Do You Know your ABC's?

   I never got around to writing yesterday.  However I hope my other posts over the weekend tided you through.

  Our long weekend was incredibly busy.  We went out for dinner with my grandmother, visited Jana at her store for her lunch breaks, cleaned out both vehicles from a winter of crud being built up inside.  And even lounged out back of a friend's house drinking beer watching the kids play in the sprinkler and romp around the yard.

  It was a much needed break, vacation is still a way's away so until then - I'll take what I can get.  I even took a break from Final Fantasy XI.  Apparently alot of people on my server are also enjoying the sun.  The economy and the leveling parties have really shrunk in the last week, lowering the fun factor significantly.

  I've been kicking back, during my gaming time, playing Bioshock: Infinite with my daughter hanging around.  She loves to yell YAY! Every once in a while as I play.  She even grabs another controller and I allow her to pretend she's playing too... even though she's not.

  Sometimes, I wish she could be 2 years old forever.  But now she's learning new words and trying SO hard to communicate.  I'm just enjoying watching her grow and change.  Maybe God will grant us a second one to have that fun all over again.  Who knows?  We're no longer anxious in this, Cassidy has been a great joy, and continues to be one.  If this is what is best for us, in this eon, then praise God!

   I read a really good letter on Martin Zender's site.  The reasons why one person wouldn't go to Church anymore.  They line up pretty much with all the reasons why I wouldn't go either.  They are;


1. The pastors always giving us life lessons, telling us what we should do and what we shouldn’t do. It’s obvious to me already: follow the Golden Rule. 
2. I feel like I’m constantly being measured, that is, how good of a Christian I am, what ministries I’m in, etc. 
3. I feel like I need to portray a certain image. I can’t just be myself, without worrying about being looked down upon. 
4. I start to look at people in a judgmental way. I don’t like to always be measuring people, and being judgy, always thinking to myself, Is he/she a Christian? 
5. I don’t feel comfortable or feel the need for praying in public, yet in a church group it is pretty much a requirement. 
6. I feel like a church is a business, so a pastor has to keep asking for tithes. I know of a church where the pastor has a regular job, and he doesn’t get paid by the church. I think all churches should be that way. Also, that can be the incentive for pastors to want to evangelize, so that the church will have more money, and they will be proud of themselves for getting more people saved. 
7. People feel like they get brownie points for evangelizing. They think they will be rewarded in heaven the more people that they get saved. I don’t think that is the way God wants it. 
8. I think that the true church is an invisible body of believers. Just because you are in a church doesn’t make you a Christian. 
9. As a single person, I sometimes feel like a second-class citizen. The married people with children are considered complete. 
10. Church is about establishing relationships. I have friends and family with which to cultivate relationships. I don’t have the time or energy to establish new relationships without them being flaky or half-hearted relationships. 
11. Basically, I don’t feel comfortable with the whole church scene. It seems like a big show. It’s like a country club for Christians. If you don’t fit in, or if you disagree with anything, then you are rejected and cast out. 
12. I like sleeping in. 
13. I don’t like to tithe. I do like to give, but to the person/organization of my choice. 
14. I like to think for myself, but when I’m in a church, their attitudes and beliefs start to rub off on me, and I start acting like them. I don’t want to be a Christian zombie that fits into the cookie-cutter mold (cheesy, clean-cut, do-gooder). 
15. All the female singles in the church wonder why I don’t ask them out. Then they make me feel like something is wrong with me because there are plenty of perfectly good women right under my nose. 
16. Churches make you feel like you always have to be doing something—do more to make yourself a better Christian: "Attainment, not Atonement." You seem to never reach the point where you can say, "I’m content and satisfied with what Christ has done for me, and I can rest in His grace." 
17. People in the David Koresh and Jim Jones church thought that they were in a good church. A pastor’s wacky beliefs may rub-off on a congregant. Churches are cultish. 

For the whole letter please go to: 
http://www.martinzender.com/Zenderature/dear_fearful_person.htm

I love #12... LOL  - I like sleeping in.  Amen dude... amen...

Word of God

  I've had some people say to me "Well the Bible was written by men, so even though GOD inspired it, it's not really to be taken so seriously."

  What a contradiction. Either it's God inspired, or not.  Either it was written solely by men, or inspired by God. You can't have both.  If God inspired it, then we need to give it the gravity it's words are due.  If it's written by men, then we might as well give it the respect that "Grimms Fairy Tales" are due.

   With that in mind this is what God has to say about HIS word;

Psalms 12:6 The words of Yahweh are clean words, Silver refined in a kiln, Fine gold refined seven times.

  This is how much though God put into every single word in that book.  FINE gold. Refined SEVEN times. This is not just an off the cuff stand up comedy.  This isn't open mic night in the realm of the deity.  This isn't improv.  This is careful, meticulous, thought out words that are refined seven times.  That's how important it is that we read it right, study it right and get it right.

2 Peter 1:20
20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture at all is becoming its own explanation.
21 For not by the will of man was prophecy carried on at any time, but, being carried on by holy spirit, holy men of God speak.

  These words were not written by man, but God authored them.  Sometimes even the prophets had NO idea what they were prophesying.  They were simply wrote what God gave them.

1 Peter 1:10-12

10 Concerning which salvation the prophets seek out and search out, who prophesy concerning the grace which is for you,
11 searching into what or what manner of era the spirit of Christ in them made evident, when testifying beforehand to the sufferings pertaining to Christ and the glories after these.
12 To whom it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to you they dispensed them, of which you were now informed through those who are bringing the evangel to you by holy spirit dispatched from heaven, into which messengers are yearning to peer.

  So... If we've now established that this is the Word of God, and you truly want to learn it.  Then we need to study it and learn it as well as we possibly can.  We need to understand the language of the Bible, how God chooses to speak and uses words, grammar, context, we need to become masters at WORDS and READING WORDS if we want to learn about God.

2 Timothy 2:15 Endeavor to present yourself to God qualified, an unashamed worker, correctly cutting the word of truth.

  God is consistent, logical and WANTS to be understood.  This is why he sent us a book in a human language.  If we understand that, then we must also learn to be consistent in our doctrine and our words.

2 Timothy 1:13

13 Have a pattern of sound words, which you hear from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.

2 Timothy 4:16

16 Attend to yourself and to the teaching. Be persisting in them, for in doing this you will save yourself as well as those hearing you.

  Having this established.  Please, feel free to correct me if ever you see that I'm in error.  I endevor as in all things regarding Christ and the gospel, to teach only what is taught in the Bible.  And I will only accept teaching that is in line with what the Bible teaches.

God Bless you and Peace be with you as you correctly cut the word of truth,

Travis Penner