My Epiphany Today

Proverbs 31 Mama: Wednesday's Word

2013-03-23T21:14:00.001-06:00

Proverbs 31 Mama: Wednesday's Word: Did Your Husband Tell You to Sit Down Somewhere? Did you get all excited about the dream/vision that God gave you for a new...

A Wife's Heart: Men and Porn Part 1 with Sean Adams

2013-03-20T09:52:00.001-06:00

A Wife's Heart: Men and Porn Part 1 with Sean Adams: Men & Porn Part 1 There is a lot to say about porn. I’ve seen Christians take so many different sometimes opposing views on th...

Is this you Sister?

2013-02-22T20:08:00.001-07:00

You are tired, worn-out, unfulfilled and you need a break and some real time alone with God and away from your normal routine.

Is this you?

Then you need to fill out the application for the Times of Refreshing Retreat this year in June. You very well could be one of the 25 chosen women!

There is also room for those who can pay for themselves. God has a great thing in store for all the ladies who come and refresh themselves in Him.

http://www.proverbs31mamaministries.org/retreat

Happy New Year!

2013-01-02T07:30:00.002-07:00

Happy New Year! I pray a blessing on you and yours!

Sovereign In The Face of Insult Pt. 2

2012-12-21T17:30:00.000-07:00

I was surprised. Not really, but sort of. Nothing of any kind that resembled encouragement or exhortation was on those wall comments and posts. I always hear atheist talking about how no god could help and how not believing has opened up their minds to the possibilities of being great people with no eternal reward or damnation to be concerned about. They always are so self-righteous and knowledgeable in those debates and conversations with Christians. They always have all the questions…sometimes all the answers too. Figured they would be using those answers to take care of the business they felt could be accomplished if enough people just stopped believing in God.

This group was all about bashing god…and not just any god. For some reason only the Christian God was being discussed/hated on. Perhaps this represented the spectrum of folks in this country where Christianity is most popular in relation to Islam and other faiths. However it simply stunned me. This group only posted defaming and offensive statements about religion, god, and spiritual things. This was not a place to go for encouragement in one’s non-belief, but a place to get together and point to others beliefs and laugh out loud.

I quickly realized that this wasn't a bunch of people who didn't believe in or feel indifferently towards god, but people who hated God.

But to many a people’s chagrin, He has thick skin. Not being provoked by the hurling of insults between men. They will find they won’t get a rise out of God and probably not out of most Christians. Instead as the Bible says, God will get the last laugh. Psalm 2:4.

I am more than sure everyone in those groups has reached their own personal conclusions about faiths and what religions have to offer. The Gospel of Christianity is just foolishness to them. Surely they have experienced all they need to have experienced to make their eternal decisions. As Christians when you encounter an atheist please do not be surprised or even off put by how they feel about your faith, they have had valuable experiences and learned lessons that have led them to their conclusions.

Don’t treat them badly because they don’t believe in God. I am sure that is not what God wants us to do. Do right by people and remember you were just like them once.

Sovereign In The Face of Insult Pt. 1

2012-12-19T14:30:00.000-07:00

God has very tough skin. To be someone who would be willing to create a world give them a choice, see them choose wrong and put a plan in place to rescue them from the horrible consequences of their own decisions….only to have these creatures spit in your face and mock you and ignore you. Such a reaction is a poor response to an eternal sacrifice. Just a bad decision all around, to reject the idea that one is not perfect and cannot earn their way to heaven with good deeds.

I recently went to an atheist support group page on a social media site. I understand atheist needing support; it’s a large universe to be in with no purpose, destiny or accountability—except to one’s own self. Also there is the social stigma attached to being not simply an unbeliever, but an atheist. Someone who doesn't subscribe to any faith as they know there is no god. For some reason this people group is blamed for every bad thing that has ever happened in America; atheist and homosexuals catch the Christian/Conservative flak in the worst of ways.

To true Christians we know a couple of very key and critical things, and one of those things is that we all share in the unrighteousness of society. We weren't always holy or righteous or sanctified. We were sinners too and sometimes atheist and sometimes homosexuals and the like. We lived contently in our days prior to meeting the Savior of our souls and we shouldn't think that these people groups are tormented by their decisions or lifestyles…because we were not.

I thought I would see atheists encouraging each other, much like we do at church (a place of support for believers). I thought there would be thoughtful discussions about societal woes, how they could go about being better human beings and how to create a moral system that one can abide by that coincides with societal norms for acceptable behavior and excel as good people. I expected this group of highly educated and peaceable individuals to be coming up with the life changing strategies associated with pushing humanity to become their greatest good.

America We're Praying For You

2012-12-14T13:30:00.000-07:00

Our prayers and support go out to the community of the Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn. Every family in this nation mourns with you and you all are in our most sincere prayers.

The Single Father’s Sacrifice

2012-12-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

A single father with 2 young sons was walking down the street in a not so safe neighborhood. Suddenly a man jumps out in front of him and points a gun at him. He says he’s going to kill one of them and the father has to choose who dies. The gunman was a sociopath and authorities were searching for him in 7 different states. The father recognized him from the news and knew the gunman was serious.

If he would only offer up one of his sons there was a chance he and one son could live and escape with their lives. He made his decision, squeezed both his sons and whispered in their ears as he hugged them. “Run when I tell you to. I love you.” Be took a deep breath and reinforced his resolve. He lunged at the lunatic and yelled at his sons to run away! They struggled and three shots were fired two hit the father and one the gunman.

A little background is in order;the two sons were twins, both 16 years old. One twin was an all A’s student and completely obedient. Star of the chess club and not one day had he ever been in trouble. There was that one incident where he had broken his ankle at Karate practice, but no other trouble from him was easy to recollect. Typically if he was found in a spot or a mess he was trying to help his brother.

The other twin was a very disturbed young man and only gave grief to his father. Between the expulsions and missing past pets, the father had developed high blood pressure and a heart condition from stress. The poorly behaved son would often fight the father and the father would of course restrain himself as to not hurt his son, but his son’s strength would be unfettered. The only reason they were in this horrible place was to pick up the wayward son from one of his latest binges. The world, the little family and the father would have probably been better off without him. But he was a loving father and no matter how horrible, unless it was to the authorities and state justices he would not surrender his son without a fight, without breathing his last.

This father’s tolerance and sacrifice pales in comparison to God’s. He is a loving Father and He has tolerated us our imperfections, our rebellions and our transgressions. He also sacrificed greatly to save us, so great was his sacrifice that when there was no one found worthy in all the universe This One Sacrifice was/is/will be WORTHY.

His sovereignty allows Him to perform such a sacrifice, it’s His world and He can save it anyway He desires. Now just as the father told his two sons, I’ll tell you. RUN.

RUN for GOD UNTIL YOU HAVE NOTHING LEFT! RUN FROM SIN AND DEATH AND RUN TOWARD LIFE, LIFE, ETERNAL LIFE.

Moats, Moats All Around and Not A Place to Swim

2012-12-07T14:00:00.000-07:00

There was a king of a kingdom which was plagued by ransackers and pirates who came in and stole from, raped and killed the peace loving citizens of the kingdom. This king was very troubled by this and unfortunately his army was too small and unable to defend themselves properly. He did notice however that they only pillaged his people every 3 months, somewhat like clockwork. It was the assumption of the people that the villains simply depleted their spoil or were terrorizing other small kingdoms.

The king had an idea. Let’s build a very large wall around the kingdom and a moat to keep out intruders. It worked. He built a wall and a moat, both for the safety of his people. But these projects were inherently dangerous. The moat was filled with very sharp stones and sharpened wooden spears which could impale a man. The water was just enough to cover the trap, but not enough to dampen the impact of falling into the water. The walls were dangerously high. Good enough to see the enemy approaching but there was a risk that some solider could fall and die. Booby traps were placed throughout the forest directly adjacent from the kingdom and only certain clans could work or tend that area because they knew where the traps were. Defenses solidified the good king warned his people to be careful of the traps and the moat and the wall.

True to past experience the thugs approached the kingdom bewildered by the new defenses. Some fell prey to the traps in the forest, some died when falling into the moat others were killed by archers from the high walls and some even fell to their tragic ends as they attempted to scale the wall—unsuccessfully.

All rejoiced but the fact is there was a dangerous world round about the kingdom and the kingdom of course had dangerous defenses. The wall ruined the view for some house owners. The children could not run happily through certain parts of the forest and the moat was no good for a refreshing dip on a scorching summer day. No one of course complained the alternative was the systematic rape, theft and murder by the enemy.

The king is similar to God and the defenses the heart of the law of God (not the letter, the heart). God understands that outside of His rule there is a wicked enemy seeking to steal, kill and destroy you at every turn. Citizenship in His kingdom means falling under His protection and living within the city with the ruined view, the unsafe swimming accommodations and dangerous green belts. You see He’s the King and can decide on a way to keep you safe from the some of the self-inflicted pains of sin. Sometimes even the sins of others. There are times the enemy wins, times when sin happens to you not by you…those are unfortunate, but not the will of the King who wishes all would live within the walls in peace. He’s sovereign even in our defense.

God bless,
Sean

Sandcastles

2012-12-05T05:00:00.000-07:00

A family with dogs went to the beach to enjoy a beautiful summer day. The little girl was a bit too afraid to go into the water as the waves crashing were a bit more intimidating, than on TV. She began to play in the sand and built an elaborate and beautiful sandcastle. Passers-by commented and took pictures with their iPhones and Nexuses. The little girl decided she was done playing and playfully jumped on the sandcastle with her dogs and destroyed the elaborate and beautiful sandcastle.

While some of the spectators and onlookers were somewhat disappointed none of them began to lash out at the little girl. No one rallied to burn her at the stake railed accusations of her inability to be a good maker of sandcastles. No one questioned anything. It was a little girl who played in the sand and destroyed the evidence.

Understand God is no little child, simply playing a game but this example applies allegorically to the understanding of His sovereignty. Just like the little girl had sovereignty over her sandcastle to do with it what she would, so too does God have sovereign authority to do what He will in and with this earth and her people. That simple sandcastle came under complete jurisdiction of that little girl and the entire known and unknown universe falls under God’s.

God bless,

Sean

Welcome to December

2012-12-03T00:01:00.001-07:00

Hi There World!

I apologize this post is late…should’ve been posted on the 1^st but I’ve been pretty swamped.

This month we are going to focus on God. Is there really a better focus? Well to that end, the theme of God is vast and so we will delve into one particular aspect of Him; His sovereignty.

So the posts will be reflective in nature and there will be use of allegory as we dissect some concentrations which exist when it comes to His sovereignty.

God Bless and I look forward to hearing from you. Questions and such if you need to.

Sean

Epiphany is a Place Too

2012-11-30T19:20:00.000-07:00

Epiphany Covenant Church is a church with a message you can understand and good folks you can relate to. No longer is Epiphany just the ramblings of some dude on a blog, but a wonderful vision coming to pass as we gather and learn from the Word of God and pray and seek His will and assistance in our lives.

We’re seeing prayers answered and people using their gifts to propel the Kingdom of God forward among the darkness.

Feel free to join us.

Check out our webpage and come through if you in the Denver area.

http://www.epiphanycc.org/

We meet on Sundays at 6 PM MST in Northeast Denver.

Look forward to seeing you soon!

Sean

Laugh Out Loud!

2012-11-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

You know I often wonder how often people truly laugh out loud in response to a post or video or tweet. I think it has become more of a compliment than it is passing on the fact that you did truly laugh out loud and not to yourself.

I make it a point to only reply “lol” if I have in fact laughed out loud, other than that it would be a lie. If something is funny, I say "that is funny." No fuss, no muss. Well here is a funny video. I laughed out loud. Granted I didn't fall on the floor, but I smiled and laughed and rubbed my chin.

http://youtu.be/LvyUe9mP4YI

LOL,

Sean

Happy Thanksgiving

2012-11-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

I want each of you to have a Happy Thanksgiving! Get off this blog and go chill with your family.

If you are one of those out there who gets down on yourself around this time of year, cheer up!

If you are a believer you have an entire family out there in the world praying for you, loving you and adding daily to the family through witness. If you need to take the focus off of yourself, pray for the church under persecution, those who if they believe are hung in the streets as traitors, such is the case in North Korea or are being burned to death in the streets such is the case in Nigeria or even pray for some type of financial burden be placed on the hearts of Americans who can give to the poorest of saints in the 10/40 Window.

If you are not a believer, now is the time of salvation! We all know that we are not perfect that means we are sinners couple that with the belief that that Christ's sacrifice was ample payment for our sins, we can stand in the love of God and thus are saved from the punishments of sin, death and Hell.

We have a lot to be thankful for. So God, thank you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sean

Thank you Jesus

2012-11-23T19:12:00.000-07:00

You know there are opportunities in life when you realize life is good. You have the new job, you finally graduated, and you just got married. Then there are times in life when we would say life is bad. You lost your job, your flunked a class or had to withdraw, you get a divorce.

There are two things we must realize.

First, these times are not uniform throughout creation meaning just because you are doing bad doesn’t mean others are experiencing the same misfortune. Now God is merciful in this; “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matthew 5:44-45)

Second, sometimes the unjust or wicked will do good when you are experiencing misfortune (Jeremiah 12:1). The prosperity of the wicked becomes less of our priority because know the end of such people. They always fall into calamity, if not in this age in the age to come.

So how should we react when life hands us lemons? We should make lemonade! First of all we must be careful to learn contentment in the face of adversity and discomfort (Philippians 4:11-13). My wife often jokes on me saying, I have rose colored glasses on. But I am just flexing my contentment muscle. Also to consider is everything seen is subject to change (2 Corinthians 4:18). So we can assume that once again opportunities will present themselves where there once were misfortunes; the new job, happier times in your marriage, a new child for example. Because the seasons of good and bad are not uniform, the wicked may be going through a tough time while you are prospering. We are not allowed to rejoice when the wicked fall or come to ruin (Proverbs 24:16-18).

Understand that seasons of plenty and famine are bound to happen, yet we can be prepared for both and God be able to get the glory from the situation. Be thankful for what you have my friend.

Thanks be to God,

Sean

Going Hard in the Paint!

2012-11-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

I have been digging this song as of late. Its message is great. Often times worship, praise, prayer is done at our convenience and in that nature we don’t do it hard. We don’t worship with as much energy and effort as we can. We don’t pray with as much focus and dependency upon on God as possible. We don’t praise until we can’t anymore…

Here you go. Let’s go hard in the paint!

http://youtu.be/RoGkiEt-MmM

Empty Letters from Heaven

2012-11-16T07:30:00.000-07:00

I asked my friend what is a prophet if he doesn't hear from God. In thinking about that I thought about the times that I was far from God in my mind and heart. How I had put deliberate efforts into ignoring His unction and wills and how I had run in my mind away from Him and into the clutching arms of sin.

David gave us a wonderful psalm that discusses the far reaching hand of God. We cannot escape His Spirit and praise God He is always present for us even in the midst of our falling aways (Psalm 139). Notice that “falling aways” is plural. I know so many people who give up on God the minute they fail themselves or their preconceived notions of what they think God expects of them.

Friend He died for your sins…past, present and future. Get up out of that mire of self pity and self destruction. God has already changed your ways friend. Walk with Him now and let Him show you His good and perfect plan for you.

So the next time you feel you have gone too far from God and the only letters you are getting from Heaven are empty. Open the letter He has already completed and renew your mind with the fact that no one can separate you from Him or rip you from the hands of the Son of His Love.

Here is the beauty. There is redemption and forgiveness for sin. However you don’t have to sin. You have but you don’t have to stay there. Align your heart with God and your behavior will line up.

God Bless,
Sean

A Peek into the House

2012-11-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

We've loved what the Lord has been sharing with us at ECC. Here is a two part series concerning the cycle of Spiritual Warfare.

These teaching and others are available for free download and you can stream them from site at the webpage below.

http://www.epiphanycc.org/media

God Bless,
Sean

The Fresh Autumn Air

2012-11-10T07:02:00.003-07:00

Opening his horizontal sliding window

The sun could not be found

It was pre-dawn.

Before the sun began its reign over the sky

And ordered the Colorado temperatures upward

Pre-dawn

No cars within ear shot

But a clear view of the dynamic shades of macabre yellowish, greenish, and brown leaves.

The semi-disrobed branches swayed slowly in the light breezes which blew by

These branches looked like twigs around this time of year.

The sturdy old maple seemingly had no strength

Right then a leaf left the tree, dancing a jig in midair before coasting right into Mrs. Turner’s yard!

Crashing to the ground without a sound.

The unkempt backyard was littered with children’s toys, a huge pink ball, a green sand bucket and a snow shovel the kids had used to build an imaginary fort.

And the leaves, the leaves which fell to the ground from the grand maple tree.

The squirrels had yet to begin their morning scavenging

Stupid squirrels. Glorified overly tolerated rodents; “They are just a few tail hairs from a rat” in his book.

The ground being blanketed with leaves made it easier to hear them scurrying about.

But it was quite silent now.

A breeze blew crashing through the window’s screen moving the partly raised wooden blinds.

Fresh autumn air.

Cool, fresh crisp, new as the day pre-dawn

“Where is this breeze going?” He thought.

Who cares it is fresh autumn air?

“Can you please shut the window?” His wife asks.

He does so without making a noise.

The children are stirring.

Looking into the sky, it’s no longer pre-dawn.

And the sun is beginning its reign.

The fresh autumn air

provided a chill which still rest

Silently on his shoulders.

Prayer with my Twin

2012-11-09T07:00:00.000-07:00

Yes I have a twin. We look nothing alike as you can see below, but we're twins. I haven’t prayed with my twin brother often. I couldn't tell you why, I guess we just don’t have think about it when we’re on the phone. We’re not on the phone often either. So the other day Steven answered my phone call…rare to be sure.

So we’re on the phone and we prayed together. It felt so cool. The fact that God sent us here (to Earth) together; we’re twins. And now here we are going to the throne together on one accord for a particular cause.

Do you have an old friend, a brother or sister who you may not talk to a lot, but miss and wish you could talk to? Reach out to them. Ask if you can pray for them. I pray for strangers, people who work on my house and even for folks who do me wrong. Why not pray with my sibling, family, my wife, etc.

We need to pray for others and with others. Go and do!

God bless,
Sean

Happy Birthday to Me (and my Twin brother)!

2012-11-08T18:46:00.000-07:00

Yep, I am going to do a post on my Birthday! I just wanted to tell everyone in the world to celebrate with me.

Rejoice that God has allowed us all to make it as far as we have through His will and power and honestly in spite of ourselves.

Well, have a good one and God Bless you all.

Sean

MEN BUY SOMETHING FOR YOUR WIFE

2012-11-07T19:00:00.000-07:00

MEN:

You know we have to shower our wives with gifts that show a bit of our love. We also have to be careful what we buy for them. For example, I've learned that buying a new vacuum is only asking to be stuck vacuuming until a new gifting occasion. Not me of course, I like to buy people really big T-Shirts for gifts…

In any case; here are some really nice gifts that I am sure the Mrs. would love.

www.proverbs31mama.org/gifts

http://delondaadams.webs.com/the-boutique

I’m sure there is something cute and nice for your special someone.

God Bless,

Sean

Welcome to November

2012-11-02T18:33:00.001-06:00

This is my birthday month and also the month of trying to get an A in Managerial Economics. I’ll be posting a few thoughts here and there and some inspirations for you via songs and sermons.

Please enjoy this month and we’ll also talk a bit about Thanksgiving and giving praise to God for your situation as well as few posts on changing your situation if it is undesirable.

Well enjoy November and I praise God for you and with you!

Sean

Happy Halloween!

2012-10-31T17:30:00.000-06:00

Well I won’t mention much about this as it is an issue that surely separates so many in the body. Instead I want to share some information with you concerning idolatry.

I am sure I can segue into this creatively from the topic of Halloween, but I don’t want to. I don’t have the time. I want to help you to identify possible idols in your heart.

“[…] ‘Everyone of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity […]” -Ezekiel 14:4

Some of us have idols in our hearts. It is our idol, our flavor of idol and we also put stumbling blocks before our own selves so that we can fall into sin.

So what can we do about these idols?

First we need to identify the idols in our hearts:

Ask God to search your heart Psalms 26:2

Look for habitual sins. Even Abraham had them, desiring safety more so than sanctification (Genesis 12 & 20).

Look at your secret sins- secret sins typically birth more sins and then death. Consider David’s tryst with Bathsheba (2 Sam 11). Secret sins are by far the most dangerous.

Desires that are so strong they compromise one’s standards. (Proverbs 1:10-15).

Ask those around you. If Nabal had asked Abigail what his issues were she would have told him and the story of Nabal’s end would most likely be very different (1 Sam 25).

This is a serious matter to study on your own and consider. Pray and be sure that we don’t have things in our hearts that we are putting before God.

God Bless,

Sean

When Sin Looks More Enjoyable Than God

2012-10-26T19:33:00.000-06:00

I think you will enjoy this message as it has blessed me on numerous occasions in hindsight.