Sorry about the double post the other day, I was having computer issues.

We won our twelfth game in a row last night, but it was a struggle. But after winning so many games by 40 points, struggling to win one was nice.

I am reading Dallas Williard's book "The Divine Conspiracy" mainly about the Kingdom of God. Some interesting stuff, but a definite deep read. It's for a class I am taking on the Kingdom. Here is my question that I have been grappling with for sometime. Jesus came and said, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." I believe that Jesus ushered in the Kingdom or access to the Kingdom of God for us as humans. We now have access to the power of the Kingdom through Jesus. But this is where my questions lies, what about the people in the OT? I know that the Kingdom is eternal, so it wasn't created just when Jesus came, God has always and will always rule or reign, which is what a Kingdom is. Did the OT people not have access to it? That is what it seems like. I'm confused.

If I learn something about this in the class I'll let you know. If you have any wisdom to share please enlighten me on this area.

God Bless you all!

Just a few random thoughts today...

- I hate bumper stickers...
- Do you think if Jesus were alive today he would walk around with a t-shirt that read "I save"...
- Right now I have a fellow Christian (at least I think they are a believer) who hates me because of a way that I handled a situation on my basketball team, yet they are not making basketball a "god" (Hmmmmmmmmm)...
- Do you think we as Christians will ever fully realize that we are all still sinners even after we receive Christ and react to and deal with and still love people accordingly?...
- No wonder the world hates us...
- I am beginning to understand people who say "I like Christianity, but those Christians"...
- I get to take my wife out on a date tonight...

Enough for today, I'm on a soap box and don't want to go any further...

Just some random thoughts today:

- I hate bumper stickers...
- If Jesus were alive today, do you think he would walk around saying "I Save"...
- Right now I have a fellow Christian who hates me due to the way I handled a situation on my basketball team, yet they are not making basketball a "god" (hmmmmmmmm)...
- Do you think Christians will ever realize that we are still sinners even after we receive Christ? If so, should that affect the way we perceive and deal with each other?
- I can see what people mean when they say, "I like Christianity, but those Christians...
- I get to take my wife out on a date tonight...

As you can see, I'm on a soap box today, I'll end there...

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are."
Matthew 23:15

Could these words be spoken to the church today as well?

I read over an article this week entitled "Achieve Your Dreams" which basically said that the ability to succeed in this life depends on your ability to dream. It was a nice little warm and fuzzy article, the kind that can make your spine tingle and inspire you...

It almost made me puke! There is only one way to "acheive your dreams" in this life, and that is through Christ. Anything else is utter heresy. Now, let me also say that I do see the purpose of dreaming and how it can inspire the soul, but what else to dream about than a relationship with Christ? What else can we dream about that serving Christ, loving Him, sharing His love with others, being His hands and feet to a world that so desperately needs Him. That is what I dream about. I dream about eternity with Him, worshipping Him for all time. That's dreaming, not about worldly, but eternal things.

"For our light and our momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Cor. 4:17-18

We need to be careful. It is little stories like this that can get us off track and miss the main focus of this life. They are warm and fuzzy stories that inspire, but the only inspiration I am looking for is from Christ. Let's stay on the straight and narrow path and keep fighting the good fight!

I just drove past a group of protestors on College Avenue with signs and pins and buttons. They were protesting the war. If I had time, I wanted to stop and talk to them, just to ask not what they were against, but what they were for.

We seem to be against a lot in our society today, but few focus on what we are for. Many of you know that we have begun a House Church instead of taking part in the traditional church structure. One thing I have been trying to be sure is that we focus not on what we are against, but what we are for. I have begun to create a list of what I am for below, it's incomplete, but it's a start...

I am for...
- Jesus
- the Church
- living as a child of God
- unity in the body
- study, living, and teaching of the Word of God (Ezra 7:10)
- serving the poor, being the hands and feet of Jesus
- spreading the Gospel of Jesus
- looking forward to eternity and living with an eternal perspective
- having a proper biblical worldview
- Christian community

I have more, that's enough for now. More on this at a later time. I hope and pray the Lord is blessing you all with His presence and spirit as you serve Him!

First, my apologies for my mistake in my last blog about Oklahoma. I was obviously mistaken, but I do want to find the aliens who came and stole the Sooners, I want them back!

Nothing knew on my end, more coming this weekend, just trying to find balance in truth, or is it truth in balance. Stay in the Lord!

Quick rant, it deals with sports, sorry. For those of you who follow college football, I give respect to USC, but I am sick of saying they are by far the best team in the nation and the Sugar Bowl shouldn't even be played. Nonsense, the best team is playing Sunday night, and if Oklahoma wins big they are the best team, hands down. Enough on that, if they lose, congrats to USC.

Sorry about that for you non-sports fans. Let me tell you a little about my personality, I learn best and prefer to discuss things beginning with questions. For instance, how are we to handle those who profess to be Christians but their actions and even their words say otherwise. Example: someone says that they are a Christian, saved by the grace of God through the death of Christ, yet demand that one must be baptized and go through a serious of requirements for that salvation? Or if one again professes Christ but says He is one of many ways to heaven? How do we handle that? Many say we shouldn't judge, leave that up to God, quoting Jesus' words in Mt. 7:1 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged."

However, I think we can judge those who profess to be Christian, and I think that we should. If one professes to be under the blood of Christ, for them to teach or live something other than truth should be called out. Of course, we all make mistakes, but when one is blatantly and unrepentently teaching and living false doctrine, they need to be rebuked out of love. Paul wrote about this in 1 Cor. 5, take a look and let me know what you think.