Design of the Week 01/30/08 – Pro Life
January 30, 2008 at 2:39 pm | Posted in Designs of the Week | Leave a commentTags: 01/30/08, abortion, America, ateasetees, Bible, Christian, church, compromise, death, design of the week, evangelism, faith, God, gospel, grace, hell, holy, hope, Jesus, judgment, law, life, love, marriage, mercy, murder, prolife, repent, scripture, sin, ten commandments, truth
This week’s design is the Pro-Life design. It came from the simple thought that our parents had to be pro-life or we wouldn’t be here. It is something that most of those who are pro-choice seem to forget. If it wasn’t for the choice that our mothers and fathers made to keep us and not have us murdered in the womb, we wouldn’t be here.
Sadly, about 3,700 unborn children are killed every day by abortion in the US. Those who support abortion often bring up the “what-ifs” about rape and safety of the mother. The statistics show that an overwhelming number of abortions have nothing to do with rape or safety of the mother. Most of the abortions performed in the US have to do with convenience and with social pressures. A large number of abortions are performed on young, unmarried women. These abortions are performed either because the women are unable to afford another child, or because they don’t want a child. This is sad enough in itself, but what about the underlying cause? What about the sin? They are unmarried. This means that they are fornicating or committing adultery. So, on top of the sins they committed to conceive the baby, they are adding murder to get rid of the evidence of their sin. To me, that’s extremely cold hearted and evil. Continue Reading Design of the Week 01/30/08 – Pro Life…
Recognizing the church
January 28, 2008 at 12:49 pm | Posted in Christianity | 1 CommentTags: abortion, America, ateasetees, Bible, Christian, chuch, church, compromise, death, evangelism, faith, God, gospel, grace, hell, holy, hope, Jesus, judgment, law, life, love, marriage, mercy, pastor, peace, prayer, repent, salvation, scripture, sin, ten commandments, truth, what makes a church
Not too long ago, I started attending a home church. It is a small gathering of 5 people who get together, study God’s Word and pray for each other. We are planning on doing some things this year, but for right now, we are just meeting and praying together.
Recently, someone made a comment to me that made me wonder how others view the church and what it is supposed to be. I was told that I was “on their heart” and that they were concerned for me. They reminded me that I should not forsake the assembling of the body. They knew about my attending this home church and wanted to “encourage” me to keep looking for a church that had “30, 40, 100; even 1 million people” in it so that I could truly worship with others. They said that while my studying the Word was good, if I were at a church that had more people, I could enjoy that “corporate worship” and the presence of God that comes from it.
Even as I listened to this “encouragement” I had to bite my tongue. I know that I can be critical and I was trying to understand the spirit in which the statements were made. I’ll be totally honest though. I was aggravated and upset by the comment. It did get me thinking though…
What I thought about even as I ended the conversation was this: What makes a church? What is it that truly makes a church? Is it the building? Is it the worship? Is it the programs? Is it the number of people there? Some of these questions might sound trite or unnecessary, but after the conversation, I began wondering if they weren’t more important… Continue Reading Recognizing the church…
Design of the Week 1/21/08 – Cover Up
January 22, 2008 at 1:07 pm | Posted in Designs of the Week | Leave a commentTags: 01/21/08, ateasetees, Bible, Christian, church, compromise, cover up, death, design, evangelism, faith, false teaching, feature, God, gospel, grace, hell, holy, hope, Jesus, judgment, law, life, love, marriage, mercy, pastor, peace, prayer, repent, salvation, scripture, sin, ten commandments, truth, tshirt
This is the first of a new weekly feature I’m hoping to start. In it, I’ll present a featured design from my shop and just explain a little about where it came from and what it represents.
The first featured design is the “Cover Up” design. This design shows sin as a black pill. It is being coated by a bright orange liquid representing compromise. The idea came from the fact that it seems more and more that the church and those preaching the message want to sugarcoat sin and make it “okay”. No one seems to want to speak out against sin or stand up against what the bible says is wrong.
Instead, we just want everyone to come to church and feel good about themselves and the fact that God loves them. We want to coddle them and pet them and tell them that everything will be okay, even though they are living in sin. We have come to the point where the church’s message is no longer effective in changing the lives of the lost. I believe that this is because it hasn’t been allowed to change a lot of the lives of those going to church! If the Word truly had made a difference in the lives of many of those who profess Christ, what would the church look like? Would it look like it does now? Wouldn’t whole towns and cities be radically changed? There are twenty or so churches in my hometown, which has a population of about 7-10,000 people. If there are an average of 100 people in each church (there are some that have much more than that), that’s 2000 people that profess Christ and claim to know who He is and live for Him. How long should it take for the entire city to be reached and changed? A month? Two months? Surely it shouldn’t take longer than that!
It is my desire to see the church stand up and stop using man’s ideas of how God should be and what it means to be a Christian. It’s time we went back to using what God said He is like and what He said a Christian is…
Please leave a comment and let me know what you think of the design or the message behind it!
You go and then come back and tell us…
January 21, 2008 at 6:22 pm | Posted in Christianity | Leave a commentTags: America, ateasetees, Bible, big, Charles Spurgeon, Charles Wesley, Christian, church, complain, compromise, Cotton Mather, crazy, death, evangelism, faith, fear, God, gospel, grace, great, hell, holy, Israel, Jesus, judgment, law, life, love, marriage, mercy, murder, obedience, pastor, peace, praise, prayer, Promised Land, reality, relationship, repent, respect, salvation, scripture, sin, ten commandments, truth, twist, worship
Exo 19:9 The LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will come to you in a thick cloud, so that the people may hear when I speak with you and may also believe in you forever.” Then Moses told the words of the people to the LORD.
Exo 20:18 All the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance.
Exo 20:19 Then they said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die.”
Exo 20:20 Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin.”
In this part of scripture, God is preparing His chosen people for what’s to come. They have just come out of Egypt and have traveled to Mount Sinai. They are being readied to enter the land that God promised Abraham 430 years ago. Moses tells all of Israel to consecrate themselves and then brings them to the mountain to present them before the Lord. No one is allowed on the mountain except Moses and Aaron. The people see all of what is going on and they tremble and stand at a distance. Then they say something that is very telling:
“Moses, you speak and we’ll do whatever you tell us, but if God speaks to us, we’ll die” (paraphrasing). Continue Reading You go and then come back and tell us……
Upcoming stuff!
January 20, 2008 at 3:52 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a commentTags: ateasetees, blog, Christian, evangelism, events, God, Jesus, new year
To everyone who reads my blog (if you’re still here…:) ), I apologize for not being consistent in posting. It’s something that I’m working on. Speaking of working on stuff, I’ve got some new things that I’m really excited about!
I’m going to start posting about my t-shirt shop along with national and world events. When I started this blog, I looked at it as a way for me to just share what I’ve learned from the Bible and how it applies to the world around us. Since then, I’ve realized that all of that is only part of it. I wanted to write about what I’m doing as well. The shop that I’ve started is to help evanglize the world. I have a burden for the lost and part of that has manifested itself as my shop. I will try not to make it just a shop blog, but I hope to have pics and videos of things that go on. This year, I’m hoping to start being at different area events as well as being more aggressive about reaching the lost. I hope to have more participation with others, here and in person!
I’m expecting this year to be completely different from any other year, and looking ahead to whatever God has for me! I hope that you will have the time to be a part of it all!
Here’s to a great 2008 and a closer walk with God for all of us!
Praising God!
January 16, 2008 at 12:09 pm | Posted in Christianity | Leave a commentTags: America, ateasetees, Bible, Christian, church, compromise, death, evangelism, faith, God, gospel, grace, hell, holy, hope, Jesus, judgment, law, life, love, marriage, mercy, money, murder, pastor, peace, praise, prayer, repent, salvation, scripture, sin, ten commandments, truth
The Bible says to stand when you’ve done all you can do. I heard a wonderful scripture from Isaiah that says that the one who walks in darkness and obeys the voice of His Servant should trust in the Name of the Lord and rely on His God.
I can say, by the grace of God, that I have been able to do this. In August of last year, I lost my job. I won’t go into details except to say that there were disagreements between myself and some of the other employees as to the working conditions of the company. Since that time, I have been unable to find a job. I have been applying to everything that I can find that I think that I have a remote possibility of getting hired for. Not too long before I got laid off, I had been praying for God to increase my faith. Well, He has been. It may not have been the way that I liked or expected, but it has been happening.
Not only that, but I have taken the time that I now have to open an online t-shirt shop that focuses on the truth of the Word and evangelism. I have also spent much more time in the Word than I was before and have learned so much in the past five months that I am ashamed that I wasn’t doing it all along. I have been able to make a commitment to study the Bible inductively for the next 10+ years with a few friends who have the same hunger and desire that I do for God’s Word. Continue Reading Praising God!…
Covenant
January 12, 2008 at 10:01 am | Posted in Christianity | Leave a commentTags: abortion, America, ateasetees, blessing, Christian, church, compromise, covenant, curse, death, evangelism, faith, God, gospel, grace, hell, holy, hope, Israel, Jesus, judgment, law, life, love, marriage, mercy, murder, pastor, peace, prayer, repent, salvation, scripture, sin, ten commandments, truth
From the time that man was created, God established a covenant. All throughout the history of Israel, God made covenants with His people. When the fullness of time had come, and Jesus came to earth, it was to establish a new covenant; an everlasting covenant.
As time has marched on, it seems that God’s people have not only forgotten that God is a covenant God, and that He has established a covenant with all those who accept Christ, but it seems that we have forgotten what a covenant is.
If you turn on the television today and watch any of the preachers, eventually (more often sooner than later), you’ll hear about the blessings of God and how they are just waiting for you to “tap into”. It’s like they’re just hanging in mid air right ahead of you and all you have to do is pluck them up and take them home. Is that what covenant is about?
For instance, there are certain scriptures that people quote all the time. One of them is Deuteronomy 28. I hear people always talking about being blessed in the city and blessed in the field. They talk about being the head and not the tail, the top and not the bottom, the lender and not the borrower. All of these things can be found in verses 3-14. The odd thing is that they forget a few things. One thing that I never hear when I hear people quote this is verse 1. Deuteronomy 28:1 says:
“Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. “ Continue Reading Covenant…
Remembering Dates
January 10, 2008 at 2:55 pm | Posted in Christianity | Leave a commentTags: abortion, America, ateasetees, Bible, Christian, church, compromise, dates, death, evangelism, faith, God, gospel, grace, hell, holy, hope, Jesus, judgment, law, life, love, marriage, mercy, money, murder, pastor, peace, prayer, repent, Roe v. Wade, scripture, sin, ten commandments
If I toss out dates like December 7th, 1941 or September 11th, 2001, people will know what I’m talking about (at least some people will know…). We recognize those dates as important in American History. These are dates that have shaped the days that we now live in. Just in case some of you don’t know, December 7th, 1941 was the day that the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. September 11th is, of course, the day that the Twin Towers of the World Trade center were attacked by domestic planes hijacked by Muslim terrorists. Dates like these we remember. But what if I threw out January 22nd, 1973? Would you know that date? This date may have shaped our lives more than any other date in American History including the wars that were fought in and by this country…
On January 22nd, 1973, the Supreme Court decided to uphold a ruling made by the Texas District Court that a woman had a right to choose whether or not she could abort the child within her. The decision was made on the basis of the rights of the mother to choose what to do with her body. Not only that, it has caused a divide in the country that continues today. There are supporters of the issue who say that the decision is Constitutional and is valid with concerns to women’s rights, freedom, and privacy. There are also many against the decision who say that it cannot be inferred from the Constitution and that it completely disregards the rights of the unborn child. Continue Reading Remembering Dates…
Is anyone wrong?
January 8, 2008 at 12:53 pm | Posted in Christianity | 18 CommentsTags: abortion, America, ateasetees, Bible, Christian, church, compromise, death, evangelism, faith, God, gospel, grace, hell, holy, hope, Jesus, judgment, law, life, love, marriage, mercy, money, murder, pastor, peace, prayer, repent, right and wrong, salvation, scripture, sin, ten commandments, truth
I’m sure this sounds like a stupid question, but is anyone wrong today? Does anyone do something wrong nowadays? Does anyone make mistakes? Does anyone mess up or do things they regret anymore? Can we tell anyone that they’re wrong anymore?
I know that it sounds silly, but I really do have a direction for this. It seems that today, if any speaks out against something because it’s not biblical, they’re intolerant. If someone stands up for the truth found in the Bible, they are bigots or they’re being “exclusive”. If a Christian were to say to someone else, “that’s a sin and it’s wrong”, they would be attacked by a number of different “equal rights”, “freedom of speech”, and “civil liberties” groups for what they said. And if they say it to a Christian brother or sister, it’s magnified 10x over. When I see stuff like this happen, it’s so sad that it’s funny…
For instance, if I were to tell someone that homosexuality is a sin and it’s wrong, I would be looked at as intolerant and be told that I wasn’t portraying what Christianity is all about because I’m not being “loving”. There would be a line of people a mile long ready to give me their opinion on why I’m not being a Christian and how I need to change my point of view to match with today’s society. Sadly, many in this line of people would profess to be Christians. If I were to stand up for the truth in the bible, like Leviticus 18:22 where it says that homosexuality is an abomination, I would be viciously attacked by those who promote the homosexual lifestyle and are happy with their sin. If I were to say that “anyone who preaches another gospel, whether from man or from an angel” (Mormonism, Islam) is to be accursed, I would be seen as intolerant, exclusive, and not practicing Christian love. Continue Reading Is anyone wrong?…
Christian Character
January 2, 2008 at 12:03 pm | Posted in Christianity | 4 CommentsTags: abortion, America, ateasetees, Bible, blameless, character, Christian, church, compromise, death, evangelism, faith, God, gospel, grace, hell, holy, hope, Jesus, judgment, law, life, love, marriage, mercy, money, murder, pastor, peace, prayer, repent, salvation, scripture, sin, ten commandments, truth, upright
I’ve been thinking about something and just wanted to put it up here for you. It is something that bothers me and has affected me more than once.
What is the true character of a Christian? What does a real Christian look like? How do they act? How do they talk? How do they think?
The quick, Sunday school answer is: “like Jesus”.
I know that this is the answer, but it just leads me to more questions. How did Jesus act? Was it just love the He walked in, or was it holiness, justice, and righteousness too? How did He talk? How did He think? Are Christians today acting like, talking like, and thinking like Jesus?
Sadly, I can say that many Christians are not. We call ourselves Christians, but we hardly look like Christ at all. We lie, cheat, and steal. We grab for power in the church. We talk nice to people in their company, but when they aren’t around, we talk bad about them. We misquote scripture, if we even know it. We have a self-centered view of Jesus, and the sad thing is, if our Jesus doesn’t match up with the real Jesus, we cling to our Jesus. Continue Reading Christian Character…
Get the Word out! 