tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50032360856739332282024-02-19T08:00:40.183-08:00Highway Church of Christ YouthAtom Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18184247947474538209noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003236085673933228.post-2377706062863776662013-04-22T12:09:00.002-07:002013-04-22T12:10:29.192-07:00Pleasing GodIF you could only ask God ONE question- and have it answered instantly… and that was all you could ask…
What question would it be?<br />
<br />
We had a lesson in class about this not too long ago and I asked the question. My take on it, at least for me, comes down to one question. With the truthful answer—which I’m sure God would give me—I’d know all I needed to know.
This morning… Oliver comes in the bedroom while donna and I are getting ready and he’s going on about something. He had been, moments ago, in his chair in the kitchen eating his golden grahams… and we were both under the impression that he was still there. But here he was, holding up his arm and saying something about how “It didn’t work.”
We go in the kitchen and – it looks as though he’s used his right forearm as a worn-out windshield wiper on the table. He looks at me as I’m trying to tell him that what he did was not only wrong, but wasteful and he looks at me and I know he’s aware that I’m not happy.
--------- kids don’t know. I watch them and I think “It is my job to tell them what is expected out of them. It is my job to teach them how they should act. It is my job- my responsibility. Nobody else’s…ultimately… it’s up to me. If I don’t do it right—there might be major consequences in the future. And I have willingly taken on that role but only in those moments when I look at them and take a moment to think about it and what it means—do I really understand how big a job it is.
Remember when Obi-Wan Kenobi was killed by Vader in the first star wars movie. After he was killed he came back at least once a movie and Gave Luke a crucial piece of information that pretty much directed his path afterwards? Remember?
Vader strikes Ben down and Luke starts shooting and you hear Ben say, “Run, Luke, Run.” And Luke runs.
In Empire, Ben says, “Go see Yoda. On Dagobah. Yoda…. Just go.” Luke goes to Dagobah and Yoda teaches him.
In Jedi Ben says: You have to kill your father… oh and Leia’s your sister.
Realize what an advantage that is… Imagine snapping your fingers and God shows up and tells you some crucial piece of information…
What question would you ask God if you only had One question? And you were guaranteed a truthful answer. This question is going to determine the direction of your life.
For me… there is only one question. And I’ve thought about the alternate forms of this question and it all comes down to this question: <b><i>Is my life—pleasing to you?</i></b>
Now the answer is either Yes or No. IF YES—keep doing what you are doing. That’s pretty simple. Course you can always try to do more, and Paul tells us to do that in his New Testament epistles… but we know that if we are pleasing God now with our lives… if we are living the same way in 30 years we are going to be pleasing then too.
If the answer is no… we have a problem. It doesn’t tell us specifically what we have to do to please God… but now we know where we stand with Him.
It’s like when you are lost and driving and you think , “I just wish I knew if this was the right way… I have no idea where I’m at… but is this the right way to get to where I need to be to get back on the interstate…”?????
Is my life—pleasing to you? It’s a question that lets you know where you stand at the present time.
The Baptism of Jesus
Matt 3: <i>13 Then Jesus *arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him. 14 But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?” 15 But Jesus answering said to him, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he *permitted Him. 16 After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on Him, 17 and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”</i>
Is there any other thing we could want to hear more than God say, ‘I am well-pleased in you’? I cannot think of anything I’d rather hear! In fact-- is it not a variation of what we want to hear in the end: ‘Well done thou Good and faithful servant’?
Ephesians 5:6-10 it’s our job to know what is pleasing to God. That’s why we have the bible… we have no excuses
<i>6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not be partakers with them; 8 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light 9 (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), 10 trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.</i>
If you think about it… not reading your bible to find out what God expects out of you is like not listening to your parents to find out what they deem acceptable behavior. Pleasing behavior. They won’t know what is right. They’ll decide for themselves.
I Tim 2:1-4 God just comes right out and gives us things we can do that are pleasing to him… there is no discernment we have to make… God takes the guess work out of it.
Verse1…
<i>First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. 3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.</i>
***To be acceptable in the Greek carries the meaning of being gladly welcomed because pleasing***
In Colossians we find Paul telling us the importance of pleasing god and telling us how to do so…
Colossians 1: <i>9 For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.</i>
And I Thess. chapter 4 speaks of a life that is pleasing to God… and the first verse speaks of what is expected out of us once we achieve a life pleasing to God… Beginning in verse 1…
<i>
Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. 2 For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, 5 not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. 7 For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. 8 Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.
9 Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, 10 for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, 11 and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you</i>
I wanted to share these thoughts with you. Oliver does things that do not please me. But when I ask his teacher if he was good and they say ‘YES’… I can’t describe how that makes me feel. I’m pleased.
I’m filled with hope and encouragement at the possibility that God might feel that way about me…
Atom Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18184247947474538209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003236085673933228.post-77021012443047841502012-10-30T11:49:00.000-07:002012-10-30T11:49:58.704-07:00The Blood of Christ
When do we come in contact with it? As I state below… I know that we don’t physically contact it… but it is applied to us. At what point?
This is what I will endeavor to answer in this post.
The Blood of Christ…
It cleanses us from all sin. 1 john 1:7 --- now… does it do that automatically or is there a condition?
There is a condition…
The beginning of 1 john 1:7 states that: “IF we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ Hi Son cleanses us from all sin.”
Also Eph. 1:7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
And Col. 1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
1:14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:
In both these passages we see that redemption through His blood is how we have forgiveness of sins.
And we need that blood because Romans 3:23 says… all have sinned.
So we have to have it. Without it, we are lost. If anyone disagrees up to this point, let me know.
Now continuing… How do we come in contact with the blood of Christ?
First of all, when did He shed his blood. The Cross. Col. 1:20
Now… Hebrews 9:12 Neither by the blood of goats and
calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption for us.
9:13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an
heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the
flesh: 9:14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the
eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your
conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
The blood of Christ will purge our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
Wait… what’s wrong with our conscience, and what does that have to do with anything?!
First of all, Conscience (strongs #4893) : joins moral and spiritual consciousness as part of being created in the divine image. It is an innate discernment, self-judging consciousness.
Hebrews 10:1-4 10:1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
10:2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that
the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of
sins. <i>---(here we see that a soul conscious of sins is the main issue. This soul has become conscious of sins due to the self-judging consciousness that has been convicted by the Holy Spirit…)---</i>
10:3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins
every year.
10:4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats
should take away sins.
Here the Hebrew writer asks a question which contrasts the Old Covenant sacrifices with the Sacrifice of Christ. He is speaking of the deficiencies of the Old Covenant sacrifices. In verse 2 he basically asks, “in light of this, wouldn’t they just have to make one sacrifice? That would have taken care of our “conscience of sins”… but the answer is no… because there is a remembrance. Year after year. We still have our conscience of sins. Our sins are still against us. They haven’t been taken care of.
This is what is wrong with our conscience------- We have been convinced that we are sinners.
Titus 1:15-16 1:15 Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.
1:16 They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him,
being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.
Again… a contrast, now between pure and defiled. Their mind and conscience is defiled. They are not pure. Unto these with defiled minds and consciences it is also weighed against them that they profess to know God—but in their works they deny Him. Because their works are abominable, disobedient, etc…
So in light of this… This defiled conscience that the lost person has… and in light of how the blood of Christ will purge our conscience from dead works to serve the living God…. How does this happen?
Again… is it automatic? Is it when we believe? Some profess to know Him… Titus 1:16 but their works deny Him.
So how does this happen? How do we let God know that we want our conscience purified?
Do we have to? Do we have to let God know? Or does He do this automatically when we believe or at some other point…?
Do we ask God to cleanse our conscience? Can we? NOW… we know that the blood of Christ cleanses us from sins. It washes our sins away. Christ came here to shed His blood.
So how do we come into contact with the Blood of Christ? When is it applied to us?
I Peter 3: 20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:
The “Answer” mentioned in verse 21 is Strongs Number 1905 and means: inquiry, request, appeal, etc… We are appealing to God for a good conscience--- because we have become convicted that ours is defiled by sin. Baptism is how Peter tells us that our conscience is made “good”.
Here, we see that Peter is telling us that Baptism doth also now SAVE us. He did not say that Baptism doth also now NOT save us… He said it doth. But what is the like figure??? He previously was speaking of Noah and the flood.
Noah was saved by the water or through the water… the water of the flood, cleansed the earth of all the evil that God had previously looked down upon and saw. Noah was raised above that destruction to safety.
Baptism is not a bath. The water does NOTHING. It is not a work of Man’s righteousness, but rather of God’s righteousness.
Baptism is a command. Christ commanded it.
Baptism is for the remission of sins. We get remission of sins from the shedding of Christ’s blood. He shed his blood on the Cross. Baptism is symbolic of the death, burial, and resurrection. It is in obedience to the command of baptism, that the blood of Christ is applied. It is in the water of baptism that our conscience is made “good” (strongs number 18--- good in that it originates from God.)
We come into contact with the blood of Christ when we submit to baptism.
Rev. 1: 5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
Now… just to make sure that there is NO confusion on this point… I know that the blood that Christ shed is not going to be poured, splashed, sprinkled, or flicked at me or anyone else… I get that. Not what I’m saying… When I say, “Where we come into contact with the Blood of Christ” I know that may carry a meaning for some that I am emphasizing a physical contact… but I’m not. Let me say it one more time… I know I’m not going to have blood dumped on my like Carrie.
But it is not physical. It is spiritual.
The actual cleansing of sins doesn’t involve the physical… that is why I said the Water does NUTTIN. But baptism DOES… In being baptized you are submitting to Christ’s command.
<i>Christ’s blood cleanses us of sins/ Christ’s blood washes us from our sins.</i>
---<b>baptism is where the sin-cleansing of Christ’s blood is applied to us</b>---
<i>Baptism is for the forgiveness of sins/ remission of sins.</i>
Romans 6: 4Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 6Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7For he that is dead is freed from sin.
Atom Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18184247947474538209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003236085673933228.post-26279018856024113962012-05-28T11:33:00.000-07:002012-05-29T07:59:15.453-07:00In Christ?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP-kat5sxEsnSEtuTkSgGU_1PLpY1rCnQB3Z66VvGtAye2Hz_OtpvYr_Q9WX6sFpJAOGO_91wDQHHlcrNlfYmPnsEm34XLq_t6Lr5zb-iVHXJUiXNZmiMZV3m8XSIuhk0l2_0GbwEnqBO5/s1600/757-1232906419B2Gp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="150" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP-kat5sxEsnSEtuTkSgGU_1PLpY1rCnQB3Z66VvGtAye2Hz_OtpvYr_Q9WX6sFpJAOGO_91wDQHHlcrNlfYmPnsEm34XLq_t6Lr5zb-iVHXJUiXNZmiMZV3m8XSIuhk0l2_0GbwEnqBO5/s200/757-1232906419B2Gp.jpg" /></a></div>
The promise of life IN CHRIST--- II TIM. 1:1
Partakers of the promise IN CHRIST--- Phil. 1:1
O.T. done away with IN CHRIST--- II Cor. 3:14
Simplicity IN CHRIST--- II Cor. 11:3
The grace of our Lord is IN CHRIST--- I Tim. 1:14
God’s own purpose and grace given IN CHRIST--- II Tim. 1:9
The love of God is for those IN CHRIST--- Romans 8:39
No condemnation for those IN CHRIST--- Romans 8:1
All are one IN CHRIST--- Gal. 3:28
Made nigh by the blood IN CHRIST--- Eph 2:13
Liberty IN CHRIST--- Gal 2:4
Reconciled IN CHRIST--- II Cor. 5:18-19
Sanctified IN CHRIST--- I Cor. 1:2
Call to be saints IN CHRIST--- I Cor. 1:2
Born through the gospel –those that are IN CHRIST--- I Cor. 4:15
Created IN CHRIST--- Eph. 2:10
New creatures IN CHRIST--- II Cor. 5:17 & Gal. 6:15
Made alive IN CHRIST--- I Cor. 15:22
Children of God by faith IN CHRIST--- Gal. 3: 26
Baptized INTO CHRIST--- Gal. 3: 27
Raised up together IN CHRIST--- Eph. 2:6
Redemption IN CHRIST--- Romans 3:24
Salvation IN CHRIST--- II Tim. 2:10 and II Tim. 3:15
The Prize IN CHRIST--- Phil. 3:14Atom Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18184247947474538209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003236085673933228.post-71049645415154319312011-10-05T06:17:00.000-07:002011-10-05T06:24:39.852-07:00The Internal Audit<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUDuFNUhw2_e6TKR2NAtwK_nxI0bk8amtKRg9iiVObYEVIqtYY_yBW6aJRRuJXQvEda5W_XerJpqDDQDiPNJvtnWUDDgmcR9x3Thyphenhyphen-w1oNC_woIgPWe8fZ6_MHK2aZSGbFnlfZr5iwzXvx/s1600/audit.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUDuFNUhw2_e6TKR2NAtwK_nxI0bk8amtKRg9iiVObYEVIqtYY_yBW6aJRRuJXQvEda5W_XerJpqDDQDiPNJvtnWUDDgmcR9x3Thyphenhyphen-w1oNC_woIgPWe8fZ6_MHK2aZSGbFnlfZr5iwzXvx/s200/audit.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5659997407101192402" /></a><br /><br /><br />We're going through an internal audit at work.<br /><br />For those of you that don't know what that is... it is basically when people come into your worklife and ask you countless questions about what you do and the things you are expected to know. <br /><br />For example: "Adam, what are the main objectives of your section and how do you ensure that you are meeting those objectives?"<br /><br />Fascinating, huh?<br /><br />You are placed under a microscope and then when all the questions are answered (correctly or otherwise) they leave to compile their findings and report their recommendations to Administration. <br /><br />Sometimes it turns out we're doing good... other times they identify areas of improvement or just areas of flat-out neglect.<br /><br />Imagine if we had auditors in our Christian lives... Think about that for a minute.<br /><br />You wake up one morning and you hear people in the living room. you walk out there and they say... "Have a seat... we'll be with you in a minute."<br /><br />You sit down and they turn to you and say, "Can u tell me the current location of your bible?"<br /><br />"of the goals you set for yourself over the past year, have you fulfilled them?"<br /><br />"Do you feel that you succeed in forgiving others? Letting go of anger? Loving your Christian brothers and sisters? All of them… And what about taking an interest in those that have not obeyed the Gospel yet?"<br /><br />"How would you say that people know you are a Christian? Do you tell people or show them?"<br /><br />"Have you completed all literature reviews (bible readings) that have been assigned to you since the last audit?"<br /><br />"Do you have regular meetings (Prayer) with your supervisor?"<br /><br />"Are you involved in any sub-committees (are you active) at work(in your walk with Christ)?"<br /><br /><br />I don't think it would be such a bad thing if we audited each other... sometimes we forget. we let things slide. sometimes we think we're doing enough... but then we take a closer look or someone else does for us... and we consider the possibility that their recommendations are valid.<br /><br />Try a little self audit. <br /><br />Read Lamentations 3: 39-40.Atom Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18184247947474538209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003236085673933228.post-914244467461675212011-06-11T21:55:00.000-07:002011-06-11T21:56:10.606-07:00Night 1 of Moses...Night 1—up to the naming of Moses.<br /><br />Scene 1<br />Narrator: This story begins where the story of Joseph ends. It has been many years since Joseph saved Egypt and his own family from the famine by interpreting Pharoh’s dreams. A new Pharoh is in Egypt now and he does not remember Joseph. He now looks at the Israelites as a problem. He sees their numbers and might and he is worried…<br />Exit narrator and scene opens with Pharoh and advisors up on a high place overlooking kingdom.<br />Pharoh: Look at them! There are so many of them! Look at the strength of their numbers! We have to do something about this!”<br />Advisor 1: why? What’s the worry?<br />Pharoh: They are mightier than we are! What if our enemies come to make war with us and the Israelites join them… <br />Advisor 2: What if we increase their work? I mean really work them hard… Have them build you new storage cities.<br />Pharoh: That is what we will do. Appoint taskmasters over them to build two storage cities. Call one Pithom and the other Raamses! Work the Israelites harder!<br />Advisor 1 and 2: Yes, Pharoh!<br />Advisors Exit.<br />Close Curtain…<br />While the curtain is closed, light from the back of the stage will silhouette the action of the Hebrews being worked vigorously by the Egyptians. The sounds of harsh treatment, screaming, whips, crying in pain. Egyptians speak of the glory of pharaoh, and the majesty of his cities and wealth. They yell for the Hebrews to work harder. Slowly fade this scene.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Scene 2<br />Open Curtain…<br />Throne room…<br />Pharoh: WE have failed! The more we afflict them, the more they multiply! The more they spread out!<br />Advisor 1: I do not know what we can do, mighty Pharoh. <br />Advisor 2: I see this as a serious threat to us. We must do something to get their numbers under control. <br />Pharoh: Work them harder! Work them in the fields. In Mortar! In Brick! Break these people down!<br />Advisor 1 and 2 just stand there…<br />Pharoh: GO!”<br />Pharoh: (spoken out to the audience) We must strike at the source of their numbers. I know what we will do. (turning to Guard 1) Bring me the Hebrew midwives!<br />Guard 1: “Yes, My King!”<br />Pharoh: (to the audience) I know how to deal with this problem. <br />Exits stage.<br />Close curtain.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Scene 3<br />Open Curtain.<br />Pharoh on his throne.<br />Enter Guard 1 and two midwives, Shiphrah and Puah.<br />Guard1: “The Hebrew Midwives you sent for, my king.”<br />Pharoh: (to the Guard1) “You may go.”<br />Guard bows and exits.<br />Pharoh: “You are the midwives of the Hebrew women?”<br />Shiphrah: “Yes, Pharoh.”<br />Pharoh: “I have a command for you. And it shall be carried out immediately.”<br />Puah: “What is this command, mighty Pharaoh?”<br />Pharaoh: “When you are helping the Hebrew women to give birth and see them upon the birthstool, if it is a son, then you shall put him to death; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.”<br />Midwives look at each other.<br />Pharaoh: “Do you understand?”<br />Shiphrah finally answers after a brief silence. “Yes, my king. We understand.”<br />Pharaoh exits<br />Puah: Turning to Shiphrah…“We cannot do this!”<br />Shiphrah pulls Puah off to the other side of the stage (closer to the audience), and speaks as if secretly. <br />Shiphrah: “We will not do this evil thing, for we Fear God. We will let the boys live.”<br />Puah and Shiphrah hug each other.<br />Shiphrah: “But Pharaoh will know the boys are not being killed. What will we do?”<br />Puah: (looking out to the audience) “Perhaps we can tell him that the Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women--- and they are vigorous and give birth before we can get to them.”<br />Shiphrah: “That’s it… Great idea. All we have to do is trust in God and He will be good to us.”<br />Midwives exit as curtain closes.<br />End Scene<br />Scene 4<br />Throne room.<br />Pharaoh sitting on throne as curtain opens. Officers around his throne. 4 in number (2 on each side).<br />Pharaoh: “Every time I try to control their numbers, I fail. I fail because I am holding back. The situation is now that I must act in a manner that cannot fail. I have a command for all the people. You will enforce it. Every son who is born you are to cast into the Nile, and every daughter you are to keep alive.”<br />Officers: “Yes, Mighty Pharaoh!” Exit.<br />Pharaoh: (stands) Command all the people!<br />Close curtain.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Scene 5<br />Enter narrator. (while this is happening major scene change below to the house of Moses)<br />Narrator: now there was a man of the house of Levi who married a daughter of Levi. The woman conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for 3 months…<br />Exit narrator.<br />Open curtain…<br />Scene Change… House.<br />Mother working on a basket is on stage near a baby bed. Daughter enters. <br />Daughter: Mother. What are you doing?<br />Mother: I can no longer hide him. It is too dangerous for him to remain… what can I do? We will put him in this wicker basket I’ve covered with tar and pitch (show it to the daughter and the audience at the same time). I’ll place it in the Nile. He cannot remain here.”<br />Mother walks over to the baby bed and picks up the baby and puts it into the basket. She turns to the daughter as she exits. Mother exits. Daughter sits and puts her face into her hands, as if to cry. Then stands and runs out after mother.<br />Close curtain.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Scene 6<br />(major scene change: NILE RIVER)<br />Open curtain. <br />We have the scene of the basket traveling down the nile into the reeds… basket will be pulled across the stage slowly and rest in the reeds. Moses’ sister is in the reeds watching the basket go down the river… when she hears someone coming… ducks down out of sight.<br />Enter Pharaoh’s daughter and maid.<br />Pharaoh’s daughter: “This looks like a good spot to bathe.” She continues to look around…<br />Maid: “Yes ma’am”.<br />Pharaoh’s daughter stops for a moment. Looks intently at something. “What’s that along the bank over there?”<br />Maid: “where? Oh. It looks like a basket.”<br />Pharaoh’s daughter: makes her way over to it and leans down and opens the basket up. (crying coming from basket now) “It is one of the Hebrew children.”<br />Moses’ sister runs out from hiding and up to Pharaoh’s daughter: “ Shall I go and call a nurse for you from among the Hebrew women to come and nurse the child for you?”<br />Pharaoh’s daughter: “Go ahead”<br />Moses’ sister runs off stage.<br />Close curtain.<br />Narrator: So the young girl ran back to tell her mother all that had happened. About how the basket had been found by the Egyptian girl, the daughter of Pharaoh, and how she needed someone to nurse the child. So Moses’s mother came to Pharaoh’s daughter and it was agreed that she would nurse the child and pharaoh’s daughter would pay her wages for this service to her. So the child continued to Grow.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Scene 7<br />Open curtain: <br />Pharaoh’s daughter on stage in the palace. Enter the Levi mother with the child (oliver? or older like coen?) <br />Child walks over to Pharaoh’s daughter. <br />Mother exits. <br />Pharaoh’s daughter walks to the middle of the stage and picks up the child. “I will call him MOSES. Because I drew him out of the water.”<br />End Night 1Atom Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18184247947474538209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003236085673933228.post-43164658807024215082011-06-11T21:50:00.000-07:002011-06-11T21:51:07.261-07:00Night 3 of MosesNight 3<br />Scene 1<br />Narrator: After explaining all that God had told them and after they had worshiped God, Moses and Aaron came before Pharaoh… Just as God had instructed them.<br />Curtain opens and Enter Moses and Aaron into Pharaoh’s throneroom where Pharaoh is sitting with a guard nearby.<br />Moses: “the God of Israel has told us to tell you, ‘Let My people go that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the wilderness.’”<br />Pharaoh: “Who is this God that I should listen to what he says and let Israel go? I don’t know Him! Besides, I will not let Israel go.”<br />Aaron: “The God of Israel has met with us. Please let us go 3 days journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord, or He will be angry with us.”<br />Phar: “Why do you two distract the people from their work?! Get the people back to their labors! Look at how many there are! And you want them to stop working?!”<br />Moses and Aaron start walking off…<br />Close curtains.<br />Open back up … same setting now only Pharaoh and guard.<br />Pharaoh: (looking out over the audience) “Tell the taskmasters to give the people no more straw to make bricks. They will have the gather the straw themselves, but they still have to make the same amount of bricks. Make the burden harder on the men so they will no longer listen to these false words of Moses and Aaron!”<br />Guard: “Yes Pharaoh!” exits.<br />Curtain closes.<br />{{{ Light from behind the curtain. Enter from one side Hebrew. Enter from the other side the Taskmaster.<br />Taskmaster: “Pharaoh has ordered that you must gather your own straw from now on. You will still have to make the same amount of bricks.”<br />Hebrew: “What? Why?”<br />Taskmasters: “Complete your required work!” Exits.<br />Hebrews run frantically to get the straw and fall behind.<br />Re-Enter Taskmaster: “Why have you not completed your work? You didn’t yesterday or today!” Starts whipping the people.<br />Lights go down}}}}<br /><br />Curtain opens back to the throne room with Pharaoh on the throne.<br />Enter foreman of the sons of Israel.<br />Foreman: “Why are you making us suffer? They don’t give us straw but they still command us to make bricks! We are being beaten because of Your people.”<br />Phar: “You are lazy. Very lazy. So you say you want to go into the wilderness to worship your God. Get back to work and make your required amount of bricks! There will be no straw!”<br />Foreman exits.<br />Curtain closes.<br /><br /> <br /><br />Scene 2<br />Open curtain. Generic scene background.<br />Foreman enters and moses and aaron and another Israelite are waiting for him.<br />Foreman: “We are in trouble!”<br />Israelite: “What?”<br />Foreman: “May the Lord judge you for making Pharaoh and his servants angry with us! They’re gonna kill us! Its your fault Moses!”<br />Moses exits to other side of stage… alone.<br />Moses: “O Lord, why have you brought this upon your people? Why did you send me here to anger Pharaoh and not deliever your people at all?<br />God: “ Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh. I will make him let my people go. I will make him drive them from his land.<br />“I am the Lord. I remember the covenant I made with their fathers. I hear their groaning because of their bondage. Tell the people again that I am their God and I will deliver them out of the land of the Egyptians. They will be my people.”<br />Moses walks back over to the Israelites… <br />Moses: “The lord has again said he will deliver you from this affliction you are under.”<br />Israelites all together: “You’re crazy!”<br />Israelites exit.<br />Moses and aaron on stage now.<br />God: “Go and tell pharaoh to let the sons of Israel leave his land.”<br />Moses: “My own people won’t listen to me. Why would Pharaoh listen to me? I can’t even speak good.”<br />God: “Go and tell him to let my people go.”<br />Close curtain. <br /><br />Scene 3<br />Open curtain.<br />Throne room. <br />Pharaoh, 2 sorcerers there.<br />Enter Moses and Aaron.<br />Pharaoh: “Show me a miracle!”<br />Moses: “Throw your staff down, Aaron.”<br />Throws staff down and it becomes a serpent. <br />The sorcerers do the same. <br />Aaron’s staff swallows them up. (act this out between pharaoh and sorcerers.)<br />Pharaoh’s sorceres do the same…<br />Pharaoh: “MY sorcerers can do these tricks as well!”<br />Moses points to the ground.<br />Sorcerer: “Aaron’s staff is swallowing up all of ours!”<br />Pharaoh storms off and sorcerers runs off after him. <br />Aaron leans down (gingerly) and grabs the serpent and it is a staff again. Walks off stage opposite Pharaoh. <br />Moses starts to walk off… <br />God: “Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn. He will not let the people go. Go to Pharaoh in the morning when he goes out to the Nile, and say to him that I order him to let my people go. But since He has not listened, I will show him that I am the LORD.”<br />Moses exits.<br />Close curtain.<br /> <br /><br />Scene 4<br />Open curtain.<br />Setting : Nile river<br />Moses and Aaron there as Pharaoh walks up. Egyptians washing in the water.<br />Moses: “The Lord has said that by this, you shall know that He is the Lord.” Moses takes his staff and strikes the Nile river…<br />Egyptian down by the water stands up and arms are covered in blood.<br />Pharaoh looks at Moses and Aaron and walks away looking back at the Nile and the servants screaming. Then exits. <br />Moses nods to Aaron and he exits.<br />Curtain closes.<br /><br />{{{{ from behind the curtain, backlit scene with Egyptians running around. <br />Egyptian 1: “The water has turned to blood!”<br />Egyptian 2: “Even the pools have turned to blood! All the fish have died!”<br />Egyptian 1: “Oh man it stinks! That smell!<br />Egyptian 2: “Maybe we can dig down in the ground far enough to get to some water?”<br />Egyptian 1: “NO! I”ve already tried!<br />Egyptian 2: “Horrible!!!”<br />They exit quickly, but safely}}}}<br /> <br />Scene 5<br />Open curtain on the Throne room.<br />Moses and Aaron enter to talk to Pharaoh.<br />Moses: “The Lord commands you to Let His people go. If you refuse, The Lord will smite your whole territory with frogs.”<br />Pharaoh stands and slowly walks over to his sorcerers… His back to Moses.<br />A moment passes and moses turns to aaron.<br />Moses: “Stretch out your hand with your staff over the waters of Egypt and make frogs cover the land of Egypt.”<br />Aaron exits… <br />Moses takes one more look at Pharaoh and then follows.<br />Close curtain.<br />{{{{ Egyptians screaming about the frogs while the sound effects of the frogs sound over the speakers<br />They’re everywhere!<br />They’re in my food! They’re in my bathwater!!! They’re in my bed!!! Make the noise stop!! They’re driving me crazy!!!<br />}}}}}}}}<br /><br />Curtain opens in throne room again… Pharaoh and guard ((sound of frogs still going…))<br />Pharaoh: “Bring me Moses and Aaron!! Fast!!”<br />Guard: “Yes Master!” runs out…<br />Pharaoh picks a frog off his shoulder. Puts his hands over his ears.<br />Moses and Aaron enter with guard.<br />Pharaoh: “Alright! Tell your God to remove the frogs from the land! I will let the people go! Anything!”<br />Moses: “According to your word, you will know that there is No One Like The LORD our GOD. The frogs will depart from you and your houses.”<br />Moses and Aaron walk to the edge of the stage. <br />Moses: “Oh Lord. Your powerful hand has been seen in this land. Please make the frogs to die and release this land from them.”<br />Off stage, “They’re dead! All the frogs are dead!!! <br />Moses looks back at Pharaoh before he and aaron exit.<br />Close curtain.<br /> <br />Scene 6<br />Curtain REMAINS CLOSED.<br />The voice of God: “Moses, Pharaoh’s heart has hardened after the relief of the frogs. Tell aaron to stretch out his staff and strike the dust of the earth that it may become gnats through all the land of Egypt.”<br />Couple of Egyptians covered in what looks like gnats… sawdust? Gonna need some dedicated Christians for this one… brown spots on face… makeup?<br />Open curtain.<br />Enter two Egyptians<br />Tom: “everytime I breathe I get a mouthful of gnats!”<br />Joe: “Then breathe through your nose.”<br />Tom: “I don’t want them in my nose, either!”<br />Joe: “This is horrible! Someone save us!<br />Tom: “Pharoahs’ magicians say this is the finger of God!”<br />Exit.<br />Close curtain.<br />The voice of God: “Moses. Go before pharaoh and tell him to let my people go. Tell him that if he refuses, I will send swarms of flies on Him and all Egypt. But I will set aside the land of Goshen, where my people live. They will be spared this plague. I will put a division between my people and the Egyptians. Tomorrow this sign will occur.”<br />A moment passes and then the sound of flies… lots of flies.<br />Back light and people running round on stage from behind the curtain. Yelling about the flies.<br />Sound of the flies continues as people exit and Pharaoh takes his place on the stage. <br />Curtain opens in throne room again… Pharaoh and guard ((sound of flies still going…))<br />Pharaoh: “Bring me Moses and Aaron!! Fast!!”<br />Guard: “At Once!” runs out…<br />Pharaoh picks a fly off his shoulder. Starts swatting in the air. (like he’s having a psychotic episode)<br />Moses and Aaron enter with guard.<br />Pharaoh: “Alright! Tell your God to remove the flies! The land is laid waste because of these flies! Go sacrifice to your God within the land!<br />Moses: “We must go 3 days journey into the wilderness. WE cannot sacrifice before the eyes of the Egyptians. They will stone us. WE must do as God commands.”<br />Pharaoh: “I will let you go and sacrifice to your God in the wilderness; only don’t go very far away. Pray to your God for me.”<br />Moses : “I’m going to leave now and pray to the LORD that the swarms of flies may depart from Egypt tomorrow; but you must not lie as you have done in the past. You must let us go sacrifice to the LORD.”<br />Moses and aaron exits.<br />Curtain closes.<br />End scene.<br /> <br />Scene 7<br />Curtain REMAINS CLOSED.<br />The voice of God: “Moses, Pharaoh’s heart has hardened after the relief of the flies. He is not going to let you go as you have told him that I desire. Go to him again and tell him that if he does not let my people go, my hand shall strike a severe pestilence on all the livestock of Egypt. They will all die. But of the livestock of Israel, not one will die. Tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land.”<br />Open Curtain.<br />Throne room. Pharaoh sitting on his throne. <br />Egyptian enters with news of the plague.<br />Pharaoh: “Tell me what you have seen.”<br />Egyptian: “It is as you know in the land. Everything of the livestock is dead. Cattle, Horses, Donkeys, Camels, Herds and Flocks. And I have also seen the herds of the Israelites, and …<br />Pharaoh: “Yes?! What about them?!”<br />Egyptian: “They live. Not one has died.”<br />Pharaoh: “Be gone.”<br />Egyptian exits.<br />Close curtain.<br />Voice of God: “Moses, take handfuls of soot from a kiln, and throw it toward the sky in the sight of Pharaoh. 9 It will become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and will become boils breaking out with sores on man and beast through all the land of Egypt.”<br />Open curtain<br />Throne room. Pharoah in the corner facing away from Moses. Sorcerers there too.<br />Enter Moses and Aaron<br />Moses: “Pharaoh, The lord declares that you let his people go.”<br />Pharaoh stays silent.<br />Moses takes the soot and throws it in the air. <br />Pharaoh turns and is covered with boils and he seems to be in pain… all the sorcerers pull their sleevs up and are covered with boils. {{Off stage people scream in pain.}} Close Curtain. End scene<br /> <br />Scene 8<br />Open Curtain. Exterior scene with moses<br />Voice of God: “Behold, about this time tomorrow, I will send a very heavy hail, such as has never been seen in Egypt. 19 Now therefore bring your livestock and whatever you have in the field to safety. Every man and beast that is found in the field and is not brought home, when the hail comes down on them, will die.”<br />Exit moses…<br />Curtain REMAINS OPEN<br />Thunder storm. Sounds. Lightning. Dim lights?<br /><br />Close curtain. <br />Open to Pharaohs throne room. <br />Enter Moses and Aaron<br />Pharaoh: “I have sinned; the LORD is the righteous one, and I and my people are the wicked ones. Make supplication to the LORD, for there has been enough of God’s thunder and hail; and I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.”<br />Moses: “As soon as I go out of the city, I will spread out my hands to the LORD; the thunder and hail will stop so that you will know that the earth is the LORD’S. 30 But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the LORD God.”<br />Moses walks to the front of the stage and holds up his hands and the sound slowly dissipates. <br />Close curtain.<br /><br />Open Curtain Same setting ---Throne room with pharaoh and guard and sorcerers…<br />Enter Moses and Aaron.<br />Moses: Pharaoh, you have hardened your heart again and refused to do the will of God. If you refuses to let My people go, behold, tomorrow He will bring locusts into your territory. They shall cover the surface of the land, so that no one will be able to see the land. They will also eat the rest of what has escaped—what is left to you from the hail. The houses shall be filled with locusts …something which neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen, from the day that they came upon the earth until this day.’<br />Sorcerers motion Pharaoh over close to them.<br />Sorcerer1: “How long will this man hold us captive? Let the men go, that they may serve the LORD.”<br />Sorcerer2: “Look around us…Egypt is destroyed!”<br />Pharaoh: (walking back over to Moses) “go and serve your God. Who will be going with you?”<br />Moses: “We shall go with our young and our old; with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds we shall go, for we must hold a feast to the LORD.”<br />Pharaoh: “No. Only the men. Go and sacrifice to the Lord. Be gone!”<br />Sorcerers force Moses and Aaron off stage.<br />End scene<br /> <br />Scene 9<br />Voice of God: “ Moses, stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up on the land of Egypt and eat every plant of the land, even all that the hail has left.”<br />Curtain REMAINS closed<br />Back light as Moses walks to center stage. Raises hands and staff… WIND! Then the sound of Locusts. Loud.<br />People running around behind curtain as Moses keeps his place. <br />They’re everywhere! <br />There’s no plant left alive. Everything is Gone!<br />They cover the whole earth!<br /><br />Light goes down and scene is Pharaoh’s throne room. Open Curtain and lights come up.<br />Moses and Aaron enter.<br />Pharaoh: “I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you. Now therefore, please forgive my sin only this once, and speak to your God on my behalf, that he would remove this plague from me.”<br />Moses walks to the front of the stage: “Lord, remove this plague from the land of Egypt. Make the wind to carry away this blight from the land.”<br /><br />Sound of wind and the sound of the locust disappears.<br />Close curtain.<br /><br />The Voice of God: “Moses, I have hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he will not let you go. Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even a darkness (Z)which may be felt.”<br />(((Curtain remains closed)))). Moses walks to the center stage behind the curtain, backlit, and raises his hand toward the sky and everything goes dark. <br />On stage Egyptians speak in the darkness.<br />Egyptian1: I can’t see anything.<br />Egyptian2: I’m afraid to move!<br />Egyptian1: all we can do is lay down. There is no light for anything.<br />Egyptian2: how long with this last?<br /><br />Open Curtain to pharaoh’s throne room. Pharaoh standing near stage edge. Front.<br />Enter moses and aaron.<br />Pharaoh: “go and serve your lord. Take your little ones with you, but leave your flocks and herds.”<br />Moses: “we must also take our herds and flocks for the sacrifices. Not one hoof shall be left behind.”<br />Pharaoh: “Get away from me! Beware, do not see my face again, for in the day you see my face you shall die!” <br />Moses : “You are right; I shall never see your face again!”<br />Close curtain.<br />End night 3Atom Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18184247947474538209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003236085673933228.post-51065086075731075452011-06-11T21:48:00.001-07:002011-06-11T21:48:55.109-07:00night 2 of MosesNight 2 – up to the return to Egypt.<br /><br />Scene 1.<br />Narrarator: now it came about in those days that Moses grew up. He would sometimes go walking about, observing the Hebrews in their hard labor. But on this day, something happened that would alter the direction of Moses’ life forever.<br />Narrator exits.<br />Curtain opens.<br />Hebrew 1: I can’t carry this another step! I’ve got to set it down and rest!<br />Hebrew 2: NO! we will be beaten savagely if we do not keep up with the others. These bricks have to be placed down in a certain order and if we are late, that will slow down all the work and the taskmasters will be angry!<br />Hebrew1: There is no more strength in my arms. I must put it down.<br />Moses off to the side, listening…<br />Taskmaster: “YOU THERE!!!” to the Hebrews.<br />Hebrew 2: “oh no! I told you no good would come of this…”<br />Hebrew 1: (now lying on the ground) “Can’t go on…”<br />Taksmaster: (makes his way over to the Hebrews. “on your feet! Back to work!” cracks whip.<br />Hebrew1: screams in pain from the whip.<br />Hebrew 2: “Please!”<br />Taskmaster: “Pick up that brick or die where you lay!”<br />Hebrew 2 helps 1 up and gets beat himself in the process, but finally both get the brick, picked back up and go on their way. <br />Taskmaster: “double fast to catch up! I’ll be watching you!”<br />Moses on the side of the stage… looks to the left and looks to the right and once he is convinced that there is no one around… sneaks up behind the Egyptian and hits him.<br />The Egyptian falls over and Moses drags him out of the way a little and covers him with sand. *we will use a piece of dropcloth for this*<br />Then sneaks away after killing the Egyptian. <br />Close curtain.<br /><br />Open curtain.<br />Same setting but now only Hebrews are present. Moses is again watching from off to the side, unnoticed.<br />Hebrew 1: I just need a minute to catch my breath!<br />Hebrew2: “In that minute, I got beat too! I’m always picking up your slack.<br />Hebrew1: “What are you talking about? I pull more than my weight around here! If anyone needs to pick up the pace, its you!<br />Hebrew 2: “Me! You have got to be kidding. The whole reason we got beaten yesterday is because you didn’t pull your weight!”<br />Hebrew 1: “beaten? You mean like this?” Hits #2.<br />Hebrew 2: “No more like this!” Hits #1.<br />Moses runs out. "Why are you striking your companion?"<br />The two Hebrews stop their fighting and look at him.<br />Hebrew 1: "Who made you a prince or a judge over us? Are you intending to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?"<br />Moses takes a step back and runs off stage.<br />The two Hebrews exit off the stage still jarring with each other.<br />After a moment Moses comes back and slowly, cautiously makes his way onto the stage and says: "Surely the matter has become known."<br />Off stage a voice: “Have you seen the one called MOSES? He is wanted for the death of an Egyptian worker. No? Check in this side of the street… someone get to the next road over and check there! (YES SIR- someone answers).<br />Moses runs off stage and out the back of the room. Close curtain. End scene.<br />Scene 2== Midian.<br />A well is situated off to the side of the stage and Moses runs up to it, exhausted…. Sits down by it.<br />Enter several daughters with buckets to get water in. preparing to get water from the well… <br />Enter several shepherds.<br />Shepherd1: “Git on outta here! Go on!”<br />Shepherd2: “go back home now! Be gone!”<br />Daughters look shocked and freeze.<br />Moses stands up and walks over to the bru-ha-ha and speaks “do not hinder them from getting the water for their flocks.” Turns to one of the daughters and takes the bucket from her hand. Fills the bucket and then another… “Come with me and I’ll help you water your flocks.”<br />The daughters watch him water the flocks and then run off. Moses shrugs his shoulders and continues. <br /><br />(_____OFFSTAGE the sisters yell: FATHER! FATHER!!<br />JETHRO: WHAT ARE YOU DOING BACK SO SOON?? WHAT HAPPENED??____)<br /><br />The daughters bring Jethro on stage and point to moses. <br />Daughter1: “Father, there is the Egyptian who delivered us from the hand of the shepherds, and what is more, he even drew the water for us and watered the flock."<br />Jethro: “Why did you leave him behind? Invite him to have something to eat."<br />Jethro walks back off stage and the daughters go and bring moses to follow off stage.<br />Close curtain.<br /><br /><br /><br />Scene 3<br />Narrarator: So it came to pass that Moses dwelt in the home of Jethro, the priest of Midian. And Jethro gave him one of his daughters. Her name was Zipporah. And Zipporah gave birth to Moses’ son and he named him Gershom. <br />And during these many days, back in Egypt, Pharaoh died. The sons of Israel cried out for help because of their bondage.<br />Behind the curtain(backlit)…. A Child of Israel walks to center stage and prays to God.<br />“Oh Almighty God hear our cries for mercy! Deliver us from this slavery and bondage! Look upon us and remember us in our time of need! Please help us!”<br />Everyone raise up from bowing position and start saying: “Please help us!” (repeat 3 times…) lights go down…<br />Narrator: So God heard their groaning and remembered his covenant with Abraham, Issac and Jacob. God saw the sons of Israel and He took notice of them.<br /><br />Open Curtain ---back in Midian. Wilderness of Horeb.<br />Enter Moses with staff and flocks (how we gonna do that?) (staff turns to serpent later)<br />Moses walks to one side of the stage and the burning bush fires up on the other side of the stage.<br />Moses (amazed): “I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.”<br />Moses draws closer, slowly, to the bush.<br />God: “MOSES. MOSES!”<br />Moses: “Here I am!”<br />God: “Do not come near here; remover your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”<br />Moses takes off sandals.<br />God: “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”<br />Moses hides his face! Terrified.<br />God: “I have seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt and have heard their cries because of the taskmasters. I am aware of their sufferings. I have come down to deliever them from the power of the Egyptians and from that land and deliever them into a good and spacious land that is flowing with milk and honey. A place of the cannanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the perizzite and the Hivite and the jebusite.<br />Their cries have come to me and I have seen their oppression.<br />I will send YOU to Pharaoh so that you may bring my people, the sons of Israel , out of Egypt.”<br />Moses: “Who am I that I should go before Pharaoh and who am I that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?”<br />God: “I will be with you.”<br />Moses: “So IF I do this and they ask me who it is that has sent me, what do I say?”<br />God: “I AM WHO I AM. So you say to the sons of Israel that ‘I AM has sent me to you’. Then tell them that the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me to you.<br />“This is my name forever.<br />“Tell them that I am concerned about them and I see what is being done to them in Egypt. Tell them I will bring them out of this affliction into the land of the cannanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the perizzite and the Hivite and the jebusite, into a land that is flowing with milk and honey.<br />“They will listen to you. You all will go before Pharaoh and tell him to let you all go and worship Me, but he will not want to without making demands of his own. So I will stretch out my hand and send Miracles to Egypt and they will know that I am the Lord. They will let you go. You will plunder the Egyptians.”<br />Moses: “But what if they do not believe me or listen to me? They might say that the Lord as not appeared to me.”<br />God: “ What is that in your hand?”<br />Moses: “A staff.”<br />God: “Throw it to the ground.”<br />Moses throws it to the ground and it becomes a serpent. Moses runs from it, “Serpent!” he screams.<br />God: “Stretch out your hand and grasp it by its tail.”<br />Moses reaches down gingerly and grabs it. Becomes a staff again.<br />God : “ Now put your hand into your bosom.”<br />Moses does so. When he pulls out his hand… white and leprous. EYES get big.<br />God: “Now put your hand back into your bosom again.”<br />Moses does so. When he pulls it out… restored.<br />God: “if they will not believe these two signs then take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. It will be blood on the dry ground.<br />Moses: “Please Lord, I have never been good at speaking. I am slow in speech and slow of tongue.”<br />God: “who was it that made your mouth? Or who makes a person mute or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? I will be with the words you say from your mouth. I will teach you what you are to say.”<br />Moses: “Please Lord, now send the message by whoever you will.”<br />God: “There is your brother, Aaron the levite. He speaks fluently. He is coming to meet you. You will speak to him and put words into his mouth. I will be with the words that you both speak. He shall speak to the people. He will be as a mouth for you and you will be as God to him. Take your staff in your hand. You will perform signs with it.”<br /> <br />Scene 4<br />Open Curtain. Scene with Moses and Jethro. They’ve been talking…<br />Moses: “So I must return to my brethren who are in Egypt, and see if they are still alive.”<br />Jethro hugs moses… “Go in peace”.<br />Jethro exits and Moses starts to walk off slowly. As he is walking off slowly, God speaks to him .<br />God: “Go back to Egypt for all the men who were seeking your life are dead.”<br />Moses exits.<br /><br />Lights go down…<br />Lights come back up and Moses and Aaron meet each other in the wilderness. <br />They hug and aaron kisses moses. (on the cheek)…<br />Narrator: So Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord with which He had sent him, and all the signs that He had commanded him to do.<br />{{{{{ Have moses act some of the stuff that happened. Burning bush and the staff to a snake… then hand turns leprous… taking sandals off… }}}}}<br />They exit.<br />Curtain closes.<br /> <br />Scene 5<br />In Egypt now…<br />Curtain opens. <br />Moses and Aaron before the elders of the sons of Israel.<br />Aaron acts out all the stuff that happened to Moses… Moses just nods during this.<br />Aaron acts out the burning bush and taking off sandals, and staff to snake, and hand leprous… really throws the staff down and everyone jumps. <br />Moses: God has seen your affliction and is concerned about you.”<br />Everyone gets down and bows to God.<br />End night 2Atom Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18184247947474538209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003236085673933228.post-65411450701929147412011-03-14T05:46:00.000-07:002011-03-14T05:56:09.405-07:00Let us consider how to do it...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyVpf6N8z2g_HBmF_wEyteEi2Dck_10EzcWAbg_XIQhel-ALQLWCKOCr3vI4ppujtaUWfmzQawGZN3_YJyPLipt4DxmEPMb1AKRxmODfKAP8nLRwjannlAus8FD2S1Xadc_MsKe7bVg1Rl/s1600/photo.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 102px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyVpf6N8z2g_HBmF_wEyteEi2Dck_10EzcWAbg_XIQhel-ALQLWCKOCr3vI4ppujtaUWfmzQawGZN3_YJyPLipt4DxmEPMb1AKRxmODfKAP8nLRwjannlAus8FD2S1Xadc_MsKe7bVg1Rl/s200/photo.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5583918589952789586" /></a><br />Okay… One time I agreed to photograph this person’s son. I took several rolls of film and basically got 7 exposures that I was REALLY proud of. The rest of the pictures were okay… but those 7 were the cream of the crop.<br /><br />Let’s say I shot 5 rolls at 24 exposures each. According to Calculus that comes out to almost 125 pictures. Out of those: 7. Seven. If you are Dutch: Zeben. If you are German: Sieben. <br /><br />But however you say it… I had 7 pictures I was proud of.<br /><br />So… when I took these pictures to show the mother, she started flipping through them and she’d grab one and show it to me and say, “Ahhhh… this is precious.”<br />I’d think, REALLY? That ONE???. I’d say: “Yeah… he really looks happy.” I couldn’t believe that she thought that one was good. That happened several more times… and then she got to one of the exposures I was REALLY proud of and she flipped right past it.<br /><br />I think all but one of the 7 I really liked, she flipped past. So I asked to see the pictures and flipped back to the ones I liked and showed them to her. She said: “Yeah… they’re nice.”<br /><br />I couldn’t believe it! NICE?! Kitty Cats are NICE! These pictures are awesome!<br /><br />But she just didn’t see it. She was very happy with the pictures. She put them up in her office at work and she said she gets compliments all the time. But honestly that was a lot more about how photogenic her son is rather than a reflection of my photography skills.<br /><br />But it didn’t change the fact that I thought that those 7 pictures seemed to be wasted. In these pictures, exposure, framing, white balance, f-stop… everything was perfect. <br /><br />But it was only perfect to me. I took the pictures. I know how hard it was to get those pics. I know how unique they were. But that is NOT a guarantee that everyone else will see it and appreciate it.<br /><br />I was proud of those pictures. But it would have been nice to have outside confirmation of, what I saw as, my creative success. <br /><br />God creates all of us. <br /><br />But do we always see the beauty? Do we always see the creative awesomeness?<br /><br />Do we always see the value in all his creations?<br /><br />Have you ever said something about someone that wouldn’t fall under the category of encouraging? I have. <br /><br />Have you ever seen something about someone else that you didn’t like and pointed it out? I have.<br /><br />Have you ever done this with someone in the Lord’s Church? I have.<br /><br />Let me tell you one of the biggest problems with life. Ready?<br /><br />We are often called upon (or we just take on the responsibility on our own for no good reason) to speak on a subject that we are less than experts in. Such as, I don’t know… ---- people.<br /><br />For us to truly understand the Human Condition, we must see ourselves for who we really are. I lived many years under self-delusions. CRAZY self-delusions as to the type of person I was. I once thought I was cool. See… told ya it was crazy.<br /><br />When I was a kid… there was this guy I went to school with. People used to talk about how his clothes were so old… and they were. One day his pants ripped in class… and everyone laughed… <br /><br />He looked so embarrassed. I didn’t understand till much later that his pants probably ripped because they were so old. He couldn’t afford to buy new stuff… He wore it till it absolutely wore out. They were probably hand-me-downs many times over.<br /><br />That didn’t change the fact that he was a person. He never had many friends. Everyone thought he as strange. The friends he had were pretty much like him… strange. Or so I thought. <br /><br />In High school… when classes get harder and good grades become harder to come by… this guy was holding steady. He was really smart. I was assigned to a research assignment with him. It took a couple of days... but he opened up and he was just like me. <br />I just needed to look a little harder to see it. His name was Shawn.<br />He wasn’t really popular. But he was real. God made him. Just like he made me. <br />Think of someone you really don’t care for. If they were to walk into church… would you be happy?<br /><br />Would you encourage them? <br /><br />Would I? I wonder… <br /><br />Would it be hard? Probably. Would I…..?????<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">Hebrews 10: 23Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; <br /> 24and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,</span></span><br /><br /><br />Well there’s my answer. I have to. <br /><br />Is it for me to say anything about anyone other than to encourage them in a loving manner? No. <br /><br />Think about people like pictures… you flip through God’s pictures… Do we see what God was thinking when he made that picture? Do we see why he cares about it? Do we want to do what we can to help God preserve it?Atom Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18184247947474538209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003236085673933228.post-24288775511457257532011-02-15T10:34:00.000-08:002011-02-15T18:11:21.501-08:00Surrender.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsnnJ-5Hj2eidKGgoN-6rFA3gdQ7aN60zKrytNrsa-nk8JfhVhyphenhyphenHfpYuD6HREU9Hxuy5d-PrODrAsDn9f3misaHcoAOJdyYJ4HjsSNI__9UU_2jqSkWqPStAq7_UTDIyM1NPMEfQg9Y13h/s1600/surrender.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 149px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsnnJ-5Hj2eidKGgoN-6rFA3gdQ7aN60zKrytNrsa-nk8JfhVhyphenhyphenHfpYuD6HREU9Hxuy5d-PrODrAsDn9f3misaHcoAOJdyYJ4HjsSNI__9UU_2jqSkWqPStAq7_UTDIyM1NPMEfQg9Y13h/s200/surrender.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5573986829352267570" /></a><br /><br />I surrender. Have you ever said those words?<br /><br />To surrender means to yield (something) to the possession or power of another. It is either demanded of you and you give it freely, or it is given up by force. <br /><br />Whatever the motivation… it means you lose.<br /><br />There was a mass surrender of German Troops to the 347th Infantry Regiment on May 6, 1945. That was the day before the unconditional surrender of all German forces was signed on May 7th. The day before…<br /><br />They knew it was over. Sometimes you just know it’s over. You play a game with someone that is better than you at the game… or maybe you just make a mistake and it really costs you in the long run. And then you are at a point where you think, ‘I’ve had it. There’s no way out of this.’<br /><br />It’s a bad feeling. When you know you are not going to win. Don’t you always want to win? Sure. <br /><br />Being beaten is one thing… but to surrender carries the understanding that you could postpone your defeat, but there’s no point… it’s over. So you give in to the inevitable conclusion. <br /><br />So in effect you are saying to your opponent, “Look. I’m beat. I could delay this… but allow me to bow to your superior ability or position.”<br /><br />Surrender also does something else. Something special. Surrender engenders peace.<br />It takes a conflict situation and brings about unity. Maybe it is rather begrudgingly… but the conflict is taken away. <br /><br />If it is accepted fully. Sometimes it’s not. Sometimes compromises are made. Remember Pharaoh. (we’re doing Moses this year in VBS). Pharaoh made compromises, didn’t he? He was a master at compromises. Pharaoh was beaten. Over and over and over again. <br /><br />When Pharaoh wanted Moses to go out and make supplication for him before God, and Moses said he had to go 3 days journey into the wilderness… Pharaoh said:<br />Well, okay… but… Don’t go too far…<br />Well, okay… but… only the men…<br />Well, okay… but… leave your flocks and herds behind…<br />Compromise, compromise, compromise. <br /><br />That’s why unconditional surrender is so handy. You either surrender or we will wipe you out. Your choice.<br /><br />Pharaoh was beat. In fact, he was beat several times over. He just refused to believe it. It’s funny how we will submit to ANY terms rather than yield to complete submission… we want some power… no matter what it is.<br /><br />James tells us to Submit. To God.<br /><br />It’s a surrender. An unconditional surrender. Anything less is not Submitting. It is holding back what you are unwilling to give up. <br /><br />You wake up and your house is burning down… you are going to lose that house. If you run back in for something it is because you feel that you are not willing to let it go. What would you run back in for? Jewelry? Photos? T.V.? <br /><br />Green Lantern Comics? ---- oh… wait… I’m thinking… hang on… (kidding)<br /><br />You are gonna lose your house. You are surrendering it to the fire. You are powerless to stop it. Do you stay and fight against the inevitable or do you give up and live another day to build a new house?<br /><br />Your life is up for grabs… a battle is being fought and you are the prize. Before the end comes… you can say, “Okay… I yield. To you.”<br /><br />Who is the “You”? Is it God? <br /><br />Romans 8: 6For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, <br /> 7because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, <br /> 8and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.<br /><br />Right now… if you need to… Just give up. <br />Submit to God.Atom Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18184247947474538209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003236085673933228.post-83952616076386008022010-11-24T07:23:00.000-08:002010-11-24T07:32:13.863-08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Nv2s9_XAL-WH_sau3fu1rw0voJz3drwaV80Gi2SpT3jqutu63aT8kavtnhfABlyrjmMDLs4DJKvle-jp5pZeaprwJG5gZfwZj7-nTBtg7lIF1-v6xE0La6BVlaQ1LIv0UEI90m-waT0i/s1600/time_travel.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Nv2s9_XAL-WH_sau3fu1rw0voJz3drwaV80Gi2SpT3jqutu63aT8kavtnhfABlyrjmMDLs4DJKvle-jp5pZeaprwJG5gZfwZj7-nTBtg7lIF1-v6xE0La6BVlaQ1LIv0UEI90m-waT0i/s200/time_travel.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5543139459785289586" /></a><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Time is of the Essence</span><br />It is. Extremely. The phrase is popular in contractual language meaning that the specified time in the contract is mandatory. It implies that, “I’m really serious about this time thing…”.<br /><br />How serious? How about grounds for negating the contract…?<br /><br />Time is of the essence. That just SOUNDS serious. Say it. It sounds like something a protagonist might say in a movie when things are starting to get really good!<br /><br />The plan we’re attempting to execute is gonna have to fall within a certain timeframe. Or we’re in trouble.<br /><br />In our Christian lives… time is of the essence. I used to work in a morgue.<br /><br />Take my word for it. Time is of the essence. I used to look at the toe tags and think… I wonder if they were ready for what happened yesterday?<br /><br />I thought about myself… and I ultimately came to the conclusion that I didn’t have yesterday. It was gone. I don’t have tomorrow. Just a little consideration for tomorrow will bring you to the inescapable conclusion that tomorrow is just about as abstract a thought as you can have. Tomorrow never gets here. It never comes into existence.<br /><br />It’s always today.<br /><br />That’s what you have. Today.<br /><br />That’s the time that is essential. What you do today is infinitely more important than what you did yesterday… I don’t care what you did yesterday. Unless you bought me a present then I want to know what it is (I just put that in to see if you were still reading…). But seriously, what you did yesterday… forget it. What you do today… right now is what’s important.<br /><br />What you’re gonna do tomorrow? Forget it! Well maybe not forget it… but don’t place an importance on it that is equal to or greater than today. (man this is good advice… I should probably take it for myself).<br /><br />Now… here we go. Ready?<br /><br />How we spend our time is of the upmost importance. It easily defines who we are. It is a major source of our identity. Some people’s lives are their jobs. They eat, sleep, and tweet their careers. For some… its hobbies. For others: video games, children, charity work, an online life, etc.<br /><br />We are locked in a cell our whole lives… it is a 24hour/day cell. There’s no lock on the door because there’s no door. There is no escape. We are bound to that time limit.<br /><br />One day… you will give an account of how you spent your time on earth. <br />We are accountable to how we spend our time. What we say. What we do. What we think.<br /><br />How we spend our time is gonna determine how we spend our Eternity.<br /><br />2 Corinthians 6 begins with these words…<br /><br />1And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain-- <br /><br />2for He says, <br /> "AT THE ACCEPTABLE TIME I LISTENED TO YOU, <br /> AND ON THE DAY OF SALVATION I HELPED YOU." <br /> Behold, now is "THE ACCEPTABLE TIME," behold, now is "THE DAY OF SALVATION"—<br /><br />Now is the time to Obey the gospel.<br /><br />Now is the time to rededicate your life.<br /><br />Now is the time to let go of all excuses that hold us back.<br /><br />Now is the time to find what it is that is keeping us from being closer to God than we are right now..<br /><br />There is no other time. Only this time. Right now. That is why it is: of the essence.<span style="font-weight:bold;"></span>Atom Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18184247947474538209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003236085673933228.post-53137280154724389142010-11-02T12:53:00.000-07:002010-11-02T13:01:49.128-07:00The Silent Invasion<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW-s1C0nqyxZp8w1ke3oKb5k9kdE2JyrdtBC0OLZfqGz3hks8z-iBAXKibhLYrHZe4ijIUXd5J9Hpz4Qyzvv0y997qExaJxuFUypBQ7PtsAmM8Kh4fSbGhGNC1t6cev2UDz-jF-Etzrqoc/s1600/home+invasion.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW-s1C0nqyxZp8w1ke3oKb5k9kdE2JyrdtBC0OLZfqGz3hks8z-iBAXKibhLYrHZe4ijIUXd5J9Hpz4Qyzvv0y997qExaJxuFUypBQ7PtsAmM8Kh4fSbGhGNC1t6cev2UDz-jF-Etzrqoc/s320/home+invasion.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5535044993066541138" /></a><br />You live in your house. <br />Your whole family does. <br />You have a way you do things.<br />Your family does too...<br />And you do it that way because... that's just the way it’s done. It seems like it’s been this way forever…<br />For example. You have a certain time you set aside to eat. To sleep. to watch tv.<br />You have your own space. You have places where you come together with your family. you have certain freedoms and certain responsibilities.<br />In your house. Right? <br />You come home one day…<br />There's a guy in your house.<br />Wait... <br />He's not supposed to be there. Where did he come from? He hasn't ever been here before.<br />He's in your house!... like he deserves to be there. He's acting completely natural.<br />You speak. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"<br /><br />He doesn’t even look up before responding… “Don’t worry about who I am. You’ll get used to me soon… I’ll be showing up from time to time… maybe once a month… every two months. Sometimes… I’ll stay for an entire month… whatever. When I show up… you’ll sleep in the back yard… don’t come in here… when I’m here, you sleep outside.”<br />What would you say to this person?<br />What would you do?<br />This is the time of the reading where you weigh your options… You know you need to do something. But… you are just floored that this is happening? Are you on Candid Camera? No… no one is jumping out of the shadows yelling, “Gotcha!”. Are you ready with your decision on what to do? Good. *INSERT OBVIOUS ANSWER HERE*<br />So what you are saying is that if something came into your life… and you didn’t like it… you’d do whatever you could ( if you could do something about it) to make it go away. To get things back to normal. To make your life right. Correct?<br />Well, then we agree. If that guy’s in your house when you get home… call the cops. Or Terminex. Either way… he’ll leave. <br />Sometimes we let things in our lives that get in the way of our walk with God. We don’t even know how they got there. We don’t know how long they’ve been there, sometimes. We just notice, one day, that it’s there. And it’s wrong. Regardless of what we once thought of this… now we see it for what it is. <br />It’s trash, basically. If it takes us even a step away from God… it’s trash. Throw it away.<br />Now let’s meet the players in our little analogy today.<br />Your house represents your Christian life. <br />You represent your knowledge and understanding of God’s word and His will for your life.<br />The man in your house represents anything in your Christian life that doesn’t belong. If it doesn’t belong in your Christian life… it doesn’t belong in your work life, your spare-time life, your waiting-in-line-at-the-store life, etc… cause they are all the same life anyway.<br />The cops represent your will. They represent the power you have over your own mind. When I quit smoking… my mind was the battleground where that fight was won. It wasn’t anything physical. Make no mistake… if you have control of your own mind… you are a powerful person. And if you love the Lord your God with all your mind… You are a powerful soldier in the Lord’s Army.<br />Proverbs 16:<br />1The plans of the heart belong to man,<br /> But the answer of the tongue is from the LORD. <br /> 2All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight,<br /> But the LORD weighs the motives. <br /> 3Commit your works to the LORD<br /> And your plans will be established.Atom Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18184247947474538209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003236085673933228.post-75871315634464722102010-08-06T12:02:00.001-07:002010-11-24T07:38:31.505-08:00That's the Plan...Let’s talk about what makes a good plan. <br />Why good plans fail.<br />What characteristics formulate bad plans.<br />We are constantly making plans. Even if they are plans for the day. Grocery lists are plans!<br /><br />My plan used to be for song nights was to NOT take requests cause there was a good chance I wouldn’t know it. But now I’ve got this little program that assigns the tones for me and I can learn the song… and most of the time the songs are on YouTube… now I take requests… if I don’t know them I’ll work it into my hectic social calendar and learn it for the next song service.<br />That’s one of my plans.<br /><br />And when people ask me what my plans are for the kids for the summer I know what they are asking me… but really what my primary plan is for the kids to be closer to God at the end of the summer than right now. That’s the overall plan… but that’s a plan that we are all involved in. <br /><br />The Legislators of our country put laws into motion formulating a future plan for our country. Our state. Our county. Plans for the world that our children will inherit from us. <br /><br />When we develop a plan, we need an understanding of the topic we are developing a plan for. Is it easy to make up a grocery list at work? No. You’re not at home to see what you need. <br /><br />The mother of the sons of Zebeedee had a plan to secure a position for her two sons, james and john. But she lacked the knowledge to formulate a good plan. In actuality she wasn’t thinking in spiritual terms but rather in physical… She wanted her sons close to Jesus… that would secure their position. Physical location was what she desired for them. IN Matthew 20:20-23 we have the story of how her request was met. Of how her plan turned out. Read.<br /><br /> When they answered WE CAN to the question of can you drink the cup that I am going to drink? James probably had no idea that he was in fact going to. It is recorded in Acts 12 that Herod had him put to death with the sword. <br /><br />God had a plan to test Abraham. In Genesis 22:9 we find the story of God’s request that Abraham offer Isaac as a burnt offering. And of course Abraham did as the Lord requested, just short of slaying his son with a knife before the angel of the Lord stopped him. This was God’s plan to see if Abraham would really go so far, in attempting to please Him, even in killing his only son. Would he go that far? God was pleased with the answer. <br /> But we can also see that there is another aspect to God’s plan. God is all-knowing. We hold this truth among the great truths… but if you can imagine what that’s like, think about it for a moment. <br /><br />What if I was to tell you who was going to win the championship in one sport or another next year? What if I was to tell you what your child was going to grow up to be? When you were going to die. How you were going to die. Would it affect the plans we make??<br /><br />Ponder that for a moment and we’ll come back to the first two considerations.<br /> But the matter concerning death… many people make plans for their own deaths. They don’t want to be a burden to their family when they’re gone. These are age-specific plans generally… usually middle age people are just planning to get older. What will life be like when I’m older??? Those sorts of things. But eventually there will be plans laid out for what is to occur after the aging person is gone. This is a very responsible thing to do. <br /> When you go to the doctor, and you fill out all that information… that’s so they can formulate a plan for their treatment of you. And again they need INFORMATION to do this. <br />Plans for when we die.<br /><br />Jesus’s death.<br /><br />The plan of salvation was wholly dependent upon how Jesus met his death.<br /><br /><br />Why do plans fail? WE have already touched on a few reason why plans fail. We lack the knowledge to put a solid plan together. If a plan involved more than one person, it may lack cooperation for one reason or another. Perhaps there is not a consensus among those involved that it is a good plan. That may affect people’s respective actions in the plan and it may fail due to lack of enthusiasm. <br /><br />We make plans for the church at the men’s business meetings. If you have never been to one, you are unaware of how carefully, the decisions that are made are planned out. And it is not just the big things that will get attention. I mean the smallest things… the smallest aspects of service or concerning an activity or supplies for the church. The men that meet for the business meetings are taking it seriously. That’s the beginning of plans… And the more men we have the greater the knowledge base we can have. So do you see how, by that rationale---and I think It is valid--- that the more men we have, the better the plans we will make?<br /><br />We all have individual plans.<br /><br /><br />We have plans for our families.<br />Revival.<br />VBS.<br /><br />In satan's plan of condemnation, his infinite jealousy and perfect deceit meld into a justification for sinful man.<br />It leaves no one out.<br />It is ready when we are.<br />It fits our time. Our lifestyle. Our calendar. As long as we allow it to come between us and God.<br />It will shackle us to the darkness in Hell.<br /><br />It is designed to exploit any and all weaknesses you may have. Satan… is real. And he’s very subtle. He’ll say, oh its okay… to do this or that… One time someone told me that it would be okay to miss a church service and get a group of people together to play paintball. There’ll be no one there… <br /><br />I wish you could have seen me 12 years ago. The beginning monologue to my #10 on my top ten favorite movies has a line in it… the person says about something very insignificant… “You see that? That was nothing… but that’s how it always begins… very small.”<br /><br />One little thing can set you off course… will it? I don’t’ know… but I just know it can… maybe it happens down the road based on decisions we make now. the rudder of a ship in James chapter 3… remember it.<br /><br /><br /><br />In God’s plan of Salvation his Infinite Justice and Perfect Love meld into the solution for sinful men.<br />It leaves no one out.<br />Its ready when we are.<br />It fits our time, our lifestyle, our calendars—as long as these things are in accordance with God.<br />It will take us home to Heaven.Atom Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18184247947474538209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003236085673933228.post-66554677387722604642010-07-29T07:30:00.000-07:002010-07-29T07:32:31.093-07:00<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyhgJ5cT-M-Vc_O-4hfdLPD5F_N5RbIU0p-AvFBkTzt0YN-mnjElVxB3uFcmM49hLgpzibguowr-bWk_4HnSw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe>Atom Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18184247947474538209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003236085673933228.post-35530298651648062812010-07-29T07:27:00.000-07:002010-07-29T07:28:21.385-07:00VBS!starts next week... bring your friends!<br /><br />The story of Noah...<br /><br />and next year...<br /><br />DRAMA: MOSES!Atom Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18184247947474538209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003236085673933228.post-45748048485866516002010-07-29T06:37:00.000-07:002010-07-29T07:25:22.047-07:00This is how fast things happen...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib2YEdJbXaFKGOf7PcKq4xTESetkohK9mufHf9CSSSBbU5ixRExuxsJg1ubJiIFEZdaGmLd-qmWGEURVJqbpY7z015vLTM8WXIJhs3Qjm0ZeQicjYrQn8lXF52wSgR1hyVqc6vMwnWsEks/s1600/untitled11111.bmp"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib2YEdJbXaFKGOf7PcKq4xTESetkohK9mufHf9CSSSBbU5ixRExuxsJg1ubJiIFEZdaGmLd-qmWGEURVJqbpY7z015vLTM8WXIJhs3Qjm0ZeQicjYrQn8lXF52wSgR1hyVqc6vMwnWsEks/s320/untitled11111.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5499334102003871682" /></a><br />last night my lesson transcended a few points... we went from Accountability to the Age of Accountability... to why we need God in the days of our Youth, to the Evil days... which bring us those great moral issues that we must be ready to answer at a moments notice.<br /><br />Sometimes the answer to these issues is not clear. We have to know where we stand. We need something to stand on that we know is right. If only to get our bearings.<br /><br />Love. that's always a good place to start. <br /><br />But regardless... we have to be ready... you never know what's gonna happen. Or when.<br /><br />Case and Point: last night i'm getting on the bus... to take the kids home... i walk out to open the door to the bus... look back at Zoe and say, "okay... c'mon", and as they start for the bus (looking like the beginning of a horse race)... i catch out of the corner of my eye--- Devon all over Joseph. something was definitely afoot.<br /><br />Had to pull them aside and have a little talk. Anyone remember any of my examples i used last night??? this ringing a bell?<br /><br />I appealed to their love. for each other. Hope that has an impact. but chances are they just started up again when they got home. I hope they didn't. <br /><br />my point is: things like this will be on you before you know it. <br />be ready.Atom Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18184247947474538209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003236085673933228.post-20122965780303466532010-07-19T10:56:00.000-07:002010-07-19T10:57:24.117-07:00Key Lime Pies... you can make me one if you like...KEY LIME PIE<br /><br />INGREDIENTS <br />• 5 egg yolks, beaten <br />• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk <br />• 1/2 cup key lime juice <br />• 1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crust <br />DIRECTIONS<br />1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). <br />2. Combine the egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk and lime juice. Mix well. Pour into unbaked graham cracker shell. <br />3. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Allow to cool. Top with whipped topping and garnish with lime slices if desired. <br /><br /><br />Crust:<br />Ingredients:<br />• 1-2/3 cups graham cracker crumbs <br />• 1/4 cup sugar <br />• 1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons butter, melted<br />Preparation:<br />Mix together graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter until well-combined. <br /><br />Press mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie plate or tin. <br /><br />For baked pies, preheat oven to 350 F and pre-bake crust for 7 to 9 minutes. Cool before filling. For no-bake refrigerator or freezer pies, no baking is necessary. <br /><br />Yield: one 9-inch crustAtom Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18184247947474538209noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003236085673933228.post-15856090085041526712010-07-19T10:38:00.000-07:002010-07-19T10:54:38.721-07:00True or False?<span style="font-weight:bold;">Truth? What is truth?</span><br /><br />Most of you know I read comic books. I want to tell you of one in particular…. Action comics 858. It’s the story of superman… most of you may not know about Clark’s adventures as a kid… some of you may not know the story of the Legion of Superheros…<br /><br />Before I get into that… I want to explain why I’m beginning my sermon with an overview of a comic book… or Konik book as little Taylor calls them… <br /><br />I talk to people who don’t attend church sometimes and most of the time it gets around to some of them saying something like this… you’re gonna tell me about truth… but this church believes this… this one believes this… and this one something else… you all say you believe the same bible pray to the same God, but you can’t agree… You are going to tell ME that your way is right???!!!!<br /><br />And it’s a valid argument… it is… so what is truth… ?<br /><br />The Legion of superheros are a group of teenagers in the year 3009… the legion stories always take place 1000 years into the future… the legion was formed by these teenagers reading these old comic books from our time and being inspired by the heroics in the pages they read about… so they formed their own superhero group in the future. The legion of superheros. They came back to present day earth when superman was still a young boy living in Smallville and brought him into the future with them for adventures… but always brought him back in time for dinner… <br />And in a great ironic turn… the hero that inspired them to be heros themselves was taught how to be a hero by the legion… before he grew up. Their stories are very intertwined.<br /><br />They all have special abilities and they are from all different planets and galaxies… now I said all that to get to the meat of this…<br /><br />There was an emergency and they brought him to the future when he’s older… in action858… people are spreading lies about superman… they are saying that he was born in Smallville and that mother earth gave him his powers and they he was earth’s greatest defender… and that he fought for truth justice and the human way… and that he fought against the legion of superheros… aliens… and the policy is death to all aliens… the main issue is that this anti-alien way is being taught in the schools… to the kids. They are turning earth into a racist state… this is being done out of fear. Its an awesome story… and one that when I read it… I can’t escape the thought of we can’t teach God in our schools…<br /><br />But what if we did and they didn’t teach it right?<br /><br />What if they didn’t teach the truth? What is truth… a lot of people think it is relative… in john 18…Pilate once asked Christ was is truth… it stood before Pilate as he asked.<br /><br />Truth is the basis for our foundation in Christ… quick Crete… alone it is useless… unless you just wanna make a mess… but add water to it… it can be formed into a foundation. Take the water away… nothing. <br /><br />That’s what happens to us when you take the truth away. Why are we so insistent on being such sticklers for the truth??! Why do we sometimes go to ridiculous measures (by some people’s standards) to defend the truth? Because whatever you’ve built on that foundation is going to be swallowed up… the foundation is gone… its nothing more than sinking sand.<br /><br />Is absolute truth a necessity or is pretty close to the truth okay.??? Leighton ford a religious leader once said… preach the gospel and don’t be so negative that you refuse to work or endorse those who belong to a different gospel than the one you preach…<br /><br />But Galatians 1:8 says…But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! And we know from II Corinthians 11 that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light…<br /><br />There is one truth and it is Jesus. <br /><br />John 14: 6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.<br /><br />It is not complicated, but it must be read with no pretense… it says what it says and should not be taken for what we want it to say.<br /><br />We have the ability to think the thoughts of God… but not without truth. When we make God’s truth our own… we can understand who he is…<br /><br />John 17: 17 says…" Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. " <br /><br />Sanctify is just a word that means to purify from sin… <br /><br />I want to throw a scenario at you now… it involves truth… I’m gonna let you guys tell me what is true… what we can say is true… and what we can’t say is true…<br />Ready?<br /><br />Okay… you walk in classroom on Sunday morning… lets say it is the high school class… lots of rough looking characters in there… you walk in and Taylor has a bloody nose and Sydney’s standing in front of him with a clenched fist.<br /><br />Raise your hand if you know for a fact that Sydney punched Taylor in the nose…<br />Does it seem likely? But are you so sure you’d bet your car on it… or your house on it.? Not that we are supposed to gamble… but you get my meaning…<br /><br />Now… the new scenario is that you are in the class and Taylor makes some comment about how football is better that softball… and Sydney stands up and pops him in the nose. You see it happen. <br /><br />Now… raise your had if you can say for an absolute fact that Sydney punched Taylor in the nose…<br /><br />Yeah… now we know what is true… We’ve gotten to the truth. <br /><br />Now that we have our two scenarios… we must ask… what type of truth are we as Christians interested in? how about absolute truth? Truth that is complete and never changes. The truth of God. <br /><br />Man’s ideas about what God’s truth may change, but we know that it never actually change… God’s not pushing out updates to His word every first Tuesday of every month… it needs no revision or amending… it is absolute.<br /><br />And it is an absolute fact that we face the same enemy that Adam and Eve faced in the garden… Eve was told something that she took as fact… without really knowing if it was truth or not… and she paid the consequences of it. We must face the consequences of the truths we believe in life as well.<br /><br />If we believe God’s truth…we’ll be pretty happy with the consequences of that… they’ll be good. God will give to every person according to what he has done… <br /><br />Have you ever believed something that someone told you… completely without factually firsthand knowledge of actually being there when this thing happened?<br /><br />Like Sydney punching Taylor in the nose… you hear about it a day later and you say… she did?! I can’t believe she did that! Horrible conduct!<br /><br />What if it turns out a week later that it didn’t happen that way… see the danger of our own imperfect truth? Of how we appoint truth to situations that we don’t have the knowledge to do so? How do we know what happened? <br /><br />We don’t. plain and simple. The only people who know are the people who were there. <br />This situation deals with corruptible truth or imperishable… in this… if the one who is lying never relents and confesses… it will never be known what really happened… truth will escape us.<br /><br />The absolute truth of God does not escape us. We can escape from it for a time…. But in the end… it is incorruptible or imperishable. 1 Peter 1:22 and following<br /><br />Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart,<br /> 23for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.<br /> 24For,<br /> " ALL FLESH IS LIKE GRASS,<br /> AND ALL ITS GLORY LIKE THE FLOWER OF GRASS.<br /> THE GRASS WITHERS,<br /> AND THE FLOWER FALLS OFF,<br /> 25BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER "<br /><br />A philosopher will say that We are absolutely sure of one thing and that is that there is no absolute truth of which anyone can be sure. <br />We are absolutely positive about that!<br /><br />The Christian should hold truth to the highest standards. To do anything else is to justify the crazy state of truth in the world today… <br />Imagine for a minute that we make up a bunch of shirts with these saying on them…<br /><br />Truth can be found here… <br />Righteous judgment can be found here. <br />Understanding can be found here.<br />Compassion can be found here. <br />Mercy can be found here.<br />Forgiveness can be found here.<br /><br />Would we as Christians be worthy of wearing them…? if we did… would they be truthful?<br />If we put this on our sign out front… would it be the truth?<br /><br />The stands we take in life… are they based on truth… or what we think is truth?<br />Is the truth important? Look at the teen pregnancy rate… look at the prevalence of drugs in our lives… look at alcoholism… look at the murder rate… look at the rampant problem with pornography on the internet…<br /><br />A World without truth… is a world that does not see God.Atom Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18184247947474538209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003236085673933228.post-78678052466448328362010-07-19T10:36:00.000-07:002010-07-19T10:38:07.568-07:00I'm back!!!!God is testing you to see if you REALLY love Him… <br /><br />Deuteronomy 13:3<br /><br />Like it or not… you must be tested. Yeah… You. And me…<br /><br />Sometimes I’m in class and I’ll be reading a scripture and I come across a passage… and it hits me… I’m talking about something that I need to work on in my OWN life… and I look up and some of the kids are smiling at me. They know it! They know me! They hear me talk about stuff like TRAFFIC! <br /><br />*important driving notes: don’t cut in line… left lane fast, right lane slow… and if someone is tailgating you on the interstate> hit your windshield washer fluid and they’ll go around you*<br /><br />Not just traffic… but things in life that stress you out! It affects us. Patience. I gotta get some more of that stuff.<br /><br />It all comes down to passing a test. There’s no cramming at the last minute for these tests… you don’t even realize you are taking them. And they’re upon you before you know it. You don’t see it coming… But your love for God is being tested.<br />Someone once told me that when we sin… it’s in a moment when we don’t love God. I thought long about that… trying to make it not true. I just didn’t want to believe that I didn’t love God at anytime—but it’s true. If we are talking about the right kind of love… the CAPITOL ‘L’ love that I talk about in class. The REAL love. The love that never fails. When we sin… we fail the test. We put our own wants before God and that basically means we are at a point in life when we love something more than him—and that translates to ‘we don’t love God’. It’s basic to idolatry. He wants all of us… not part. <br /><br />Love the Lord your God with HALF your heart??? Nope. Love the Lord your God on Thursdays??? Nope.<br /><br />Hard pill to swallow, I know. I sin. I’m there when I do it so I can say it with authority. <br /><br />In Exodus 16, God tells Moses that He’s gonna give them bread from heaven and a certain amount to gather on certain days to TEST them… to see if they do it like He wants them to.<br /><br />God led the children of Israel in the wilderness for 40 years to test them…<br />I Corinthians 10 speaks of this… and it warns us to heed the mistakes they made… in failing their test. Think of the Red Sea as your Baptism… and the Promised Land as heaven… we are tested in between.<br /><br />In our wandering through this wilderness.<br /><br />If you get a minute sometime… read Exodus 15:22-27. And realize… God is testing us. Right now. On this Lord’s day (or whatever day you happen to read this on). He wants to know if we REALLY love him. God allows for our moral training. He wants us to show him that we’re not just calling out “Lord, Lord!” but that we are doing the His will. <br /><br />“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God” (2 Timothy 2:15).<br /><br />What could be more important than doing that…?Atom Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18184247947474538209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003236085673933228.post-18688358785263028372010-02-04T11:15:00.000-08:002010-02-04T11:21:17.749-08:00My last word on last night's class.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9FpavSlmOlTsXIjAHbPUruI77bGtxUFrTz8tBi_2jPIMtrWsfaslrsogT3484PigoSNJLCA2m62HZzRBjmCOmTf5CgOELECtGu1gEW-jYqfazLk_0WitYCu7Z5ENXtiGXmphy3aaLkXqE/s1600-h/excuses.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9FpavSlmOlTsXIjAHbPUruI77bGtxUFrTz8tBi_2jPIMtrWsfaslrsogT3484PigoSNJLCA2m62HZzRBjmCOmTf5CgOELECtGu1gEW-jYqfazLk_0WitYCu7Z5ENXtiGXmphy3aaLkXqE/s320/excuses.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434470504913367666" /></a><br />i didn't get to this last night... but my main scripture was from Luke.<br /><br /><br /><br />Luke 14: 16-24<br /><br /><br /> <span style="font-style:italic;">16But He said to him, "A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many;<br /><br /> 17and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, 'Come; for everything is ready now.'<br /><br /> 18"But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, 'I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.'<br /><br /> 19"Another one said, 'I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.'<br /><br /> 20"Another one said, 'I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.'<br /><br /> 21"And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, 'Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.'<br /><br /> 22"And the slave said, 'Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.'<br /><br /> 23"And the master said to the slave, 'Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled.<br /><br /> 24'For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.'"<br /></span><br />our excuses won't work.Atom Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18184247947474538209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003236085673933228.post-50893813182776964642010-02-04T10:56:00.000-08:002010-02-04T11:04:18.081-08:00last night's class...was great.<br /><br />SATAN KITTY! RRRRAAARRRR!<br /><br />but i hope we all understand that when excuses are thrown our way we need to be able to respond to them.<br /><br />AND when WE make up excuses... we need to identify why we are having to make them... and fix the problem. <br /><br />God's not going to listen to our excuses.<br /><br />Here's a list of excuses He's not going to listen to:<br /><br />I work on sundays.<br />I was rejected by someone i invited to church... so i was scared to do it again.<br />I just figured they wouldn't come... <br />I'm too weak. I'll fall right back into sin so why try.<br />The church is full of hypocrites!<br />I like our youth group the way it is... if we brought in someone else... it might not be as fun.<br /><br />just a few examples... but you get the idea.<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;"><br />john 8:29<br />The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him."</span>Atom Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18184247947474538209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003236085673933228.post-37053620453063642282010-01-21T07:02:00.001-08:002010-01-21T07:03:02.619-08:00Christian Teen ForumsMan, there's a lot of work to do guys...<br /><br />We CAN all understand.Atom Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18184247947474538209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003236085673933228.post-74818713191324062522009-12-08T14:02:00.000-08:002009-12-08T14:34:10.189-08:00a little tricksomeone is always trying to trick you.<br /><br />for instance... mortgage payments.<br /><br />i know ... just bear with me all you who don't have jobs yet.<br />all you who don't understand the significance of 26 pay periods in one year.<br /><br />every month i make a house payment... for X dollars.<br /><br />if i paid that every two weeks it would be 1/2 X dollars... right?<br /><br />well, some say that's a good thing cause you can chisel down on your interest and just hit the principle.<br /><br />well... what they don't tell you most of the time is 52 weeks in a year. half that is 26 payments. but there's 12 months... you get paid on average twice a month... that's 24 payments... <br />but some months are longer than others... so two weeks are extra. <br /><br />what the lending companies do is save those extra 2 payments and make them at the end of the years as an extra payment for you. its a trick... you could do that yourself... instead of paying their little fees which aren't little at all.<br /><br />they want your money.<br /><br />satan wants your life.<br />your thoughts.<br />your time.<br />your attention.<br />He wants the reigns to your life.<br /><br />And you better believe that he's better than the mortgage people. a lot better.<br /><br />Eph. 6:12 says:<br />For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.<br /><br />have you ever been amazed at a card or magic trick?<br />what happens after you figure it out and you see it again?<br /><br />not so impressive is it?<br />we have to see past the trick and see it for what it truly is.<br /><br />What's the biggest trick Christians have to deal with today???Atom Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18184247947474538209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003236085673933228.post-9902912862338690662009-11-23T08:32:00.000-08:002009-11-23T08:46:41.389-08:00don't be shy...sitting up at the hospital waiting on ollie to make his first appearance... <br /><br />and i got to thinking... we're always saying that you shouldn't be ashamed to tell people about God... but can we be too shy?<br /><br />shy to talk to people in general... don't be shy.<br /><br />i remember my first day of junior high in a different district... mark, luke and rachel invited me over to their table at lunch ... that room was so big... and i didn't see anyone i knew (all my friends that i did know at this district were one year oldler than me). they said... "Hey you wanna sit with us?" i sat down... and we were friends from then on out. <br /><br />i was shy. they weren't. i'm glad they weren't.<br /><br />we are saved. they aren't. we should be glad when they ARE. But its up to us.<br /><br />don't be shy.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Hebrews 4:16</span><br /><br /> 16<span style="font-weight:bold;">Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.</span>Atom Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18184247947474538209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003236085673933228.post-20408631235082324122009-11-09T19:19:00.000-08:002009-11-09T19:20:28.899-08:00new blog post... amazing!Lock-in Friday night.<br /><br />that is all...Atom Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18184247947474538209noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5003236085673933228.post-27854673943139796952009-10-15T14:17:00.000-07:002009-10-15T14:19:05.038-07:00devo wednesday night...don't let me forget that i got it wednesday night...<br /><br />but since no one reads this... i doubt i'll get reminded.<br /><br />so its up to me to remember.<br /><br />wednesday is going to be interesting.<br /><br />later.Atom Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18184247947474538209noreply@blogger.com0