day no, 12,768: the infamous and anonymous "they"

Who has more proverbial wisdom than these unnamed guys?

Who has said more stuff than them?

 

I’m glad the infamous and anonymous “they” often say. stuff

 

Without them, I would have to actually get out my dusty ol’ MLA vs. APA formatting flow chart to properly give credit where credit is due.

 

Romans 13:7

 

Pay your obligations to everyone: taxes to those you owe taxes, tolls to those you owe tolls, respect to those you owe respect, and honor to those you owe honor.

 

I love the infamous and anonymous “they” because at the same time in the same way I owe them everything and nothing.

 

Thus the infamous and anonymous “they” have earned my respect and I don’t lose a penny of my thoughts in the equation.

 

Also, I don't like the infamous and anonymous "they" at all.

day no. 12,765: thoughts from "Sting of Death, Seed of Woman" a sermon on Genesis 3:8-19 by S. Lewis Johnson‏

I only recently got turned on to S. Lewis Johnson.  I heard that John MacArthur listens to this man's messages more than he listens to anyone else.  That piqued my curiosity of course.  The hullabaloo turned out to be warranted.  Here is a snapshot of a message I listened to by S. Lewis Johnson over Genesis 3:8-19. 

Listen to the full message HERE.

Now, you have to have a sense of humor to think of man as a civilized being today, but nevertheless there are people who think that, that is true. We might illustrate these two views by using what one theologian has called a simple little contrast of the Roman Coliseum and a modern ranch house. Ranch houses incidentally are not so popular today in Texas as they used to be perhaps, but nevertheless, we are all familiar with them. The Coliseum, many of us has seen and it is even in its ruins a spectacular, awe inspiring building, suggesting the greatness of Rome that was past, but it is a ruin. We look at it and we see the magnificence that characterize the Rome of the past, and in one sense that is a beautiful picture of man, at least from the biblical standpoint. On the other hand, there is the modern ranch house. A modern ranch house is a very attractive building, it is neat, it is comfortable, it has one advantage that a Coliseum does not have. It's beautifully adapted for expansion and consequently, additions to it may be made so that all of the fondest dreams of those that own them might be realized providing they have the funds.

In a sense, these two models are two models of men. There is the Coliseum, this tremendous awe inspiring building that suggests the greatness of the past, but now at last in ruins and the modern ranch house which grows, as families grow and becomes larger and more significant as the years go by. Shall we understand man by the model of the Coliseum or by the modern ranch house. Shall we understand it by Adam or shall we understand it by Pithecanthropus Erectus? The Scriptures of course decide for the former. That is, the Coliseum is a beautiful picture of man because man does have an awe inspiring, spectacular origin at the hands of God, a magnificent being intellectually, morally in all aspects of his being beautiful. He came from the hands of God and God himself said with reference to him that he was very good. But man is now in ruin as a result of what happened in the Garden of Eden.

Do you see the world around you Biblically as one fading in glory or do you see it blasphemously as one growing in glory as we go forward?

We are daily dulling the wonderful way in which we were designed and made. 
We are not advancing the ball down the field.
We're not almost there.

We're lost and wandering further from camp.

...The impulse to hide from God is natural to human nature. If you feel it, if it is in your heart at this present time, if there is something within you that is saying, I wish I didn't have to listen to the sermon by Dr. Johnson this morning. Well it may be that it is something of that same innate, impulse of man to flee from the presence of the Lord, not that I am the Lord, but here is the word of God speaking and we want to flee from it, because our minds, our hearts, our emotions are all oppose to the word of God and the truth of God.

We still flee from the presence of God.  The hiding places are more sophisticated and the coverings are more elaborate, but we still hide by nature our hearts from the holiness of God.

I love getting new dead mentors. 

I'm fascinated that someone could have so much material recorded and filed away for me to mine. 

How could I never have heard of him before? 
Either way, I'm enjoying hearing much from him now.

day no. 12,764 continued... they shoot horses, don't they?

I was watching a video by R.C. Sproul called Nietzsche “The Consequence of Ideas” when he mentioned a movie called, "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?"

I checked it out from the library and Paige and I watched it.

It was one of the most miserable, depressing, dark things I have seen in a while. The sheer despair of life under the sun without a hope beyond it was devastating and difficult to watch.

It is the same sentiment captured well by the new Dustin Kensrue song "It's Not Enough."

Life under the sun is full of heavy regret and unmet expectation.

If there was no Life outside and beyond the sun, it would be more merciful to put us down and out of our misery like they do a horse with a broken leg.

In a world without God's grace, even when you win, you lose.

day no. 12,764: cup of joe

This is how I spend my Tuesday mornings.

I would not trade it for anything.

4 guys sitting down and talking about teaching and preaching the Bible.

That's my cup of tea.

Or my Cup of Joe in this case.

:)

day no. 12,763: bulletproof‏

There are two things I can say with some confidence about a vest that is made to be bulletproof.

 

(1) The odds are favorable that anyone interested in the vest understands they are frequently being fired upon. If you are not often shot at and have no reason to assume you will be anytime soon, the purchase of a bulletproof vest seems a bit excessive and unreasonable. Not to mention uncomfortable and likely unfashionable (unless you be all 50 cent up in herrrr and being shot at is street cred for sellin’ tracks).

 

(2) If the title is any indication of accuracy, it is entirely reasonable to assume that bullets hitting you in your vest will have no lasting impact on your health or overall well-being. That is to say if something is actually bulletproof, the proof will be made manifest when bullets fail to penetrate the vest.

 

Why do I bring this up this morning?

Because I’m super weird.

 

Additionally in listening to a Mark Driscoll sermon on “A Message to Seven Churches” an introductory sermon on the seven churches of the book of Revelation He said this:

 

“Again,there has been a false gospel preached in American Christianity that if you come to Jesus, he’ll take all your problems away, and he’ll make your life heavenly while on earth. That’s not true. In Jesus, to use John’s language, our life is not tribulation-free, but it’s tribulation-proof, and we can endure whatever tribulation, opposition, suffering, comes to us, through relationship with Jesus and his people in community together, together.”

 

Same logic as above applies here.

 

(1) You must understand that a life hidden with Christ will be set against the world, the flesh and the devil. They will actively pursue you and fire off shots at you. Do not follow Jesus if you want an easy life. Do not put on the tribulation-proof vest assuming tribulation will never come. Why even put it on? A tribulation-proof vest is like a tribulation magnet just like a bulletproof vest will inspire some to assume you should be shot at. Let’s face it: if I don’t know you I likely walk right on by, but if I don’t know you and you have a briefcase hand-cuffed to your wrist, I assume you’re up to something. A tribulation-proof vest is an invitation to endure. Don’t wear one if your goal is to avoid. It’s excessive and unreasonable if you don’t plan on coming across suffering. Not to mention it’s uncomfortable and likely unfashionable (unless , of course again, you be all 50 cent up in herrrr and you’re wearing a cash cross).

 

(2) If the title is any indication of accuracy, it is entirely reasonable to assume that tribulation hitting you will have no lasting impact on your spiritual health or overall well-being. That is to say if something is actually tribulation-proof, the proof will be made manifest when sin and sinners fail to penetrate the faith you have in Jesus to protect you from them.

day no. 12,762 continued... nursing moms in Nineveh‏

If you were a nursing mom in Nineveh about the time Jonah rolled through town preaching, “In 40 days Nineveh will be demolished!” what would you have done when this happened?

 

Jonah 3:6-9

 

6 When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 Then he issued a decree in Nineveh:

 

By order of the king and his nobles: No man or beast, herd or flock, is to taste anything at all. They must not eat or drink water. 8 Furthermore, both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth, and everyone must call out earnestly to God. Each must turn from his evil ways and from the violence he is doing. 9 Who knows? God may turn and relent; He may turn from His burning anger so that we will not perish.

 

Choose your own adventure, but choose wisely and provide your rationale in the comments section.

 

(If you are a man reading this, think in terms of how you would head up your household under these circumstances. This is your wife and newborn.)

 

Don’t be hasty.

Take your time and flesh it out.

 

No one’s got a gun to your heard.

 

Yet.

day no. 12,762: shirts v. skins‏

1 Kings 16:21-22
 

 ²¹ Then the people of Israel were divided into two parts. Half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king, and half followed Omri. ²² But the people who followed Omri overcame the people who followed Tibni the son of Ginath. So Tibni died, and Omri became king.

I love the Bible.

 

You almost have to intentionally restrain yourself to tell a story with as little detail as this one gives.

But I'll give it a try...

The people wanted two teams so some followed one guy and some followed the other guy. The one guy's people were stronger than the other guy's, so the other guy died. The end. (VVCSV)