Lukas makes it BIG!

My friend Lukas VanDyke is featured by Tim Challies.

Read here his interview.

With all this busyness... Here is a Proverb!

I have not posted for over a week.
It has been quite a busy couple of weeks at school and work, and I could not get time to post.
I was thinking about what to post early this morning. The truth is that for days now, I have had in my head the passage that I will be teaching on this Friday night at Hillside.
Proverbs 15:11
Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the LORD;
how much more the hearts of the children of man!

Sheol was consider for the Jewish people as the place of the dead.
Abaddon was the place of destruction.
The NIV says, "Death and Destruction lie open before the LORD;"
This is an argument from the Greater to the lesser; that is, God can see Death and Destruction open before Him... How much more can He see your small heart.

I will not give you the whole lesson, but suffice it to say that Knows it all, even your heart.
As I was thinking about this for Friday, I pondered on the fact that God is omniscient and that He is omnipresent. These truths should not only be a deterrent to not harbor hidden sin, but they also should be an encouragement to look for vindication only before our God.
As we think of our God, let us worship him and fear him because even Death and Destruction Lie open before Him.

Republican? Democrat? No Thanks, I am a Monarchist!

Last week one of our professors told us that he was neither a Republican, nor a Democrat; he said, "I am a Monarchist, I am waiting for my King to come and Rule perfectly over the earth."
That statement caused me to change what I was going to teach on friday.
I was schedule to teach on Proverbs 31, the excellent woman! However, I could not help for my mind to gravitate to another passage, Proverbs 21:1 "The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will."
This proverb shows us that God is in control, even in human government.
The image is pretty vivid, God hands moving a flow of water wherever he desires, that is the heart of the king. I think that sometimes we worry too much about who will win, what they stand for, but we forget that behind EVERY ruler, stands the RULER of the universe.
There are four responses to this verse.
1) Trust God- That whatever happens in government, He is still sitting on the throne
2) Pray- Pray for your leaders, for wisdom.
3) Vote- Since we live on a democracy, there is nothing wrong for us to vote for the candidates that will help the right people.
4) Remember- We need to remember that God wins at the end. No matter how bleak the outlook, God still wins at the end.

Loose Lips Sink Ships

Free speech is something people cling to so that they can say whatever they want. Yet in Scripture we find that limiting our speech is better than, FREE SPEECH.
Provers 10.19 says, "When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, But he who restrains his lips is wise."
Solomon, the king of Israel, is writing to his son and tells them that wisdom is found in limiting words.
I was talking to someone last night and told her that I was going to be making sure Cael memorizes this verse. She asked, "Do you think he will be a talker?" I responded that I was not sure, but I knew one thing that he would not be perfect. James says that a person that is able to restrain his lips is perfect, thus this passage applies to all, talkatives-types and non-talkative-types.
We find two motivations for limiting our words, 1) you will avoid sin; and 2) you will show wisdom.
Wisdom is found in what we say, but also in what we do not say.

Proverbs

It seems like every language in the world has its sayings. In fact, there are websites devoted to sayings and proverbs.
This year I have decided to start reading proverbs to Cael. Yes, I know he is only 7 months old, but being that proverbs was written by Solomon and they were written for his son, I thought I could start now reading them to Cael.
Also we are doing a series on the proverbs at Bible Study. We started off with Proverbs 15.20, "He who neglects discipline despises himself, But he who listens to reproof acquires understanding."
I am excited to see how God will bless our study and also to see how Cael will be blest in the future by the teachings in Proverbs.

ps. It is good to be back.