BJ Not BK

The Week in Weird 2.0 - 06.05.09

BJ not BK — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 11:33:00 GMT

Wolf shirt? Check! Wolf shirt? Read below for more details.

Coffee? - Check Photos? - Check Music? - Check Books? - Check Sarcasm? - Check Friday? - You bet!

This can only mean random acts of sarcasm - like helping little old ladies across the other side of the internet. Oh yeah and it is time for the Week in Weird.

1.0 Work - work is work and I am thankful to have a job as many are without. How is your work situation? Are you and your family making it? Has anyone started a garden? Are you cutting corners? What have you done to reduce? I stopped having my clothes dry cleaned, I cut my own hair, haven't been to a Starbucks in ages, who would when you can have delicious Green Mountain Coffee [link] for pennies on the dollar, and attempted to grow a garden with the key word being "attempted."

2.0 Friday is for photos and since yesterday was S's birthday..I want to say happy birthday big boy....daddy loves you!

3.0 Wolf Shirts anyone?

A friend of mine sent me the following link from Amazon to this sweet shirt [link]. Now the shirt is amazing but the reviews are hilarious! Here is just one brief example...

"Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9,774 of 9,857 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dual Function Design, November 10, 2008

By	B. Govern "Bee-Dot-Govern" (New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This item has wolves on it which makes it intrinsically sweet and worth 5 stars by itself, but once I tried it on, that's when the magic happened. After checking to ensure that the shirt would properly cover my girth, I walked from my trailer to Wal-mart with the shirt on and was immediately approached by women. The women knew from the wolves on my shirt that I, like a wolf, am a mysterious loner who knows how to 'howl at the moon' from time to time (if you catch my drift!). The women that approached me wanted to know if I would be their boyfriend and/or give them money for something they called mehth. I told them no, because they didn't have enough teeth, and frankly a man with a wolf-shirt shouldn't settle for the first thing that comes to him.

I arrived at Wal-mart, mounted my courtesy-scooter (walking is such a drag!) sitting side saddle so that my wolves would show. While I was browsing tube socks, I could hear aroused asthmatic breathing behind me. I turned around to see a slightly sweaty dream in sweatpants and flip-flops standing there. She told me she liked the wolves on my shirt, I told her I wanted to howl at her moon. She offered me a swig from her mountain dew, and I drove my scooter, with her shuffling along side out the door and into the rest of our lives. Thank you wolf shirt.

Pros: Fits my girthy frame, has wolves on it, attracts women
Cons: Only 3 wolves (could probably use a few more on the 'guns'), cannot see wolves when sitting with arms crossed, wolves would have been better if they glowed in the dark."

Take some time and read through them when you get a chance.

4.0 What are you reading these days? I am loving Romans. How could anyone ever come to the conclusion that they can please God by their works after reading the Bible? Isaiah 64:6 says "But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags" the translation here literally means the bloody rags from a woman's....well dare I say it? God compares our foolish acts and attempts to reach Him through works, religion, and acts of righteousness as bloody rags. Paul calls his works a steaming pile of dung (Philippians 3:7-9). It always has and always will be about Grace...God's umerrited favor toward sinful man. God coming down to man who could not reach up to Him. Jesus.

5.0 What are you listening to? Podcasts, sermons, a little Jack Johnson, some of the Three Tenors Greatest Hits.

6.0 Why the large clock around my neck?

So I will always know what time it is sucka!

7.0 Now that I own 65% of GM or more I think I will waltz into my local dealer ship....what? Oh, it's been closed you say? Ok, I think I will drive 235 miles to the nearest dealership and demand that my employees wash my car and give me a loaner Escalade to drive....What's that? You mean there are actually no bennefits to my taxes going to GM? No disounts? No stocks? No dividens? No profits? Not even the chance to boss some of the sales guys around? Then why did we bail them out in the first place? Sheesh!

8.0 Weekend plans anyone? Tonight we are doing to celebrate little man's birthday and who knows what Saturday holds in store?

That's it, that's all, I am out.

Shalom to you and your home.

The Week in Weird 2.0 - 05.29.09

BJ not BK — Fri, 29 May 2009 14:02:00 GMT

Coffee? - Check Photos? - Check Music? - Check Books? - Check Sarcasm? - Check Friday? - You bet!

This can only mean random acts of sarcasm - like helping little old ladies across the other side of the internet. Oh yeah and it is time for the Week in Weird.

1.0 New baby boy. Well, our latest addition to w...world wide is here and we are now five weeks into having our newest family member on board. I think I can speak for the family when I say we will keep him.

2.0 Speaking of the new baby...how about a family photo?

Our good friend JonSpot took some amazing shots of little G you can view here [link] and here [link].

3.0 Caller ID*** (IDiot) When do you know you have crossed the line? When you are standing in the men's bathroom listening to another guy's phone conversation while he is ummm...well you know. I am all for multi-tasking, in fact I am building a boat in a bottle, painting by numbers, and churning my own butter as I write this post, but really, let's not talky talky so much while in the bathroom.

4.0 Sleep - who needs it?

5.0 What are you reading these days? I just started my mornings off with the book of Romans and am trying to finish Vintage Church.

6.0 Lebron James is a basketball stud..rumor has it though that he still wears his bjnotbk underoos.

7.0 What are you listening to? My iPod nanon finally gave out on me so I purchased one of the older iPod shuffles. I have some TNT, RHCP, U2, Moby loaded on it to get me through any early morning run. I am also listenign to a great sermon series on Doctrine by Mark Driscoll and would recomend it to anyone. You can listen here [link].

8.0 Weekend plans anyone? We have talked about venturing outside but the reality and the harshness of even attempting to take a 4,2, and a newborn out into the world scares us to death. Besides we are pasty white from being locked inside for the past 5 weeks or so. We may get out...and then again we may not.

That's it, that's all, I am out.

Shalom to you and your home.

Technology sucks

BJ not BK — Tue, 26 May 2009 19:14:00 GMT

Technology sucks...blogsites, websites, the internet, ebooks, elearning, iPods, MP3 players, PCs, laptops, pdas, .pdfs, walkman, 8 track player, cd player...it all sucks because it is all based on a couple of lies:

1. It will make your life easier

2. It will actually work

I am a amature technologist and enjoy technology but man it kills me everytime when it doesn't work. When I go for the run and can't get the player to play. When I try to watch a movie and can't get the machine to read the disc, make a shake and the blender is broken, toast some toast...well you get the point.

I am through with technology...from now on I am churning my own butter.

Just a little....

BJ not BK — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:50:00 GMT

I am just a little....

1. Tired of the current administration. I never dreamed that we would move from a free society to a group of people under watch for favoring states rights over the federal government. By the way...according to Janet's memo just about every person in our little community here qualifies as a domestic terrorist...

2. Tired of great catastrophes that lead to "opportunities" to take power and erode freedom

3. Thankful for our new family member! Our little boy was born on Thursday, happy and healthy.

4. Grateful for all of the prayers for our family and the way God has watched over us these past weeks and months.

5. Tired physically as our newest member has a healthy appetite and wants to eat about every 2-3 hours.

6. Amazed at how beautiful my wife is in her love toward us.

7. Thrilled at this newest chapter in the bjnotbk epic.

8. Glad to see everyone again after a long hiatus.

Hello...I'm Johnny Cash...not really

BJ not BK — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 13:30:00 GMT

Ok, so much drama so little time. For the past seven weeks or so our family has been in survival mode. M is in the last weeks of pregnancy and thanks to the Lord she and baby are well. We have been battling some serious pre-term labor as our little boy just seems to want to come before time.

Hope to share more with you in the coming weeks.

The Brick Testament...a serious addition for any scholar

BJ not BK — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 10:56:00 GMT

I came across the "Brick Testament this morning...you can view the entire Bible in this format and order a copy for yourself here [link]. These are great.

U2 still rocks

BJ not BK — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 20:25:00 GMT

There aren't many good rock bands today and even fewer who have lasted over the years producing great music.

I give you U2 and their new album - No Line On The Horizon.

This is a great work.

Check out their redesigned website - www.u2.com

Galatians Week 3 - I'm so lonesone I could cry.

BJ not BK — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 12:41:00 GMT

Galatians 1:9-24

"9As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!

10Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

11I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. 12I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.

13For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. 14I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. 15But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased 16to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man, 17nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.

18Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter and stayed with him fifteen days. 19I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord's brother. 20I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie. 21Later I went to Syria and Cilicia. 22I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23They only heard the report: "The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy." 24And they praised God because of me."

False teachers (pop stars, politicians, liberal theologians, educators, sociologists, psychologists and the Oprahs of the day) have infiltrated the church and are causing trouble. Their teaching is throwing the church into confusion...into a terrible identity crisis so much so that they don't know what to believe and they have turned from what they did believe, Jesus saves, to something more comforting to their flesh - reliance on self. Not only have the Galatians turned away from Jesus but in the process they have thrown their beloved pastor, Paul under the bus.

I love music and can tolerate almost anything. As a kid I grew up listening to the "old country" music but I have to admit I am not a big fan of the "new country" music...You know, "I'd walk a mile through a field of wildflowers just to check you for ticks" music? In fact I hate the new country music and if you like it then repent...buy some Johnny Cash and go and listen no more.

Galatians 1:9-12 reads like a country song gone bad. Paul is accused of being a people pleaser and making up the gospel. Paul's is accused of receiving his information from various untrustworthy sources and what little he knows as being taught to him by men and his testimony is attacked and deeply questioned. The only thing I couldn't find in this text was a line about the Galatians kicking his dog. You add that and you've got yourself a smash hit. So now we begin to see some of the sarcasm and anger and passion come out as Paul begins to respond to each of these allegations.

Galatians 1:9-10

#1 - Paul the people pleaser?

Paul asks the question...."Does it look like what I am doing is trying to make others happy? Do you really think so? Don't you think there are better ways to make people happy than to preach Christ crucified? Jesus saves? Jesus is the only way to heaven? I just said (Galatians 1:8-9) if anyone preaches anything other than Jesus saves then let them be eternally cursed...let them go to hell. Does this sound really sound like I am trying to win friends and influence people? Wouldn't free bass boats and firetruck rides be a better approach? Wouldn't Paul be more successful if he focused on the positive and downplayed the negative...sort of like a Joel Osteen of the middle east?

Paul is not a life coach. Paul is a preacher of the gospel, a man's man, a dude and His life is marked with the marks of Jesus (Galatians 6:17).

Paul was (2 Corinthians 11:23-28)
Put in prison over and over
Flogged an uncounted number of times
Faced death over and over
Received 39 lashes from the Jews 5 times
Beaten with rods 3 times
Stoned one time
Shipwrecked 3 times
Spent a day and night in the sea
And was in continual danger from rivers, robbers, his own people, Gentiles
Was in danger in the city, in the country, at sea, from false brothers
Was weary and in pain often, without sleep
Often hungry and thirsty, cold and naked
And continually concerned about the health of all of the churches

Paul considered anything he gained personally a loss and everything else as trash if it wasn't Jesus (Philippians 3:8). "Don't question my motives!" Paul seems to shout back...."For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified" (2 Corinthians 2:2).

Shakespeare wrote in his play As You Like it..."All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players..." and each of us play out our lives on this stage called life. Who do you perform for? Who is your target audience? What demographics are you trying to reach? Are we performing for family? Friends? The opinions of others? Or are we doing everything to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31)?

#2 Paul the author of unpopular fiction?

Did you just make that up? That was the accusation that was being leveled against Paul...that he just made the gospel up. That Jesus being born of a virgin, living a sinless life, dying in our place for our sins giving each of us forgiveness and eternal life was nothing more than make believe, a fable, fiction, folklore. There are many non-believers who have accused Christians of creating God in man's image. Those who travel along the evolutionary highway would argue that somewhere along the way we conceived of religion as a way to make it through the harsh realities of natural selection and survival of the fittest and that religion is a coping mechanism we evolved into to satisfy the electrical impulses and chemical emissions within our brains.

Paul's response is...."Are you kidding me? Do you really think if I were going to make up my own religion I would choose....God becoming man, living a perfect life, being executed as a common criminal, and then rising from the dead? Is that the religion you think I would make up?"

Throughout history there have been many people who have started their own religion and it usually looks something like this - man is god, sex plays a heavy part of the religion, food, wine, ritual all play an important part which to many many people is much more appealing to eat all you want, have sex with whoever you want, drink like a sailor and face no consequences. Some examples include the Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, and Sevier County.

So Paul defends the uniqueness and the reliability of the gospel. Paul goes on to say that he did not make this up, didn't come across this idea on the Internet, didn't Google it, didn't pull it from some online chat room, and he wasn't taught it by another man (Galatians 1:11-12). Paul's source? He received it directly from Jesus.

Paul was doing his own thing, had no desire for Jesus, was going his own way when Jesus came after him, chased him down, got into Paul's grill and revealed Himself as glorious, victorious ultimate fighting King Jesus (Acts 9:4). From that point on Saul the destroyer, the persecutor became Paul the preacher and church planter, man's man aka "the Dude."

#3 Paul's testimony questioned and attacked

Galatians 1:13-16 Paul gives us his testimony which is a great model for us. Paul begins by telling us what his life was like before Jesus...I hated Jesus, I tried everything in my power to destroy His church. Paul tells us..this is how Jesus saved me...he called me before I was born, had plans for me, and even though I had my own plans...Jesus rescued me. And Paul tells of how Jesus saving him and changing him has impacted the purpose for his life....he now preaches to the gentiles.

God has a plan for each of us. First to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4). Have you accepted that you are imperfect, a sinner, in need of help? In need of a savior? Do you believe that Jesus is God, that He died on the cross for your sins and have you confessed Him as Savior and Lord of your life? Secondly, for those who have received Jesus He has given each of us spiritual gifts of preaching, teaching, exhortation, hospitality and many more to do good works He has prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10). Do you know your gifts? Are you using them?

Galatians 1:17-21 Paul continues his testimony showing what limited exposure he has had with the apostles in that he did not visit with anyone from the church for three years after Jesus revealed Himself. After three years he was finally able to meet Peter and James for 15 days and left again to preach the gospel.

Galatians 1:22-24 Paul points to not only his own words but to the reaction of the church in light of the wonderful work Jesus has done in Paul's life. Most people could not have recognized Paul if they had saw him but they had hear of his former way of life and were deeply afraid of him, of being beaten by him and arrested by him and now the same people who were once afraid of him rejoice over his testimony and praise God over his changed life in Jesus.

Does your life...my life point other to Jesus? What does our testimony really testify to? How much we like cars...sports....how great a treasure Golden Coral is? Or does it show the world that Jesus is our greatest treasure and our highest hope?

St. Francis once said..."preach the gospel always and if necessary use words." 1 Peter 3:15 tells us to "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." And I wonder...when was the last time someone asked you? I know most of us are probably ready to give an answer but nobody's asking...why?

Could it be that our lives look no different than those without Jesus? That our lives testify that our great treasure is electronics and money, and our hobbies?

They say that if you play a country song backwards you get your dog lives, you truck gets unstuck from the mud, your wife still leaves but your best friend stays, and you are sober.

Paul was not a people pleaser...he worked to please God by preaching only Jesus. Who do you aim to please?

Paul did not make the gospel up. He did not pick it up from someone else and he was not taught it by another. Jesus revealed all things to Paul with the specific command to share the good news with the gentiles. Where do you get your theology from? Books? Other people? Or the Bible?

Paul has given us his testimony as proof that what he says is true and as a result of the dramatic heart and life change through Jesus others are encouraged and praise Jesus. What do people say about God when they look at your life?

Galatians Week 2 - True Gospel vs. False Gospels

BJ not BK — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 12:26:00 GMT

Galatians 1:3-9

"3Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

6I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! 9As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!"

If we take a step back, slow down for a bit, get our heads out of the Internet, out of the television, get our minds off of Monday and our stomachs off of lunch....if we can look beyond ourselves, our holy needs, our holy wants, and our holy desires and look and observe and take note of all that is around us it doesn't take long for us to come to the conclusion that the age in which we live is evil.

It doesn't take long for us to realize that something has gone terribly wrong, that things aren't suppose to be this way. Through observation of world events we quickly understand that this present age is full of heartbreak, sickness, tragedy, and death. Statistics tell us that this year alone at least 50 million people will die, about one hundred per minute, close to 6000 during our one hour class on Sunday. Most of those dying will not peacefully drift off into the eternal at a ripe old age...in fact most will die young, with terrible pain through some illness, by starvation, or at the hands of some calamity either caused by another man or some freak event of nature.

We are surrounded on every side by corruption and self-serving greed as is evident by all the news channels as story after story after story of fraud, lies, and deceit pour in from a parade of business men, bankers, financiers, investors, and corrupt politicians...all related to the economic crisis.

We live in an evil age of temptation where every year in America the pornographers make over 400 moves a month. It has been estimated that more money is spent yearly on pornography than all monies spent on the NBA, NFL, and MLB combined. The temptation is great and it effects men and women, alike dragging people into a secret world of addiction where the largest viewers are children under the age of thirteen.

It would be OK for most of us, and for most of us these things...the deaths in Iraq, the earthquakes, the ice storms in Kentucky, the child abduction, rapes, murders, lying, stealing, are OK as for most of us these things are "out there." They don't directly effect us.

Yet some of you don't have that luxury. You have seen the effects of this present evil age up close and it is very personal. You have seen loved ones sick with illness, dying with cancer. You have witnessed the devastation of your family through divorce, you have endured and undergone injustice after injustice after injustice as others have violated you and evil, injustice, and sin are all too real a reality for you not just some ethereal, philosophical, or moral talk coming from a pulpit Sunday mornings.

If you have looked around and if your conclusion is that something isn't right...something has gone horribly wrong....you are right.

In Genesis (Genesis 1:1-25) we read the account of God creating the universe. God spoke and creation came into being, time began. He created the heavens and the earth, the sky and seas, the days and the nights, all the plants and all the living creatures and as He looked upon all that He had created, all that He had spoke into existence He saw that it was good. In fact Genesis 1:1-25, God says six times that His creation is good and so it was. Then God created man (Genesis 1:26-34, Genesis 2:7)in a very personal way. All of creation up to this point had come into existence through the words of God but now, on the sixth day, at the height of creation, God takes His hands and forms man from the dust and breathes life into his nostrils and states that this is "very good" (Genesis 1:31).

There is no sickness, no disease, no death. There are no natural calamities, no sadness, no sin, no separation. So what happened to this paradise? What changed?

Sin entered into the world.

Adam and Eve chose to follow their ways instead of God's commands. They desired to be like God instead of worshiping God and through their rebellion they brought sin into the world, causing separation to come between the man and the woman and between them and God. As a result a curse was placed on everything. Now for the first time death, sickness, calamities, and chaos take effect.

I suppose for someone looking in it might appear that all was lost, that somehow God had miscalculated, that He had gambled on mankind and lost. Yet God did not lose, He did not gamble and He promises Adam and Eve that He will rescue them (and us) from this present evil age as we see the first hint of the good news of Jesus in Genesis 3:15.

Right now there is quite a bit of talk about bailouts. Bailouts for the auto industry, bailouts for the banking industry, the pharmaceutical industry, health care, and the housing industry. The logic goes something like this....that if we do not bail these industries out they will fail which will be devastating and utterly destroy our economy with powerful ramifications for you and I. And while these are real and very serious issues we are facing the truth is that the biggest calamity man has ever known, the greatest threat to our peace and prosperity, our dire emergency, our greatest area of need regarding a bailout was and is from our own sin. Without a bailout plan from God all of us are doomed eternally to die in our own sins. Yet unlike the world, God's economy is of the heart and His currency is the blood of Jesus which He has graciously and liberally poured out to purchase us and to rescue us from this present evil age.

Galatians 1:3-5

At this point some of you are saying to yourselves...."We got it....We know...We have heard this before...hundreds of times...can we move on already?"

If you and I do not get Galatians 1:3-5 nothing else I tell you will matter. If you and I can't grasp and take hold of the work of Jesus at Calvary and what it means for us, the victory it brings, the new life it gives, the freedom we have then we won't understand the rest of the letter. We won't get the Bible, church, money, family, relationship...nothing(Colossians 1:16).

It was God's will from day one that He would rescue us. It is through Jesus giving Himself freely, taking our place on the cross for our sins and taking our sins upon Himself that pays the penalty in full. This payment is a gracious gift of God. God does not have to and is not obligated to us in any way to do anything yet "while we were sinners Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). God loves us in spite of who we have been and who we are. God's gift of Jesus results in peace. Not that we are removed from this evil age but rescued from it! You and I no longer have to live under the slavery of this world, the world's way of lusting with our eyes, lusting with our flesh, and bragging about what we own (1 John 2:16).

We are no longer hostage to every new fad or philosophy on life. We don't have to spend our days drinking from the toilet water and eating the junk food of the world because we have tasted the bread of life and have drank from the living waters and that bread and that water is Jesus and it satisfies our souls! And through all of this God gets the glory forever and ever and there is not one second in eternity past nor in eternity future to come that anyone or anything other than God get the glory! Not you...not me...only God. Amen!

Galatians 1:6-7

Paul is "astonished" (ESV) and he "marvels" (NKJV) that so many in the churches have turned from this great news to some other great news, which is a lie as Jesus Saves is the only great news! So there are some, both men and angels (Galatians 1:7-8) who have infiltrated the church and are preaching another gospel message to cause trouble and to pervert the truth.

Here are some examples:

1. In order to be saved you must believe in Jesus.....so far so good right? And you must convert to Judaism, you must be circumcised, and you must observe all the laws, feasts, customs, and diet restrictions of the Old Testament law which is pleasing to God.

2. In order to be saved you must believe in Jesus...and wear a white shirt and tie and attend church in a white building with a steeple on top.

3. More subtle examples would include but aren't limited to anything that proclaims salvation apart from Jesus. Food from stress, Sex from loneliness, Success from a lack of self-worth, etc.

so how do we spot a false gospel message among the true gospel message (Galatians 1:9)?

It is as if Paul is asking...."Are we clear? ARE WE CLEAR!" or "Can you hear me? Can you hear me now?" (Galatians 1:9)

No matter how good the promises are or how good the message sounds or even who the message comes from it if differs from Jesus Saves it is a false gospel and those who preach it are not to be trusted and are cursed!

Why the urgency of the letter? Why all the passion? Anger? Sarcasm? Because this is a matter of life and death. This is the difference between freedom in the finished work of Jesus or a lifetime of slavery to religion. Heaven and hell and all of eternity hangs in the balance. If we don't get this right nothing else matters.

You and I can believe....

John 3:16
1 Peter 3:18
Acts 4:12
Romans 1:16

Or we can continue to chase after false gospel messages of education, government, fad diets, gadgets, and sham messiahs.

What good news have you been holding fast to? I go to church....I am a good person...I do good things?

Or...I am a sinner, saved by the amazing grace of God, purchased through Jesus who gave Himself to rescue me from this present evil age according to God's will to Him be the glory and only Him, forever and forever.

Amen.

Pro Death Penalty

BJ not BK — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 12:09:00 GMT

The death penalty is not too hot a topic for me to touch because I have asbestos mittens and calm, cool demeanor to match. I am a staunch advocate for the death penalty but only for a select few of society's worst, the ilk, the bottom feeders, those unable to be rehabilitated, those who should be sterilized, then injected with something poisonous, electrocuted, quartered, burned, and have their ashes thrown into the river.

People like, child molesters, violent sex offenders, and ceiling fan engineers.

This weekend was proof to me that purgatory does in fact exists as I spent hours on a ladder holding a 30 pound fan above my head, sweating, cursing, yelling, and breaking many commandments (and that was just trying to open the packaging) in an effort to retrofit the baby nursery with cool air.

It seemed so innocent, such a good idea at first. The room gets hot in the summer and stays cold in the winter...why not a ceiling fan to help address the issue? Nothing harmful here right? Oh little did I know that at the moment of my decision all the forces of hell would be unleashed in an all out attack on my soul and my sanity.

With two toddlers in tow weekend projects must be planned out with all the precision and timing of a professional - in between diapers, naps, snack time, and meals. Nothing is worse than standing 15 feet in the air watching your 19 month old son ram the cordless drill into his big sister at full speed.

I have installed many ceiling fans before and consider myself somewhat intelligent yet for the life of me I could not complete the simple task of hanging the fan and the more crucial task of getting it to work.

Three electrical wires and 72 man hours later all I have to show for it is a nursery with partially put together fan hanging useless from the ceiling waiting on the family electrician to come later in the week and while he doesn't charge he will belittle my efforts for 45 minutes before fixing the problem in less than 5.

For me the death penalty isn't harsh enough for those sadistic sons with no fathers who design these modern iron maidens of the mind and soul.

On Monday I am breaking out my boomstick.

BJ not BK — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 19:53:00 GMT

That loud sound you just heard wasn't Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier and it wasn't the nations investors' jaws dropping as the market tanks...it was me, breaking the "in case of emergency" glass and unleashing the mother of all sarcasm.

Show up Monday morning bright and early if you dare.

Galatians Week 2 - Promotion video

BJ not BK — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 01:29:00 GMT

Here is my first stab at a promotion video for our study of Galatians.

I will post week 2's lesson soon.

Freedom - A study of Galatians - Intro

BJ not BK — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 11:06:00 GMT

Galatians 1:1-5

"1Paul, an apostle— not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2and all the brothers who are with me, To the churches of Galatia:

What is your background? Where do you come from? Were you raised in a solid home, broken home? Were you raised in a religious setting? Did you go to church? Did you attend a big church? Small church? What denomination are you from?

What is the Bible to you? Is it a guidebook, a book of laws and commands? How are we to live out our lives morally here on earth? What is and isn't permissible? How far into the culture can a Christian go?

Who wrote Galatians, this 6 chapter, 149 verse book of the New Testament? What is it and why was it written?

Galatians, in the microcosm, is a letter from a loving pastor, Paul, to a group of churches planted in Asia Minor. In the macrocosm, Galatians is the inspired work of the Holy Spirit working through Paul revealing the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ not just to the churches in Galatia but to everyone who opens the Bible and reads it.

Galatians is an important letter, an urgent letter and it is full of anger, disappointment, passion, and sarcasm. What has happened? Why the urgency? Why the anger and disappointment?

Many in Galatia who had previously believed and held fast to "Jesus saves" have now fallen under the spell of a new equation that said...Jesus + = salvation. Paul is "astonished" (Galatians 1:6) at the chain of events and the change of hearts in the congregations of God's people. Paul compares them to those who are under a spell (Galatians 3:1) asking..."Who has bewitched you?" And as one commentator has translated it addresses the Galatians as "my dear idiots" (Galatians 3:1).

The problem is that every time people get a hold of religion they mess it up. People use religion as a tool to push their own agenda and to subdue and control others. The great news that Jesus saves people from their sins has been relegated to one small piece of a religious puzzle that said Jesus plus festivals, tradition, laws, customs equals salvation and what once was freedom in Christ has now become enslavement to the law of Judaism.

But before we go too far into the reason the letter was written let's take a step back and look at the author of the letter.

There is absolutely no doubt as to who the author of Galatians is. Galatians 1:1 clearly states "Paul" and in Galatians 6:11 Paul tells us that he has written this letter himself, with his own hands in very large letters. The great priest, Bible translator, and Christian apologist Jerome was once quoted as saying...."Every time I read the letters of the apostle Paul I hear thunder."

Who was Paul?
Where did he come from?
What was his background?
Why should you and I care what he has to say or card about what he wrote?
Under whose authority is he operating and what are his motives?

Paul was from Tarsus (Acts 22:3-11) he was a Jew, in fact Paul was not just a Jew but was an uber Jew, (Philippians 3:5-6) "circumsized on the eight day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, Hebrew of Hebrews." Paul was highly educated in the Pharisaic school and was the prize pupil under the famous Rabbi Gamaliel (name means the glory of the law). Not only did Paul excel in his studies of the Old Testament but he was well acquainted with the current trends in thinking and philosophy prevalent in the Hellenistic culture of his times. On several occasions through his letters, Paul alludes to popular poets, philosophers, and thinkers within the culture (Acts 17:16-34). But Paul wasn't just a scholar...he was an activist who was completely sold out to the law.

The first time we see Paul/Saul he is present at the stoning of Stephen giving full approval (Acts 7:58). Paul continues after Stephen's death in persecuting the church of God (Acts 8:1-3) going from house to house arresting men and women who profess and worship Jesus as Lord.

Paul tells us in his own words (Galatians 1:13-14) that he "persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers." Paul was zealous, an over achiever, he lusted after the law, after following the traditions, customs, festivals of his fathers...in short he was completely consumed in works which pushed him to extreme violence toward the church of God.

Yet something happened, something changed in Paul's life, within his heart.

What could change the path of a violent man? Here is someone who was persecuting and murdering the church, someone who was devoutly religious, buried in thousands of years of tradition, bound by the law, customs, festivals, sacrifices and hell bent on destroying a rag-tag group of men and women who worshiped a man who had just been executed on a Roman cross

What could change the direction of this man's life and move him from persecutor to pastor? What changed Paul from the start pupil of Gamaliel to Paul..rock star, church planter, man's man and apostle to the gentiles?

He met the resurrected Jesus face to face.

Paul was zealously acting out what he believed in his heart to be right, following the law, persecuting anyone who did not follow the law, and doing everything in his power to destroy the church of God and Paul thought what he was doing was pleasing to God (Acts 22:4-5).

Out of nowhere Jesus shows up and knocks Paul to the ground (Acts 22:6-9). "Why are you persecuting me?" Jesus asks. It's as if Jesus is saying...."You think what you are doing is right and pleasing to me but you don't know the truth, you don't know what my work on the cross has done in fulfilling the law, you don't know God and you don't know me."

Upon meeting Jesus the Pharisee formerly known as Saul, the man hell bent on harassing, arresting, beating, and killing Christians, the man on a mission to destroy God's church and anyone who loves, follows, and worships Jesus now is changed forever to Paul, the man who loves, follows, and worships Jesus and who is appointed by Jesus to take the gospel to the very people he once persecuted and to be persecuted even unto his own death because of the gospel message. God now uses Paul's zealous personality, knowledge of the Bible, Greek philosophy, and culture to spread the gospel and to plant and pastor churches.

The letter is written by Paul, the former...
religious zealot
racist
Christian persecuting
church destroying
now converted apostle

Paul is one of the handpicked men who personally saw Jesus and who was called directly by Jesus to spread the gospel message of Jesus and Jesus only saves. Not religion, not the law, not customs, not tradition, not anything you or I do in trying to please God or in reaching up to God but in everything that God has done in reaching down to us, giving us His word so that we might know Him that we might see His glory and majesty revealed and everything Jesus has done in coming down to us, becoming one of us, the God/man, so that He could identify with us, be tempted as we are tempted yet remain sinless through it all and die for us as the onetime, perfect, sinless sacrifice that would appease God's demand that the penalty for our sins be paid so that you and I would be forgiven and so that you and I would be adopted into God's family as children of God, joint heirs with Jesus!

Paul is called not by committee, by vote, by group decision, by a church or by any one man...he is called directly by Jesus and by God the Father and so we should listen as what Paul writes to us is extremely important and carries the highest authority as it comes directly from God (Galatians 1:1).

I don't know what your background is. I don't know where most of you come from, what environment you were raised in, what religious background you grew up in, or where you are at right now. What I do know is that the Bible is God's word, Jesus is God, and it is only through Jesus' finished work on the cross that we are saved.

Why did Paul write this letter? What is the urgency about? Why is it so important for us today?

My prayer is that everything you know about Jesus, God, salvation, the law, freedom be turned upside down and tossed aside if it is not true and if it does not line up with scripture. My prayer is that the shackles of law, custom, traditions of men be removed from our hearts so that we can worship Jesus with joy and in truth and in spirit.

Amen.

Speechless

BJ not BK — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:43:00 GMT

Speechless...really without words....almost unable to utter a syllable other than some fowl words and hand gestures not appropriate for this forum.

$350,000,000 for STD prevention in the stimulus package?

Really? $350 million?

And just how will that stimulate the economy?

I hope change is on the way.

Facebook Observations

BJ not BK — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 11:36:00 GMT

If you do not use Facebook or have never used Facebook then this post may not make much sense to you but for those of you who do use it chime in with the observations you have observed.

I have been on Facebook now for about a year or less and let me say that this is a great way to network over the internet. I have used the site to reconnect with long lost friends, people I went to high-school with (although only 3 of my former classmates have discovered Facebook) kept tabs on current friends, as well as connect with co-workers. I have also used Facebook as a place to post photos and send out event invitations for our Bible Fellowship class events.

All pretty cool stuff and you can't beat the price.....free. In my short lived time on this social networking site I have noticed the following trends.

1. The wife is usually the first to join and usually the more frequent user. I admit...I had never planned to join Facebook, I thought only teenage girls used Facebook and that any grown man over the age of 17 who used Facebook was a pansy. I take that back and wish to restate my opinion...only grown men over 17 who text more than 25 times a day are pansies.....Facebook is manly.

2. Older people begin using Facebook as a means to monitor their children's behavior. It all starts out so innocent doesn't it? You begin with the intentions of keeping up with Johnny, and you do but what became a chore quickly becomes a quest as people begin sending you invites to be their friend and as you find friends online that you didn't even think were alive any more or who could spell P.C. let alone navigate the world wide web.

3. People are friend poachers. I have noticed that there are some who's main desire in live is to have the most friends and this means tagging anyone and everyone who is on Facebook whether they know you or not.

4. Applications - as of right now there are approximately 1 billion applications you can use on Facebook including photo sharing, charitable causes, calendars, maps, quizzes, and yes....flair...lot of flair.

5. Profile pictures - most people can't take a decent profile picture. Some try to get artsy with chopping their faces in half, twisting the picture at a funny angle, utilizing black and white while others post pictures of themselves they probably should not. Maybe we can write a business plan and create a start up company to do nothing more than create great looking profile pictures for the millions of Facebook members? Kind of like the glamor shots of the www?

Personally I see Facebook as another tool to use, a means to reconnect, and way to communicate but never with the intention of displacing face to face time.