a Circuit City store in New York for 24 hours but failed to buy a PS3. She vowed to keep looking.
"For the work we had to do to get all the money to get the stupid system, I'm going to search every single store in town," she said. "I don't care, I'm going to get it."
This section was taken from the Bible.
"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field." Matthew 13:44
Lord, open our eyes that we would be so fixated on and obsessed with knowing you and all that awaits us in the next life...in Jesus's name, amen.
8:22 AM | | 0 Comments
A couple of months ago, when I first bought my camera phone, Kimberly and I went to a highschool football game where my alma mater was defeated by Heath's alma mater (I believe it's the coaching, but I could be wrong). While we were there we sat by this family who had this little kid. And this little kid was no ordinary little kid, as you can see. He was very expressive and did not like it when the person who was feeding him stopped. Besides that, he would have these little fits (kinda like Turrets Syndrome) where he would scrunch his face up like he had just witnessed the most horrible act in human history. Well, during one of these fits I captured the peak of his fit on camera. This has to be one the best photos I have ever taken. I was well pleased and laughed about this picture for a good 10 minutes (just ask Kimberly).
12:47 PM | | 0 Comments
These photos were taken last Thursday when we took our bible study group to the fair. They were taken with the camera on my phone, which is why the flash isn't too great.
12:57 PM | | 0 Comments
Salvation belongs to...
I recently took part in a conversation with a coworker in which he asked a question. Everyone who believes that Man has the free-will(choice, determination, etc.) in himself to either believe on Jesus Christ as God and treasure Him as Savior, or disbelieve that He is God and refuse Him as Savior, will eventually come to this question. They will eventually come to this question when they are presented with what the Bible teaches about God's sovereignty. That He "works all things according the counsel of his will" (Ephesians 1:11), and "Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases" (Psalm 115:3). The question is, namely, "if God doesn't give man free-will, then what is the purpose of life?". Stated another way would be "if God predestines people to be saved then what is the purpose of praying for them?". In each question the underlying idea is that man must have free-will, or the "the God-given choice to accept Him or reject Him". Below I have included an article written by Dr. John Piper from www.theresurgence.com. He takes this argument head on with solid Biblical truth and answers them tactfully. I hope you will consider and enjoy. God bless.
The Sovereignty of God and Prayer
I am often asked, "If you believe God works all things according to the counsel of his will (Ephesians 1:11) and that his knowledge of all things past, present, and future is infallible, then what is the point of praying that anything happen?" Usually this question is asked in relation to human decision: "If God has predestined some to be his sons and chosen them before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4,5), then what's the point in praying for anyone's conversion?"
The implicit argument here is that if prayer is to be possible at all man must have the power of self-determination. That is, all man's decisions must ultimately belong to himself, not God. For otherwise he is determined by God and all his decisions are really fixed in God's eternal counsel. Let's examine the reasonableness of this argument by reflecting on the example cited above.
1. "Why pray for anyone's conversion if God has chosen before the foundation of the world who will be his sons?" A person in need of conversion is "dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1); he is "enslaved to sin" (Romans 6:17; John 8:34); "the god of this world has blinded his mind that he might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ" (II Corinthians. 4:4); his heart is hardened against God (Ephesians 4:18) so that he is hostile to God and in rebellion against God's will (Romans 8:7).
Now I would like to turn the question back to my questioner: If you insist that this man must have the power of ultimate self-determination, what is the point of praying for him? What do you want God to do for Him? You can't ask that God overcome the man's rebellion, for rebellion is precisely what the man is now choosing, so that would mean God overcame his choice and took away his power of self-determination. But how can God save this man unless he act so as to change the man's heart from hard hostility to tender trust?
Will you pray that God enlighten his mind so that he truly see the beauty of Christ and believe? If you pray this, you are in effect asking God no longer to leave the determination of the man's will in his own power. You are asking God to do something within the man's mind (or heart) so that he will surely see and believe. That is, you are conceding that the ultimate determination of the man's decision to trust Christ is God's, not merely his.
What I am saying is that it is not the doctrine of God's sovereignty which thwarts prayer for the conversion of sinners. On the contrary, it is the unbiblical notion of self-determination which would consistently put an end to all prayers for the lost (emphasis mine). Prayer is a request that God do something. But the only thing God can do to save a lost sinner is to overcome his resistance to God. If you insist that he retain his self-determination, then you are insisting that he remain without Christ. For "no one can come to Christ unless it is given him from the Father" (John 6:65,44).
Only the person who rejects human self-determination can consistently pray for God to save the lost. My prayer for unbelievers is that God will do for them what He did for Lydia: He opened her heart so that she gave heed to what Paul said (Acts 16:14). I will pray that God, who once said, "Let there be light!", will by that same creative power "shine in their hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ" (II Corinthians 4:6). I will pray that He will "take out their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh" (Ezekiel 36:26). I will pray that they be born not of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God (John 1:13). And with all my praying I will try to "be kind and to teach and correct with gentleness and patience, if perhaps God may grant them repentance and freedom from Satan's snare" (II Timothy 2:24-26).
In short, I do not ask God to sit back and wait for my neighbor to decide to change. I do not suggest to God that He keep his distance lest his beauty become irresistible and violate my neighbor's power of self-determination. No! I pray that he ravish my unbelieving neighbor with his beauty, that he unshackle the enslaved will, that he make the dead alive and that he suffer no resistance to stop him lest my neighbor perish.
2. If someone now says, "O.K., granted that a person's conversion is ultimately determined by God' I still don't see the point of your prayer. If God chose before the foundation of the world who would be converted, what function does your prayer have?" My answer is that it has a function like that of preaching: How shall the lost believe in whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear without a preacher, and how shall they preach unless they are sent (Romans 10:14f.)? Belief in Christ is a gift of God (John 6:65; II Timothy 2:25; Ephesians 2:8), but God has ordained that the means by which men believe on Jesus is through the preaching of men. It is simply naive to say that if no one spread the gospel all those predestined to be sons of God (Ephesians 1:5) would be converted anyway. The reason this is naive is because it overlooks the fact that the preaching of the gospel is just as predestined as is the believing of the gospel(emphasis mine): Paul was set apart for his preaching ministry before he was born (Galatians 1:15), as was Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:5). Therefore, to ask, "If we don't evangelize, will the elect be saved?" is like asking, "If there is no predestination, will the predestined be saved?" God knows those who are his and he will raise up messengers to win them. If someone refuses to be a part of that plan, because he dislikes the idea of being tampered with before he was born, then he will be the loser, not God and not the elect. "You will certainly carry out God's purpose however you act but it makes a difference to you whether you serve like Judas or like John." (Problem of Pain chapter 7, Anthology, p 910, cf. p 80)
Prayer is like preaching in that it is a human act also. It is a human act that God has ordained and which he delights in because it reflects the dependence of his creatures upon Him. He has promised to respond to prayer, and his response is just as contingent upon our prayer as our prayer is in accordance with his will. "And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us" (I John 5:14). When we don't know how to pray according to God's will but desire it earnestly, "the Spirit of God intercedes for us according to the will of God" (Romans 8:27).
In other words, just as God will see to it that His Word is proclaimed as a means to saving the elect, so He will see to it that all those prayers are prayed which He has promised to respond to(emphasis mine). I think Paul's words in Romans 15:18 would apply equally well to his preaching and his praying ministry: "I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles." Even our prayers are a gift from the one who "works in us that which is pleasing in his sight" (Hebrews 13:21). Oh, how grateful we should be that He has chosen us to be employed in this high service! How eager we should be to spend much time in prayer!
7:21 PM | | 0 Comments
Upward Team Pictures!
Hey everyone,
This year Kimberly and I have the pleasure of coaching a 4th-6th grade girls soccer team. It's been neat to see the 'the least of these' come out and play. Not only that, we have had some really good discussions about God with these girls. I love working with them simply because it reminds me that I was made to be childlike and not give a rip about being accepted by the opinion of my peers. Thus, I hope to have this influence upon the girls. Our games have started and we have won every one of them (of course, we play the same team every week due to limited players). More exciting though are the beautiful sunny days and the energy which the girls show out on the field. Any prayers you may breathe out for this ministry will be greatly appreciated. The picture below is our team. We're called the Lady Yellow Jackets, yet our team color is blue. I still haven't figured that one out. God bless.
9:23 AM | | 0 Comments
Earlier this year I had the pleasure (and pain) of competing in a triathlon with Phil Ezell, Ric Crouch, Heath Clark and Reed Crumley. The details and results can be found here. Below is a comic that Ric sent to me, and, if you've ever experienced a triathlon you will find this quite funny. It is quite easy to get caught up in all of the gear. You can also view the pics by clicking on the link to our web album.
2:12 PM | | 2 Comments
Wedding Pictures! No not our wedding. These pictures were taken from the wedding of our good friends Nathan and Christine Hiland. The ceremony was held at Highland Hills Baptist Church in historic downtown Macon. Heath and I had the pleasure of filming the wedding for them. I had the pleasure of beholding my wife as one of the bridesmaids.
Nathan and Christine Hiland
Crystal and Kimberly, the bridesmaids.
Sheer joy...
11:27 AM | | 0 Comments
"...behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. And around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of emerald." Revelation 4:2b-3
2:12 PM | | 5 Comments