Phil Johnson at the 2007 Think On These Things Conference:

The 9th Annual Rochester Theology Conference, featuring speakers Jerry Bridges and Phil Johnson, will be held April 18 and 19, 2008, at Perinton Community Church, 636 High Street Extension in Fairport, N.Y., and is hosted by: Evangelical Church of Fairport, Pastor Reid Ferguson; and Clarkson Community Church, Pastor Tony Bartolucci.

Admission to the entire conference is $15 Individual / $20 Couple and $25 Family (no matter how large!) DVDs of all six conference sessions are available for $15, including postage.

click here to register

holy, holy, holy!

Exd 34:29-35
And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him. And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them. And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him in mount Sinai. And [till] Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face. But when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel [that] which he was commanded. And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him.
Moses' face was shining from a reflection of the glory of the Lord. a reflection of the Lord's glory that came from seeing his back parts as the Lord passed by him. from this did his face shine with the glory of the Lord. so much so that he had to cover his face for the fear of the people. fear of seeing the reflection of the hind parts of God. oh the fear that will come in that day when they must appear before him to answer for their rejection of Him. even the seraphims cover their face with wings given them. the mighty angelic seraphim can not look into the face of God for the Glory that is to much to behold.
ISA 6:1-3 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, [is] the LORD of hosts: the whole earth [is] full of his glory.
But to the child of God a higher promise is given,
1Jo 3:2, Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
We shall see him as he is, what an amazing promise, what a thought, what an honor!

please pray

will anyone who is reading my blog today please pray for my daughter, Madison. she has to get a small surgery this morning and she is very worried...me to a bit. but i will read to her Isa 41:10, and trust in God.

Isa 41:10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

thank you, And God bless!

Luke 15

1. Overview
   

2. Jesus was being questioned about the sinners and publicans who were drawing near to him. Instead of defending Himself He tells three stories. In each of the stories something has been lost and must be found. In the first two we see the owner going on the offensive and looking diligently until the lost is found. Having found what was lost the owner rejoices with friends and neighbors, thus showing the joy that is in heaven over one sinner that repents. Christ is herein answering the Pharisees’ questioning by showing that he has lost His sheep and has come for them. “This is the entire reason I am here, don’t you see I came for these sinners.” That’s how I would have answered. But Christ’s answer was Luke 15, an answer that has blessed mankind for two thousand years.
   

2. 2.The Son, the Spirit, and the Father
   

3. Each parable tells a story, yet each is unique. One wonders what the significance of there being three stories as opposed to some other number. The universe is three: space, time, and matter. Man is three: body, soul, and spirit, and God is triune: Father, Son, and Spirit. We can make a connection in the stories themselves.
   

1. a. The lost sheep: This parable can be likened unto Jesus himself as the Shepherd who has a lost sheep. He comes for it and when He finds it lays the scared, hungry, and lost sheep across His shoulders and carries him back home.
   

2. b. The lost coin: The Holy Spirit is like unto the woman who has lost her coin. She comes into the house and finding the coin missing cleans diligently until it be found. Even so the Holy Spirit comes into us. He finds his home to be a filthy mess and starts to clean it up. He does so until the time he can finally see the lost coin that was your spirit.
   

3. c. The prodigal son: This is one of the most famous of all biblical stories. The Father gives his son his share of the inheritance and the boy leaves home to go wild and crazy with riotous living. This can be seen as the fall of mankind. and then one day, he came to himself. Salvation! he was converted, repented, and changed direction. he arrives home to find the father waiting for him with open arms and gifts to boot.
   

4. d. Now I would just like to add a disclaimer here: The comparisons I just made to the Trinity and the three parables may not hold up theologically. That was not my goal really. Only to show that there are often things we do not see at first glance. They may or may not hold up; either way, it's fun to think about.
   

5. 
   

3. 3.The Prodigal Son: I would like to explore this Parable by looking at it in three steps or phases.
   

1. a. Sin - Sinners look at the Gifts of God as debts due them, and remain concerned with the things of this world. They foolishly follow in the steps of Adam and Eve by ignoring God’s commandments and having desires of independence. The end results of these actions are separation from God, misuse of time, money, and talent. They will always be left wanting. In the quest for independence they become slaves to consumerism and bondage of the sin.
   

2. b. Repentance – He came to himself, or the Lord opened his eyes to the utter hopelessness of his sinful state. Seeing at last that the lowest of Heavens servants are better off then him, he quits his bondage to this world and heads home. Note here his attitude of repentance. I have sinned against Heaven and in thy sight. I am not worthy to be thy son make me as one of thy hired servants. This is the right way to see yourself. Psa 84:10 For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
   

3. c. The love of God – Notice there is not a single word of rebuke. For his repentant heart, the love and grace of God was sufficient to cover all his wicked deeds. Eze 18:21-22 But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live. Notice also that he shows up in rags, but is given the best robe. Isa 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. He is given a ring for his finger, or a seal (such as rings were used in those times.) Eph 1:13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, and shoes for his feet. Eph 6:15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Again this may not all hold up theologically, but it looks to me like he is given a robe like unto the salvation of Christ, and the ring which is the seal of the spirit, and the shoes the protection of being prepared with the Gospel of Peace. Let’s not forget that he feeds him as well, and though it was a calf, I like to think of the significance of it being like unto the bread of life. He was starving and now he is fat with the bread that gives life. A picture of the true Christian conversion.
   

4. 
   

4. 4.The brother
   

5. A clear representation of the Pharisees that were questioning him, the brother is jealous of everything the prodigal son is being blessed with. He will not take part in the rejoicing that is going on over the return of his own brother. In fact the father has to come out to him to plead with him and he still will not come in. He boasted over his loyalty and perfect record of never transgressing the commandments at anytime. His pride has completely blinded him just as the Pharisees listening to this story who more than likely did not even see the connection. As a last note of interest, though Jesus was answering the Pharisees with the actions of the brother, he speaks to you and me as well. Imagine this — You stay faithful at church, and give, and serve, and so on. Then some prodigal off the street walks in and everyone rejoices over him. They talk about him and invite him to all the things you never get invited to. And in your heart you cannot help but think, “I know who this guy is; he is a sinner and a publican! He is a charlatan; these people are receiving a sinner and rejoicing over him.” Of course we don’t say that, but be careful what thoughts you let into your heart. Mark 7:15 There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.

this post was edited by Pastor Don Curran.
Thank you for the help in making this more readable!

big cliams to my shame

this is what happens everytime! no sooner do i claim that i will be keeping up my blog at least weekly, that i get busy and totally slack off on it. the funny thing is, in one of my morning readings last week there was a warning about making oaths in our own strength that we can not keep. now this has a larger impact on me then just a blog. but it also made me think of my blog. i think things like this happen so God can remind us that if we try and do any thing in our own power, we are done for. as i am listening to this months free audio book from Christian audio (R.A. Torrey's, how to pray) i am starting to realize how important it is to involve God in everything we do. even the little things we think we can handle on our own (like writing a little blog post) should be done with God through prayer. i know that if i where to take the time to stop and seek God before making decisions, they would be better made. and not just to my benefit but to the benefit of Gods glory as well. if we are to do all things to Gods glory what better way then to seek him in everything we do and then Give him the glory for it. in the purpose driven life there is a sentence that cuts pretty deep, it goes something like this. all of Gods creation shows forth his glory, and there are only two things in all of it that fail to fulfill their purpose in doing so. fallen angels and people. we fail at this everyday. i think that through prayer we can start to repair our broken ways of doing life.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"i am still discovering right up to this moment that is it only by living completely in this world that one learns to have faith. by this worldliness i mean living unreservedly in life's duty's, problems, successs, and failures. in so doing we throw our selves completely into the arms of God, taking seriously not our own sufferings but those of God in the world. that i think is faith."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer 6/21/1944 written the day after his plot to assassinate Hitler failed.

How a person can change his direction

A man must first come to the place in his life where he needs a change. Albeit, we can hardly imagine a life that would not need a change at some point. Life is often seen as a series of changes. As we move through life we often open our eyes look around and ask, where on earth am I and how did I end up here? Often it’s these times that a change is needed in our direction.

The next thing that a man must do is to come to some decision about where he is and where he would like to be. Just as a man can not change without seeing the need, he will not end up in a desirable place with out some proper brain storming. Some things to consider would be what is wrong with the current direction? What is it that you need to change in your life and why do you wish to change it? A clear concise look at your spiritual beliefs will help to point you in the right direction.

A mans beliefs can play a very large role in where he is headed in life. The only problem with this is that we as people have such a wide range of beliefs. It is my conviction that with out God, a change in direction will never be realized. Yes it is true that even non believers change their directions from time to time. I would argue that this is the

Common grace of God assisting them with out their knowledge. The best thing that we can do to insure that we are successful in this change is to make it a change toward God and his will. Because man is free in the sense that we can make decisions and choices. We are free to make the wrong ones (and often do). The only way we can set a new direction in life with the assurance that this is the right way, is through God.

He will need to pray. Prayer is the one way man can speak to God and set forth his desire for change. If this is a pure desire with pure motives you can start by thanking God. For this desire surly was not born of your own heart. The bible tells us that “the heart of man is deceitfully wicked; who can know it”. This man should then follow his thanksgiving in supplications for Grace and mercy in his life, that he may at length change his direction.

The final ingredient to a proper change in direction is the word of God. Just as with out God we can not change at all, with out his word any change in life will be fruitless. God sets forth in the bible everything we need in order to live out the rest of our days on a path that leads directly to him.