Journals, Computers and Doctrine...Huh?

You may think the the three things mentioned above are not related in any way...well they're not. But they apply to my life at the moment.

For years now I have wanted to start journaling. Everyday or so, write down life experiences, thoughts, ponderings, what I'm learning from the bible, lyrics...you know, whatever comes to mind. Well I finally bought one. I am quite excited about this. Maybe, every once in a while I will post a particularly interesting or insightful journal entry here. But probably not too often...too personal.

In August, my iBook computer of over 6 years finally crashed. So, since then, I have been saving up to buy a new Mac. Well, today I finally bought one! It is an iMac with a 20 inch display, 2 GHrz processor, 2GB RAM, and 320 GB hard drive. It will be AWESOME...but not as awesome as what I am going to say next!

So I have been studying some fairly deep theological issues as of late, and it is so great! There are lights going on in my brain everywhere. For example, I have been studying the imputation of Christ's righteousness. What an amazing doctrine! Basically, it states that through our faith in Christ, we are connected to Him and through that connection, His righteousness has been imputed on to us (if you are a Christian). So, our standing before God has nothing to do with us actually being righteous, because we are counted as righteous through an alien righteousness that is not our own...namely, the righteousness of Christ. That is why he lived a perfect life. To count His righteousness as ours through our faith in Him! How awesome is that? And how secure should that make us feel? Our righteousness does not rise when our faith is strong and fall when our faith is week. Why? Because it has nothing to do with us! It isn't our righteousness. Our righteous standing before God is based on the rock solid foundation of Christ's perfect righteousness that has been counted as ours! And Christ's righteousness never waivers or falters.

Man, if anyone ever tries to tell you that doctrine is over rated and not important and not essential to our Christian life, slap them in the face! It is precisely doctrines such as the imputation of Christ's righteousness that give us hope and joy and security. It is amazing when you actually understand theology. Oh, how deep your faith can become! I am not trying to say these things to puff up my own knowledge and understanding. I am only trying to show the joy and importance of digging in and tackling the deep doctrines of the bible. The rewards are huge!

God Centered? John Piper!

I said in my last post that the American church is dying because of a lack of God centered, Christ exalting preaching, teaching and worship. Many, maybe even most pastors today do not preach and teach and worship in a way that is radically God centered, and that is why the church is dwindling. So is there anyone out there that does? Is there a pastor that, above all else, exalts the glory of God in the face of Christ? (2 Cor. 4:4-6)

Yes, there are those who do. But John Piper is the most God centered preacher and teacher that I know of, bar-none, no question about it. I would recommend everything ever written by Him to you. He has helped me see the bible and what it says in a way that has changed how I view salvation, God's love, our love for God, joy, delight, sin, missions, grace...and the list goes on.

So if you are seeking teaching that exalts God above everything else, please visit www.desringgod.org

The Sad State Of Things

So the other day, I attended this Christian leadership seminar and the guy who was leading it started with this quote from George Barna. It made me more than slightly upset:

"The American church is dying due to a lack of strong leadership. In this time of unprecedented opportunity and plentiful resources, the church is actually losing influence. The primary reason is the lack of leadership. Nothing is more important than leadership."

I just want to start right off by saying that that is a bunch of bull-ony! I didn't even really hear what he said in the rest of the seminar, I was so upset. Now I do agree with him that the American church is dying. But it isn't dying because we have a lack of leadership. We have leaders coming out of our ears. It's dying because of the very attitude that this quote conveys; that leadership and techniques and the next big trend are more important than a pervading attitude of Christ exultation and God centerdness in the church.

To say that "leadership is the most important thing" is blasphemous and the very reason for the sad state of the American church. O, that the church would stop exalting man above his rightful status as the one being saved and start exalting Christ as the center of everything we do! We have abandoned this in favor of fluffy stories, books on leadership and weak, man centered worship. God centered worship, preaching, and teaching are what is going to save the church, not another charismatic leader!

"Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let Your glory be over all the earth." ~ Psalm 57:5

Birthday

Yeah, I'm 24 today. It's kinda funny how unimportant my birthday is to me anymore. I didn't even remember that it was my "big day" today until I opened up my Facebook and saw 17 "Happy Birthday" wishes this morning.

Ah, Facebook...nothing like digital friendships to make a guy feel loved. (heavy sarcasm)

Anyway, that's all I have time for. I'm going to Districts today...wohoo!

Travel Log...Kind Of

So here is a bunch of random things that I have learned over my past two weeks of travel. Some are deep...most aren't. I've noticed that a lot of my blog posts tend to be really random. Oh well, it's your fault for reading.

My car gets ridiculously good gas mileage. I love Hondas!

I never, ever want to get a tattoo. Thank you, Jon for helping me solidify this in my mind.

Juno is one of the best movies I've seen all year. I know, Trav, I say that a lot...but I really mean it this time!

Good Italian food is always best with a good glass of wine...and tiramisu for dessert.

Dinkytown and Uptown are really, really cool places.

Sometimes I wish I lived in a big city. Then I deal with bumper to bumper traffic everywhere I go and I change my mind.

My sister is getting way to old way to fast!

I really enjoy playing basketball...but I am not in nearly good enough shape!

I have a great family.

Skiing is really fun...but it is so much more fun when you can do it with fun people!

$130 in gift cards does not go very far at American Eagle.

Guitar Hero 3 is really awesome! But some of the songs on 2 are better.

Neillsville is smaller than I pictured..but still cool, mostly because of the people who live there.

The Wentz's have the best dog in the world...and the most annoying bird, too. It pooped on my shirt.

Having the flu really, really sucks. But it is at least a tad bit more tolerable when you can be in the house of a family that you love. Thanks, Fischers!

Seeing a dead, bloody dog on the side of the road disturbs me more than I thought it would...Cullen, too.

I don't like drama...and I don't mean the movies.

I am SO grateful to have all of the friends that I was able to see on my trip. Thank you for being who you are.

Travel

Today I am leaving to travel for an extended period of time. I am going to visit many different friends and family around Christmas and New Years. I am throughly excited!

That's really all that I have to say...not very talkative today.

Skiboards?

You know, there are just some things in this world that make me WAY to excited...like the fact that I just bought new skiboards. For the past three seasons, I have owned some decent ones...you know, good all around intermediate boards. But these new ones...WOOT! They are 10 cm longer and 4 cm wider than my old ones which makes them perfectly set up for riding back country, powder, and spring conditions, which are my favorite things to do!

BUT, when it comes down to it, why in the world are these stupid little things making me so freakin' excited? You know, sometimes I wish I would get this excited about God. I mean, skiboards? No eternal significance whatsoever.

Don't get me wrong...it isn't wrong to get excited about new stuff. But how excited should we really get? I guess it comes down to what we truly worship...what we get our real pleasure from. Stuff or God?

"If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far to easily pleased." ~ C.S. Lewis

Skiboards? Who needs them...give me Christ! Philippians 3:7-8