According to the latest search, Apple Computers has over 200,000 apps! Anywhere from Facebook, e-mail, twitter, games, maps, just about everything except for the kitchen sink. For some of us who have an Android, iPhone, or an iPod Touch, it's almost our lives. We're constantly streaming information out into the world and taking whatever is out there. Sometimes if we don't have it on us, we just feel lost! Just the other day I found an app that has the entire Book of Common Prayer! Here are a few apps on my iPod Touch
-Facebook
-Twitter
-The Weather Channel
-Alarm Clock
-Betty Crocker recipes
-Golf Channel
-MLB.com
-Scrabble
-The Bible
-3 t.v. news stations from Florida, S.C. and Michigan
There's more, but I don't really have a whole lot of games!
Anyway, with an app for everything, is there an app for life? Well, I think there is one...it's called the Bible. It's our "How to" on how we live a Christian life like Christ and God's relationship to us. Yes, the Bible is an app on whatever device you may have, but sometimes you have to go back to an age before technology, reading the Bible in paper. We need to get away from technology sometimes and let the Holy Spirit move us.
One story I would like to share is an app that I used to have was called "Bubblewrap". In a minute you had to pop as many bubbles as you can. No joke, I would play this for about 2-3 hours straight! It got so bad that my wife had to confront me about it and told me that it was taking time away from her She had a point because instead of having quality time with her, I was wasting my time on that stupid game. At the time of Christmas, I encourage you to put away the cell phone, the computer, and anything else electronic and play an ol' fashioned board game. Spending time with family and friends and take some to pray to God as a family and/or individually.
Merry Christmas to all!!!
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
G.P.S.
So I have this GPS in my car. Steph and I call it Amelia because the voice is a woman and Amelia Earhart was a famous world explorer. Well, it's kind of ironic to have a GPS named Amelia for being lost and the brand is Magellum, who was lost in his travels...Anyway! The one thing I love about my GPS is that I can set the address and boom, it already has directions in a few seconds. If you take a wrong turn, it immediately calculates on how to back to the corrected path or it has you take another one. All the time it has gotten to my destinations safely!
I was reading a book by Stephen Arterburn called "Every Young Man, God's Man." This book comes from "The Every Man series" which includes "Every Man's Battle," "Every Man's Marriage," so on and so forth. Here he briefly talks about having a GPS in a rental car after a long and tiring day travelling from southern California to Charlotte, NC. In the book, he calls the GPS "God's Powerful Spirit."
Just like a GPS, the Holy Spirit has an awesome power to help us where we need to go and giving us the directions. It takes patience, trust, and discernment to know where the Holy Spirit is taking us. When you let the Holy Spirit take over, you will experience a whole new meaning of God's power. Galatians 5:16-17 says,
"So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions."
So how do we know when we the Holy Spirit is within us? It's simply; saying no consistently to the sinful desires and saying yes to God's desires. It is saying,
yes to prayer over temptation
no to skipping Sunday school
yes to accountability with one another
no to impressing your peers and others
yes to memorize the Word of God
no to your own agenda
yes to confession
no to doing drugs and alcohol
yes to standing up for the weak
So make sure your seat backs and tray tables are in their full upright position because are you ready for the real GPS? Are you ready for the journey that He has set out for you? Are you ready to say yes to God?
This is a prayer that was in the book and I would encourage you to pray this,
"Holy Spirit, thank you for living in me so that You can be my guide. I need to rely on You more. I want You to control my life, not me. I want You to show me the choices I need to make, not me. I am sorry for taking over control when I shouldn't. Take control of me right now. Lead me, guide me, speak to me, and fill me with Your presence. Open my eyes to God's plan and give me the power to choose it quickly. Thank You for Your continued presence in my life. Thank You for takin control. I ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen."
I was reading a book by Stephen Arterburn called "Every Young Man, God's Man." This book comes from "The Every Man series" which includes "Every Man's Battle," "Every Man's Marriage," so on and so forth. Here he briefly talks about having a GPS in a rental car after a long and tiring day travelling from southern California to Charlotte, NC. In the book, he calls the GPS "God's Powerful Spirit."
Just like a GPS, the Holy Spirit has an awesome power to help us where we need to go and giving us the directions. It takes patience, trust, and discernment to know where the Holy Spirit is taking us. When you let the Holy Spirit take over, you will experience a whole new meaning of God's power. Galatians 5:16-17 says,
"So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions."
So how do we know when we the Holy Spirit is within us? It's simply; saying no consistently to the sinful desires and saying yes to God's desires. It is saying,
yes to prayer over temptation
no to skipping Sunday school
yes to accountability with one another
no to impressing your peers and others
yes to memorize the Word of God
no to your own agenda
yes to confession
no to doing drugs and alcohol
yes to standing up for the weak
So make sure your seat backs and tray tables are in their full upright position because are you ready for the real GPS? Are you ready for the journey that He has set out for you? Are you ready to say yes to God?
This is a prayer that was in the book and I would encourage you to pray this,
"Holy Spirit, thank you for living in me so that You can be my guide. I need to rely on You more. I want You to control my life, not me. I want You to show me the choices I need to make, not me. I am sorry for taking over control when I shouldn't. Take control of me right now. Lead me, guide me, speak to me, and fill me with Your presence. Open my eyes to God's plan and give me the power to choose it quickly. Thank You for Your continued presence in my life. Thank You for takin control. I ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen."
Thursday, November 11, 2010
How old were the disciples?
Hey y'all, this is a post that I put on my blog. I encourage you to discuss this with your family and friends, enjoy!
How old do you think the disciples are?
I came across this article this morning from churchleaders.com. The title was "3 things your church can't afford to lose" and the main focus of this article was about youth! It talked about how to retain our youth and college-aged people in the church. An interesting section was about the disciples. In Matthew 17:24-27, Peter and Jesus come to the temple and had to pay a temple tax. Of course, Jesus' "posse" (a.k.a. the disciples) were with him when at the temple. Jesus told Peter:
"But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake, and thro out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth, and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours."
But here is the interesting part, in Exodus 30:14, it says that the tax was for those who were 20 years old or older. So that must mean that Peter and Jesus were older than 20, but the other disciples were younger than 20 right? I think so! So you could say that Jesus was a Youth Leader (of course he was a leader for everyone!)? Interesting isn't it?
You might say what about Luke? He was a doctor wasn't he, so he must be older? Well of course. Luke wrote his Gospel almost 20 years after Jesus' death and he wasn't any of the 12 disciples. He carefully investigated everything from all accounts. Being a doctor, you would obviously be thorough with your work. You wouldn't want a doctor to operate on you if he/she just finished year 1 of med-school do you?
Ok, now here's a twist with the disciples age. Jesus and Peter had to pay a tax, but did the other disciples pay the tax and were already inside of the temple? Well, it's up for debate. I don't think so because if you look at verse 24, it says:
"After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked 'doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax?'"
It says that Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum and then the tax collectors came to Peter. It doesn't say that the other disciples had to pay.
What's your take on it?
How old do you think the disciples are?
I came across this article this morning from churchleaders.com. The title was "3 things your church can't afford to lose" and the main focus of this article was about youth! It talked about how to retain our youth and college-aged people in the church. An interesting section was about the disciples. In Matthew 17:24-27, Peter and Jesus come to the temple and had to pay a temple tax. Of course, Jesus' "posse" (a.k.a. the disciples) were with him when at the temple. Jesus told Peter:
"But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake, and thro out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth, and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours."
But here is the interesting part, in Exodus 30:14, it says that the tax was for those who were 20 years old or older. So that must mean that Peter and Jesus were older than 20, but the other disciples were younger than 20 right? I think so! So you could say that Jesus was a Youth Leader (of course he was a leader for everyone!)? Interesting isn't it?
You might say what about Luke? He was a doctor wasn't he, so he must be older? Well of course. Luke wrote his Gospel almost 20 years after Jesus' death and he wasn't any of the 12 disciples. He carefully investigated everything from all accounts. Being a doctor, you would obviously be thorough with your work. You wouldn't want a doctor to operate on you if he/she just finished year 1 of med-school do you?
Ok, now here's a twist with the disciples age. Jesus and Peter had to pay a tax, but did the other disciples pay the tax and were already inside of the temple? Well, it's up for debate. I don't think so because if you look at verse 24, it says:
"After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked 'doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax?'"
It says that Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum and then the tax collectors came to Peter. It doesn't say that the other disciples had to pay.
What's your take on it?
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