Earthly Family/Heavenly Family

If knowing Christ can break the bond of family connected by human blood (Matthew 10:36)
Then it sure as heck better unite the family connected by Christ blood (1 John 4:20-21)

William Tyndale

William Tyndale's words after months in prison that would lead to his death.

"I beg your lordship, and that of the Lord Jesus, that if I am to remain here through the winter, you will request the commissary to have the kindness to send me, from the goods of mine which he has, a warmer cap; for I suffer greatly from cold in the head, and am afflicted by a perpetual catarrh (a respiratory infection), which is much increased in this cell; a warmer coat also, for this which I have is very thin; a piece of cloth too to patch my leggings. My overcoat is worn out; my shirts are also worn out. He has a woolen shirt, if he will be good enough to send it. I have also with him leggings of thicker cloth to put on above; he has also warmer night-caps. And I ask to be allowed to have a lamp in the evening; it is indeed wearisome sitting alone in the dark. But most of all I beg and beseech your clemency to be urgent with the commissary, that he will kindly permit me to have the Hebrew Bible, Hebrew grammar, and Hebrew dictionary, that I may pass the time in that study. In return may you obtain what you most desire, so only that it be for the salvation of your soul. But if any other decision has been taken concerning me, to be carried out before winter, I will be patient, abiding the will of God, to the glory of the grace of my Lord Jesus Christ: whose spirit (I pray) may ever direct your heart. Amen. W. Tindalus"

Wow.... "MOST of all" in that cold long suffering painful place, "I beg and beseech" a Hebrew Bible?! God's word is awesome. Thank you William Tyndale, for your example and passion for the Word of God.

Summer Lists

Obviously, I have some MAJOR Writer's Block. Therefore... instead of writing, I've compiled a summer to do list while I'm back in Las Vegas this entire summer.

Summer To Do List (In no particular order)
1) Midnight Bowling @ the Orleans for $1 a game
2) After Midnight Steak & Eggs @ the Orleans for $4
3) Bellagio Water Show
4) Ice Skate
5) Mini-golf
6) Golf driving range
7) Basketball
8) Eat a Dinner Buffet at the Bellagio OR Wynn (for the price of lunch)
9) Mandalay Bay Shark Reef
10) Drive to Red Rock Canyon (I live close), Hike, and Star Gaze
11) Make a difference in someone's life
12) Find a summer job

Possibly To Do List
1) Watch The Lion King Live at the Mandalay Bay

Things Already Done
1) Eat a live shrimp
2) Eat a live lobster
3) Watch Dragonball -... don't do it... its pretty bad...

Summer Reading List
1) Finish the Bible
2) Finish All Things for Good - Thomas Watson
3) Finish Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life - Donald S. Whitney
4) Doctrine of Repentance - Thomas Watson
5) Soul Winner - Charles Spurgeon
6) Crazy Love - Francis Chan
7) The Sinfulness of Sin - Ralph Venning
8) Prayer - John Bunyun
9) The Bruised Reed - Richard Sibbes
10) Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis

Shine like the Stars

Exactly a week ago on Wednesday, I was lucky enough to go to a planetarium here on the UCLA campus. I was excited out of mind! Ever since I was a boy, it was something that caught my eyes. There were only a few stars to be seen in the Sin-City lights of Las Vegas where I grew up, but still you could always see some and that's what you could always count on.
At the planetarium, as we sat down in the dome shaped room with the dome shaped ceiling, the lights darkened as "the sun went down." We were shown the star-view of the Los Angeles night sky. I sat there in awe thinking, Beautiful!
Then the observatory lights slowly got darker and darker and more and more stars started to be revealed - a massive amount of them! Stars that I have never ever seen in real life appeared abundantly. Stars that I had seen were brighter than ever and some were twinkling like diamonds in the dark sky. Majestic! This is way crazier than the Los Angeles star sky I saw just moments ago!
How could I not give glory to God in this planetarium?! After seeing the amazing stars, how could I not give praise? The stars resonated with God's glory and it could not be hidden. And you know what's crazier?! It got more and more majestic as it got darker and darker and darker. At its darkest, it was the most gloriest.
"At the darkest of nights the stars shine brightest."

Christian, are you going through a tough time? Finals? Midterms (for all y'all UCLA folks)? Financial issues? Family? Relationships? Is your schedule so packed that you lose much sleep? Are you being persecuted for your faith? Injured? Depressed? Struggling with sin?
I could go on and on, and so could you. Life is tough and that's no lie. But I just wanted to say - Keep On Fighting. Don't Give Up. There is purpose in all things, even sufferings. Suffering WILL come. But be strong - when you're going through the toughest darkest of times, your life will glorify God and shine His light all the more. Like the stars shine brighter and brighter as it gets darker and darker, so your life will shine Christ brighter as you stick firm in your faith trusting in Him completely through your darkest times.
Are you ready, Christian? Get back up - now is the time to lead, to rejoice, to glorify. Now is the time to be such as the stars that so clearly shine and twinkle when nothing but blackness surrounds it. Get up. Christ is your Lord and He gives strength to the weary.

Don't Give Up! =]

Life only gets tougher. As you get older and more mature, you get more responsibility. You get busier and busier. You think you're busy now?!! WhoA! What now?! Busier than you thought you would ever be huh? And it just keeps adding on!

I guess then we better suck it up and learn to deal with everything we have now. We gotta conquer and have a I CAN DO THIS! mentality. How you say?! In Christ! What joy you can have in such a busy schedule when your life is all about glorifying God. Who knew studying and working and having a packed schedule could be so glorious?!

Feel like giving up? Don't =] Get back up. Strive! Crawl if you have to! Finish the race to the end - Christ will guide you all the way.

For this is God,
Our God forever and ever;
He will be our guide
Even to death.
Psalm 49:14 (NKJV)

Dead week ? Nope! Grace Week!

I wrote a sermon for seeker group on the sinfulness of sin. Spent my whole time in the Masters Seminary library (during Shepherd's conference) searching over scriptures just on sin and anything that could relate. So many! But I realized I only needed a couple passages - I only needed to focus on one sin - the fall. One sin is wickedly wicked. And we didn't stop at that one sin. We kept going and still do keep going.
In light of this, I glory even more so in Christ because only He can make one so evil such as I righteous before God. And because of the death I deserved, for the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), because of the eternal wrath of God I should receive, because of the pure evil of sin, I cannot call 10th week, "Dead Week," as the entire college does.
10th week I have a final group project, 2 final essays, 1 final quiz, and 1 final - all within 4 days. Yet, I cannot bring myself to call it dead week. I have to call it "Grace Week" because this is nothing close to the death I deserve. Oh how great grace is.
Today I turned in 35 pages worth of a final group project and a final essay. The final quiz is out of the way. I have one more 7 page essay and 1 final left. All of this with a broken left hand that is hard to type with. God is gracious. What a beautiful "Grace Week."

In Jesus' Name, Amen

It is utterly astonishing to me the final words of a Christian prayer... "in Jesus' name, in Jesus' name I pray, amen."

Almost everyone prays. In fact, I think everyone does pray - even the atheist. But what gives the prayer power? Is there power in prayer? Or is there power in the one whom they/we pray to?

I remember Pastor Eric glanced over this once in one of his bible studies. He said something along the lines of, "There is no power in prayer. Rather, there is power in the one whom they pray to. In Christ. There is no power in faith. Yes, faith alone saves, but faith IN Christ. It saves because there is power in the one whom they have faith in. "

I've been thinking about this subject a lot and it has not left my mind ever since. I'm mainly just focusing on the prayer part of this. But it blows my mind that prayers can become sin (psalm 109:7) and an abomination to the Lord (proverbs 28:9). It amazes me that only one kind of prayer has true power - the prayers prayed to the one true living God. The one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5). I stand amazed whenever I pray now, whether by myself or in a group. As I'm about to end a prayer, my heart jumps and beats faster and faster in excitement and in anticipation, waiting for the words, "In Jesus' name I/we pray, amen."

Oh how I've forgotten how powerful prayer was. Oh how I've taken for granted those last words of Christian prayer after praying thousands upon thousands of prayers. May it never again become just a scripted ending to every prayer. Remember the power in that name, in His death and in His resurrection. All other prayers are useless and powerless cause there is no power behind whose name they pray in, but ours we pray in the name of the one true Mediator (capital M). Let us remember this.

In Jesus' most holy perfect glorious awesome magnificent powerful name I pray,
Amen.