Recent Studies

Wednesday, November 23rd

Recent Studies

Well, I haven’t posted or sent email in a while, mostly because I really haven’t been as motivated in recent days as I have been in the past… maybe I am waning, I don’t know… but for whatever the cause, I am still having my QT’s. I am actually at 147 days in a row now, and am really happy about that. Yesterday, I didn’t want to have a quiet time but am glad I did. I learned a lot actually and it has really helped me. I feel really blessed. Great friends, great family and a great God, what more can you ask for? So, I am reading in several books. Dare to Dream Again and Cry of the Soul are what I have been focusing on within the last month or so, and something I find extremely interesting is how the two parallel each other in so many ways. The insight from just reading one of the books is priceless but when combined, I think the topics elevate to such a high understanding, it is just priceless. I am in the last chapter of Cry of the Soul, and I think the authors have truly saved the most important information for last… it just makes you wish there were more chapters to follow, seriously.

“God confronts us with pain and suffering because He desires to reveal His goodness to us. But the goodness of God will not be validated by any attempt to prove it apart from faith. We experience His goodness only through the revelation of His glory. And the supreme picture of His glory can be seen only through the irony of the Cross. Through this irony, God compels us to look at Him with wide-eyed wonder.” (From “Cry of the Soul,” page 242). So God allows pain to allow me to turn to him. If life was perfect, would I need God? What purpose would God have in my life if everything went the way I wanted it to? I realized that there are three types of pain. First is physical pain, second is emotional pain, and third is spiritual pain. The first two tend to lead to the third, but the third can be felt without the other two. Physical pain is, of course, being cut by a knife or falling down and scraping your knee, that sort of thing. Emotional pain, I would guess, would be loosing a loved one or being bi-polar, and spiritual pain is the pain felt when you struggle with God.

I went for a prayer walk the other night and realized all these things. I had just heard about a girl who cannot feel pain physically. She gets cut and doesn’t know it… and on the surface, that may sound somewhat refreshing, but the thing is that if the pain is ignored, more damage can be done. And that applies to all three types of pain I mentioned. Can you imagine what would be a painful cancer growing inside of her and she not even know about it? What about a cancer in the heart that is separating me from God? If I don’t do something about it early, it grows and festers.

“Cry of the Soul” also talked about how Christians have a belief that they experience a joy untouched by the suffering of the world, which transcends anger, fear, jealousy, despair, shame and contempt of everyday life (paraphrased). However, “human experience alone fails to support this position. No matter how much faith we have, no matter how much good we do, no matter how much effort we invest, we can not make the difficulties and tragedies of life go away” (From “Cry of the Soul,” page 243). Bad things are going to happen, period. It’s the way life goes. People are born and people die, so goes the way of life and its unfortunate that bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. But as I read on I came across this: the assumptions of God’s methods. We assume much about God that is not in the bible.

“The assumptions about God’s methods for using suffering usually center on three conditions: to be fruitful, the suffering should be: (1) temporary, (2) understandable, and (3) readily applicable to life’s practical realities” (From “Cry of the Soul,” page 244). So am I frustrated as to why I go through things that I don’t understand, that I see as a life long affliction, or something that I can apply toward my life? The book of Psalms is chock full of information and experiences where people go through stuff and do not see an end to their despair, but yet still give praise to God. The afflictions given to me should cause me all the more to turn to God, if for no other reason than to simply turn to him and depend on him.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10
7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

The afflictions given are to show me that God’s grace is to be sufficient enough. Johnny Out.

Edition 1 of the End of the World dream

Monday, November 21st

Edition 1 of the End of the World dream

I am doing a little study on this due to some recent events in my life. I have had a recurring dream or vision, which is very unusual for me to have. I first had it Wednesday night and then I had it again last night. Very powerful images, that I can still see and remember quite clearly, which again is extremely unusual because I tend to forget things even as they happen. I decided this morning to check out dream interpretation and the answers they were providing were not even close to what is going on in my life. Now the dreams I experienced were the days before the return of Christ. First off, we had cities being destroyed. Fire reigning down on the cities and people fleeing into the country side. Death was throughout. Famine reigned and children were killing their parents among other people. People resorted to cannibalism and parents would eat their children. Electricity was not available anywhere in the world and the world was at war. Many who believed in God would fall away and fear of friends and family well being was at an all time low, for no one cared. The ground was blood stained and the stench of death was strong. This was my dream. I have been troubled by it and it haunts me, especially now that I have had the exact same dream a second time.

So last night, after experiencing it yet again, I cried. I haven’t cried so hard over a dream. In fact, I can’t ever remember of crying over a dream period, but last night I wept for those in my dream. I prayed for them. And I pleaded with God of why I had the dream. I mean, what am I supposed to do with this information? If this is a dream to bring about action, why not give it to someone who can do something? Why not send the dream to a preacher, a leader in the church, someone more important than myself? My life is good, I have no worries. I live in a two bedroom apartment living from check to check. I am happy with my life. Things are going great and then BOOM, this dream comes along. And then it comes along AGAIN. So, now I am faced with a decision. I thought of some scriptures to check out last night and that is what this study is going to focus on.

Genesis 18:16-33
16 When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. 17 Then the LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? 18 Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. 19 For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him."

20 Then the LORD said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous 21 that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know."

22 The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the LORD. 23 Then Abraham approached him and said: "Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? 25 Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?"

26 The LORD said, "If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake."

27 Then Abraham spoke up again: "Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, 28 what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city because of five people?"

"If I find forty-five there," he said, "I will not destroy it."

29 Once again he spoke to him, "What if only forty are found there?"

He said, "For the sake of forty, I will not do it."

30 Then he said, "May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?"

He answered, "I will not do it if I find thirty there."

31 Abraham said, "Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?"

He said, "For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it."

32 Then he said, "May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?"

He answered, "For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it."

33 When the LORD had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.

Note: Last night, I began pleading about this whole situation, this whole vision. I prayed to God, I said for the sake of 1 million disciples, would you spare this world? How about for the sake of only a half a million? Would you spare this world for half a million? Well what about a quarter of a million? Would you spare the world for a quarter of a million?

The growth of the Atheists in this world is growing by leaps and bounds, and that is a concern for me. “Christians” becoming non-Christians troubles my heart. Could this be the reason I had this dream? For this I am sure, I will never truly know in this lifetime, but I do know this as well, if I let it go and not let it affect me, then it could be for all but a waste. And that would not please my Lord.

Here is some questions I am going to look at during this study:

Can Satan send me such dreams?
How can this dream be interpreted?
Can Satan read my thoughts? ( A question inspired by Moses)
Why would God allow such hardship and the times people were experiencing go about that were occurring in the dream?

The word dream comes up 98 times in the bible (NIV Version).
The word interpret comes up 44 times.
The word Satan comes up 47 times (14 Old Testament) and the word devil comes up 35 times (all New Testament).

I am sure I will come up with other questions as I continue on this study, but this is what I am going to be looking at as far as the immediate future.

On a different note, the weekend was good. Marriage retreats are extremely awesome and this one was particularly great. I personally plan on sending John and Carol a letter letting them know how much I appreciate them coming out. But one thing I realized about this retreat was how that the planning involved was essential. And if the planning wasn’t done, the retreat would be a waste. If the people did not come, how discouraging it would be. I think that each and every person who came, planned the event, and took part is what makes the retreat a success. I want to thank you all who came for a great retreat, I want to think Tom and Janet for overseeing the event, and I want to think John and Carol for coming from Boston and giving heartfelt messages. Without each person taking some part in it all, it just wouldn’t be the same. And over the weekend, a number of people came to me about my quiet times and thanked me for sending them out. I must say that was hugely encouraging. Thanks again for the kind words. I really don’t know what to say when someone gives me a compliment, but I can say that it really touches my heart and is more than appreciated. And with this dream that I have been having, it more than gives me hope.

Parent Claims Discipline Made Teen Change

Parent Claims Discipline Made Teen Change

By Jennifer Mock
The Oklahoman

Edmond resident Tasha Henderson has been both commended and blasted by her peers for publicly humiliating her daughter in an effort to improve her grades.

Henderson made her daughter stand on a street corner last week holding a sign saying, "I don't do my homework and I act up in school, so my parents are preparing me for my future. Will work for food."

Regardless of what others think about her parenting tactic, Henderson said the humiliation worked after a long string of failed attempts to discipline her 14-year-old freshman daughter. Henderson said her daughter was skipping class and letting her grades slip, but she called Edmond Memorial High School on Monday, and her daughter had been to every class on time.

"Sure, she was a little upset, but she claims she is going to do better because she doesn't ever want to do that again," Henderson said. "I know it seemed like it was a little harsh, but when you have tried all the routes that you know of, I didn't know what else to do. I don't know if it has worked yet, but I know she is thinking about it now."

Though Edmond psychologist Richard Swink said humiliation in teenagers can border on mental or emotional abuse, he also has seen unorthodox discipline methods work on children who did not respond to more traditional approaches.

"I can understand, as a parent, how the mother felt and what her motivation was to effect some sort of constructive change," he said. "To create a sense of shame or guilt is not always negative, but sometimes there is a thin line between accomplishing that and running the risk of potential emotional harm. But, as a parent, we have all been there and wondered what we could do to make a significant impact on the child."

Source: http://newsok.com/article/1671313/?template=life/main

“If you spare the rod, you spoil the child…”

Edition 1 of the "Mandate" Study

Thursday, November 17th

Edition 1 of the “Mandate” Study

The Mandate of God for World EvangelismPart I: Old Testament Prophecy

“While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces ... But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.”
Daniel 2:34-35

Are present day disciples called to evangelize the world in our "generation?" Many teachers have minimized this centuries long dream of God or have simply chosen to ignore it in their treatises concerning "Christian freedom," "the role of evangelists and elders," and "autonomy of individual congregations." Let us also consider that though "Christian movements" have over centuries "gone around the world," the evangelization of the world in a lifetime has not been accomplished since the first century. (Colossians 1:6) Therefore, in future articles in this series, Scriptures will be shared that will reveal that world evangelism is not only God's dream for each generation, but that by faith it is possible!

God's eternal plan from before the beginning of time was to create a people that would love him forever. In the Old Testament, God uses prophecy and foreshadowing to reveal His heart for a lost world. We must remember that the Old Testament was the "Scriptures" of the Christians in the first century. Foreshadowing occurs when our sovereign God orchestrates the physical events of the Old Testament to parallel the spiritual truths He reveals in the New Testament. For example, the Hebrews' slavery in Egypt parallels our slavery to sin in our old lives. The blood of a lamb smeared over the doorposts saved each Hebrew firstborn from physical death. This parallels the blood of Jesus, the Lamb, saving us from eternal death. (John 1:29) Crossing the Red Sea represents baptism (1 Corinthians 10:1-2); the wanderings in the desert correspond to our new Christian lives; the crossing of the Jordan represents our physical death. (We sing about this in the song "Jordan River.") And finally their Promised Land is our heaven! Understanding the Old Testament foreshadowing of New Testament doctrines is essential to deeply appreciating the breadth of God's love and His plan of salvation.

As we begin to comprehend God's desire to teach us about His love, let us examine some of the most convincing Old Testament prophecies about world evangelism and God's eternal Kingdom. In Genesis 12:1-3 God tells Abram, "I will make you into a great nation... and all people on earth will be blessed through you." The first level of fulfillment of this prophecy is in the building of a physical nation - Israel. Exodus 1:7 reads, "But the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied greatly and became exceedingly numerous, so the land was filled with them." We learn from this passage that it was in Egypt that God began to form a great nation through human families physically multiplying (being fruitful) in great numbers. (This is a foreshadowing of spiritual fruitfulness by the multiplying of disciples under the new covenant.) However, the second level of fulfillment is the concept of all people - Jews and Gentiles - being blessed through Abraham's seed - Jesus. This promise is further detailed in Genesis 22:17 when God sees Abraham's faith when he was willing to "sacrifice his one and only son," (more Old Testament foreshadowing.) Then the promise is given, "your descendents will be as numerous as... stars in the sky." In Deuteronomy 1:10, Moses preached this promise was fulfilled in the Jews by the time he led the Jews out of Egypt. However, we by faith understand it also means all Christians of all time because Genesis 22:18 adds all nations on earth will be blessed, both Jew and Gentile! You and I as disciples are part of the fulfillment of this prophecy! God has always desired to be loved and glorified by all nations!

Isaiah 2:1-4 is another powerful prophecy of the New Testament Kingdom and world evangelism. God tells a hurting and backsliding Israel there will be a day, when the mountain (Old Testament symbolism for kingdom/nation) of the Lord's temple will be established as chief among the mountains and all nations will stream into it. (This initially begins to be fulfilled in Acts 2, see verse five!) Then God adds in verse four, "Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore." This is because we will have brothers in all nations and we would not want to kill our brother! Also, in Isaiah 11:1-9, the prophecy of a kingdom built from the stump of Jesse (the remnant Jews) will someday be a unique fellowship where previous adversaries "will neither harm nor destroy" as referenced by "the wolf will walk with the lamb." Then in verse 9, the great proclamation of this grand vision is concluded by "the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the earth." Only through world evangelism could this be fulfilled.

Finally for this article we will study the vision of King Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel retells the dream in Daniel 2:31-35 and then interprets it in verses 36-45. In this dream there is a huge statue of gold, silver, bronze, and iron. Daniel says these metals represent certain kingdoms. Borrowing from our high school history courses, we know that gold represents the Babylonian Kingdom, silver the Medo-Persian Empire, bronze symbolizes Alexander the Great's Kingdom and the iron the Roman Empire. According to the dream, during the days of the Roman Empire "a rock was cut out, but not by human hands... it struck the statue on its feet of iron... and smashed it... the wind swept away without leaving a trace... However, the rock struck the statue and became a huge mountain and FILLED THE WHOLE EARTH."

Obviously, if something is "not made by human hands," it is of God! The rock is Christ! The mountain is the Kingdom - the church - and those of faith in heaven, for this kingdom will never be destroyed! (Daniel 2:44) However, let's focus on Daniel 2:35. In the dream, the rock becomes a mountain and fills the whole earth! This is what God desires for His Kingdom, to "fill the whole earth!" God through prophecy lays the foundation for Jesus and His Great Commission to the apostles, "Go and make disciples of ALL NATIONS baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit..." (Matthew 28:19) This is how God plans to bless all people on earth! Simply stated, this is the mandate of God for world evangelism.

Note: This is a study series I found by Kip McKean on the Portland Church website. I agree with everything written here thus far.

Mandate (noun):

1. An authoritative command or instruction.
2. A command or an authorization given by a political electorate to its representative.

When I called Kip and left a message for his return phone call, I was going to talk to him about the intentions of his new direction. My concern is if the church is going to succeed, it has to be a movement from God and not man. When the ICOC started, it was of leadership by Kip. And not that I am opposed to his leadership, I am concerned of him wanting to lead another movement. If it is truly from God and his will, then Kip should be willing to step aside and let someone else lead. That way, it would truly be a mandate of God and not a political issue. ICOC info talks about numbers (not the book of the bible, but in reference to growth), and in the book of acts, it always talks about how many were baptized. In the gospels, it talks about numbers as well. Jesus fed five thousand here, four thousand there, so personally, I don’t see a problem with a head count. But on a different note, “Dare to Dream Again” speaks of the purpose of a disciple and the task of a disciple. The purpose is to get to heaven, our task is to preach the word. If the two become confused, we can burn out. And that is what has happened over the last few years with the church. I do not want to loose focus of my purpose by transforming the task into a purpose it should not be.

Edition 9 of the NO ANSWER Study

Wednesday, November 16th

Edition 9 of the NO ANSWER Study

“If you have faith as small as a mustard seed,… nothing will be impossible for you.”

Questions that come to my mind are this (possible answers I have found below them):

• How long should I pray?

1) Continually.
2) Enough to be willing to do God’s will and not mine.

• How should I pray?

1) I should pray with action.
2) As many times as it takes to be content in MY heart.
3) Silently or by speaking is irrelevant, it’s the attitude of the heart.

• How long should I fast?

1) Enough to make it a true sacrifice.
2) Fasting should take place in private.
3) Forty days signifies a long time.

• What accounts for a “mustard seed” of faith?

1) We have seen that a mustard seed is a very small thing. It takes very little faith to do the impossible.
2) The mustard seed would need to grow, so this is a growing faith. This faith is, in a sense, to be harvested, or as I see it, to become useful.
3) I should test my faith.

Note: Now that we have validated God and looked in-depth into prayer, I want to focus a little more on fasting. When I think of fasting, the first thing I think about is Jesus’ temptation.

Matthew 4:1-11
1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread."

4 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written:

" 'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"

7 Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."

10 Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.'"

11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

Mark 1:12-13
12 At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, 13 and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.

Luke 4:1-13
1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.

3 The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."

4 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone.'"

5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 So if you worship me, it will all be yours."

8 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'"

9 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here. 10For it is written:

" 'He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; 11 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"

12 Jesus answered, "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

13 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

Note: I think it should be noted that Satan knew the scriptures just as good, if not more so than anyone else and used them to his advantage. Just because you have the right doctrine, doesn’t mean you are right with God. Jesus went away from everyone to fast. He did it a long time (forty days).

Sacrifice (noun):

1. Forfeiture of something highly valued for the sake of one considered to have a greater value or claim.
2. Something so forfeited.

So, when I fast is it a sacrifice? Am I fasting for the world to see or God? I must consider Luke…

Luke 18:9-14
9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'

13 "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'

14 "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Note: What is my motivation not before or after, but during my fast? Do I boast about it throughout the fasting period? If I am fasting from bread and someone offers me bread, do I take it or do I go, “I am super spiritual and am fasting, so I can’t have bread right now.” The whole concept of being in private and in secret is compromised by doing so and takes away glory from God. I want to be good in the eyes of God and not man. I was thinking that this study would carry me out until 2006, but I feel I am nearing the end on this one. But time will tell. Johnny Out.