This is one of my favorite songs by Stephen the Levite (@dawhistleblower)

--Lyrics--
Steve: 
(Reject!) Anything that I spit you that isnt biblical/ 
but dont assume it isnt because it convicts or gets to you/
(Accept!) Your responsibility to search the scriptures dude/
its written in epistles: the Christian is to be critical//
(Reject!) The misconception that says that you shouldnt judge/
the hypocritical misinterpretation of Matthew seven: one/
(Accept!) Correction comin from older brothers and sisters/
consider it with humility please dont get all defensive kid// (Reject!) the relativistic philosophy that you can find at chuch/
that says well, what I got from that was/ 
(Accept!) the fact that what the preacher said is what he said/
whether wrong or right or whatever/ 
dont try to get all up in his head/ 
(Reject!) the authority of a popular cliché/
if it isnt plain in the text then probly doesnt hold any weight/
(Accept!) the fallibility of any cat thats preachin or rappin that isnt Jesus/ 
or canonized with His teachin please/
(Reject!) the tradition of applaudin for all performers/
regardless of what he taught us or how doctrinally off it is/
(Accept!) that you might actually be a whack MC or a Christian/
too young to be spittin gifted but lackin in wisdom/
(Reject!) any promotion prior to proper preparation/
in light of the fact your facin a greater condemnation/
(Accept!) Cats who communicate the gospel completely/
a Savior still in the grave is confusing news it would seem to me/
(Reject!) the ideology that truth should be followed by an apology/
that doesnt make any sense to me logically/
(Accept!) the persecution with happiness and humility/
praising God that your able to partake in His identity/
(Reject!) the seeker-friendly mentality and delivery/
pickin apart the gospel and removing the offensive piece/
(Accept!) the fact that the Father draws em and not your methods/
but methods can turn em off and be flawed and cause a rejection so/
(Reject!) the ways of men when engagin a slave to sin/
for the sake of relatin the gospel is forsakin or way too thin/
(Accept!) the great commission as more than evangelism/
the multiplication of Christians bent for missional livin and/
(Reject!) the hypocrisy that says that a woman shouldnt wear pants but/ 
the church is full of women wearing the pants bruh/
(Accept!) that Jesus though He was equal was still submissive/
and such is the role of a Christian but specifically women and/
(Reject!) the femininity of men whether theyre homosexual or not/
the stumblin block has gotta be stopped/
my friend (Accept!) the roles and responsibilities of a godly man/
and stop the trend of spiritual fatherless-ness we got us in/
(Reject!) the rebellion of the youth and the stubbornness of the older/
weve gotta learn from each other to reach the culture/
(Accept!) this as the end but if needed therell be a sequel/
so read and obey your word to discern between good and evil//

NOTE: Lyrics fromhttp://dawhistleblower.blogspot.com/2...

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Why we don't actually "give God glory"

Why we don't actually "give God glory"

Westminster Confession: Read the first section of 2:2 of WCS with me….

2. God hath all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of himself; and is alone in and unto himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures which he hath made, nor deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting his own glory in, by, unto, and upon them.

The part there in bold italics ROCKED me this morning as I read and thought about it’s implications in my life. Throughout my Christian life and walk, I’ve considered certain things I’ve done, thoughts I’ve thought, etc, to be “glorifying to God” in a way that contradicts the teachings of Scripture. Mind you, this has not been a well thought out commitment on my part to the idea that I “give God glory,” but nonetheless has been wrongly considered. Note again, God is “alone in and unto himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures which he hath made, nor deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting his own glory in, by, unto, and upon them.”

God’s glory is already full. He does not receive any glory from us, His creatures, in a way that would at all ADD to His Glory. That is so elementary yet, apart from pondering, easy to overlook. What does it mean to glorify God then, if it doesn’t mean that we give glory to Him in some way? Well, John 17:5 gives us these words of Jesus:
“And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed..”

This is a very clear text regarding the “when” of God’s Glory; namely before the world existed. This means that any glory God “receives” from us, ORIGINATES WITH, and FLOWS FROM, Himself. God doesn’t get glory from me, He gets glory OUT OF me….

I think it fantastic that yesterday’s Fighter Verse (http://fighterverses.com/) is Romans 11:34-36, which reads:

34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” 35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

None of us has given a gift to God, including glory, that he might owe us something. God owes nothing, because He derives nothing from His creatures. God, let my life show forth the Glory that exists in you from eternity past and will exist into eternity future. Allow my thoughts, words, and deeds point folks to your pre-existent Glory. All Glory is yours, and any attempt at giving it to anything other than you is robbery and utter idolatry. Help me to recognize and walk in the truth that the Glory is yours forever and we simply reflect it as you will………

This is what I thought about this morning after the reading, what about you? What grabbed you? What left you rocked by the God we serve?

What the Light of Nature, Creation, and Providence Can and Can't Do:

What the Light of Nature, Creation, and Providence Can and Can't Do:

So today's the beginning of a 40 Day reading of The Westminster Standards by myself and some other Brethren. Starting with the first chapter concerning the Word of God, I expected much of what I read to mirror what I already knew about Scripture. Namely, it's authority, and its truth and power. This was true, yet I was paused in my reading and driven to contemplation, almost immediately as I read in the 1st sentences of the 1st section these words:

Nature, and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men unexcusable; yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and of his will, which is necessary unto salvation.

Romans 1 is clear proof of the truth in this statement. Yet it still holds for me a level of profundity as I think about the necessity of the proclamation of the Gospel. Mars Hill, Acts 17 is an example of nature, creation and providence showing the goodness,wisdom and power of God in such a way that men worshipped. That they were not worshipping the one true and living God was a function, in part, of their lack of access to and understanding of the Scripture and what (really WHO) it reveals. Enter Paul, to bring a right context to what they already knew about God. That He was wise and powerful, they knew, that He was THE ONE TRUE GOD they didn't. They were without excuse insomuch as they saw around them creation, nature and providence; yet they were unable to believe unto salvation apart from a proclamation of the nature of God and His will...... Anyway, as much as we understand that there is no such thing as an atheist, there is also no such thing as a person saved from the wrath of God apart from the knowledge of God and His will revealed only in Scripture.
This is encouraging right? I mean, in truth, everyone we come across at least knows there is a God (again Romans 1), so we can start with that presupposition. It is our jobs to use Scripture to explain the God they know exists and His nature and will to them. Of course section 5 of the Westminster Standards gives this beautiful nugget:

We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the church to an high and reverent esteem of the Holy Scripture. And the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine, the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole (which is, to give all glory to God), the full discovery it makes of the only way of man's salvation, the many other incomparable excellencies, and the entire perfection thereof, are arguments whereby it doth abundantly evidence itself to be the Word of God: yet notwithstanding, our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth and divine authority thereof, is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts.

In other words, we can by normal means, bring a person to understand the depth, doctrine, majesty, purpose, prevailing statements, perfection, etc, that clearly show the Bible as the Word of God. Yet, nothing but the work of the Holy Spirit on the heart of a person brings FULL persuasion and assurance of the truth and authority of it.
Magnificent!! These two pieces combined make for a grand philosophy of evangelism, in my opinion. We preach the truth (knowing so since it is contained in the canon of Scripture) about what God has done in Christ. We preach this to people who are not ignorant of God's existence, though are of His nature and will. We do all we are equipped to do to make this message clear and insure it's accurate conveyance, yet realize that no clarity of our speech or accuracy of our proclamation turns a man to Christ. We labor to magnify the excellency, beauty, and truth of God's revelation of Himself in Christ. Yet, all of those efforts, apart from the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of that man, will only produce a man who knows much about God, but is not persuaded and sure of His own standing with that God.

These are just the beginnings of my contemplation of what I've read on day 1 of #wcs40. What are your thoughts?

The Atonement Q&A

Reading through the Westminster Confession and catechisms reminded me of this song off of shai linne’s Atonement CD.  It’s called “Atonement Q & A” and I think you’ll enjoy it!

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What the Light of Nature, Creation, and Providence Can and Can't Do:

Click here to download:

BiblePic (24 KB)

So today's the beginning of a 40 Day reading of The Westminster Standards by myself and some other Brethren.  Starting with the first chapter concerning the Word of God, I expected much of what I read to mirror what I already knew about Scripture.  Namely, it's authority, and its truth and power. This was true, yet I was paused in my reading and driven to contemplation, almost immediately as I read in the 1st sentences of the 1st section these words:

Nature, and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men unexcusable; yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and of his will, which is necessary unto salvation.

Romans 1 is clear proof of the truth in this statement.  Yet it still holds for me a level of profundity as I think about the necessity of the proclamation of the Gospel.  Mars Hill, Acts 17 is an example of nature, creation and providence showing the goodness,wisdom and power of God in such a way that men worshipped.  That they were not worshipping the one true and living God was a function, in part, of their lack of access to and understanding of the Scripture and what (really WHO) it reveals.  Enter Paul, to bring a right context to what they already knew about God.  That He was wise and powerful, they knew, that He was THE ONE TRUE GOD they didn't.  They were without excuse insomuch as they saw around them creation, nature and providence; yet they were unable to believe unto salvation apart from a proclamation of the nature of God and His will...... Anyway, as much as we understand that there is no such thing as an atheist, there is also no such thing as a person saved from the wrath of God apart from the knowledge of God and His will revealed only in Scripture.
This is encouraging right?  I mean, in truth, everyone we come across at least knows there is a God (again Romans 1), so we can start with that presupposition.  It is our jobs to use Scripture to explain the God they know exists and His nature and will to them.  Of course section 5 of the Westminster Standards gives this beautiful nugget:

 We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the church to an high and reverent esteem of the Holy Scripture. And the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine, the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole (which is, to give all glory to God), the full discovery it makes of the only way of man's salvation, the many other incomparable excellencies, and the entire perfection thereof, are arguments whereby it doth abundantly evidence itself to be the Word of God: yet notwithstanding, our full persuasion and assurance of the infallible truth and divine authority thereof, is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit bearing witness by and with the Word in our hearts.

In other words, we can by normal means, bring a person to understand the depth, doctrine, majesty, purpose, prevailing statements, perfection, etc, that clearly show the Bible as the Word of God.  Yet, nothing but the work of the Holy Spirit on the heart of a person brings FULL persuasion and assurance of the truth and authority of it. 
Magnificent!! These two pieces combined make for a grand philosophy of evangelism, in my opinion.  We preach the truth (knowing so since it is contained in the canon of Scripture) about what God has done in Christ.  We preach this to people who are not ignorant of God's existence, though are of His nature and will.  We do all we are equipped to do to make this message clear and insure it's accurate conveyance, yet realize that no clarity of our speech or accuracy of our proclamation turns a man to Christ.  We labor to magnify the excellency, beauty, and truth of God's revelation of Himself in Christ.  Yet, all of those efforts, apart from the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of that man, will only produce a man who knows much about God, but is not persuaded and sure of His own standing with that God.

These are just the beginnings of my contemplation of what I've read on day 1 of #wcs40.  What are your thoughts? 

Posted via email from Drops of Thought

Welcome Home, Kindle

It's here. The Amazon Kindle; designed to make it easier for me to read lots. Let the games begin!

Posted via web from Drops of Thought

I Should Check the Weather More Often

Download now or watch on posterous

IMG_0041.mov (5153 KB)

No idea! Last night as I left my Pastor's house (during halftime of the then out of hand BCS game), it was snowing a tiny bit. Just flurries really. This morning, what you see in the video is our reality. Now that the passive stress of Christmas has passed, I like what I see. I'm much more relaxed then I was a couple weeks ago, having to make plans for travel, who fits what size, what food to bring where, etc. Therefore, today's snow stands alone rather than being that "one more thing to contend with." It's nice....as I watch it fall I am reminded of the Gospel and God's promise to make our sins white as snow (Is.1), AND the pomise that like the snow coming from Heaven does not return, but waters the earth, so the Word of God will not return to Him before it accomplishes His bidding (Is.55). Today I'm thankful for God's mercy when I am actively undeserving, and that one day in His great Grace He sent His Word to my hard heart and granted me new life by it. That He has entrusted us as stewards of such a protected Gospel.... One that God Himself assures won't fail. I appreciate the reminder. Let it snow!!

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