Saturday, August 20th

Well, yesterday my friends had their 5th wedding Anniversary. It's important to remember such dates, Birthday, Wedding, National Holidays, Founding of a business, and Baptism. I am sure there are other days we con commerate, but really, Baptism should be at the top of the list. What more important a day than the day of starting a life for God? The day you win the lottery? NO! Granted that would be a joyous day, but the day you go to heaven or the day you get a bunch of money that in the end means nothing? Think about it...

Baptism (noun)
1. A religious sacrament marked by the symbolic use of water and resulting in admission of the recipient into the community of Christians.
2. A ceremony, trial, or experience by which one is initiated, purified, or given a name.

Matthew 3:13-17
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"
15 Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness." Then John consented.
16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

(I just wanted to point out that it was "like a dove" and not an actual bird landing on Jesus.)

Acts 2:36-41
36 "Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."
37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"
38 Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call."
40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

Note: A few things from this scripture, first, the order. They first had to see they crucified Christ, then they had to repent, once they repented, they were baptized, and once they were baptized, they were added to God's number. Something I noticed...

Romans 6:1-4
1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

Note: We stop sin! We died to sin and now live a life for God. Baptism is participation (the act of taking part or sharing in something) with Christ in his death, and when we are raised from the waters, we are raised a new person, a person in Christ.

Ephesians 4:1-6
1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Note: the one's list as I call it... one baptism, I find this interesting, seeing as to how there are quite a few out there in this world. One God, despite there are many that people worship... so the one hope, if we don't have the one baptism, the one faith, the one God, then are one hope is for not... This goes to show that Baptism is SO IMPORTANT. If we don't just have baptism, but the right baptism, then hope is meaningless, like a chasing of the wind. Johnny Out.

Religion Quote of the Day - Saturday, August 20, 2005

Quote of the Day Saturday, August 20, 2005 Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God. - Bible -- Ruth 1:16

Friday, August 19th

Well Alas, another day at Daddy Daycare. I am not sure what I should do for a quiet time today, so when all else fails, just read. So today, I dig into the “Cry of the Soul.”

Matthew 5:4 - Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

1 Corinthians 15:55 - "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"

Romans 5:3-5
3Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

Death (noun):

1. The act of dying; termination of life.
2. The state of being dead.
3. The cause of dying.
4. A manner of dying
5. Often death is a personification of the destroyer of life, usually represented as a skeleton holding a scythe.
6. Bloodshed; murder.
7. Execution.
8. The termination or extinction of something

Synonyms: afterlife, annihilation, bereavement, casualty, cessation, curtains, darkness, decease, demise, departure, destruction, dissolution, downfall, dying, end, ending, eradication, eternal rest, euthanasia, exit, expiration, extermination, extinction, fatality, finis, finish, future home, grave, grim reaper, loss, mortality, necrosis, obliteration, oblivion, parting, passing, passing over, quietus, release, repose, ruin, ruination, silence, sleep, termination, tomb, un

I wanted to include the synonyms just to deepen my heart and really think about it all – to take it all in…


I also wanted a black background to be somewhat morbid – to make it a little grim. On One side, we have Darth… (Grim Reaper)… and on the other side, our savior, and when we have loved ones come to pass, obviously we want the side of the savior, as well as for ourselves. Romans 5 tells me that when I loose a loved one, suffering is normal. It tells me that I have a process to go through and that process is suffering, I persevere over that and by doing so I develop character. And with character, I get hope. Now, going to the other scriptures, I can then apply this learning to them. When I have hope, how can death truly prevail? And when I mourn, I WILL be comforted, because that is what hope is… (hope is a verb that means: To look forward to with confidence or expectation). Hope is confidence that God will take care of me. And that is a good thing. Johnny Out.

Religion Quote of the Day - Friday, August 19, 2005

Quote of the Day Friday, August 19, 2005 It's not dying for a faith that's so hard, it's living up to it. - Thackeray

Ray's QT - 8/18/05

Good morning brothers,
I am fired up today and excited because it's Thursday, the Son is shining today and I had a great time with God today, God woke me up really early today so I got a lot of time with him today.  I read today in 2 Corinthians 1:3-11... is God not incredible, this is exactly what I needed to read today, vs. 6 "If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer." vs. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.  Now that is some powerful words.  We share in each other sufferings but we also share we our comfort in God.  I am so grateful for comfort in God, he has really helped me the last couple of days open my eyes to things on my heart.

I want to open up about temptations last night just not making a wise decision to leave off the TV, even though I didn't desire to see anything last night that would temp me, I turned channels and know full well that things will be there that I don't want to see.  Also at midweek last night a sister was wearing a top that made me struggle and to take a 2nd look last night, I want to repent, I do not to want to see MY SISTER IN CHRIST that way.  I made a decision today and took the cable from my TV in my bedroom and threw it away, I want to destroy the temptations!!!
 
My mom is going in for surgery today; please pray for her and the surgeon.
 
I love you all,
Ray

2 Corinthians 1:3-11
3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. 6If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
    8We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. 9Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.