Making Disciples

Theistic Evolution

noreply@blogger.com (JonZ) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 21:33:32 PST

A huge debate going on right now is on the topic of Naturalistic Evolution (also known as Neo-Darwinism) and Intelligent Design.

Advocates of evolution seem to have the popular view, or at least they are the loudest, since if you ask most people they assume that evolution is the only theory on the origin of species. According to the movie Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed , even mentioning another side of the argument can cause many to lose their job, which continues to promote the idea that evolutionary theory is the only theory out there.

But there is another theory, Intelligent Design (I.D.). Intelligent Design is often times viewed as a "religious" or "theological" view, but it isn't. It is a scientific theory that states that certain things in nature are so complex that it is impossible for them to come to where they are in a fully natural way. This tends to be a common belief among Christians as Christians believe that the God is the designer.

One other theory, called Theistic Evolution. This theory states that God used evolution in the creation of the world. This is mainly a way to try and merge what the mainstream scientists believe with what the Bible says.

Theistic evolution however, is nothing more than an attempt to harmonize God’s perfect Word with man’s imperfect thoughts. Let's look at what the Bible states on this issue.

Origin of Man

Genesis 1:26-28

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

According to this passage man is an intentional creation from God, made in a distinct way different than the rest of the animal kingdom. None of the other animals were ever created with the description of being made in the image of God.

Another interesting point, is that when God created every animal, He spoke them into existence, but man, God formed man with His hands, and then breathed the breath of life into them.

Genesis 2:7

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

According to evolutionary theory:

Human evolution, or anthropogenesis, is the part of biological evolution concerning the emergence of Homo sapiens sapiens as a distinct species from other hominans, great apes and placental mammals.

Where the Bible says that Adam is a specific man created by God distinct from all the other animals where evolution says that man emerged from other animals in the animal kingdom and eventually became a distinct species. These views are completely in contradiction. Jesus mentions Adam as being a specific individual, so if we say that Adam was not an actual created person then we say that Jesus is lying.

So when your world view challenges what the Bible says, which will you decide is right?

Origin of Death

Pay careful attention to this point, because it involves one of the basic fundamental beliefs of Christianity.

1 Corinthians 15:21-22

For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.

Romans 5:12

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—

The Bible is clear that Death is a product of sin, a product of one man breaking God's laws. This world was intended to exist without death, and one day we will return to the perfect state of the world.

The theory of evolution states something quite different. According to evolution, death has been around for millions of years, and it is necessary for natural selection to take place. Death is a natural process a part of the natural world.

Don't miss that point, according to evolutionary theory, death is a natural process necessary for life to evolve, but according to the Bible death is unnatural, it is a product of our sin. If death is a natural product that God created from the beginning for the process of evolution then Jesus' death would be in vain, because it would not be a penalty for sin it would be a natural process.

Jesus knew no sin

Hebrews 4:14-15

Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Isaiah 53:5, 12

But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
And He was numbered with the transgressors,
And He bore the sin of many,
And made intercession for the transgressors.

2 Corinthians 5:21

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

So if you believe in Theistic evolution, then Jesus' death was for nothing, it couldn't have been a penalty for sin, it couldn't be Him paying that penalty for us, and we are lost still. This whole concept is deeply important to our salvation. In the old testament it was the slaying of a lamb that would be sufficient as a sacrifice, again, the death of an innocent would cover the sins of man.

So when your world view challenges what the Bible says, which will you decide is right?

7 Days of creation is in the wrong order

Day 1: God creates the world and light
Day 2: God creates the sky, and separates it from the ocean
Day 3: God creates dry land and plants
Day 4: God creates the sun and moon
Day 5: God creates sea creatures and birds of the air
Day 6: God creates land animals and man
Day 7: God rested

Some say that God used evolution but that each day was really a representation of a long period of time, thousands or millions of years per day. But we have a problem here, plants are created before the sun is, and we all know plants can't survive and reproduce without sunlight. Also, Birds of the air are created before land animals, and according to evolutionary theory birds evolved from land animals.

So does this mean that man lived with dinosaurs? Just read the last two chapters of Job where God talks about 2 "prehistoric" creatures that Job is actually looking at, or search or lake beds where we find men's footprints along side dinosaur footprints.

Also, when God created the plants, and each animal, He commands them to reproduce according to their kind. According to neo-Darwinism each animal reproduces and eventually creates a different kind, this is completely against what the Bible says.

So we have a big discrepancy here, these two accounts of creation cannot mix at all.

Biblical Age of the Earth

Genesis 5 gives us a detailed account of how old the age of the earth is. This gives us 2 important pieces of information. For one it shows that the Bible considers these people to be literal humans, giving them specific dates that the were born and died on. Neo-Darwinism blurs the line of when the first human appeared, there are several stages of advancement and there is no distinction of when the first human appears in history.

Also this tells us clearly how old the earth is. We know that Adam was created on Day 6, "And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth" (Genesis 5:3).

Seth was born when Adam was 130 years old, so he was born in the year 130. "Seth lived one hundred and five years, and begot Enosh." (Genesis 5:6). Enosh is born when Seth is 105, since Seth was born in the year 130 we can easily calculate the year that Enosh is born (130 + 105). Enosh is born in the year 235.

This process can be repeated, Genesis 5 goes all the way to Noah, and then you can continue through other chapters of the Bible such as Genesis 10 and Matthew 1. Not all chapters give an exact date, but you can easily estimate the life of one person. Through this process you can estimate that the Earth is aproximately 6,000 years old. Obviously not long enough for macro-evolution to create life.

If the Bible meant for the Genesis account to be taken as an analogy or a symbol, then it wouldn't give such details. Doing this research is very interesting, you can see how the lifespan of people was much larger before the flood, so we can assume that something major happened in the flood that changed the climate so humans couldn't live as long. These are all interesting topics to consider and research but they are outside the scope of this blog.

The point is that the Bible is clear on the creation account, it gives specific details and the gospel message itself is founded on the very beginning, that God created us unique and different than the animal kingdom, making us with souls where other animals don't have souls. It is because of our sin that death is in the world and it is for that very reason that Jesus was able to come and live a sinless life, and die taking our place on the cross, He took our place under God's wrath.

Conclusion

Theistic evolution however, is nothing more than an attempt to harmonize God’s perfect Word with man’s imperfect thoughts

The main reason people do try to mix these theories is because evolution is popular right now, but the popular scientific theories are not always correct. We need to rely on God and not man.

For those who think that this means we check our brains at the door and follow the Bible blindly, you couldn't be further from the truth. There are many websites on Intelligent Design that talk about the science that proves that there must be an intelligent force behind the creation of everything. We as Christians know who that intelligent force is.

Check out some other resources such as http://apologetics.org, or subscribe to a podcast called Darwin or Design where they discuss these issues and interview some top scientists on a weekly radio show. If you have questions feel free to ask us at http://www.EternalTruthMinistry.com

Don't compromise your beliefs just because someone says they have evidence to the contrary, we know from courts that both sides have evidence, but both are not correct, just because you have evidence doesn't mean you have all the facts about the evidence. Look into all sides for yourself, know the facts for yourself. God gave you a mind, use it.

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Evangelism Outreach

noreply@blogger.com (JonZ) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 03:25:01 PST

On my other forums (ETM) we have a discussion going on how you evangelize and outreach in your church. What one of the members said just blew me away.

Check it out.

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Before I start, I'd like to say that I am definitely in full support of outreaches and all the efforts different churches in the body of Christ to reach the lost.

However, I came to a point in my relationship with God where I couldn't just limit my evangelism to only during scheduled church outreaches. I heard a man preach something one evening that really rocked me. He explained that we shouldn't need to switch gears from normal life to reaching the lost. If it wasn't a lifestyle that lived, then I wasn't living for Christ. His message turned some people off, but God really did something in me. He started telling testimonies of how more people were getting lead to the Lord by his church members outside the church than in the church. People were getting healed, delivered, and saved in their local mall like crazy. And when people came to him and asked him "when and where do you meet for your mall outreach? We have heard all the testimonies of people being saved, healed, and delivered in your local mall." His response was "Mall outreach? We don't have a mall outreach, just church members who shop."

It got me thinking. I don't need to schedule a time to reach the lost, I need to develop a lifestyle of doing it in normal life. Ever since then, though hard sometimes, this is the main approach I have taken for evangelism, making it something I try to do everyday whenever an opportunity comes up.

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Biblical Interpretation

noreply@blogger.com (JonZ) — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 03:03:07 PST

Everywhere you turn you find countless number of denominations, and different sects of Christianity. Churches split up, people are told they are not saved because they go to a different church, or read a different version of the Bible. Many people are pushed away from Christianity because of these issues and more, can you blame them?

If you ask people why, it boils down to one thing, everyone has a different interpretation of the Bible. Let's look into this a bit.

Is how you interpret the Bible important?

This is a pretty easy question to answer. A person's life, every decision they make is entirely based on their beliefs, and for a Christian, those beliefs come from what the Bible says. Do you agree with capital punishment, abortion, how is one saved, how should we live, all of our ideas on this come from how one interprets the Bible.

Where do different interpretations come from?

Symbolism - A lot of passages in the Bible are symbolic, especially those passages talking about the end times. Passages talking about dragons, moon turning to blood, earthquakes, these all require some form of interpretation to find out what they are really referring to.

Historical and Cultural context - The Bible was written by a culture that is much different than ours. Their language was different, traditions were different, and many other things that separate them from us today. Which of these still apply to us today and how do they apply to us?

These are just a few examples of why different interpretations are created. Another big reason for interpretation is simply that we don't like what the Bible says, and when that happens, we change what the Bible says into something a bit more to our own taste.

Pastor Shawn Wood of Seacoast Church puts it like this:

The problem is that we are spending too much time interpreting the Bible, and not letting it interpret us. The big problem with our understanding of God's word is not an academic issue, it is moral.

It is not that we don't understand the Bible - it is that we don't like what we understand.

Is there one correct interpretation of the Bible?

This question is a bit harder to answer. Let's look at what the Bible says about it, for the Bible should give us instructions on how to interpret and read the Bible, right?

2 Peter 1:20-21 "But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God."

The Bible was written by God, not men. God is perfect and timeless, never changing and concerned with truth. Since God does not change, His word can't change, since there is one God, with one purpose, one intention, who does not change, than how can the Bible change? If the Bible cannot change, how can there be different meanings and interpretations?

There can not be different interpretations. There can only be one interpretation of God's word. It can be applied to our lives in many ways, but there is only one interpretation.

I will not say that I have the correct interpretation, for my views of doctrine have changed a lot over the years, as I spend time studying the Word of God and growing closer to Christ. The more I do this, the more my views become like His. And since God only has one view, that of Truth, all Christians should start becoming more alike in doctrine and in actions.

When you read the Bible, and you find something you don't agree with, what are you going to do? Twist the words around to change the meaning? Just toss it out as not being an important part of Scripture? If we do that, where do we stop? Can the passages about baptism be thrown out? About punishment? About homosexuality? About sin? About Jesus' death and resurrection?

If you determine what passages can be interpreted or are irrelevant to today, then you have just placed yourself above God. You have decided that what God thought was important and true you don't agree with so it shouldn't be that way, making yourself one that can change God.

When faced with something you don't agree with, or with something you don't understand, it's best to admit that you are the one that is wrong, and you need to change yourself to match what God says.

Read the Bible and interpret the Bible using the whole thing, in context, not just focusing on a certain passage that supports your view. If you look at everything as a whole you may discover that you were close, but not totally correct or you may even discover that you were completely wrong in how you interpreted the Bible.

The problem isn't in the Bible, the problem is in us.

Why do we need the correct interpretation?

We need to know the correct interpretation of the Bible so we know God's will and instruction for our lives. We need to know what sin really is, what repentance really means, what God's grace really means to us. We really need to know the truth about how to deal with those living in sin, and with our own sin. We need to know how we should view and treat others, regardless of if they are poor, homeless, rich, or unborn.

Most of all we need to know how to grow closer to God! We can't do that if we have a false interpretation of Him. If I had a false view of who my wife really was, then I wouldn't know how to do things to please her, or how to act when I'm around her. It is only by knowing the real person that I can begin to draw close to her and really start to connect and communicate. It is only this way that I can have a real relationship with her.

God loves us so much He sent His Son to die for us, shouldn't we at least make sure who He is so we know how to worship and serve Him? How to love and have a relationship with Him?

Study the Bible, repent of your sin, do whatever you can to have a closer relationship with the real God.

One last thing...

The Bible gives very clear instructions on some things, and on others it is vague and left open to personal decisions. This is what is commonly called personal conviction. Is it wrong to watch movies with violence or magic, is it wrong to eat meat or drink wine, or is it wrong to worship God on any day that isn't the sabbath? These things the Bible is not 100% clear on, and some feel a conviction that it is wrong, which is fine. If you feel it is wrong, then to do it would be a sin, but be careful that you do not place your own personal convictions on others. Something miner that you think is a sin, may be allowed for someone else. This is what quickly turns into legalism.

It takes studying the Bible and being close to Him to know the difference between a personal conviction and an actual command. Study the Bible and have a close relationship with God. Admit when you are wrong and learn how to properly interpret the Bible. Don't buy the lie that everyone interprets the Bible differently. They may, but most are wrong. Know that your own beliefs on many things are wrong and you will only learn this as your relationship gets closer to God. I know that I'm usually wrong and I'm willing to admit that most of the time. Pray for a humble heart and God's understanding when you read the Bible that you may interpret it correctly.

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Living in an HD world....

noreply@blogger.com (JonZ) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:54:38 PST

Everywhere I turn in the stores today I see "HD TV" and "HD DVD" and everything else that can be considered "High Definition."

I confess, I want an HD LCD TV, XBOX 360, and Blu-Ray DVD Player. When I think of how I can't afford them I get upset, even mad sometimes, because I can't have the cool toys that I want to have.

Tonight I was reminded of how selfish I am. How blessed I have been by God in so many ways and I get upset because I don't have the latest technology? Where has this world gotten to? Where have I gotten to?

I may only have a 19 inch CRT TV, but how many people in this world, even in this nation, wish they could have that much? Not to mention the iMac and Macbook Pro that my wife and I have. It is sad that I look in my pantry of food, or in the refrigerator and see all the food and think "Man, there is nothing to eat" so I go order a pizza! How many people don't have the wonderful blessing of pizza? That may sound like a joke, but I'm serious. So many people have little to no food. So many have to live off of rice, and I have all this food and decide I don't want anything that I have so I order something else.

Then think about Bibles... I have in my home about 5 or 6 Bibles. Different versions, differnt sizes, and most of them go unread. The others are not read nearly enough. Then I remember that in China, where Bibles are illegal people risk their life to get Bibles and deliver them to others.

I'm not saying we need to go get rid of all of our stuff, but it makes us think when we are desiring more and more stuff and get upset or bummed that we don't have the latest and greatest.

As the Christmas season comes, take some time to reflect on what it really means. Find things that you are thankful for and praise God for the blessings that we have. Greatest of all, thank God that we have been forgiven freely of all of our sin. Every time you sin and start to feel bad for it, Jesus already payed the price. So repent and go joyfully to the arms of your Heavenly Father who accepts us as we are!

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Do you have a burden for the lost?

noreply@blogger.com (JonZ) — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 01:44:41 PDT

I'm re-reading the Left Behind books right now and I came across an interesting quote that I think points to the heart of Christ. Something that shows how we should be longing for the unsaved to be saved.

The background of the quote is that Rayford Steel has recently found the truth of the Bible and is trying to reach out to other people, especially his daughter Chloe who has been resistant to the gospel. Here is what Ray felt in the book.

"I cannot lose her, he thought, and he believed he would trade his own salvation for hers if that was what it took.

With that commitment, he sensed God speaking to him, impressing upon him that tat was precisely the burden required for winning people, for leading them to Christ. That was the attitude of Jesus himself, being willing to take on himself the punishment of men and women so they could live."

I confess that my burden for the lost is not that deep, but it should be. Every single person is going to die and will one day face God, either with or without Christ. How selfish can we be as Christians to enjoy living our life for God, praising God and singing songs, but failing to do what God really wants done, reaching out to the lost and giving them the gospel.

Pray that God will put this burden on your heart so you will want to reach out and share the gospel no matter how uncomfortable it may be or no matter what it may cost you.

Jesus died for every single person, and are we going to be selfish enough to squelch what Jesus did by not sharing it?

May the lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering....

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Christians: Regarding Homosexuals...

noreply@blogger.com (JonZ) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 18:48:43 PDT

Over the past few days I have heard a few different stories showing the outspokenness of Christians against the practice of homosexuality, and I wanted to help clear a few things up before we go about accusing people of being a homosexual.

Before we begin, I will say that I am not in any way condoning homosexuality, it is a sin, like any other, and especially being a sexual sin (which the Bible states is even worse to commit 1 Corinthians 6:15-20) it is a sin against your body, which is the temple of God, it needs to be avoided at all costs. If you are practicing any sin, homosexuality, adultery, or other, you need to repent and give your life over to Jesus fully so you may serve Him instead of yourself.

With the recent news of Ted Haggard shocking America, and other similar stories from other churches, many churches decide to take up the arms against this outrageous sin and downright bash anybody who even appears to be a homosexual. With signs saying things such as "God hates gays" and other similar messages, what message are we sending to the world about God?

Being a Christian means that we are Christ-like, or at least trying to be. So where in the Bible did we see Jesus giving any such message? Only to the hypocrites, calling them a brood of vipers (Matthew 12:34 and Matthew 23:33) and sons of satan (John 8:44).

So then, what does Jesus say about homosexuals?

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)

Yeah, did you hear that homosexuals, you will not inherit the Kingdom of God (AKA going to hell)!!

Oh uhm, wait a second...

I think there are a few more words in that verse...

In the same list we see "Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners"

So before you start saying these things about any one group of people, analyze your own life, are you fornicating? Do you currently place anything above God in your life (idolatry)? Do you lust after other people (adulterer)? Have you ever taken anything or coveted anything? I think almost everyone in our nation has fallen into that one lately (I know I have).

Another verse:

But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8)

Ever told a lie?

Before you go jumping on the band wagon to attack a single group of people for their sin you need to look at your life.

Now, am I saying that we should just let someone living in sin be? (be it homosexuality, pornography, coveting, lying, slander, etc) Absolutely not! We all need Christ in our life and we all need to repent. No amount of work on our own part will remove the sin from our life. Only Jesus can do that.

So, what would you say to someone who is involved in sin? Why not just go through the 10 commandments? Ask if the person has lied, stolen anything, taken God's name in vain, or committed adultery.

People who are homosexuals have been so attacked by Christians that they need to hear the full truth. They have sinned against God even if they were never a homosexual! That is just one more of the many sins that the person has committed against God, and needs to be treated in the same way. If someone comes up to you and confesses that they have been falling into pornography would you isolate yourself from them, make fun of them and make a public spectacle out of it? Or would you pray with the person and try to help them on their path to repentance?

Now, to any of you who are sinning, you know you have done it, your conscience confirms that what you have done is wrong and against God. If you were in court and you are found to be guilty, next comes the sentencing, where you have to pay for your crime.

Every person will have to face the judge when we die, and you will be found guilty of breaking God's laws. " For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all." (James 2:10) and "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." (1 John 1:8)

But Jesus came to pay the penalty for your sin since you couldn't pay it. Out of His love for you He paid the price, and all you have to do is repent of your sin and confess Jesus and you will be saved. "that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." (Romans 10:9)

Here is some more scripture for you:

if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)

I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I have not hidden.
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,”
And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah (Psalm 32:5)

He who covers his sins will not prosper,
But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy. (Proverbs 28:13)

"I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake;
And I will not remember your sins. (Isaiah 43:25)

Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. (John 8:36)

The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. (Acts 5:30-31)

But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:21-26)

He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:13-14)

And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13-14)

For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” (Hebrews 8:12)

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

Now let's stop acting like the rest of the world, trying to hide our sin and act better than we are, and let's repent of our sins and help the lost do the same, the way Jesus did.

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via FoxyTunes

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The Breath of God

noreply@blogger.com (JonZ) — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 02:57:59 PST

Genesis 2:7 "Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being."

The breath of life... When man was first created, he was created special, different than the rest of the animals in the world.

For all of the other animals, God spoke them into existance. God said a word and there they were. But with man, God formed man by hand, and then God breathed into the man. We are litterally hand crafted by God, which is a cool thought if you really think about it.

When God breathed into man, He breathed into man man's spirit. It's this breath that brought us to life physically.

2 Timothy 3:16 "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;".

The phrase "inspired by God" litterally means "God-breathed". The scripture was breathed by God, and it is the breath of God to us.

Just like God breathed physical life into us, for us to be spiritually alive we must also have God's spiritual breath. Without us reading the Bible, our spirit is dead, just a clump of dirt. It takes the breath of God to make us alvie, so why do we ignore the Bible so much?

If we do not read the Bible on a regular basis, we will be spiritually dead, never growing or having a relationship with Christ, and that, is very dangerous.

Make sure you don't let your spirit die. Read the Bible daily and see what the Spirit of God breathes onto you today.

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Happy New Year!

noreply@blogger.com (JonZ) — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 06:02:42 PST

I think it would be fun to start off the new year with a joke.

A man was being tailgated by a stressed out woman on a busy boulevard.
Suddenly, the light turned yellow, just in front of him. He did the right thing,
stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by
accelerating through the intersection.
The tailgating woman was furious and honked her horn, screaming in frustration as she missed her chance to get through the intersection, dropping her cell phone and makeup.As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer.
The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up. He took her to the police station where she was searched, finger printed, photographed, and placed in a holding cell. After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.
He said, 'I'm very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you, and cussing a blue
streak at him. I noticed the 'What Would Jesus Do' bumper sticker, the 'Choose
Life' License plate holder, the 'Follow Me to Sunday-School' bumper Sticker, and
the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk.
Naturally...I assumed you had stolen the car.'

As you go through this year make sure you are representing correctly what you say you are. I heard a quote from someone, and I think it has a lot of truth to it, "The number one cause of atheism in the world today is Christians.... Christians who acknowledge Jesus by their lips, and deny Him by their lifestyle."

If you are not going to be witnessing to people to bring them to the Lord, at the very least make sure you are not sending them away from your attitude. Jesus paid too high a price for you to use His name to live like the rest of the world and give Him a bad name.

Have a happy New Year everyone! May you be blessed as you serve our Lord Jesus Christ this year in a way you never have before.

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Christmas 2007!

noreply@blogger.com (JonZ) — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 06:02:19 PST

Here are some pictures from our Christmas.

Malikai sleeping with his teddy bear.

Eating some blocks, one of Malika's Christmas presents.

Malikai never actually opened any presents, he just played with the packages for awhile.

Cats, for Christmas? Malikai and the cats playing with a box together.

Stay away from my box!

Sleeping under the tree, before it got destroyed.

A picture of Malikai's birthday cake. It tasted so good!

My sexy wife! I'm so glad I married her, she's the greatest person I have ever met! Nobody could ever come close to replacing her.

BONUS! Some more pictures of Malikai smiling.

Happy New Year everyone!

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Merry Christmas!

noreply@blogger.com (JonZ) — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 01:58:34 PST

Merry Christmas everyone!

A lot of people send out Christmas letters about what their family updates. Since I hate sending out letters (which is why I still haven't sent in my mail-in-rebate for my phone) and I'm a geek, I'll write a blog about the year.

The biggest news of the year is that we have a beautiful and healthy baby boy!

Malikai Jadon Zenor, born in December of 2006. He is now just over a year old and doing great. He is learning to walk on his own pretty well, and getting into almost everything. He knows how to climb steps, and I've gone through a lot of trouble trying to keep him off the stairs. Health wise, he hasn't gotten sick at all, and his height and weight chart is above average, so everything is perfect with him.

The events surrounding Malikai's birth were hectic and not the most fun. Danae went into labor during a blizzard, had to have the Army pick us up in a hummer and take us to the ambulance. That was a lot of fun, if only I had a picture of it. After Danae went through 2 1/2 hours of pushing Malikai was finally born. We had our family come out to visit and everyone got trapped in our house by another blizzard. That always causes stress and tension, a 1,080 square foot home with 10 people trapped inside for a few days.

Danae didn't have much fun either, she had Mono and Postpardum Depression at the same time, which made things quite hard. Because of all of that, DHS had to get involved. All in all, the beginning of the year was full of doctors appointments, court dates, and a bunch of other junk that we really didn't need at the time. Even several months after all of that was over with, we still got threatened with more legal action. Thankfully, I think we are passed all such actions. I really think none of it had to happen in the first place. When it all ended, we had the doctors, a therapist, the DHS case workers, and another court appointed family person all said that Danae and I both were taking great care of Malikai and all this junk shouldn't have happened in the first place.

I don't want to sound like I'm complaining, but this entire year has been full of extra stress and hassels, things that cost us extra money. But, we have a healthy baby boy, and for that we rejoice.

This year Danae and I have been searching for ways to witness to people online. This has been an interesting way to use our abilities (and addictions). There have been a few people online that we have brought back to the Bible, or just brought one step closer to following Christ. We have had our arguments with atheist, and sometimes we lose hope when not too many people show up, but we just have to remember, no matter how it looks, we don't know how God is going to use us.

I have also started school this year, taking online courses at Calvary Chapel Bible College. I just started my second course, only 32 more to go! So far I am learning a lot of really interesting stuff, but for now I just need to get going on this "textbook evaluation paper". It has to be 5-7 pages and I'm having trouble nailing down the main points of the book, there were so many good ones, it's hard to tell what the main one is. This first class requires me to do some work in the church, so I have been helping in the kitchen and nursery mostly. It has been a lot of fun, and even though it takes a lot of time I'm really glad that I get to do it.

Now that Christmas is almost here, we got the Christmas tree up. We didn't put up outside lights just because I have been tired, working long hours, and even on my nights off I have been dead tired. But I did took the time to put up the Christmas tree and decorate it real nice, but the cats promptly took care of that. Silly cats, climbing the tree at all hours of the night, unpugging the lights and batting down every ornament we had hanging. Next year I'll have to try some training techniques that someone told me about for cats. That should solve the problem so we can have a nice tree up, until Malikai gets ahold of it. So we will just have to figure out how to train Malikai to stay away from it. I'm sure bright shining lights and ornaments will not tempt him to go for it...

Anyway, that's it for this year. Only time will tell how next year turns out to be.

Merry Christmas everyone, and have a Happy New Year!

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Beware: Telemarketing Scams

noreply@blogger.com (JonZ) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 03:10:05 PST

Today when going through our mail, Danae came across a piece of what looks like Junk Mail, advertising some health insurance program. We normally just open and shred these, but Danae read it, and to our surprise we were informed that they had already charged us $9.95 for an introductory fee and will be charging us $50 per month starting in January….

Hmmm, this isn’t a good sign, but usually they are just trying to scare you into calling, they didn’t actually charge us did they? So a trip to the bank’s website cleared it all up for us. Errr, did it? Behold, on November 30th there is a charge for $9.95 from a place called “HCPGOLD”, Health Care Plus. So I do a search online for HCPGold, and guess what I found? See for yourself, [Google search], Anytime a search for a company begins with titles like "Complaints Board", "Complaint Wire" and "Consumer Complaints", you know this is not a very good company.

Turns out that they call you (usually, some people were never called) with some type of special deal for coupons. Hmmm, we were called about receiving $50 gas voucher and some $25 Walmart gift cards as a "thank you" for buying a product from this company, even though we have no idea what we bought from them. We said yes to the free stuff and were instantly signed up for this scam, but some people were signed up even for saying no to them... it seems like this company doesn't care, they are going to charge you no matter what.

Doing some more looking into my bank account I found two more charges from "WC *VALUE PLUS " and "WC *HOMEPLAY", for only a couple bucks, but still, I don't know who they are, so I search for them as well. Same search results. It seems that these companies are all tied together somehow. Doing some more digging it turns out that these three companies are fakes, the real company is called Provell an honest looking company, but searching their website clearly shows ties to the other three companies. Someone posted a Ripoff Report about this company, and his research shows that they are all owned by a "Damark International".

So all the complaints that I found were dealing with how people are being charged without authorizing the charges, had a hard time getting a partial refund, let alone full refund for anything more than a month (some were taken for $300 total, some more), had a hard time getting these people to stop charging their account, and would refuse to mention where they got the credit card info. In every case that I read about, people are being charged without knowing it, and without receiving any products at all.

I have already cancelled our debit card and gotten a new one on order to stop all further charges and I'm being mailed the paperwork by my bank for reporting frodulant activites, and tomorrow we will be spending our time trying to get our $13 back from this company! Then we will report them to the BBB, state Attorney General, Federal Trade Commision, and even the FBI. This may sound like a lot of work for only $13, but these people shouldn't be taking anything out of my account, and they have taken others for hundreds, so even if I don't get much out of it, at least I may be able to help some other people to get their money back and to protect others from this happening to them. Plus, the only reason they only took us for $13 is because we caught it right away. HCPgold promised to take $50 / month, and the two WC's take $19.95 EACH. That's $89.90 per month that would be STOLEN from us had we (Danae) not caught this in time.

So if any telemarketer calls, don't give them any information and make sure that you keep an eye on your account!

Oh yeah, and we never received our Gas / Walmart coupons and vouchers.

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Snow!

noreply@blogger.com (JonZ) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 02:38:16 PST

We got some snow today. Actually it has been snowing for 2 days straight and knocked the power out today for a few hours. should make for some good skiing this week.

Jon's Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (JonZ) — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:15:23 PST

Since my birthday was a week ago I thought it might be good to post about what I did on my birthday, since that is the kind of thing that people like to hear about.

So, on my big day, what did I do? I spent 12 hours at work and 2 hours driving to and from work. Oh boy, what fun it was. So for the most part it was a day just like any other.

When I got home I got to open my birthday gifts from Danae. I got a powerball and 2 new Dance Dance Revolution games for Xbox. All of them excellent gifts. Monday I spent playing one of my new DDR games, which was an okay game, but I prefered the old techno songs to the new American songs they played, it is hard to dance to Elvis...

But the other DDR game (Ultramix 4) has great music and a battle mode for two to four players. So I'm getting some exercise done finally. Also Monday I went to buy a new cell phone with the money from Danae's parents. It turns out that Verizon changed their new every two year policy a bit so I only got $50 off of the phone instead of the $100 I was expecting, so I still had to pay $50 of my own money, but that's okay. I got the new chocolate phone which looks really nice. The camera phone works great, as you can see from my post that I did while at Garden of the Gods. The money that my mom sent me I spent to buy a pair of ski boots, now I just need to get out and hit the slopes. I should be able to go next Monday now that the mountanis got some snow.

Speaking of snow, this weekend the forcasters predicted a heavy snow storm, slick roads high winds, all the things that make winter nasty. So Friday came along, with no snow, and Saturday was in the 60's.... at least the forcasters were close...

So that still leaves our winter mostly dry. On Friday night we did get a little bit of rain. I don't know how much, but when Danae and I went into the mall it was dry, and when we left the ground was wet and the sky mostly clear. But the mountains did get some snow so my ski trip should be a good one.

Saturday night I helped out at the nursury to help me get time for the college class that I am taking. I finished reading my text book but have procrastinated at writing the critical analysis of it. I need to get that started this week. Sunday morning while I was helping in the churches kitchen, a kid in the nursury set off the fire alarm during first service. That made for an interesting morning.

Work has had a few new things as well. I arrive at work tonight (I'm on the night shift now) and I'm notified that our shifts are changing, instead of being 6-6 they will be 7-7, starting tomorrow. So not only do they give absolutely no notice of this, but they didn't even make any plans to allow us to work only 12 hours so I have to do 13 hours tonight. On the slightly positive side they did work out a deal that will keep me on night shifts instead of me changing from days to nights. This will really help my body and my sleeping pattern, even though I will miss going to bed with my wife.

Another bad thing about getting off at 7 am instead of 6 am, that I just thought of, is that on Sunday mornings I will not be able to make it to hte first service at church, so that means I either show up late to church, or stay up a few hours later for the second service. I don't know if I will do that since I am already so tired when I try to drive home, but we will see. Of course the best option will be for me to get a job that isn't shift work, but God doesnt' seem to be opening any doors in that direction right now.

One thing that I forgot to mention, Malikai started doing some new stuff on my birthday. I saw him take his first few unassisted steps. He took 3 or 4 steps before falling down and I did capture it on video once. I will try to get the video posted online sometime during the next two weeks.

Anyway, I think I went on long enough. Have a good night everyone.

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Christmas Wish List 2007

noreply@blogger.com (JonZ) — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 11:48:39 PST

Hello again everyone.

Since the holidays are nearly upon us I have been asked by a few people for a list of what we want for Christmas. I decided that the easiest way to discriminate this information is through the blog.

Please check back for any updates that I might make to this post.

Feel free to point others to this blog if they want ideas.

Jon's List
Starting in January I will be doing some work on our basement, to turn it into a home theater room that is baby proof. This will all cost money, so if you could get me Home Depot Gift Cards that would be great. I'm also looking for a Miter Saw.

Beyond that:
Remote starter for our car (For those really cold mornings when I get off work. I'm dreaming, but oh well)
Book: The Case for the Real Christ
Movie: The Privileged Planet
A good electric razer (Something that shaves close and will last awhile)
An Apple Mac Book Pro - Black (Okay, now I'm REALLY dreaming...)
Movie Set: The Way of the Master Season 1 & 2 (The price has dropped to $50 each - Link Here)

Danae's list:
gift card for Barnes & Nobles for some books she wants
Fernando Ortega CDs

Malikai's List:
CLOTHES! (18 months and up, variety of clothes)
He likes toys that light up and make noises especially - or just any toy

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A day in the park

noreply@blogger.com (JonZ) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 13:10:40 PST

Today we weot for a hike in garden of the gods to enjoy the beautiful day.

It also gave me a chance to try out my new phone, but more on that later.

Happy Thanksgiving!

noreply@blogger.com (JonZ) — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 10:17:21 PST

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

About a month ago I said winter was officially here, well after that it went back to warm days. finally last night it snowed again, not much, but it was there. So we have a snowy thanksgiving... Somewhat.

Today we will be doing what every family does on thanksgiving, cooking turkey, mashed potatoes, and more.

As we get ready for our feast remember that none of it is possible without God providing it for it. Especially be thankful for our salvation that we did not deserve to receive when Jesus paid the ultimate price. If you are thankful that your sins are no longer counted against you then take a few minutes today to spend some one-on-one time with God. The word of God is living and active (Heb. 4:12) and it is our link to God, so take just a little bit of time with the One that has done the most for you.

Happy Thanksgiving and praise be to God!

We Make it Our Aim...to be Well Pleasing to Him

noreply@blogger.com (JonZ) — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 16:30:50 PST

Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences. - 2 Corinthians 5:9-11

We all know that God has called us to be disciples of Christ, and to make disciples of all nations, but how many of us really practice that?

A lot of Chrisitans don't believe that evangelism is important, or, if they do believe, they think that it is best left up to the "professionals". Despite what we may believe, what does the Bible say about this?

"for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10

"to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved." Ephesians 1:6

God the Son came all the way from heaven to seek the lost and to die for them. The Holy Spirit has bene in this wicked world for nearly twenty centuries, helping the church seek and win the lost. If reaching lost sinners is so important to God, it ought to be important to us. (1)

While we are not all called to be mass evangelists, like Billy Gram or Greg Laurie, we are all given the responsability to reach out to those that God brings into our lives. Jesus suffered and died so that we may be set free, why is it that, after being forgiven, we can not even bring ourselves to tell the lost about Jesus' sacrifice for them? Jesus bled and died for those that are lost, and we don't seem to care about the lost or about Jesus enough to share His love with them.

We all think that it is someone elses job, well what would have happened if the disciples thought it was someone elses job to star the church? The church would have never been started. Now the task has fallen to our generation, and we push it off and try to avoid it.

If we want to please God, then we need to do the work that He has set out for us, the work that Jesus came for and left for us to continue. If we know what judgment will be on people who die without Christ, then we must try with every fiber of our being to persuade them to surrender to Jesus Christ.

We don't need to wait for a huge evangelical rally to witness to someone; it only takes one person to witness to one other person to make a huge impact for Christ and turn that person's life around. Do a Google video search for "The Man from George Street". It is a short 5 minute video, but it has a powerful message of what just one man can do when he sets himself to do the Lord's work, even when he sees nothing in it for himself.

It's time that the Body of Christ pick up their Bibles and starts to do the work of Christ. Jesus didn't come and die so we could all be Spiritual Couch Potatoes. Jesus paid much too high a price for that.

Refrences
(1) "On Being a Servant of God", Warren W. Wiersbe, page 110

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Being a successful Christian

noreply@blogger.com (JonZ) — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 21:40:36 PST

"This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success." Joshua 1:8

Awesome, meditate on the Bible and we will be successful, having money, good health and well liked.

As much as I would like to see that statement in the Bible, the more I meditate on it the more I know that is not the case. Paul was a great example of this, He knew the scriptures, walked by faith and preached the gospel. Yet, Paul never had a lot of money, didn't have a position of power, was often jailed and beaten, and had some type of physical affliction that God would not take away, even though Paul prayed that God would.

So, was Paul successful? From here it doesn't look like Paul was very successful. So was the Bible wrong then when it said that we will "have good success"?

Before we say the Bible was wrong, or that Paul wasn't successful, here is another thought. By who's standards are you measuring success? Fame, fortune, health, a place of power, these are all criteria that the world bases success on, but Christians are not of the world.

1 John 2:16 "For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world."

1 Corinthians 2:12 "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God."

No, the success that God tells us about in the Bible must be different than our own definition of success. Paul was successful, he obeyed God in what he did, so Paul's success was in the Lord, and in doing the Lord's work.

1 Corinthians 15:58 "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."

Colossians 1:9-11 "that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; 10 that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; 12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins."

Psalm 1:1-3 "1 Blessed is the man
who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
or sit in the seat of mockers.

2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers."

We will be successful in the Lord when we do His work, according to His will. As Joshua stated, we will be successful by meditating on the Bible day and night, and not letting it depart from your mouth. This is the only way that you will be able to walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him.

Fully pleasing God... now that's what I call success.

Does it not seem important that we be reading the Bible daily? How else our we to get to know our Lord? Every Christian needs to make it a point to read the Bible daily, this will help you have a Christ like attitude, and to avoid false doctrines.

It is vital in our relationship with the Lord, so make some time for it. God deserves at least a few minutes out of your day, right?

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Self Smart

noreply@blogger.com (JonZ) — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 07:46:45 PST

Don't ever read books! They fill your brain and make you die earlier! .... or is that drugs?

Say NO to drugs.

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All systems are go!

noreply@blogger.com (JonZ) — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 07:39:59 PST

Captain, we get signal! Here is Malikai playing with some of our headphones. I still think he is the worlds cutiest baby.

Exhausted

noreply@blogger.com (JonZ) — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 23:41:14 PST

Over the past week, I have been completely exhausted. Coming home from work late, spending very little time with my family because of work, plus all the other issues going on in life, I have just been dead tired lately.

This week I switched back to the day shift, which is better for me spending time with Danae and Malikai on my days off but things are a lot crazier at work during the day. Monday I came home so exhausted that I was in bed at 8:30 after getting home at 7pm. The entire night was wasted. Even with all that sleep, on Tuesday I was still really tired soon after arriving at work. To top it all off, in the next few days they might change the work times to 7 o'clock to 7 o'clock instead of 6 to 6 like we currently have it. This means that I will not get home until 8 pm and have virtually no time with my family on the days that I work. I can't wait to get a new job. A job that will allow me to have a normal home life, where I can plan to do Bible studies on a weekly basis, and concentrate on doing my school work on a regular basis.

Speaking of school work, I have been a bit behind in the church service part of my class. I was only able to do 4.5 hours last month instead of 8 hours of helping out at the church. I have a lot to make up for. Working every other Sunday really eats into my time, as well as being really tired on my days off. I should be able to make up some of that time when Danae and I start helping out at the church nursery.

Last week I had another interview, though this guy definitely wasn't a confidence builder, which was really discouraging. He basically said that since all of my experience was on Windows 2000 servers (when I was in the Navy) and I have no certifications I would never be able to get a job in the civilian world where they use Windows 2003. I don't understand that reasoning very well. Even though I haven't had experience on that exact operating system doesn't mean that I can't do it. Windows is windows, if you know one then upgrading is usually fairly easy. Oh well, I don't need to use that company, there are still others. Now to just get another job interview. I applied at a couple more jobs today, but still no luck hearing back from anything. I just want to find something before our shifts get all messed up.

Anyway, I'm really tired so I'm going to bed now.

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A Life Focused on Christ First

noreply@blogger.com (JonZ) — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 12:08:35 PDT

For my class "Practical Christian Ministry" at CCBC I have to read a book called "On Being a Servant of God" by Warren W. Wiersbe. The focus of the class is to teach you how to have an effective ministry, and the book by Warren Wiersbe is to give you the advice that he wishes he was given when he first started out.

I'm not very far along in this book yet, but every single chapter so far has been a treasure trove of information. Some things seem like common sense, but still things that we need to be reminded of because of how often we forget. Other points that he brings up are things that I have never thought of before, but every one of them I can see helping someone who is either in charge of, or helping out a ministry.

Some of these things, however, I can see being a huge help in not only a ministry, but in your own personal life too. And as I thought about it, it all made perfect sense. Every one of us has a ministry of our own, we are called to it as Christians and we serve in it if we know it or not. Every Christian is called to carry his cross, spread the gospel to the nations, and to love our neighbors. So this gives me an entirely new outlook on this book, not only can it help someone out in a ministry, but if they apply the same things to their own life then it will make a dramatic impact in your life as well.

I could give an overview of the entire book, but that would take too long, so I want to focus on only one chapter. Chapter seven deals with how our main focus in ministry is to put the Lord first, not people (Col 3:23-24). Here are a few reasons why:

You will be motivated to do your work and not look for excuses.

If you work just for your salary, you will never do your best as long as you feel like you are being underpaid. If you minister just to get recognition you will never do as much when people don't show their appreciation. The only motivation that will take you through the storms and keep you on the job is, "I'm serving Jesus Christ."

You want to do your best.

Most of us would do something for somebody we really love, when we really care about somebody we work hard to give them our best. If you are serving God as number one in your life, then nothing will be too great a sacrifice for you, and you won't even consider it a sacrifice. Look at what Jesus sacrificed for us because He loved us so much, imagine how we can serve God if we show Him the same type of love and devotion.

The burden is light.

Matthew 11:30 Jesus says "For My Yoke is easy and My burden is light." I would rather have Jesus Christ as my master than anybody else. He provides the power I need to serve Him, and the forgiveness when I mess up.

You stop watching other Christians and passing judgment on what they do or what God does with them.

People watching is a popular pastime among Christian workers (and just among church goers), but it's a dangerous one. If you keep your eyes of faith on Christ and seek to please Him alone, you won't have either the time or the desire to watch others. Have you complained because God gave others a better deal than He gave you? Perhaps the people don't seem to work as hard as you do, or maybe they haven't' been in Christian service as long as you have; yet God bypassed you and rewarded them abundantly. Satan can use a thing like that to get a foothold in your life, make you bitter, and create problems in your ministry. But if you work for Christ alone, you won't be bothered by what other workers do or what God does for them. Nor will you try to make bargains with God to be sure you get your rightful share. If you do, you'll be the loser because God still gives His best to those who let Him write the contract.

John 21:22b
"what is that to you? You follow Me." It shouldn't matter to us how God treats others, all that matters is that we follow Jesus. With or without reward, with or without suffering, with or without recognition, we need to just follow Jesus.

Ministry isn't easy, but you make it more difficult for yourself if you serve people instead of the Lord Jesus Christ. You can't please everybody, so don't even try. Just live and work in such a way that your Master will be able to say, "You are My beloved servant in whom I am well pleased."

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Google's Grand Central: First Impressions

noreply@blogger.com (JonZ) — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 23:49:09 PDT

I got my new Google Grand Central account invite today, so I quickly went to setup the account. Setup is simple, first you pick the phone number you want, then you enter your current phone number, they call you and you type in the code they give you. Then you proceede to your personal info and you are done.

I haven't had time to give this service an indepth review, but I did get some strong first impressions.

The goal of this service is "One number for life". GrandCentral gives you a phone number, and you use this as your public phone number. Give it to everybody, friends, family, co-workers.

Then in Grand Central you can add up to 6 of your current phone numbers. These numbers can be home phones, cell phones, work, or anywhere else you commonly hang out at. Grand central will tie all of these numbers into your single grand central numbers. If your home number changes, no problem, edit the number in your grand central account and all calls are automatically routed to your new phone number, nobody needs to be informed.

But, you want customization, right? If your buddies are calling you, you may not want them to reach you at work, but only on your cell or home phone. You don't want people from work to call you and have the office ring, or your spouse to call you from home and have it ring the home phone. You setup various groups, and you tell each group which phone you want them to get ahold of.

This is what groups are for. You assign your contacts to a group, family, work, friends, and others. You cannot, however create your own groups, and I see that as a huge limiting factor. You can adjust the settings on an individual contact basis, but if you have several peopole that you want to have the same setings for, it would be much easier to put them all in a custom group.

Quick Rule

There is a quick rule setting that will override all of your current settings. You can have everything route to voicemail if you don't want to be disturbed, or temporarily route everything to a new number. Then you just turn off the quick rule and everythign goes back to normal.

Custom Greetings

You can setup a custom greeting for each group, so if someone from that group calls and goes to your voicemail they only hear the message that is for that group alone. You can create a custom greeting on a per user basis, just like YouMail (see my previous coverage). One more advantage that YouMail has over Grand Central is that they have a huge selection of pre-recorded messages. These messages don't have the personal touch of recording it yourself, but they are fun for friends and family. With Grand Central you can only record your own messages.

Ring Back Tones

Grand Central offers free ring back tones, called Ringshare, so people calling don't have to listen to a boring normal ring. When Google bought Grand Central they limited this service by taking away the mp3 uploading, to protect themselves from copywrite no doubt, and you have to choose from their library of approved licensed ring back tones. This collection, well, it sucks. You can choose from the rings of 6 different countries, 4 sound effects, and 4 voice recordings. Very limited, no music or anything. If there were more rings, and a huge selection of music then this would be awesome. But at least you do get the chance to assign each group, or individual, it's own ringshare.

Spam Blocker

The entire Grand Central community flags spam messages, and telemarketers and they get added to a spam filter. If someone from this spam filter calls you, their call is not put through to your phone. You can select if you want this service on or off and also you select if the message left by the person is deleted or put into a spam folder. For those of you who hate telemarketers, this is a good way to do it. It's just too bad they can't protect your actual home number, they can only protect the Grand Central account. So, if you constantly get plauged by telemarketers, you may want to consider this free service.

Visual Voice Mails

There is a nice web interface that shows you all the calsl that you ahve and who it is from. This way you can skip straight to the messages you want to hear. You can also save these messages forever and forward them to others.

Block Callers

You can set certain individuals to be blocked, then the person will hear a standard "number out of service" message. It isn't customizable for what message to play, but it works all the same.

Web Call Button

Now this is a neat feature for a business website. You create a button and the person clicks on it, enters their phone number, then Grand Central calls their number and your number. So it puts your customers in contact with you without giving out your number. When you activate this service, it adds itself as another group and you have all the same options. You can change the ring they hear, have a custom voicemail, and select which, if any, phones it rings. If you don't want it to ring your phone you can have it go straigt to voicemail.

Give it a try! Just click this button. Your number is protected as well.

Overview

I can't see this service being useful for an entire family, at least not until you can have custom groups, and I do see some limitations for things outside of business. If you have one phone number that you give out, that rings your home and cell, what if the person at home keeps answering before you can get to it on your cell? You would have to be careful how you setup which group can call each phone.

Overall, I think it would be really helpful if you could create custom groups, but the fact that you can unify all of your phones, and voicemails under a single number can be really beneficial.

YouMail vs Grand Central

It is hard to compare these since they have differnt goals to them.

YouMail is a lot more customizable for voicemails. The visual voicemail works the same, sending you voice messages to your email and allowing you to forward the messages to others and save them for life. With thousands of pre-recorded messages it makes the service more fun. They are trying to allow you to have the same voicemail settings on any phone under your account, including your land line phone, but you still have seperate numbers to deal with.

Grand Central works great for merging all of your numbers and voice mails into a single place, and if you ever change a phone number you just change it in your grand central control panel and you will never have to worry about letting everybody know. I can see this being very usefull for any single guy or business man who is out a lot, but for a family number I don't think it would work as well. Each member in your family would have to have their own account, then maybe it would work better, although if two accounts use the same home number I don't know if Grand Central would complain or not. Grand Central does have a much smoother, nicer looking website, but YouMail's website isn't bad either. Both take a simplistic view on things, which is the way it should be for services such as this. A simplistic website allows for easier customization and navigation.

So as far as which service you should use, I can't tell you that. Decide for yourself. Just keep in mind that Grand Central is in beta testing mode and you can only be invited by a current member. Both services are free so there is no harm in trying them, but there is no way to combine the services to use both.

I'll write a more in-depth review later if I find things that are different than I mentioned here.

P.S. Another benefit of this service, you can click a call button in your address book, enter your phone number and then it calls you, then that person is called. A great way to get ahold of people if you can't make a long distance call.

Until next time, this is Jon signing out and wishing you happy voicemailing!

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Movie Warning: The Golden Compass

noreply@blogger.com (JonZ) — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 15:40:21 PDT

The Golden Compass is a movie that is coming out early December of this year. It looks like it will be a very enjoyable fantasy movie, and it is being made into a trilogy, so it should be a great series.

Or maybe not...

I got this warning today in an email that directed me to the snopes.com page about this movie. Here is what the movie is really about.

[Collected via e-mail, October 2007]

There will be a new Children's movie out in December called THE GOLDEN COMPASS. It is written by Phillip Pullman, a proud athiest who belongs to secular humanist societies. He hates C. S. Lewis's Chronical's of Narnia and has written a trilogy to show the other side. The movie has been dumbed down to fool kids and their parents in the hope that they will buy his trilogy where in the end the children kill God and everyone can do as they please. Nicole Kidman stars in the movie so it will probably be advertised a lot. This is just a friendly warning that you sure won't hear on the regular TV.

[Collected via e-mail, October 2007]

I don't just generally dismiss a movie or book just because someone 'says' it's meant to be something else...but this is worth knowing if you plan to see it (or plan to take your kids).

"Hi! I just wanted to inform you what I just learned about a movie that is coming out December 7, during the Christmas season, which is entitled THE GOLDEN COMPASS. It stars Nicole Kidman and it is directed toward children. What is disturbing to me is that this movie is based on the first of a trilogy of books for children called HIS DARK MATERIALS written by Philip Pullman of England.

He's an atheist and his objective is to bash Christianity and promote atheism. I heard that he has made remarks that he wants to kill God in the minds of children, and that's what his books are all about. He despises C.S. Lewis and Narnia, etc. An article written about him said "this is the most dangerous author in Britain" and that Pullman would be the writer "the atheists would be praying for, if atheists prayed." Pullman said he doesn't think it is possible that there is a God and he has great difficulty understanding the words "spiritual" and "spirituality." What I thought was important to communicate is what part of the agenda is for making this picture. This movie is a watered down version of the first book, which is the least offensive of the three books. The second book of the trilogy is THE SUBTLE KNIFE and the third book is THE AMBER SPYGLASS. Each book gets worse and worse regarding Pullman's hatred of God. In the trilogy, a young girl becomes enmeshed in an epic struggle against a nefarious Church known as the Magisterium. Another character, an ex-nun, describes Christianity as "a very powerful and convincing mistake." As I understand it, in the last book, a boy and girl are depicted representing Adam and Eve and they kill God, who at times is called YAHWEH (which is definitely not Allah). Since the movie would seem mild if you viewed it, that's been done on purpose.

They are hoping that unsuspecting parents will take their children to See the movie, that they will enjoy the movie and then the children will want the books for Christmas. That's the hook. Pullman says he wants the children to read the books and decide against God and the kingdom of heaven.

If you decide that you do not want to support something like this, I suggest that you boycott the movie and the books. I googled a synopsis of THE GOLDEN COMPASS. As I skimmed it, I couldn't believe that in a children's book part of the story is about castration and female circumcision.

After that, snopes goes into some details about the facts of these claims. You really should check it out.

http://snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp

Spread the word, don't let people support this movie.

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YouMail: Replace Your Mobile VoiceMail Service

noreply@blogger.com (JonZ) — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 01:36:22 PDT

As I spend time searching the net, viewing other's blogs and visiting tech, or geek websites, I occasionally come across very usefull services. Technology was designed to make life simpler and more organized, however, it seems that it can often do the opposite. So when I find a piece of tech out there that adds functionality, simplicity, or fun to your life, then I love to share it with others.

Like this website, YouMail.com. This is a free website voicemail service for your cell phone. Since it has the word "FREE" attached, I decided to give it a try.

Getting Started

Getting started was easy. I just entered my phone number for my cell phone, and they sent a text message to my phone with the password. I was then asked the model number of my phone, and then was directed to type in a number on my phone, call and hang it up. Then I just had to go to a setting in my messages area and change the voicemail number to the new phone number. Don't get too discouraged by all of this. By picking your cell phone and service, they give you step by step directions for your specific phone, so there isn't any guess work involved.

Then, you just simply go online to their website and I can either record a greeting directly onto the website, upload a file from my computer, or select a message from their selection where they boast 1000 + messages.

Mulitple Greetings

For my default voicemail I just use my own voice to give a simple message. Then I setup groups that will have some of the other fun messages, or even just for an individual. The selection is pretty neat, and you can upload your own .WAV files to add to their library also. I don't think that all of them are appropriate for a voicemail message, but they can be fun anyway, great for friends and family members to laugh at.

Cool Greetings

The sound library, called "Cool Greetings" allows users to rate the files. Although it appears that as of now you only get to rate a file once. If you change your mind or hit the wrong button, there is no way for you to re-rate it. Also you can add things to your favorites, but, as of now, you cannot remove them from your favorites. With each sound file is a link to use this file. You press that and you are taken to your YouMail control panel and the file is added to your list of current voicemessages. You can delete files from here if you don't want them anymore. The website does seem a little slow sometimes, especially in the Cool Greetings area, but it's nothing to shake a dial-up modem at.

Contacts

Once you have the files added you can assign them to a group or to individuals. One of the two biggest things I don't like about this service, is that you cannot upload your contacts from elsewhere. You have to enter them individually. This service does seem to be updated frequently, so I wouldn't be surprised to see something implimented before too long. Even something like Plaxo's Address Book Widget would be nice, but that is limited in that it only gives email addresses I believe.

So you add your contacts, then if you wish you can assign someone to a group, so they receive the same voicemail as the group gets. If you have a message, or greeting, assigned to a user and to the users group, you can set the group setting to either overwrite the individual greeting, or to play both greetings.

I have 3 groups setup. Friends, Family, and Work. I have a couple people in each one with a specific greeting. Then I have a couple family members who are not in the family group because I wanted them to have a special greeting without annoying them with 2 messages. Especially since one kind of long and they have no relation. The 2 message thing I could see being useful for businesses. If you have multiple clients, you can have a message for everybody, then at the end play a specific message for just that person.

Another downside that I hope gets fixed soon, if you add a phone number to a user, then remove that phone number and add it somewhere else, even to a different position on the same user, it will not let you. It says that you can't reuse a number. So you have to delete the origional contact that had that number then re-enter the updated info. If anybody from youmail reads this, PLEASE fix that.

My Tests

I have tested my voice mail from several phones, and they all work perfectly. After the normal number of rings I'm directed straight to the voicemail message that is assigned to that phone. There is no delay so nobody would even notice. Now, you can sound professional to those you work with and to your boss, sound all loving to your family, but be goofy to your friends all at the same time.

Some other really neat features of this service is that you can have mulitple phones under the same account, so the settings are all the same no matter which phone is called. They can even support Land Lines, although I couldn't get this setup since they don't support Vonage yet. That's the other big thing I didn't like about this service that I mentioned earlier. So I can't tell you how well the land line version works, if anybody tests it out please leave a comment with some details.

Since this service is web based, you can access all of your voice mails and missed calls online. You can save these message forever, or even forward them to other friends when a goofy or cute message is left. The messages can also be retrieved through your phone or even be sent directly to your email inbox.

Ditching

A unique feature that I have not heard of before, is called "call ditching". You select the ditch icon for an individual and then it plays the specific message for them and hangs up without allowing them to leave a message. There are even several pre-recorded messages just for this service. You can get a disconnected message, or some funnier or annoying ones. This would be useful for an ex-boy/girl friend that just doesn't get the message, or for pesky telemarketers that you don't want calling you anymore. I haven't tested this service out yet and don't plan on using it on anybody so I don't know for sure how well it works, but I don't see how there would be any problems. Maybe tonight I'll try to ditch myself and see if it works from my other phone...

I have been reviewing this service for about 2 days now, and so far I have had no problems, although I have not had anybody call to leave a message for me, so I have to leave the messages myself. It's pretty bad when the only person you can get to leave messages for you is yourself. Oh well. For some fun I should put my dad's voicemail message to be "The person you are calling right now cannot come to the phone, please leave a message after the beep... and don't forget to vote for Hillary Clinton." That would probably spark some interesting messages that my dad would leave on my phone. =:)

Just for the record DO NOT vote for Hillary Clinton. I in no way endorse her or her views and would NOT want to see her become a leader of our nation. That was meant strictly as a joke! You may now continue...

Use it!

From what I have seen so far I would recommend others to use this, however, you may want to hold off for a bit. While researching this service from others sites I discovered another, similar, yet more powerful site. This site has been bought by Google, so they promise to keep it free. It has a different purpose and direction, but all the functionality of YouMail is included, plus a whole lot more. The down side is that it's in beta testing and you have to be invited. Hopefully by mid-week next week I will have my invite and be able to test this one out as well. After I do that I will be sure to write a blog about it and give my opinion on the service.

If you do want to jump on this site, the address, once again is http://youmail.com/.

Now to go find a special message for my wife!

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