1 John 3:6

I had a friend ask me recently about my take on 1 John 3:6 "No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him." Wow, take a moment and think about that!

It's difficult to consider the implications of that verse - because we are all sinners (people who, well, sin!). It's our nature. And it's something that John spoke about a lot in his Gospel and in 1 John. In 1 John 1:6-10 John makes another statement that echoes that of 3:6. He says that if we say we have fellowship with Christ but walk in darkness that we are liars. If we say we're sinless we're deceiving ourselves. If we say we haven't sinned we make Christ out to be a liar! On the positive side of things, John writes in 1 John 2:5-6 that God's love is perfected in us when we keep His word and walk in the same way He walks. John goes on to explain that by walking in darkness (as mentioned in Chapter 1) he means specifically that we aren't loving each other.

Later in Chapter 2 (1 John 2:15-17), John states that the love of this present world is something else that proves we do not love God. In a brief discussion about "anti-christs" that were among them but didn't confess Christ (1 John 2:18-27), John states they never were truly "of us."

However, the section in 1 John 2:28-3:10 is where I would like to focus in this post. This section starts with perhaps the key statement that we who know him and practice righteousness have been born of him (see also John 3:3-8). We have "been born of him" - we are "called children of God". We will one day be like him, but not yet.

Certainly, much of the direct context we've read so far shows that John was focusing heavily on Christians needing to love each other. And even the rest of his letter after this section deals heavily with this theme. So, this is extremely important - for how can we love Christ if we don't love his bride (the Church)? But a broader application of 1 John 3:6, and one that I believe has much scriptural basis, is that we simply cannot have life more abundant as followers of Christ when we are continually seeking after something that is contrary to what His will is in our lives! Daily, do you wake up planning to do what's against His will? Do you go to sleep at night knowing that tomorrow will be a continuation of disobedience to God? I believe this is what John is talking about. Do people struggle with daily sins? Of course! Paul even said that he does what he doesn't want to do and doesn't do what he wants to because of the indwelling sin in his life (Romans 7:19-20)!

Of course we are going to stumble and fall, but I believe that we should take heed to this warning John is giving to us in this verse. This is especially true, in context, of those who live their lives daily with anger and resentment toward another brother or sister in Christ. And let's not forget 1 John 3:7 immediately following it - "Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous." This is how we know we are His children, and what a blessing that is! We are working hand-in-hand with our Savior towards our sanctification! (Philippians 2:12-13)

Just a couple of hours after my friend brought up this topic, I was in the car listening to some Page CXVI and Come Thou Fount was playing and the words to that hymn are so fitting with what I believe John is teaching us in this letter:

"O to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be! Let thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee."

Or as I re-phrased it - Grace! Each day we are indebted to it. And Christ's goodness binds us to him as with handcuffs to keep us from wandering!

How I've Lost 27 Pounds (and counting...)

Since July 1, I've lost 27 pounds - over 10% of my original body weight (247)... First of all, thanks to everyone for your support and encouragement! The first question I always get asked is "how are you doing that?" - usually wondering what method or diet I'm using.

Well, the short answer is "less food and more exercise." I'm not doing any of the fad diets where you stop eating one particular type of food, etc. Just less caloric intake - a lot less, actually. And, to be honest, it hasn't been as hard as I would have imagined!

But to expand a bit, let me start by saying that after getting back on July 16 from our mission trip to El Salvador, I had lost 7 pounds. I wondered "what did I do differently?" I didn't deny myself food when I was hungry, but I also didn't snack or eat anything right before bed. We were also very active during the day - we're talking aerobid-type active! :) So, I decided when I got back that I would try to apply some of this in my day-to-day life. I stopped eating at night and stopped snacking and drinking non-diet sodas (I mostly drank diet anyway, so that wasn't quite as tough). And I try to go shoot hoops with friends once a week and get on the elliptical machine once or twice a week at home. And I kept dropping the weight.

After I had lost about 13 pounds, I was told about MyFitnessPal.com - it's free and there are apps for mobile phones. You use it to keep track of your calories and exercise. So, I started doing this (along with Jen) and it was good to see that what had already become somewhat normal for me was an intake of between 1,200 and 1,300 calories. At this rate, I should be able to lose around 2 pounds per week - which is pretty much right on track with my weight loss!

I put in some things that I used to eat (like Zaxby's Wings & Things - nucular lol - which is almost 1,600 calories and 93 grams of fat!!!) And that would be just one meal from the day (of course not every day)! Yikes... Seriously bad! Can't do that anymore, but that's fine!

So, that's my "secret". Just eat less - we rely way too much on food. I didn't realize this as much, but it's true. Of course I miss some things, and sometimes I will splurge when we are eating with friends. I also realize that the more I lose the more focused I will have to become to continue losing weight - i.e. more exercise and less of certain types of food. I'm drinking a lot of water now, too, and generally limiting myself to one caffeinated drink per day. I generally eat the same types of food as before, just less of it. If we go to Moe's I may not eat the big burrito, but would get a junior or split the big one with Jen.

And you know what? I'm feeling great!

A Worship Service Full of Misery

Since we're on the topic of music, I remembered something from high school as I was listening to some music this weekend. OK, so I wasn't listening to Christian music... I have this soft spot in my heart for "The Big 90's Weekend" that is on 94.1 down here in Atlanta. It's actually quite disturbing to my wife at times (sorry honey!).

But I digress. A song came on and it made me think back to a time when I was very disappointed, to put it nicely, with a youth event I was attending with my church group. This was around 1995/96 and I was a high school senior when this event was going on, so if you're familiar with the Christian Music scene from the early 90's there wasn't exactly a whole lot happening that youth would really get into. In the mid 90's things started going pretty good (bands like Third Day and Audio Adrenaline were just getting started). This was the time of "Lord I Lift Your Name on High" being one of the big praise songs and "Shout to the Lord" wasn't written yet either. I guess I'm rambling possibly to excuse the fact that most of the songs played by the host church's youth band that night were not worship songs, much less Christian music. I remember then during the first part of the night thinking that I could let the lack of praising God at a church event with a focus on Bible teaching slide some.

But then we were done with the first half of evening and I still remember the gist of the prayer of the Youth Minister hosting the event before the band started playing again. He prayed that we would have hope and a blessed lesson, etc... But then a load of bricks hit me. Hard! Because on the opening chord I knew the song the band started playing. They played "Misery" by Soul Asylum. While the meaning of this song is debatable, the theme for any interpretation is that people are in misery and they try to bring other people down with them. Really? No. Really?!? I had to walk outside to think and compose myself.

That's not what the church should be about - not even youth events. Students want more than many adults may give them credit for. If they want to hear popular music and play games they can go just about anywhere. But this isn't what  we should give them in place of The Gospel. In some ways this experience was a turning point for me and I still feel strongly about this bait-and-switch trap churches often fall into - unwittingly as it may be at times. Of course I'm not saying that we should shun everything secular; as I started out with this post I mentioned listening to secular music and it reminding me of this. But I think you get the point - enough rambling.

Two Worship Albums This Year That Make Me Hopeful - Part Two

In my first post on this subject, I wrote about Matt Redman's 10,000 Reasons album. In this post I would like to briefly touch on another album released this year and then give a summary of my thoughts.

The second of the albums is "God of Victory" by The Village (from The Village Church).

With regards to the lyrics, this album has a lot of great lyrics that are theologically rich. In many respects, it has some similar themes as the Redman album. However, there are also some other themes that are sung about - how many modern worship songs do you know that deal with the doctrine of The Trinity as "O God of Our Salvation" does?

O God, The Holy Spirit
Revealing Deity
The fount of life and love divine
Throughout eternity
- O God of Our Salvation

There on the cross He bore our sins
And we became His righteousness
Now we stand here justified
Now we live because He died
- Made Us Alive

In my place, Jesus died
The spotless Lamb laid down His life
The wrath of God was satisfied
In my place, Jesus died
- In My Place

I am guilty but pardoned, by grace I’ve been set free
I am ransomed through the blood you shed for me
I was dead in my transgressions, but life you brought to me
I am reconciled through mercy, to the cross I cling
- To The Cross I Cling

I certainly hope that these Biblical topics cause you to reflect on what God has done by sending Jesus to "to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Cor. 5:21) and then by the sending of the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth and convict us of sin. (John 16:7-13). This is what life is about. This is the proclamation of the Gospel. And it is truly encouraging to me seeing that (mainstream/"popular") worship leaders are using these truths as the foundation of their lyrics.

I would also like to add that I don't want anyone to think I've written off other modern worship artists just because the "theological" content of the lyrics isn't quite as obvious or blatant. I've been very encouraged seeing more music of late with a lot of content that comes straight from scriptures, even if sometimes it seems the song may veer away from that at points. But in addition to just singing along with the songs, I urge you to look in the Bible to see if your favorite songs are rooted in Scripture.

I would love to hear about more musicians that are approaching songwriting like this - let me know of any others. This more doctrinal emphasis in lyrics is very encouraging for The Church!

Finally, and I say this somewhat in passing as I have been listening more to The Village album in particular, there seems to be more of a cadence with the verses than I've noticed on other "praise and worship" albums. They are very rhythmic and it sometimes has the feel of a hymn, which is good. It's not very obvious, but I do get that feel - especially when reading back over the lyrics.

And, as I said in the first post, you really should go get these albums. Now.

Two Worship Albums This Year That Make Me Hopeful - Part One

This year, there have been two worship albums I've purchased that make me very hopeful about the state of modern ("contemporary") worship. In general, here is why I believe this - the lyrics have a deep theological emphasis while at the same time the music is good, modern, but not distracting, and draws people into deeper worship with an expectancy about what God is going to do and has already done for us. In this first part, I will do a mini-review of one of the albums and a follow-up post will be about the other album. I would really urge you to to go out and buy these albums. Now. :)

The first of the albums was more recently released. It is "10,000 Reasons" by Matt Redman. As this is the most recent album for Redman, you can really tell that his songwriting has improved over the years (I've been listening to his albums since "Heart of Worship" back in 1999 and he's always been blessed by God with songs that have good lyrical content). However, I believe this is his best work yet. You can look around for more reviews, but this one by Zac Hicks encompasses a lot of my initial thoughts on the album as well.

Lyrically, this album has a huge focus on our Justification and Glorification. There is a lot less focus on what we will be doing in the here and now to serve God (part of our Sanctification, certainly) - which is where many worship artists place focus. I could quote from nearly every song as an example of what I mean here, but here are a few lyrical samples in album order.

What heart could hold
The weight of your love
And know the heights
Of Your great worth?
What eyes could look on
Your glorious face
Shining like the sun?
- Holy

And on that day when my strength is failing
The end draws near and my time has come
Still my soul will sing Your praise unending
Ten thousand years and then forevermore
- 10,000 Reasons

Carried by Your constant grace
Held within Your perfect peace
Never once, no, we never walk alone

Never once did we ever walk alone
Never once did You leave us on our own
You are faithful, God, You are faithful
- Never Once

We couldn't escape
The sin and the shame
That kept us bound
We couldn't break through
We couldn't reach You
So You reached down
- Where Would We Be

O this God is our God even till the end
Standing strong over us, time and time again
Even till the end
- O This God

And, I believe the lyrics that I like the most may be on the last song. They're truly speaking of how Jesus has imparted his righteousness to us through the Cross!

When I stand before Your throne
Dressed in glory not my own
What a joy I'll sing of on that day
No more tears or broken dreams
Forgotten is the minor key
Everything as it was meant to be

As you can see, there is a lot of depth to the lyrics. I hope that many of these songs will stay with the Church and that we will be able to worship through these songs and focus on what God has done for us. I believe that when we focus on The Gospel (the good news of what God has done), then we will be grateful and be more conformed to Christ and then we will be able to do what He has asked us to do. As Jesus said, "My yolk is easy and my burden is light" - this is because we rely on what he's accomplished on our behalf and the overflow of our love for Him will come out in our lives! Although this album has barely been out for over a month, we have used 4 songs in worship already and will be using 2 more new ones in the next few weeks.

El Salvador - We are leaving tomorrow!

Last year, I was blessed to be able to go with a group from my church to Honduras to serve and minister there for a week. The impact of that trip is huge on my outlook on life in general. I was able to use many of the talents God has given me over the years, such as with construction and even recalling a lot of Spanish that I haven't used since high school! One of the great things about the church we attend, Kennesaw First Baptist, is the huge emphasis on missions. Last year our church had 55 people involved in missions outside of Georgia. It's awesome to see how God works through this!

This year another group of us are going to a neighboring country of Honduras - El Salvador. The mission trip starts tomorrow, July 9 through July 16. We will be partnering with Miramonte Baptist Church to assist them with their established ministries. Much of what we will be doing is similar to other mission trips – working with children in their schools, day camps (VBS), evangelistic services, outreach, and possibly some light construction. This time, we will be staying in homes of church members as well, so we will be able to build some relationships that way with our brothers and sisters in El Salvador.

In the book of Romans, the Apostle Paul quoted Isaiah when he was asking us how people could know Jesus without someone preaching to them. He only cited the first part of that verse, but that entire verse actually speaks much to us. “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, 'Your God reigns.'” (Isaiah 52:7 ESV)

Although we will be serving in many capacities, the core reason that we are going is to take the good news of Jesus Christ to lost people so that they can be disciples.

Pray for our team as we leave tomorrow. If possible, I will try to post some updates here, so check back. Also, updates will be posted at the KFBC Student ministry blog.

Allowing the Intent of the Translators to Be Heard Today

This is actually an essay I wrote several years ago and had on my website. From some conversations at Greg's blog, I thought I would post that essay here in its entirety. I don't really want to get into debates about the newer translations, but I hope this makes some people think who may come from the King James-only camp.

Imagine, if you will, two translators of the Bible into English. The first one had his body exumed and burned over 40 years after his death. The other was imprisoned, put on trial for heresy, and was strangled to death - followed by a burning of his body. Although this may sound like the type of persecution we imagine that translators faced after 1611, these were actually the first two men to publish English Bibles - John Wycliffe and William Tyndale. Their persecution then was due to the fact that the Roman Catholic Church believed that the people should have to listen to their Mass in Latin and that the Latin Vulgate was the only authoritative version of the scriptures. It was a Pope who had John Wycliffe's body exhumed and burned.

Even today, in America especially, the same passion that the Catholics held for the Latin Vulgate is rampant among those who believe the King James Version of the Bible is the one true translation of the word of God - bar none. This essay is not meant to be technical in nature for there are possibly thousands of documents and websites dedicated to either proving that the KJV is the inspired Word of God or that it has been antiquated. Instead the author will rely on the actual preface to the 1611 Authorized Version, which is a note from the translators to the reader, for the majority of the essay. (This may be viewed alongside the present article by clicking here.) The purpose of this essay is to simply demonstrate that the original intent of the translators of the 1611 Authorized Version was to simply make God's Word available to the English-speaking world. The translators would be appalled today at how their work had come to the point of idolatry.

Looking at the 1611 Preface, the translators began by stating "revising that which hath been laboured by others, deserves certainly much respect and esteem, but yet finds but cold entertainment in the world. It is welcomed with suspicion instead of love, and with emulation instead of thanks: and if there be any hole left for cavil to enter, (and cavil, if it do not find a hole, will make one) it is sure to be misconstrued, and in danger to be condemned." It is clear that the translators knew right off that their revision of previous works (as demonstrated below) would be looked upon dimly. The second heading of the preface is in regards to King James' "constancy", or steadfastness, in regards to making a revision of the previous English Bibles. "His Majesty that now reigns...knew full well, according to the singular wisdom given to him by God, and the rare learning and experience that he hath attained to; namely that whosoever attempts anything for the public (especially if it pertain to Religion, and to the opening and clearing of the word of God) the same sets himself upon a stage to be gloated upon by every evil eye, yea, he casts himself headlong upon pikes, to be gored by every sharp tongue." Not only were the translators aware of possible condemnation for their endeavor, but King James was also fully aware of this fact.

In the next section, the translators offer their praise for the Scriptures in general. Quotations from church fathers such as Augustine, Jerome, Cyril, and Tertullian are offered to the reader which extol the Bible. The translators liken the Scriptures to a "whole paradise of trees of life, which bring forth fruit every month, and the fruit thereof is for meat, and the leaves for medicine."

The following section is offers the reasons for which translation is necessary. They begin with the question "how shall men meditate in that, which they cannot understand?" They close the section by stating "Indeed without translation into the vulgar tongue, the unlearned are but like children at Jacob’s well (which is deep) (#Joh 4:11) without a bucket or something to draw with..."

Next we come to a brief survey of some of the earliest translations of Scripture - beginning with the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament). They begin by stating that "While God would be known only in Jacob, and have his Name great in Israel, and in none other place...then for one and the same people, which spake all of them the language of Canaan, that is, Hebrew, one and the same original in Hebrew was sufficient." In other words, since the Jews were God's only people their Bible in a single language was sufficient. The 17th-Century Roman Catholics believed that Scripture should only be in Latin (they used the Latin Vulgate). The 1611 Authorized Version translators countered this by demonstrating that when Christ came the barrier of Jew and Gentile was broken and there was a need for Scripture in the Greek language. We read that "this is the translation of the Seventy Interpreters, commonly so called, which prepared the way for our Saviour among the Gentiles by written preaching.... It is certain, that that Translation was not so sound and so perfect, but it needed in many places correction." They also provide the example that many of the early fathers used the Septuagint for their commentaries. Following the brief survey of the Septuagint, the translators speak of the early translations into Latin. They state that most of the Old Testament translations were "muddy" because they were made from the Greek and not the Hebrew. The translators are indebted to Jerome for undertaking the translation of the Old Testament "out of the very fountain", or from the Hebrew.

Next, we come to the translators' section regarding "The Translation of the Scriptures into the Vulgar tongues." In this section the translators go briefly through many previous translations into various other "vulgar tongues" - or the common languages of a particular nation. Following this is a brief section on the general "unwillingness" of the Roman Church to allow the Scriptures to be translated into Vulgar Tongues. The Roman Church could claim that they did allow this, but there had to be a request for a license to do this. The translators are basically stating that the Roman Church did not want the Scriptures to be translated because "So much are they afraid of the light of the Scripture, ("Lucifugae Scripturarum", as Tertulian speaks) that they will not trust the people with it....so unwilling they are to communicate the Scriptures to the people’s understanding in any sort, that they are not ashamed to confess, that we forced them to translate it into English against their wills. This seems to argue a bad cause, or a bad conscience, or both."

We now come to a section dedicated to what others (both friends and foes) had to say about this translation. The first question raised was whether the Church has been deceived this whole time. Their response to this question is a quote from Jerome - "Do we condemn the ancient? In no case: but after the endeavours of them that were before us, we take the best pains we can in the house of God." Then we come to some almost cynical questions - "Was their Translation good before? Why do they now mend it? Was it not good? Why then was it obtruded to the people?"

In the following section the translators offer "satisfaction to our brethren". The very first sentence sees the translators stating that they "are so far off from condemning any of their labours that travailed before us in this kind...that we acknowledge them to have been raised up of God, for the building and furnishing of his Church, and that they deserve to be had of us and of posterity in everlasting remembrance." This should be an example of all believers - to acknowledge that previous translations, insomuch as the translator did not set out with an ungodly agenda, should be respected for how God used it to "build" and "furnish...his Church." An analogy is drawn that we may have a wonderful composer but his work would not be so revered if it were not for his instructor or predecessor. They next ask what could be better "than to deliver God’s book to God’s people in a tongue which they understand?" They express the Godly hope that no-one would dislike them for trying to improve upon something that was already good. We go on to read "that whatsoever is sound already...the same will shine as gold more brightly, being rubbed and polished." Throughout this preface we have seen that the translators never once thought that God was using them to do anything but improve upon earlier works. A key phrase from this section is that they hoped to not be disliked but thanked for trying to improve upon the previous translations.

I believe that the next section of the preface begins with a statement that should make all Christians who believe that the King James Version is the only true word of God reconsider their belief. It is perhaps the most concise statement answering the objections current translators receive from King James Version advocates. "Now to the latter we answer; that we do not deny, nay we affirm and avow, that the very meanest translation of the Bible in English, set forth by men of our profession, (for we have seen none of theirs of the whole Bible as yet) contains the word of God, nay, is the word of God." The translators would "affirm and avow" that even the "meanest translation" not only "contains the word of God" but "IS the word of God." (To avow means to "declare assuredly, openly, bluntly, and without shame" and "meanest" is "of poor shabby inferior quality or status or worthy of little regard." - Webster) Here the translators are unashamedly stating that even the worst translations in English are the word of God. Their intent is a far cry from what we hear today.

In the same section we have the allusion to the Romanists burning translations. They also reference the Seputagint once again. They state that even though it "dissents from the Original in many places, neither doth it come near it, for perspicuity, gravity, majesty; yet which of the Apostles did condemn it? Condemn it? Nay, they used it." The translators again prove their point that poor translations are used by God. This is done by their stating that even though the Septuagint is a flawed translation the Apostles actually used it. A final paragraph of this section is an attempt by the translators to give a reason for their "altering and amending our Translations so oft." They state that one should go back over his work and "amend it where he saw cause."

We next come to a section about their purpose and the manner in which they translated. If one still wonders what their intent was they make it perfectly clear here. "Truly (good Christian Reader) we never thought from the beginning, that we should need to make a new Translation, nor yet to make of a bad one a good one...but to make a good one better, or out of many good ones, one principal good one, not justly to be excepted against; that hath been our endeavour, that our mark." Their "endeavour" was to improve upon previous translations. Many humble men were chosen to perform this task. They quote Jerome and Augustine for their next point. They are stating that they used the Hebrew Old Testament and Green New Testament for their present work. They claim that they were not rushed to complete it, as the Seventy reportedly completed the Septuagint in 72 days; nor were they kept from reviewing and revising their work.

The next section offers their reasons for marginal notes. These notes may be due to a word being seldom used or because of "many rare names of certain birds, beasts and precious stones." They state that wise people should rather offer different readings instead of tying the reader to one. Next they state why they did not stick with particular phrasing. They were apparently accused of deliberately changing wordings, but they felt that they should try to keep some uniformity. They ask "is the kingdom of God to become words or syllables? why should we be in bondage to them if we may be free, use one precisely when we may use another no less fit, as commodiously?" They conclude stating that "desire that the Scripture may speak like itself, as in the language of Canaan, that it may be understood even of the very vulgar."

I will leave you with their complete conclusion. My simple prayer is twofold. If you believe that modern translations are Godly I would pray that you take care in your dealings with those who do not. Your love for one another is what demonstrates your faith. If you believe that anything other than the King James Version is not God's word, then I pray that you would truly take to heart what the intent of the translators was when revising the previous Bibles into what we have as the 1611 KJV. Keep in mind that their intent not only allowed for revisions of their 1611 text that you currently read but it also allowed for newer translations to improve upon their work. If you cannot believe this now, then you are truly not with the spirit of those who translated your Bible.

"Many other things we might give thee warning of (gentle Reader) if we had not exceeded the measure of a Preface already. It remains, that we commend thee to God, and to the Spirit of his grace, which is able to build further than we can ask or think. He removes the scales from our eyes, the vail from our hearts, opening our wits that we may understand his word, enlarging our hearts, yea correcting our affections, that we may love it to the end. Ye are brought to fountains of living water which ye digged not; do not cast earth into them with the Philistines, neither prefer broken pits before them with the wicked Jews. (#Ge 26:15 Jer 2:13) Others have laboured, and you may enter into their labours; O receive not so great things in vain, O despise not so great salvation! Be not like swine to tread under foot so precious things, neither yet like dogs to tear and abuse holy things. Say not to our Saviour with the Gergesites, "Depart out of our coast" (#Mt 8:34); neither yet with Esau sell your birthright for a mess of pottage (#Heb 12:16). If light be come into the world, love not darkness more than light; if food, if clothing be offered, go not naked, starve not yourselves. Remember the advice of Nazianzene, "It is a grievous thing" (or dangerous) "to neglect a great fair, and to seek to make markets afterwards:" also the encouragement of S. Chrysostom, "It is altogether impossible, that he that is sober" (and watchful) "should at any time be neglected:" (S. Chrysost. in epist. ad Rom. cap. 14. oral. 26.) Lastly, the admonition and menacing of S. Augustine, "They that despise God’s will inviting them, shall feel God’s will taking vengeance of them." (S. August. ad artic. sibi falso object. Artic. 16.) It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God; (#heb 10:31) but a blessed thing it is, and will bring us to everlasting blessedness in the end, when God speaks to us, to hearken; when he sets his word before us, to read it; when he stretches out his hand and calls, to answer, "here am I, here we are to do thy will, O God." The Lord work a care and conscience in us to know him and serve him, that we may be acknowledged of him at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom with the Holy Ghost, be all praise and thanksgiving. Amen."

Retrospect: Update From Honduras Mission Trip

First of all, I would like to thank you so much for your prayers and/or financial support!! The trip to Honduras was a huge blessing not only to me personally, but also to everyone who went and those to whom we ministered. We saw God do some wonderful things through us there and I know it has changed me in many respects. I do believe that this will be the first of many more trips that I (and my family later!) will be going on in the years to come where God may lead us. Jen and I still feel a burden for missions in our lives and it is really amazing being able to attend a church with an emphasis on missions. Below, I would love to share some of the things that we did which had an impact on me.

Since Honduras is nearly a third-world country in many respects, we saw a lot of poverty. This kind of poverty is something that we really do not "see" in The States. If any of you are familiar with Blackmon Road in Rock Hill, that kind of poverty was a common sight in Honduras – even in the large city where we were ministering.

One of the things that we did while we were there was to paint the inside and out of a daughter church plant as well as build a shed for them to store some equipment – all in a day's work! This, along with some cleanup there, will help this church minister in their community. Through this work God brought us to do, it opened the door with an older lady next door (who previously only peeked through her windows) about her relationship with Jesus!

We also visited a couple of community schools that basically had open-air classrooms. We were able to have Bible studies, puppets, crafts, and games with the children there. It was refreshing to be able to be so open about the Gospel in these classrooms. One of the schools was more of an inner-city location and we were able to feed breakfast to the children - usually the only meal many of the kids will have for the day. This is one of the ministries that the local church's pastor has at the school.

The last two afternoons we were there, we spent time with kids of all ages at an orphanage. On the first day, a couple of our guys and myself were able to sit down with several of the guys who were 14-17. They had all lived at the orphanage nearly their entire lives (the ones there the least amount of time got there when they were 3). They expressed that they needed prayers for their country as well as for them living there among other general prayer requests. But perhaps the most striking thing to me was the realization that they all had siblings who lived at other orphanages in the area. It is sad that these kids are not even able to live with the people they should be closest to! The next day at the orphanage, one of our girls and her mom were able speak through one of the translators with 4 of the older girls and were able to see them led to faith in Jesus! We pray that as these girls grow in their relationship with Christ that they will be a great example for the other kids there!

The orphanage will always be on my mind and heart. There were maybe 125-150 total kids there, but due to some damage from an earthquake in the past year there are 4 damaged houses that would be able to hold 9 more kids each. This means that there are 36 kids who could be in an orphanage but are not and they are likely on the streets. Dan Moran Ministries, the ministry we went there with, is planning on collecting funds to repair these homes in the very near future. Sadly, Honduras has a closed-border policy for adoptions – meaning that they can only be adopted by others in the country, but we found for $20 per month we can sponsor one of the kids and provide their way to stay at the orphanage.

Again, thank you for your support for me on this journey! God is amazing and I was blessed to witness some great things happening in Honduras through the partner churches there. Continue praying for me, my family, church, and the Honduran people. These words from the Apostle Paul to the Roman church were constantly on our minds and in our hearts while we were there: For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (Romans 10:13-15)

May God continue to bless you!
Chris Whisonant

Honduras Updates Days 4 and 5

On Tuesday, we started the day at a school in the area near Santa Fe Baptist Church. We did puppets, crafts, Bible stories, and games with the kids there. After lunch, we came back and did a door-to-door campaign with our translators through the neighborhood there at Santa Fe. It was great to see the youth coming out of their shells some to go up to the doors of people they don't know and invite them to the church that night. After this, we had some services at the church for kids and adults. With some spare time beforehand, Jody did some magic tricks with red foam balls and the kids thought that was great. Then we did some other songs with puppets and a different Bible story with the Kids. At the same time, Evans was preaching for the adult session. Jody has some pictures and more information here.

On Wednesday, we had another great day. We started the day at Japon school. Just 10 years ago, this school was in shambles and had very few students enrolled. The pastor at the church on that street felt a call from God to start a feeding ministry each morning for all who were enrolled in the school. Now, 10 years later, the school is nearly full (probably 150-200 students) and they are still providing breakfast for the kids - for most of them, this is their only meal of the day! And the school also has a brand new computer lab (with new computers donated by the Honduran President and, I believe, the mayor) because of their tremendous progress. Also, they have won some other awards for being such a great school in the county. Here, we also did puppets, crafts, Bible stories, and some futbol/games with the students. In the afternoon, we went to the SOS orphanage. Many of the kids here (up to 17 years old) have lived there for their entire lives! We ministered to the kids there for a little while, and will be going back there this afternoon. Jody also has a Day 5 blog post here.

Honduras Days 2 and 3

Thank you for your continued prayers for us here! It's been a great trip so far. Jody posted an update on what we did on Sunday (Day 2), so I won't spend much time on that. But I will reiterate the awesome times of worship that we had. I didn't recognize any of the melodies from the Sunday morning worship, but there were several from the Sunday night service at the mother church that were familiar. I know enough Spanish to recognize the phrases that we were singing. It was very powerful to konw that there are Christians all over the world worshiping the same God! Also, our youth that are here did a great job at stepping right in and working with the kids and youth here.

Today, we spent the day working on building a shed for one of the 10 church plants as well as painting their building inside and out. They are in a new 2-room facility and it was a blessing to help them do some of these much-needed things as well as do some cleanup outside in the area where their kids will be playing and learning scripture. It's been a long, hot day! And again, it was great to see all the youth step in and get dirty and covered in paint alongside the adults.

We're now getting ready to hit the ground running tomorrow with more ministry to children in the area. Continue praying for our team!!

Honduran Soccer anyone? (Day 1 of Mission Trip)

We had a great day to start off yesterday here in San Pedro Sula! We're getting acclimated to the time difference and meeting lots of new friends. Last night, we went to Jerusalem Baptist Church to work with their youth group. Before the worship and preaching, we were asked for 5 US and 5 Honduran male volunteers. Turns out it was so that we could play a pickup game of Soccer. And I was a volunteer for this! :) Umm, yeah let's just say we didn't fare too well haha. But our girls team did!

Then we had a time of worship (in Spanish) and we had two youth (Lauren and Joseph) give their testimonies with the translator. Great job guys! After this, Jody preached from Titus 2 and had a wonderful analogy to start with. Trapeze artists can do some amazing things, but they would be severely hindered if they didn't have a net. Christ is our net to fall back on and he wants us to live for him! (There's more to the message, but I don't have much time).

Also, Jody updated the KFBC Students blog with an update from yesterday too.

So continue praying for our team as we are ministering here. Thank you.

How can you support me on a mission trip to Honduras?

The book of Acts is full of accounts of the Apostles and others in the Church who were called to minister in specific locations. We know that these ministries were God’s purpose. While at Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13), Paul and Barnabas tied their calling back to Isaiah’s prophecy that God has “made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.” And God showed his purpose to Paul and Barnabas through the salvation and changes in the lives of the people they were reaching. Just as God called Paul and Barnabas, God has called us all to be missionaries either locally or in foreign lands.

After Jen and I felt a call from God that we needed to be more active in mission work, I sensed God’s leading me to participate with a foreign missions team. Please pray with me as I prepare to journey to San Pedro Sula, Honduras on June 19-26, 2010. The people of Honduras truly have a need for God and Dan Moran Ministries has been ministering in Honduras and other Central American countries for 20 years. Our church, Kennesaw First Baptist, is partnering with them and will be sending a team to continue missions activity in this area.

The ministry activities I will be involved with include evangelism, VBS, construction projects, and working in day care centers, orphanages, and local schools. The week will be very busy and we are expecting God to continue doing amazing things in Honduras. I feel that many things in my life have prepared me for this opportunity to serve God in Honduras – from the years of Spanish I took in high school to being involved in construction as well as past VBS experience along with leading in worship.

As I mentioned earlier, I need your prayers for the trip preparation, for opening the hearts of the Hondurans, and for our team as we work to raise funds. I’m reminded by Paul to “rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). Along with this letter, you will also find a support team response form. I do rejoice and am grateful for this ministry opportunity before me. I would love to pray for you and hope that you will commit to pray for this work in Honduras. I will also keep you updated as the trip approaches and will share with you the blessings of this trip. If you are so led, I would also greatly appreciate any financial support you could add to your prayers.

Thank you for your friendship, your love, and your support.



If you feel led, feel free to copy and paste the response form below into a message and send to me and I'll add you to our Support Team Mailing List. My email address is chris.whisonant at gmail.com

Support Team Response Form
San Pedro Sula, Honduras – June 19-26, 2010
“When you have done it unto the least of these…you have done it unto me.” Jesus

Name and Contact Information (address, email, and/or phone number)

_____Prayer Support
_____Funding Support


Your missionary investment is tax deductible. If you feel led to support me in this manner, please contact me and I will let you know how to donate.

I would like the privilege to pray for you as you join with us in ministry. In the space provided below, please write any needs or requests that you would like me to place on my prayer list.

Follow-Up To My Last Post (and, I'm BACK!)

Yes, it has been a while since my last post at this blog. But I have now updated my blog theme and may try to have some more activity here.

My last post was about the information given to us at the Recovery.gov website and how it was somewhat misleading. Well, if that wasn't enough, we now have to deal with them giving us inaccurate data which leads one to think that at the very least there is some poor oversight with regards to where our money is going!

Exhibit A: ABC News Article - Jobs 'Saved or Created' in Congressional Districts That Don't Exist:

• 30 jobs created in Arizona's 15th congressional district - Arizona only has 8 districts
• 25 jobs created in Connecticut's 42nd district (nonexistent) with zero dollars spent!
• The real kicker is that we've boosted the economy of the US Virgin Islands by around 5% by giving over 75 million dollars for them to create 112 jobs!

Exhibit B: South Carolina - There are currently only 6 congressional districts in SC, yet the Obama Administration and the Recovery Act, under the keen oversight of VP Joe Biden, has managed to create 50 jobs in 7 districts that don't even exist for a total of $40,729,993 - just over $814,000 per job!

So, what can you do to help? I'm going to use the Recovery.gov website's tool to Report Fraud, Waste, and Abuse and notify the site that their own spending tracking is either malfunctioning or money is being reported improperly.

Kid you not - when I'm submitting this, I see that the captcha on the form submission reads "George condemn" - why, yes, I do believe that George Washington would condemn the actions being taken by our government!

Word Bending

While listening to some old Toad the Wet Sprocket music this yesterday morning, I heard this line from "Nanci": "I can't believe you - you bend your words like Uri Geller's spoons"

This got me thinking about the new Recovery.gov website. At the bottom left of the main page, we see this chart:

This leads many to believe that this colossal spending bill is around 1/3 "tax relief". Actually, we should all take a look at this a little differently. First of all, here's a pie graph representation of the bill using The Administration's numbers from above:

Yes, that's a huge slice of pie that's tax relief! But if you dig deeper into the site and go to the "Where Is Your Money Going?" page, we can see that 42% of the "tax relief" dollars are actually tax breaks allocated for some of the other parts of the pie. What happens if we re-allocate those "tax relief" dollars over into the separate sections? We see this:

As you can see, it's much more evenly distributed. But without the words (and numbers) having been bent like the spoon above, the public perception of the bill may be drastically shifted. Certainly we're still seeing a big chunk as pure "tax relief" [that I understand much of which will be allocated to taxpayers who should be seeing around $13 per week "extra" on our checks ($400/year single, $800/year couple)]. I won't go into the arguments for or against that here. But one of the other things about the "tax relief" is that $61,000,000,000.00 (yes, Billion) will be going to "Protecting the Vulnerable" (defined here as "low-income and vulnerable households"). This is in addition to the other $81 Billion dedicated to this group. Am I saying that we as people should not be helping out those less fortunate? Far from it! But, monetarily speaking, we should not be calling part of this "tax relief" because many of those people do not even pay taxes. It is estimated that $264 Billion of this spending bill will be welfare spending in some form or another. Sadly, this will be undoing a lot of what President Clinton changed in regards to welfare. (Did I just say it was sad to undo something President Clinton did?!?)

You may not agree that President Obama is bending spoons with his rhetoric, but it is pretty plain to see that he wants people to believe that this is one big "tax relief" +spending bill. I hope you do not get pulled into thinking that or that Republicans should just be onboard with it because it has tax cuts. A tax cut does not a conservative make... (nor does being a Republican mean one is a conservative).

Here's a nice quote from the "Tooth Fairy Economics" article:

"We should not want to "stimulate" an economy based on debt and
overconsumption back into existence. We should want to restructure it
along sustainable lines."

Think about that. Our leaders really do think that this version of our economy is what needs to be revived. It's not! We do need to seriously reconsider what we're doing. For one, the FairTax is a good start as I've said before. A bad idea is spending another $275 Billion to help with mortgages. Even if this bill passes, I've heard estimates that even 40% of those affected won't even be able to pay their mortgages if the interest rates are reduced to 2% on their loans. That estimate can be heard in this video.

Free Christmas Music!

Over at Amazon, they are doing 25 Days of Free - a free Christmas MP3 download every day in December through Christmas day.

Also, hat tip to Greg for letting me know this! There are also a couple of free Brian Setzer Christmas tracks there: Angels We Have Heard on High and Take a Break Guys.

Happy Downloading...

Bailing Out Local Governments?

So there are now many big cities seeking bailouts from the federal government. Atlanta is one of these cities - right down the road from me. Yesterday, in his Nuze, Neal Boortz outlined a plan for how Atlanta should make some changes that would prevent them from having to worry about some of the economic problems. Many of those things can be generalized and implemented by other local governments instead of them asking for federal assistance or raising taxes.

Here is a summary:
- Sell off some land for development
- Privatize some things like garbage collection and the servicing of fleet vehicles
- Trim spending in other areas
- Specifically for Atlanta, the airport should be privatized - good details on this above

This is very important that we start with reduction in local government spending and try to get that to "trickle up". We have way too many unsustainable entitlement programs already in our Federal government, and I'm shocked that doesn't bother some people.

Apple Folks, help!

OK, iPhone support website is HORRIBLE!!

First of all, the choice of only 5 "descriptions" of the problem is really poor - none allow for an actual problem with the device, only for accessories. I guess I'll be calling them later. Here's the issue I'm having - can anyone help? This is on an original iPhone 8GB that I've had almost a year, so it's still under warranty... :)

Yesterday, I started getting this error message when synching my iPhone: "this iPhone cannot be synched. The file or directory is corrupted and unreadable." I decided to restore from a backup but I continued to get the error. After working with this some more last night, I have found that I ONLY get that error when I try to sync my Photos. This sounds to me like there is some type of corruption on the flash drive. Also, when I try to sync my Google Contacts, the sync never completes or times out - it's been doing "Syncing contacts with 'Chris' iPhone'" for 30 minutes now. Whereas prior to yesterday my syncs would only take a couple of minutes at the most. I am running firmware version 2.1 and have been since the day it was released and I have only installed a handful of apps (which all sync fine). I've never had any problems with this great device, but now it appears that the drive is corrupt! Online searches don't help me out too much, either.

Georgians: Remember to VOTE on December 2!

There are many pundits on both sides of the aisle watching Georgia's Senate runoff between Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss and Democrat challenger Jim Martin very closely. If you live in Georgia, like I do, then you need to make sure that you vote on or by December 2. Advance Voting will start on November 24. This site should hopefully have information soon on where you can vote early. If you need an absentee ballot, you can follow instructions here.

As we currently stand, the Democrats may have 59 seats in the US Senate. This is because the Alaskan and Minnesotan are extremely close and are in recount phases. Some of you may be thinking that 60 Democrat Senators is exactly what this country needs. Senator Clinton believes that this is needed to bring about a certain change and I've seen a quote from President-Elect Obama from several years back stating that the only way to bring about the sweeping change that he feels is needed is with a Democrat President and a supermajority in the Congress.

But I know I'm not the only one who doesn't think this is a great idea - whether it's a Republican or Democrat supermajority. I also know others who have said they don't think it's the best idea to have a single party running both branches - much less a blank check. I know that the House is still not a "supermajority" but it doesn't matter since they don't have filibuster privileges. Dick Morris also has a good column on this.

But really, no matter how you vote, make sure that you make your voice known again on December 2. Perhaps by then we will know if this is truly a case for preventing a supermajority, but you should still vote.

As a side note, I'm really tired of the misleading ads that Jim Martin is running regarding Saxby Chambliss' support of the FairTax. I've written about the FairTax plan here in the past. If you are not familiar with it, I urge you to look into it and give it some thought.

5 Years Ago

Our wonderful daughter was born!! I can't believe that it's been 5 years... She's growing up way too fast too.

Happy Birthday Emma Grace!!!!

Then

Now

ESV Study Bible Out This Week

The ESV Study Bible is now available for purchase online. It hit the stores on Wednesday, but you can pre-order it from the link above. I've been using this translation since it was first published in 2001. It's very readable, literal, and has taken advantage of many of the advances that the translators of the KJV desired to see so that their work of improvement on previous English translations would be still further improved. You can read from this version here.

Go check out this Study Bible - there are tons of resources available in it (check out the Blog section of the Study Bible site for many of these). I plan on getting one soon (probably for Christmas). Along with the resources available in the Bible, everything will also be available online at no additional cost if you own a copy of the Study Bible. Here is a video demonstrating some of the features: