ryan.the.calvinist

Matthew 6:27, 34 (ESV) "And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his life span? ... Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." Realized something tonight:  Kaylee cries... A LOT. Well, I knew that already.  But that isn't what I learned.  I continue. She seems like her little self is always freaking out -- FEED ME!!! CHANGE ME!!!! etc. But almost as if she doubts Kacey's and my ability or faithfulness to take care of her. "Kaylee! I got this, girl! We got this. Chill."  Then I wondered -- Is this what I sound like to God when I am not only asking for provision but WORRYING about it? As if he won't take care of us? And God in his Word says, "Ryan and Kacey -- I'v e got this. Chill." But we keep stressing and worrying "No! No! No! No! No! You don't! I'm going to DIIIIEEEEEE!!!!!" And yet, our Triune God is ever...

I need to try... I need to write on this blog more frequently. Lately though, I don't feel like I have that much to contribute any more. However, I want to still serve my Lord and use this blog for his glory. Of late, I have been trying to search out a home church. Truthfully, I really miss my home church in Springfield, MO of Boulevard Baptist Church . Kacey and I loved attending there. Sadly, we were not as connected as we could/should have been. (Part of that, I think, is because Kacey was baptized as an infant in the United Methodist Church and therefore to be admitted as a member, she would likely have had to be re-baptized.) But we adored the preaching from Pastor Doug Shivers . He truly sought to preach Christ from all of Scripture. You don't seem to get a lot of that today; even when pastors verbally endorse such a practice, this doesn't mean they actually put it into practice much. Pastor Doug did. Since moving home, I have had a difficult search for a h...

Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?  But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.  And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.  We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised if it is true that the dead are not raised.  For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.  And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.  Then those who also have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.  if in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. - Paul, 1 Corinthians 15:12-18 (ESV) Paul said if Christ ain't resurrected then we wasted out lives /    but that implies that our life's built...

I am pretty much on the verge of leaving the congregation my parents attend. This may seem of little importance, but with the exception of college, I have faithfully been with them in the church I was raised, the mega church, and finally now the small Bible church. However, something has happened that has caused me to question my role in the congregation, so to speak. I do not want to go into details... who knows who will be reading this post... and I don't want to bore you or gossip. So here's the gist, as it were. June 7, 2009 - guest speaker "preaches" at the church. his gospel is an urgency message of sorts, charging us the importance of being fishers of men to spread the gospel, by fishing and catching men for God, essentially. the problem came though from his lack of gospel in the sermon. he told more stories about himself than I thought possible. Much of the sermon was him preaching about himself, rather than him preaching about forgiveness of sins in Chr...

"Yes, I love technology; but not as much as you, you see. But I still love technology. Always and forever." -Kipp Dynamite It is true. I love technology. It is this love for technology for me to be a bit of both a mac and PC guy. Part of my mac-ness shows in that while I have tried to get into both Windows Media Player and iTunes, I am just a larger fan of iTunes. The interface makes more logical sense to me, and it is easier to play the music I want and listen to the radio stations if I wish. And while I would like to get a Zune 4 gig in the future, I now have an iPod which syncs very nicely with iTunes (duh). This attitude of desiring to try different apps from different companies just because of my fascination with technology also extends into which web browser I use. I recall when I was a youngin using Netscape to browse the web exclusively. Netscape died recently, never having fully recovered from her defeat in the First Browser War (between Netscape and Inter...

I have been engaged in a "debate"/discussion on the Doctrines of Grace via Facebook mail now for the past 4 or 5 days or so with a gentleman whom I have never met... but we have some mutual friends.  And I can say... that after 4 or 5 days of this... I am drained.  Just wiped out.  SO tired from arguing these points... and we've only thoroughly looked at ONE scripture... 2 Peter 3:9 (which I did a vlog on the subject... available here )... though he's alluded to other passages (without citing their contexts) when it fits his purposes.  So many of his questions are just "why would God do ______?"  He seems unwilling to be able to accept any correction when the correction comes from the text of the Word of God... if it goes against his tradition, that is.  I am SO tired of this.  Whether these discussions are on MySpace... HisHolySpace (lol!)... Facebook... or whatever... SO SO often I go into a debate on these important issues of God's sovereignty and m...

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing." -- Apostle Paul, 1 Corinthians 13:1-2 (ESV) I would say it is a safe bet that if you are reading this note, you also read my note I posted earlier in the week entitled To the liberal "christians"... You may read it if you wish still though... but basically I expressed extreme dismay that many who wear the title of Evangelical Christian are backing a candidate who supports the slaughter of the unborn-- whether they support Hillary or Obama. I am aware some of these individuals say testify to be against abortion themselves, but back either candidate for reasons of health care or welfare (neither of which were issues that plagued the minds of the founding fathers who, umm, founded this nation thoug...

You say you are a Christian... And you are really going to vote for Clinton? Or Obama? Really? Wow. I didn't know you cared so LITTLE for those defenseless children slaughtered by the hundreds daily in abortion clinics. I thought the godly thing to do is take care of those who are defensless-- including the unborn babies. I also didn't know you supported the government steeling money from hard-working Americans and giving it to those who do not really work as hard and are addicted to crack as opposed to actually working-- what man was placed on Earth to do by God. I also didn't know you cared so little about national security-- I hope the terrorists don't blow us up if your Obama or Clinton gets in office. 'Cause both would be too weak and pull out, allowing the bad guys to blow us up. Have fun with that. Don't put your trust in Big Government. That is idolitary! Our hope SHOULD be built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. Dare not tru...

Yesterday evening, I came across a friend of mine who professes to be Christian, but on her Facebook profile identified herself as a supporter of Democratic Presidential candidate Obama. Recently in a poll released, Obama was identified as the most liberal member of the US Senate, and I was shocked to learn recently, he supports the repeal of the ban on Partial-Birth abortion, a procedure that includes birthing a child half-way and then slaughtering him/her moments after the child begins to emerge from the womb. Sick. I posted my concern on her Wall... how could she support someone, as a Christian, who supports abortion. She replied with stating there are more important issues at hand. I was shocked and told her such. We should view politics in light of religious beliefs and Truth... not vice versa. I then got a message from a friend of hers... Kevin. Kevin wrote me a very lengthy message on how I had erred in being judgmental by using scripture as a reason for judging ...

I am astonished how often people misunderstand the Sermon on the Mount, recorded in Matthew 5, 6 & 7. I have actually heard it claimed this sermon of Jesus isn't preachy... that it is a wonderful piece that shows a fluffy gracious God who seems more like a fictional Santa than Lord. These persons read Matthew 5:3-12 , and then it seems their eyes wonder off, or they shut down. To them, Jesus is ONLY someone who cares about the poor, the sorrowful, the meek, the hungry, the the merciful, peacemakers, and persecuted (I skip Mt 5:8, because most probably do-- if they had a concept for what purity was they would view the gospel differently), accepting them as they are! But wait a minute. Surely Jesus Christ IS concerned with those things! ALL scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in self righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. I do not deny the words of Christ Jesus. Be...

Yesterday I sat in STRONG (Hall) #204 in my REL 320: Jesus of Nazareth course a bit more than slightly frustrated with the clips our class had just watched from The Last Temptation of Christ . We were comparing this fictional re-telling of Christ's life to the gnostic Gospel of Judas . I'm not sure which notion was more difficult to stomach-- the gnostic view that YHWH is the evil creator that we need to defeat (essentially), or the notion that Jesus and Judas... cuddled... (and more?) Yuck. ANYWAY. A student in the class brought up a point that he had always struggled with growing up: If it was foreordained that Judas would have to betray Jesus, and it had to happen for Jesus to save the world, why should Judas suffer and be held to blame for his actions? I just sat there in my silence fully confidant of the answer. And yes, I too had wondered this before -- he was supposed to do this, and yet he is held to blame? But after years of maturing in the faith, I was able t...

I find it odd that I am not the normal college student. I do not speak of my decision to not smoke, get drunk, or have premarital sex. I am glad I have resisted temptation for these (though most have never really even been an issue for me), though I am not speaking specifically of m relm of belief. I may be one of a few handful of students whose beliefs, values or convictions have not crumbled 'neath the weight of the ivory walls of the University. One such example is my stance on politics. I was raised in a very conservative home where I learned of the importance of defending the lives of unborn babies from a slaughter at the hands of some who consider themselves "doctors" (more like death dealers). So conservative yes, but I was, by my own admission, truly a 2-issue voter by the time I was 18. The issues I was concerned about were biblically social issues -- abortion and the defense of the institution of marriage between man and wife (as God created it). Sure I c...

Galatians 1:9-10 (ESV) As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. I have struggles... I am not perfect, nor will I ever be. If I could be perfect... and do enough good deeds from now on until I die... then Christ would not have needed to die at all! ( Gal 2:21 ) However I cannot say "oh well I'll never be perfect, so I have no reason to try and do good at all, because Christ died for me!" No... "how can we who died to sin still live in it?" ( Rom 6:2b ) So I will never be able to be perfect... yet I cannot live in sin, as a believer, as I have been set free from it... kinda confusing a bit. What IS living in sin, as Paul phrases it in his later to the Church in Rome? I suppose if it has a stronghold in y...

Currently Listening X Worship 2006 By Various Artists see related Matthew 18:32-35 (NIV) "[Jesus answered...] Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured , until he should pay back all he owed. This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart." I have a problem that eats me alive if I let it. I think it is my friend, but it never is-- that is just a lie from the Devil used to deceive me and further my relationship with God. I use this "friend" to hurt others around me... even if I love them dearly. I use the "friend" to harm others and to attempt to make myself feel better and more superior than those who first hurt me. "Friend" and I cry ou...