Desire To Live

Eph 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, Eph 1:5 In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will Eph 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, Eph 1:13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, Eph 2:1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins Eph 2:4,5 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved[through faith]-- Eph 2:9,10 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Eph 2:12,13 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ...having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Eph 4:1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, Eph 4:22-25 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.Eph 5:6-8,10 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not associate with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light... and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Eph 6:10,11 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

For best effect, read the blog from the bottom up.

A blog I posted on January 13, 2006
So, today was interesting. I had to go downtown to pick up my passport. It was raining and snowing hard so I waited til it started to disperse. After this, I decided to head out for the city. The traffic was killer since everyone was going like 25 mph. I got to the train station much later than I wanted to, and right before I got to the train, it left. Bummer! So at this point I'm thinking to myself that I am probably not going to make it to the NBC Tower, where I needed to be, before 5 PM. It closes at 5. Well, I get on the train. This guy introduces himself to me by saying, "You Indian?, Hindu?", to which I replied, "Nope, I'm a Christian, but I am Indian. In fact I'm headed to India next week." He continued, "Oh ok, well I'm Muslim, I'm coming back from the mosque. My eyes widened. Now I knew why God placed me here. We sat across from each other, and talked a little about life. I noticed a girl and a guy, sitting separately, listening into our conversation. After a little talk, he asked me to spare him some money for travel. I usually don't give away money if I'm not sure where it's going, but I believed him at that point. Before long he went on telling me why he was a Muslim and I told him why I was a Christian. Of course he hit me right away with trying to prove that Jesus wasn't God. And as some of you guys know, learning about the Trinity has been a personal goal in my life for quite a little while now. I explained to him about the trinity and the misconceptions regarding it. He didn't believe that what I was saying was from the Bible since he read the Bible as well. Of course, he doesn't know me that well. I took out my Bible from my back pocket and read a passage from Hebrews, not only to him, but everyone else in the train. He was confounded, yet interested. His stop came, he thanked me for the chat and left. I started to wonder what this meant. It seemed that the guy and the girl sitting on the train wanted to talk to me. I just waited. A minute later, the guy who was sitting listening to me, decided to say something. He said that the conversation was interesting. He said he never met anyone who talked about God like I did. I told him that I just recently became a Christian and I'm still passionate about God's call. He told me that his stop had come and he got off. I started to wonder what this meant. Couple minutes later, we came to another stop. The girl that was sitting there also listening, got up to leave. But, before she left, she smiled and waved goodbye to my direction. I started to wonder what this meant. I still don't know. I will probably never see any of these people again. But, I hope they were encouraged as much as I was encouraged by God's excellence.

A blog from July 17, 2005
Yea so I went to the church that I wanted to go to finally. And, it was awesome. I went to the first service so it was mostly adults, but whatever it was awesome...I met this guy that took me under his wing and showed me around, introduced me to people and took me to his Bible study. Time for a cool 'God working' moment. Before church I went to the bank to get some money out and I was trying to listen to the only christian station around here that played music all the time. But, of course, like usual it was all staticky. Nothing new, for around a 5 mile radius around my house this station never works. And I was kinda aggravated having to listen to the same 4 christian CDs like a 100 times. So, I prayed about it right there in my car. The static didn't get better. So I started calling the devil a loser and such (literally speaking in my car) and I told him that every thing that God created is good and I will treat it as a good thing. So I turned my volume up real high. I was like 'Devil, you're a loser, you're not going to win' and I listened to the loud static all the way to the church. After church, I came out to my car and drove home and there was no more static. I went to work, no more static. I drove home from work in pouring rain, no static. That station has been staticky around my house ever since it was created and now there isn't any. Some may think it's coincidence, but to me, a person who's been listening to the same 4 christian CDs for the last two months straight, it's an enormous blessing and a miracle. God is good.

April 04, 2005
I love you Jesus. You have been with me through thick and thin. When I thought I was losing a grip, you grabbed a hold of me and brought me closer. You are everything to me and it has been an awesome journey. Thank you Lord for being my savior, for dying on the cross for a sinner such as I. I want to thank you for all the amazing things I've been part of after I got to know you personally. You have filled my life with encouragement and have shown me that you can use such a broken vessel to be part of your amazing plan. I want to thank you for displaying your love through my friends. Lord, I pray that you continue using me as a servant for your vineyard. Strengthen me to be a better laborer for you. Jesus, thank you for the salvation you have given me and the hope for a future home in heaven. Thank you, My Lord.

November 12, 2004
I have recently discovered the power of prayer...sure it has helped me before, but I think I really understand now what to pray for...I don't sit around and praying for myself all the time, but focus a lot more on others...my friends so to speak...not only does God bless my friends, but it blesses me in the process...One of my good friends...I prayed for her all the time...even though she was so out of the 'WAY'...and I was so happy to see her at CRU today...I didn't tell her that, but it really got me smiling when I saw her there...small things like that make me happy now...I feel so blessed these days...Fall Retreat was so good for me this year...I can't believe all the stuff that God has done to me since then...I actually talk to girls to tell them about Jesus now, instead of trying to pursue them...I'm still guilty once in a while, but my overall anxiety has gone so low...it's great...keep praying for me...those that pray for me...I love you guys, I feel I'm so blessed cause of your prayers.

October 28, 2004
it bothers me how people have such a negative image of me, but I don't know how to change it...i can't just change the way my personality is overnight, and I don't think I want to. But, enough of my pessimistic views on life, let's move on to happy thoughts. I've been doing extremely well since Fall Retreat, I haven't gotten drunk once since...and the temptations are getting higher and higher but I plan on sticking to it...yea so the WWJD bracelet that I've been trending is the agreement I had with God to keep myself pure and I was over at Cassie's place and it broke, and I started to tear up....over a stupid bracelet...cassie saw this and she super-glued my bracelet together...brand new once again to go forth into the battlefield...

October 17, 2004
I learn as I grow,I grow as I learn;
Jesus is the answer,Where else would I turn?
In times of trouble,In times of despair;
Jesus is the answer,Who else can compare?
Love your neighbor,Love your brother;
Jesus is the same,Yesterday, today, and forever.

October 12, 2004 - turning point in my life?
God has blessed me so much these last couple weeks. I haven't gotten drunk or did any kind of regretful sin in the last week or so since fall retreat. I think I learned a lot about people and God the last couple weeks. It's weird cause I used to always ask for signs from God and would never get any, and now God is giving me more signs than I can handle.

June 12, 2004 - I believe i was unregenerate
you gals are all nice...i myself am a nice guy....will we ever hook up...prolly not...you'll go for the jocks and i'll go for the cheerleaders and that's how this world revolves...but i'm always there to listen

June 9, 2004 - not regenerate
And another thing...A gay guy hit on me...I felt like knocking his teeth out but I decided to walk away...This is another reason why I do not like gay guys.

May 12, 2004 - definitely not regenerate
Well, I have been feeling really good this week...I have been working out every day and I think I'm in the best shape of my life...I've been here 5 days and I have gained 7 pounds...talk about awesomeness...I predict the rate will go down a little but I hope to gain 25 pounds of pure muscle over break since all I have to do is work and work out....I got an interview at American Eagle today...It looks good for me so far...I think they called me so fast cause they saw me in a t-shirt and they were like 'We need this buff guy working for us'...I have random girls hitting on me this week...Again, due to me wearing a cutoff t-shirt outside...Why did I even bothering wearing nice shirts? That's why nobody at NIU wanted to hook up with me...how sad?...Well, before my head explodes from egocentricity, I will signoff, cause I know I'll probably twist a hamstring or something next week and I'll be sitting in a bed all summer.

October, 2003 - Claimed I was saved. I guess I needed to learn what it means to 'repent and believe.' God expects you to not pray a prayer to receive him, but to turn away from your old self and become a new creation and seek after him so that you may be found by Him.

Now there is a new theology that claims that a person can be carnal permanently. This is what most people refer to when they speak about a carnal Christian. Someone who is a believer, but has not elevated Christ as Lord. They have little desire to grow in the knowledge of Christ or to pray without ceasing or to follow the Great commission. They are not utterly grieved over their sins. They believe that they are saved because they believe in Jesus Christ. In summary, this unbiblical doctrine teaches that a person may have assurance of salvation but yet show little or no evidence of a transformed life.

Let's look at the scriptural evidence:

(Rom 7:14 KJV) For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
(Rom 8:6,7 KJV) For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

Even when the word fleshly (sar-kee-kas) is used in the NT, it infers that the carnal person is against the law and God. So, then where does this doctrine arise from?

1Corinthians 3 But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh(carnal), as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh(carnal) and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not being merely human(carnal)? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building. According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw--each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple. Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, "He catches the wise in their craftiness," and again, "The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile." So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future--all are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.

Few observations we can make from this passage:

1) Paul is talking to believers because he calls them brothers
2) Paul is calling them carnal, and infants in Christ
3) They believe in God
4) God gave the growth(Sanctification)
5) They all build on the foundation of Christ
6) Some buildings were better than others

It seems here that a carnal person is a Christian but just an infant in Christ, and therefore is still saved and if he dies, this person would be just barely saved, but saved indeed.However, we know that the Scripture cannot contradict itself. For if a carnal person is sold to sin, his mind leads to death and enmity against God, it would not make sense for this person to now be able to be saved.

Now, the passage in context is referring to the division that was arising from people following Paul and Apollos. Paul, is correcting them and stating that they cannot put Paul in a pedestal or Apollos in a pedestal in a way that would make them idols. They were all servants of God, and so stewards of the grace of God. He wanted them to mature in their faith and realize that acting like this is to act immature in the faith. These people are indeed not permanently living in a carnal condition, but it was a temporary problem that needed to be dealt with. We know that this idea of carnal Christianity is not the same in that obviously they cared enough about the Scriptures and doctrines that they could distinguish Paul's message from Apollos' message. They were keen in learning. These were not lazy men. In fact, you could argue that these men were following in Paul and Apollos' footsteps in spreading the gospel.

So, what does it mean when it says, "If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire." Well, 'the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw' is referring to the doctrines these men teach and not as to their faith. And, these are the things that will be tested. And, he will suffer loss, since he wasted his life without eternal reward, in aspect to his teaching and ministering. However, this does not mean that this person is not saved. This does not mean that this person consistently lives in a fleshly way. It just means that their life labor was in vain. And, in fact, Paul says that this type of person, who because of thinking he is wise in his teaching, would be put to shame. That's the intent of this passage. They were putting certain people on a pedestal and therefore they considered themselves to be wise, according to the world. However, Paul is stating that wisdom comes from God, and it is not Paul's, or Apollos', or Peter's wisdom that they should hold pride in, but God's wisdom.

These men were not permanently carnal. However, they did act carnally in certain situations, until they were rebuked, and then continued their walk as Christians. This passage teaches us that we should not just put one person in a pedestal and agree with everything that person says but to be wise in a godly way, discerning through the Spirit and through the Word, and also other men of God.

Think about these questions:

1) Have you ever put one pastor-teacher in a pedestal in that you agree with him blindly in everything he says?

2) Are you building on a foundation that's been laid already(Christ, Bible, & Church History) or making new ones (Emergent, Liberal Theology)?

3) In what areas of life or doctrine have you been carnal, as infants in Christ? How can you mature in this area?

Referring to the passage from Galatians 3:28: It is true that all mankind is one. Men are not greater then women, slaves are not inferior to their masters, however their roles are different. Greeks must be reverent to Jews, slaves must be obedient to their masters, and wives should be submissive to their husbands. Just as in the Trinity, God is one, however there are different roles. Christ is submissive to the Father, though He is equal to the Father. Likewise, though men and women are equal, their roles are different. Wives are called to be submissive to their husbands, just as Christ was submissive to the Father.

1Cor. 14:33-35 For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints, the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.

Now, it is important to note that women are allowed to utter prophecies and even pray in church(1 Cor. 11:5), but it is in a way that is non-authoritative and submissive to their roles. So, expository teaching from the Word of God, which is what many pastors do, is out of the question for women. The Law in reference to in this passage is from Genesis where man was given authority over the woman. And the passage also clues us in why it is set up this way, because 'God is not a God of confusion'. Obviously, there will be confusion if the women started teaching the Word authoritatively over men.

1 Timothy 2:8 I desire then that in every place...(church, bible study, assembly of saints...)
1Tim 2:11-13 Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve;

'I do not permit a woman' is more accurately translated, 'I permit no woman'. So, in the assembly of believers, 'no woman' is allowed to speak in a manner where she will speak authoritatively over a man. To do so will be in rebellion and would become role reversion. If one has authority, one has to be submissive to learn. So, if you reverse that role, then Christ would have to be submissive to a man. That, my brother, would be blasphemy! Christ would not let a man have authority over Him(John 19:11). In the end of the Sermon on the Mount, it says that Christ spoke as of one with authority, and not like their scribes. Where did he get this authority? From God (Mat. 9:8, 28:18). Where did the disciples get authority from? Jesus (Mat. 10:1) The Holy Spirit also received authority from Jesus(John 16:13,14). Where do men receive their authority? From The Holy Spirit speaking to us and through the revealed Word of God.

John 7:16-18 So Jesus answered them, "My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory, but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.

God is the ultimate authority. Jesus was speaking in submission to God and so God had given all authority to Christ. Christ, though equal to God the Father did not have authority over Him. There is no man that could have authority over Christ. Likewise, there should be no woman that has authority over a man. To do so, will completely eradicate Christ's humility seen in Phillipians 2:6-9.

Now are women given authority? Yes, in the sense of teaching other women (Titus 2:3-5). That is the role they play in teaching. Also, man is not independent to women (1 Cor. 11:11). They are complements to each other, working side by side in the gospel (Phi 4:3). Both have to do their tasks that they were called to. So it is not about who they have authority over, but about their authoritative roles being different. It would be foolish for a man to complain to God that he cannot bear a child. Likewise, it would be foolish for women to complain to God that men play certain roles that they cannot.

Ephesians 5:25-28
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.

How does a wife get sanctified by her husband?

Well, from this passage we can see a few things:
1) The husband must lay down his life for his wife.
2) The husband must show her from Scripture how to cleanse herself from all impurity
3) The husband must aim to make her perfect, and therefore, like Jesus, in every way.
4) Husbands must love their wives as much as anything in this world, including themselves.

It is not weird to claim that a righteous man of God may in fact sanctify his wife. It requires him to step up as a husband and a man and take on the responsibilities of manhood. If he can lay claim to these things, and the woman in fact is a holy woman and can submit to his authority, then she can be sanctified.

Likewise, a man's sanctification depends on him submitting to the authority of Christ and being led by God's moral will, aka the Scriptures. A woman that cannot submit to a holy man of God, therefore cannot be sanctified, just as a man cannot be sanctified if he is not submissive to Christ. Now how could this be accomplished? Well, we know that when two get into a marriage covenant, the two become one(Gen. 2:24). Likewise, God has made a covenant with his wife Israel (and Christ to the church) to never leave her and to join with her into an everlasting covenant. The only requirement is to follow God's leadership, not just in belief, but also in keeping the precepts of the law. What does it matter if you believe you have a husband if you are not following him?

So, therefore, through a wife's submission to her husband, she is following his leadership, and through the man's leadership to Christ, he is following His leadership, and through Christ's submission to God, He is fulfilling the law and the covenant. This is why Jesus states that he did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it (Mat. 5:17-19). Therefore, we are sanctified through our submission and saved through following his commands.