Thoughts From Romans 8 Part 2

  10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.12 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children,   Romans 8:10-16

          Were you ever put in positions in life that caused you great anxiety? I'm sure you have unless I'm reading too much of me into you. I moved a lot so every few years I was starting fresh in a school where I had no friends. That causes anxiety! But the worst situation was starting medical school. I was always at the top of my class and suddenly I was in a class where everyone was at the top of their class. Not only that, but many had spent prior years in the medical field like nurses, PA's, Nurse practitioners, EMT's and they already knew medicine. I didn't know the difference between an intern and internist. (if you don't either, well there is a huge difference as I embarrassingly found out) I had imposter syndrome long before anyone even knew what that was. Frankly I feared failing, being inadequate, and second guessing my choice to go to medical school. People ask me why I didn't become a sports doctor as much as I like sports. The truth is we had a sports doctor give a lecture and he was putting his hand in weird positions and saying, "A patient comes in with their hand looking like this. What nerve is injured?" Classmates were yelling out correct answers and I couldn't hazard a guess. I said to myself, "I guess I'm not smart enough to go into that field", which is ironic because there are insider jokes about Orthopods are the dumb doctors and just like to saw and hammer things.

          Now what if my father would have been dean of the school? Would I have feared failing? Would I have feared being kicked out? No! Why? Because my father would have been committed to me succeeding. He probably would have had the lecturer over for dinner and given me a private tutorial. I would have thought, "you guys know a lot, but my daddy is in charge of this school." I would have had the most powerful advocate on my side who was committed to me succeeding and one who I could take all my shortcomings to, and he would understand and ease my anxiety and fears and help me in my times of need. But I didn't.

         But I do have this advocate in life. My daddy is king of the universe. What do I need to fear? I can go to Him anytime because He is committed to my making it to the end. He is for me. I can cast all my cares, fears, anxieties, short-comings, inadequacies on Him because He cares for me and He actually has the power to help me. I can actually go through life and not fear what the world fears because I know the creator of the whole world and He loves me so much that He died for me. Man, life is great!

Milwaukee Brewers Top Prospects 2026

       Every year I look through the stats of players in our farm system and compile my list of top prospects. I don't use advanced analytics and I don't use fielding stats, just your basic old timey stats. I like to find 25, a complete roster but seldom do I find that many that meet my rigid standards. We are said to have one of the top minor league systems which reflects good drafting, after years of poor drafting, and the unwillingness of Matt Arnold to give any of them up for a temporary asset to help us in post season. So let's look at these guys that kept us from getting a stud closer for the playoffs.

Pitchers 

     SP   - Dorchies  18 y/o RH  Low A  ERA 2.74   82IP  89K  Avg .174  WHIP 1.05

              Dubanewicz  19 y/o  RH  Low A  ERA 2.40   Avg .235  WHIP 1.12

              Colmenarez  19 y/o RH  DSL   ERA 2.14   Avg .167   WHIP .90

              Mayorquin  17 y/o RH  DSL   ERA  2.45  IP 47 BB 7 K 49  WHIP 1.07

              Duran  17 y/o RH  DSL  ERA 2.77  Avg .136  WHIP 1.08

              Gillis 25 y/o RH  High A  ERA  2.65  Avg .243  WHIP 1.16

              M. Hernandez 19 y/o RH Low A  ERA 2.00  Avg .217  WHIP .99

              Renz 18 y/o RH  Low A  ERA 2.33  Avg .174  WHIP 1.14

              Letson 21 y/o RH AA  ERA  2.40  IP  41  K 49  Avg .214  WHIP 1.04

              Hardin 23 y/o AA  ERA 2.72  IP 96  K 96  Avg .262  WHIP 1.18

              Kuhner 24 y/o LH  AAA   ERA 2.77  IP 110  K 117  Avg .233  WHIP 1.18

             * Didn't include Miz or Henderson because I consider them MLB already

     RP        

              Derlin Garcia   18 y/o RH  DSL  ERA 1.86  Avg .182  WHIP .93

              Yaeger 27 y/o RH  AAA  ERA  2.04  Avg .178  WHIP 1.05

              Yoho  25 y/o RH  AAA   ERA 0.94  IP 47  K 60  Avg .164  WHIP  .99

     Catcher

             Lugo 18 y/o RH  DSL  .303/.405/.393/.798

             Dinges 22 y/o RH  High A  .300/.416/.514/.930  HR 13

     Inf

           2B J. Martinez 18 y/o DSL Switch  .321/.445/.532/.977  BB 30 K 22 SB 24 CS 1

           SS Adamczewski 20 y/o High A  LH  .320/.420/.490/.910

           SS  Pena  18 y/o High A  RH  .307/.372/.471/.843 (career #'s)

           SS Made 18 y/o AA  Switch  .298/.402/.452/.854 (career #'s)

           1B  Burke 22 y/o AA LH   .300/.377/.579/.956  HR 16  RBI 82

    OF   

        Frias 17 y/o  LH  DSL  .316/.411/.400/.811

        Ibarquen  19 y/o RH  Low A .290/.408/.407/.815

        Ragsdale 21 y/o LH Low A .300/.437/.314/.751

        Cameron  28 y/o RH AAA  .282/.378/.576/.954

     

 So there you have it. Big disappointments this year Pratt who had the opportunity to take the leap but just didn't seize it. Expect Boeve to have a rebound season after injury plagued season. Quero ready to make leap but he is no Contreras at the plate. Yoho gets the yips when he gets called up. Yeager deserves a shot. Made moved up well but Pena didn't. Interested to see if Burke has to spend a year at AAA. Cameron couldn't cut it in majors although really didn't get regular playing time. Deserves another shot.

       

Thoughts From Romans 8

 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.  Rom. 8:1-9

          Romans 8 separates the whole world into two camps - those who have the Holy Spirit in them and those who don't, or the saved and the lost, or the dead and the reborn. Paul tells us that the definition of "to be saved", the Christianese that we throw around, is to be regenerated by the Holy Spirit. He comes inside at our point of repentance and faith in the sacrifice of Christ for our sins and His resurrection from the dead and breathes life into our dead soul that has been stillborn since Adam's sin.

          I recently went to a baseball game with my friend Bob who is an avid fan and got his name on the wall for having season tickets for so many consecutive years. When he asked me if I wanted to go see it, I bantered, "No thanks, my name is in the Lamb's Book of Life", to which he replied, "How do you know? We can go down and SEE my name." He's right about one thing, I can't see my name, yet I just by faith believe it's in there. Paul says in 2Corinthians that we are to examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith or you could say to see if our name is in the book. What are some self-examination tools we have to see if the Spirit is truly inside us?

       First, we see in verse 5 that our minds would be set on what the Spirit desires. What does the Spirit desire - to magnify God. If our mind is set on how can I achieve glory, then our minds are governed by the flesh rather than the Spirit. Am I into self-promotion or God promotion? Do I desire He increase, and I decrease or vice-versa? The flesh and the Spirit butted heads last night at the Charlie Kirk funeral. You could see those who used the platform for advancement of self, power, party versus those who just wanted Christ to be magnified. The problem is that most who are self-promoting are probably deluded into thinking they are saved. That's why self-examination is so important.

       Secondly, in verse 6 we see that the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. Paul says in Phillipians that those run by the flesh have their minds focused on Earthly things, but our citizenship is in Heaven, and we eagerly await Christ's return. If we are truly saved, we should be thinking like aliens, pilgrims, sojourners, ambassadors, deployed soldiers, all those terms used in the epistles emphasizing that we are just visiting this planet and our real home is in Heaven. If you ask people that claim to be Christians, they will acknowledge that fact. But when you examine their use of time, money, you would see that they are treating this world as their home. But our calling isn't to judge them but rather look at our own calendar, checkbook, social media, apps, etc. What kingdom is our mind fixed on - Earth or Heaven?

      Lastly, in verse 7 Paul says that the mind controlled by the Spirit desires to obey God's law or we should be desiring to live Holy lives or imitators of Christ. We should be asking "What would Jesus do?" in every situation. Jesus said, "if you love Me you will obey my commandments. Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord' and don't do what I say?" If we are reserving the right to decide which of God's commands we will obey, like loving and forgiving our enemies for example, or sexual mores which may not represent contemporary thinking, we are being run by the flesh. It's easy to point at someone like Trump who said, "Charlie loved his enemies but I hate mine.", and judge which eternal camp he is in but once again, that's not the point. We are to self- examine and see which "drivers" of our life have a "firewall" to obeying Jesus and tear those walls down in complete surrender.

        Don't deceive yourself about something so important as your soul. We often watch reality shows and comment how self-unaware some contestants are. (We watched Traitors season 3 and Tom Sandoval may be the most self-unaware person ever) Yet our flesh thrives on self-deception, and we must examine ourselves to make sure that we are true believers. Use these tests and see.

More Thoughts From Hebrews 9

 After reading chapters 7,8, and 9, I was forced to ponder the question, if God is perfect, knows the future, never makes mistakes, is never taken "off guard", why did He make an imperfect covenant that 2000 years later was replaced by a better one? Why didn't He make the better covenant, the one that worked, straight away? In our world, it would be like making the computers that looked like refrigerators at the onset and later introducing the microchip so a computer can be held in your hand, all the while having the microchip from the start. It doesn't make sense, does it?

        I can't say I understand this fully but let me give some thoughts. If Jesus met Adam and Eve as they were exiting the garden and was carrying a cross and had them nail Him to it, I have to believe they would have no clue what's going on. First of all, I would guess they would think,"I only made one mistake in my life and it's causing a person to die? What's up with that?" The Old Covenant shows us the seriousness and regularity of sin and the inability to stop from sinning. Every day the Israelites were reminded of the seriousness of their sin as they saw the sacrifice of lambs.  They were not "mistakers" but sinners and sin was not just a moral lapse but cosmic treason. Not only that, but they couldn't stop sinning. My understanding of the Millenium says that even with Satan bound for 1000 years, Jesus ruling on the throne, garden of Eden like conditions restored, when Satan is released, he will find an army of willing volunteers to rebel against Christ.

         Second, the Old Covenant taught that "the wages of sin is death". "The soul that sins shall die." The death of innocent spotless lambs on their behalf told them something had to die to atone for their sin. The fact that it had to be repeated day after day showed them that the atonement was only temporary and made them long for something more permanent.

        Third, a priest had to represent them. Only a select few Israelites could go into the presence of God and those unauthorized few that tried were struck dead or became lepers or in Saul's case lost the Kingship. The Old Covenant made them understand that someone had to enter on their behalf and made them long for the day that they could boldly enter God's presence.

         The Old covenant, an inferior covenant, was necessary to reveal the gravity of sin, that sin is only paid for by death, that our default mode is sin, that someone chosen by God has to intercede for us on a regular basis because the atonement was only temporary. When the time was right and mankind understood this and longed for a better way, God stepped in with the better covenant. He didn't send a spotless lamb but a sinless God/man Jesus to be the new Adam and undo what he did. Jesus died for our sins once and for all, the perfect for the imperfect, so we can go into the presence of God after he entered before us. He took away our sins permanently and sent us the Holy Spirit to dwell inside us to make it possible not to sin. Why it took 2000 years to introduce the New Covenant? Maybe we are slow learners?

Thoughts From Hebrews 9

 ... the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper. They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.  Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. (Portions of Hebrews 9)

          The Old Covenant was flawed because it couldn't take away sins nor work internally to give us a clean conscience. It had to be repeated daily yet never took away the problem.

         I was just listening to a lecture on syphilis because there is a drastic up-tick in cases lately. The presenter discussed the history of this disease which couldn't be cured until Penicillin was discovered. The disease, like sin, found it's way into the core of the person and lived there causing multiple symptoms but some of these included skin rashes and sores. Prior to Penicillin they applied Mercury and Iodine to the sores which would help them heal on the outside until more came up. Meanwhile the organism was causing permanent damage to the heart and spine eventually killing them. This is like sin in the Old Covenant. It was daily treated on the outside but the inside problem could not be cured until Christ's blood became our Penicillin. By His shedding His blood and dying, He cured us of the disease of sin from the inside out. Not only do we look different on the outside but inside we have His blood running through our core creating a new person on the inside, a healthy one with a clean conscience who is going to live forever because we have immortal blood inside of us.

       That reminds me of a 16-episode 1970 TV show called The Immortal. The plot was a billionaire chases after the blood of a race car driver who never ages. If he could just get infused with the immortal's blood, he could live forever. Many shows have had a common plot of someone seeking immortality through some means and it always ends badly for them. The gospel offers what the whole world is seeking - immortality, yet Satan has blinded the eyes of people who don't realize they are sinners to the core, yet God has offered them the remedy through faith in Jesus Christ. I don't need to wait till Heaven to live forever, I already am! Are you?

Thoughts From Hebrews 8

" ... the new covenant is established on better promises.7 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. 8 But God found fault with the people and said:

'The days are coming, declares the Lord,
    when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
    and with the people of Judah.
9 It will not be like the covenant
    I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
    to lead them out of Egypt,
because they did not remain faithful to my covenant,
    and I turned away from them,
declares the Lord.
10 This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel
    after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
    and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.
11 No longer will they teach their neighbor,
    or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
    from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will forgive their wickedness
    and will remember their sins no more.'

13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear." Hebrews 8:6-13

           This passage from Jeremiah and the following one from Ezekiel always confuse me;

24 “‘For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. 28 Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God. 29 I will save you from all your uncleanness" Ezek.36:24-29

           Are these prophets prophesying about the Holy Spirit coming on all believers, or are they giving an end time prophecy about the mass conversion of Jews during the end times? I've come to the conclusion of yes. I think these are dual prophecies that pertain and are fulfilled by both. First of all, if you interpret the end times in a premillennial fashion, Romans 11 says that we are living in a temporary hardening of hearts stage of Israel. they have a "heart of stone" and no matter how many prophecies were fulfilled that Jesus was the Messiah, they can't see it. God, therefore, is opening the hearts of gentiles, not replacing the Jews, but adding them to the vineyard. When this time is completed, God will take away their heart of stone and give them a soft heart and they will understand the truth.

          The other fulfillment is in regard to when our uncleanness is washed away (we are saved), we get a heart transplant. Our old, hardened heart becomes replaced by a born-again heart with the Holy Spirit living inside. No longer is our conscience hardened but we have an indwelling compass. We no longer have to fear God abandoning us for our evil behavior because He will never leave us. We no longer have to offer sacrifices at the temple because Jesus has offered His blood once and for all and we live in freedom not to sin but to obey without fear. We live in a time of grace not judgement. 

            It's sort of like this; when my 4 kids lived in my household, I feel like I was pretty stern and maybe a little hard on them. Why? Because I had 18 years to teach them how to be good adults but more than anything, to form a faith that stands on its own once they flew the coop. Then they left for college, none lived at home which I highly recommend for their independence and formation, and now they are married and on their own raising their own kids, and I can just enjoy "the Heck" out of them. I don't even give them advice unless they ask. I don't have to be mean, those days are over. Do you get it? In the Old Covenant, God was fiercely loving them by training them because they had to internal compass. They were his children. Though they were the "apple of His eye", they needed many harsh lessons. Once the time was right, the internalization of the truth and the Father's (and mother's) heart came inside and there was no longer judgement but freedom. Not free to be bad but free to live the truth they had been taught. 

          Aren't you glad you live now rather than then? Aren't you glad God allowed us to join His family? Live the abundant life in light of those two facts!

Thoughts From Hebrews 7

 23 Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; 24 but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. 25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.  Hebrews 7:23-25

             Have you ever said or heard it said, "I live for this." My wife would probably say that phrase when the grandkids spend the night and when they wake up at 7 (they have a clock in their room and aren't allowed to come down the stairs until it hits 7), they come on the back porch where she has her quiet time, and she does a morning Bible study or Q&A with them. Or maybe she would say it when our 2nd son who is in the ministry baptizes a grandchild in the ocean at our family vacation in Hilton Head. When might I say it? Maybe in the midst of a medical mission trip where scores of people are praying to receive Christ and I get to lead some of them in prayer after sharing the gospel. Or maybe it's as mundane as going fishing with my 3rd son at the crack of dawn and catching a 4 lb. large mouth bass.

          What do you think Jesus lives for? In chapter 7 which ties Genesis (2000BC) to Psalms (1000BC) to Hebrews (60AD) showing the continuity and harmony of the Bible, the author says Jesus lives to make intercession for us. What does that mean? We are at odds with God due to our sin or rebellion against Him. Jesus took that sin on Himself on the cross if we by faith believe this and then God's righteous anger against sin is appeased and He sees us as clean. Jesus' blood in effect, like the atonement cover on the Ark of the Covenant, covers over the broken commandments inside and God doesn't see the sins. We are then allowed into the Holy presence of God. Nothing makes Jesus happier. He lives to restore our relationship with God and usher us into His presence.

         This is taken to a whole "nother" level when we realize that Jesus' life had no beginning. He IS life. That means, before the beginning of time His mind and heart was for us and longing for us. Why? It's hard to fathom! My 2nd son's wife just had a baby. He loves to facetime with us and it's fun to see his love for the baby in his voice and eyes and laughter. This was evident long before the baby smiled or knew him. In fact, all it does is sleep, eat, spit up, pass gas, poop, and wake him up in the middle of the night crying. Where does all that love come from? Yet this baby could now be said to be "His life". He lives for this baby. This is how Jesus' love for us is. Do you believe that, or do you mock and curse and hate the name of Jesus? All He has ever done is reach out both hands in love for you and have them nailed to a tree.

          Stop rebelling or running away from Jesus and fall into His arms of love today.

Thoughts From 2 Peter - Day 23

  Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. 2 Peter 3:15,16

         Paul's letters receive a lot of criticism from unbelievers or false teachers because they deal with multiple hot button topics like women's role in the church and home, the rapture, homosexuality, church polity, church discipline, spiritual gifts and more. If you can just say, "Well, that's just Paul's opinion" or "He changes his mind from book to book", then you can read the epistles with a "grain of salt" and not treat them as authoritative. The problem with that is Peter calls them "scriptures" and puts them in the same category as the other scriptures that the early church was using which would eventually become todays Bible - God's inerrant inspired authoritative word given to us by which we get to know Him, hear from Him, and discern His will for our lives.

       Peter, himself, admits that some of Paul's writings can be difficult to understand. Note the word "some". That means that most aren't. I once heard a famous Christian quoted as saying, "I'm more concerned with what I do understand about the Bible than what I don't". In other words, there is enough clearly convicting stuff in the Bible to deal with so first get in line with that. Also Peter says "difficult" not "impossible". How deep do you want to dig to understand it? My favorite YouTuber/ Bible Scholar, Mike Winger devoted himself to discovering what Paul's teaching on Women's role in the Church was and once made a 13 hour video on one aspect of this. He desired to understand the difficult and not just say it's impossible.

      Lastly, Peter says that if you distort the scriptures you are ignorant and/or unstable and headed for destruction. I see that as two categories - ignorant; untaught, don't know any better and probably don't desire to know. -unstable; like the house built on sand. Choose the easy way to follow the ways of the world. Either way, you will stand before God someday and have to give an account for your disobedience and He will say, "You have no excuse". God has spelled out His will in the Bible and as we have previously mentioned, it butts heads with our wanting to do what we want to do so quite often we look for ways to distort what God is saying so we can fulfill our lusts.

        Are you reading the Bible in a submissive way and saying, "God, whatever you say, I will obey"? This is the way.

Thoughts From 2 Peter - Day 22

 ... what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives... So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him... But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.  2 Peter 3:11,14,18

         When I read these verses I'm reminded of a parable that Jesus told of a wedding feast in Matthew 22. In this story, a wedding banquet was going on and everyone was clothed in splendid garments, possibly supplied by the host or maybe just wearing their "Sunday best", in honor of the occasion. However, there was one person that stood out because they came in wearing casual attire. Maybe they were still in their PJ's like they just rolled out of bed. Maybe they were wearing their workout clothes having just come from the gym. Or maybe they were wearing overalls coming from working in the field. Whatever the case, they didn't think the occasion was worth taking time to get dressed up. The host sees the man and promptly kicks him out either because he crashed the party and wasn't wearing the members only garb supplied by the host, or he had disdain for the host as hinted at in context from the prior parable.

        Although I'm not afraid of getting kicked out of the wedding feast of the Lamb because He has clothed me with His robe of righteousness and received His invitation, I do want to be found wearing it when He makes His surprise return. This is hinted at in the parable of oil in the lamps where the groom came in the middle of the night to surprise the bride and she was prepared unlike the bridesmaids. Peter says, since Jesus could come back at any moment, make sure you are dressed for the occasion. What's that look like? Living Holy, Godly lives, being found spotless and blameless, at peace with Him, understanding Him better and getting to know Him better.

        During a time of revival in my life, I was extremely convicted about wasting my time doing things that didn't have eternal consequence. I went to a movie and while taking a bathroom break, I noticed that the toilets were made by a company called American Standard. Have you ever been convicted by a toilet before? Why was I at the movie instead of reading my New American Standard Bible? While that may be dividing the Sacred and Secular too much, or so I was told that I was suffering from dualism, the point is "Are You Dressed For Success"?

Thoughts From 2 Peter - Day 21

" Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming" 2 Peter 3:12

           How do you speed the day of the Lord's coming when God already knows when it is? Here is the only logical answer. Have you ever had a day at work that seemed to last forever? Chances are it was a boring day where nothing was happening. I recently went to an NCAA football game and got there 75 minutes early - at least that's what the clock ticking down to game-time said. It seemed to last forever. My wife was ready to leave by the time the game started. Once the game started, the clock seemed to speed up. What happened? Busyness and activity seem to make time go faster. How can we speed the day of the Lord's return - by being about His business. Don't be a lazy Christian but go out and labor in His strength for the kingdom. It will make the time go quicker.

         That's the logical answer. Here's the illogical answer which could be right because our finite minds can't comprehend much. For example, Q. why pray when God already knows what He's going to do? A. Because prayer changes things. Huh? I thought God doesn't change his mind? Q. Why witness when God already knows who is going to be saved? A. Because God uses evangelism to save people. But if I didn't witness they'd still get saved? So here is the illogical answer. Matthew 24 says Christ will return when all the world has heard therefore let's reach all the unreached people groups and bring Jesus back. Similarly, Romans 11 talks about the fullness of the Gentiles being reached before God brings about revival of the Jews. Therefore, let's go get that last Gentile saved.

         The illogical part of this is that a finite date set by the Lord could be expedited. Yet, David, when being judged for a census, chose 3 days of being judged by the Lord because the Lord is merciful and sure enough, those 3 days were shortened because He relented at Aruanah's threshing floor. Dates and times are fixed, God doesn't change His mind, yet we see examples of both. Paul told the men on the ship that no one would be lost yet as men tried to escape in a lifeboat, he told them if they left, they would die. How could both be true?

          Truly, God's ways are higher than ours. Let's first of all get excited about the Lord coming back and secondly, let's get busy and hurry Him up. After all, it has been 2000 years already!

Thoughts From 2 Peter - Day 20

 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9

         I was recently in a discussion with a guy who rejects Christianity because of the problem of suffering in the world and God can't be a good God and all powerful God at the same time to allow this to happen. I've dealt with this in a blog in detail previously, ( https://thoughtsfromtherightbrain.blogspot.com/2016/06/apologetics-week-2-i-cant-worship-god.html)

but I was thinking of it again as I looked at this verse. If God wants all people to be saved and He's all powerful, why doesn't He make it happen? The reason has to be that He doesn't want to violate people's free will. He doesn't want to make people choose Him because they have to. God, though all-powerful allows people to go to Hell even though He could stop it, in order to let them have free will. I was recently watching a show called Foundation where Brother Day, the leader of the Empire, falls in love and leaves everything, even fakes his death, to be with a woman who he has been spending time with. When he finally finds her, she doesn't want him, in fact she is with another woman and states that she was only with him because she was forced to be and was scared of him. Brother Day is devastated at this news and crushed. Like art imitating reality, God wants our chosen love, not forced love.

 Relating this to the previously mentioned problem of suffering, God could stop all suffering and get rid of all evil in the world, but then He'd have to get rid of you (and me). He would have to step in and violate the free will of people to make choices and He has decided not to do this.

         My other thought on this verse is what led me to leave the Presbyterian church. The Westminster Confession states,  God's sovereign decree actively predestines some individuals to eternal life and others to everlasting death. This is explicitly stated in Chapter III, Section 3, which declares that for the manifestation of His glory, God predestined some men and angels to eternal life and others to everlasting death. How can this be possible if He desires everyone to be saved and not perish, in fact He is delaying His return because of it. If He has chosen certain people to spend eternity in hell and has created them for that reason, how could He desire everyone to be saved and why would He delay His coming knowing that they can't even choose to be saved. It makes no sense.

        God is so "into" free will that He put a tree in the garden, knowing that giving mankind a choice would cost His only Son's life on a cross. He values free will that much that He allows all the suffering we see today. He wants you to choose to love Him and follow Him and find everything you've been looking for - even Heaven. The choice is yours.

Thoughts From 2 Peter - Day 19

 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 

          As we think about global warming, ozone layer disappearing, carbon emissions, meteoric collisions, etc. it can lead to a panic thinking what is going to happen to our home? Well, first of all, believers need to rephrase that question because Earth isn't our home. We are citizens of Heaven and just visiting this planet as ambassadors for the King. But secondly, we don't need to wonder what's the future of Earth because Peter spells it out - it's going to be burnt up.

       Being premillennial, I understand the future this way. Jesus will come in the clouds, sound the trumpet, the dead believers will rise and those believers that are alive will be caught up in the air and "raptured". We will be in Heaven at the great banquet/wedding feast of the lamb as the bride of Christ. Just like Jewish wedding feasts lasted a week, the feast will last 7 Earthly years and at the end of it, we will return with Christ to an Earth that has been ravaged by the Antichrist and the bowls of wrath of God's judgement on the Earth, and defeat Satan as he has rallied worldwide forces to fight Christ at His return. (Armageddon)

      During those 7 years a number of people will choose to follow Christ, and those who weren't killed will be judged at the "Sheep and Goats" judgement along with unbelievers who remain and be joined with us who have been raptured and given Heavenly bodies on a recreated Earth that is more like the garden of Eden. Those people with earthly bodies who were saved during the tribulation will procreate and after a thousand years, even though Satan has been bound, Christ is on Earth ruling, will choose to follow Satan when he is released and rebel against Jesus. 

      I believe at that time we will all leave Earth and be taken to the gates of Heaven where Satan will be sent to the Lake of Fire along with all those whose names weren't in the Lamb's book of Life at the Great White Throne Judgement. While we are in Heaven, my understanding is that the Earth will be destroyed and a new one created. Matter, as we know it consists of atoms held together by an invisible force. Colossians says that Christ holds all things together. What if He decided to just let go? Would the Earth explode like a nuclear bomb or a ball of fire? And what if then He decided to create a new Earth with a whole different structure than atoms and molecules? Some kind of structure that our Heavenly bodies will be made of with whole different properties. We already know that we won't sleep, die, have pain, and Jesus passed through closed doors, so we get hints of different matter make up.

      Anyway, that's my understanding and even though it's hard to fathom because we are in a period of time where everything goes on as it always has, there will come a time where it doesn't and God steps in and ends the status quo. Have you ever heard the statement "It's all going to burn"? This is where that comes from. Every time you buy something remember it's temporary. Don't make it your treasure. Don't stockpile a bunch of kindling. Store up treasures in Heaven that won't burn up.

Thoughts From 2 Peter - Day 18

 Above all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. 4 They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” 5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water. 6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.  2 Peter 3:3-6

         Forty-five years ago, when I was doing a rotation in anesthesiology in medical school, the anesthesiologist described his job as 30 seconds of terror followed by 90 minutes of boredom followed by 30 seconds of terror. In other words, a lot can go wrong in a hurry while putting people to sleep and waking them up but keeping them asleep is just turning on the ventilator and gases and reading an Outdoor Living magazine.

        We are living in the ventilator stage and have been for quite some time. In fact, it has been so long that people/scoffers think it has always been this way. Peter says, no, you are deliberately forgetting that before God set this world, the Laws of nature, the rotation of the Earth, the hydrologic system and all the other scientific discoveries that enable us to tell what time the sun will rise and set, the tides will be high and low, and bad weather is rolling in tomorrow at 4PM - before all that there was seven days of creation of everything in unexplainable means like we've never seen before. Then one to two thousand years later, there was a massive upheaval of the creation with the buried waters underneath the surface of the earth ripped open the earth's core recreating and flooding the surface of the Earth and seeding the canopy above causing rain for 40 days and collapsing the greenhouse effect creating the climate differentials we see throughout the Earth today.

       We are in the time when things seem to be going on as always thus, we have problems believing all that Creation Ex Nihlo stuff, worldwide flood with animals 2x2 on an ark, not to mention Virgin Birth, resurrection, walking on water, etc. because we have developed scientific laws that don't allow for that. The problem is that these Laws are for a closed system, but we have a God that periodically "sticks His hand" inside this closed system and blows our mind. Frankly we wish He would do it every time we pray for a loved one with cancer but in His wisdom, He usually chooses to let the Laws He put in place to run their course. But there is coming a day when He will jump into our closed system and we will see Him in the clouds and with the shout of a trumpet, the dead believers in Christ will rise first and we who remain will be caught up in the air to meet Him.

      Don't let the fact that we've never seen something created out of nothing or feeding 5000 people from 5 loaves and 2 fish happen. There is a God who can violate all Laws of Nature and He will soon. Stop scoffing and start believing!