Do You Have Self-control? (Replay)

This is a replay of a WFTD (Word For the Day) that I did on July 1, 2008.  I hope that this helps someone today just as it might have done 2 years ago!

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July 1, 2008

Good afternoon family!

I hope that everyone is doing well this fine Tuesday. It is definitely a beautiful day here in Raleigh and it is a great break from the blistering heat for a change.  Thank God for that!  I've been missing in action and I do apologize for my disappearance, however, I'm back!  DAAAANGGG! (sorry 5 Heartbeats Flashback LOL).  Without further adieu though, the WFTD everybody...the WFTD.

Today we will be talking about self-control, but before we get started lets define this thing.  One definition says that it is “The ability to control one's desires and impulses; willpower ”.  I will go one step further and and tell you that an impulse is an “urge” or “an instinctive motive”.  Now given these working definitions lets go to some scripture.

Proverbs 25:28 “Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control.”

Now that is simple and to the point.  No fluffy stuff.  No thou's, art's, or thee's and that's what is neat about the Bible. Sometimes the word of God is very descriptive and in depth.  At other times is is short, sweet and to the point.

In old days, cities use to be built with walls around them for protection from outside forces, enemies, and/or dangers.  If you recall ever seeing a castle from the medieval period on TV, you will notice it has a wall around it as well and the people dwell on the inside.  If you ever noticed whenever a city was attacked, the door or gate to the city was attacked because it was the most vulnerable part.  As gates became just as strong as walls so did weaponry become strong enough to tear down walls.  If a wall was ever torn down or broken, that made the folks inside the city vulnerable to anything on the outside because it had open access to go to and fro through the walls.

Now look at you and me.  We all have to maintain some self-control, but as Ryan spoke about yesterday, we are born with a sin nature.  It is innate that we have urges and desires that go against the very teachings of Christ, but if we do not deal with them, they can make us weak.  What do I mean?  Well lets take for example someone who use to curse (for phonetics, lets go with the spelling and pronunciation, “cuss”).  If you have put that old self away, then listening to others cuss around you actually offends you.  However, the moment you lose control and allow yourself to accept the cussing around you, then you become weak.  You develop a weak point in your wall and now the devil has a way to go to and fro as he pleases in your life.  Why? The reason is because you have a broken down wall and the next thing you know you're back cussing again.

This is just one example out of an uncountable number, however, you know your urges and desires.  If you lack self-control or lose it, you become weak and the enemy can have a foot hold in your life.  Learn to always maintain self control because it is always easier to tear down a wall than it is to erect one again (read the book of Nehemiah in your spare time).

Be blessed folks and have a good one.
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Regards,

Antoine E. Hall

Blog:   http://toinebo.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall


"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." - 2 Samuel 22:33

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The Things You Don't See

Happy Monday Folks.

I hope you all had a great weekend.  I had a pretty good weekend myself, but I could not get all the rest I wanted.  Oh well, it was good to get the rest that I could though.  I had been working like crazy the past couple of weeks and even did an all-nighter last weekend.  Needless to say, I didn't make it to church on last Sunday, but I did this Sunday.

This Sunday, we have started a new series called Knowing the Holy Spirit and this was more of an introduction.  The message was very enlightening and informative, but one concept that stuck in my head was on the topic of sin.  Some how (via Holy Spirit), we ended up discussing sin. 

According to The Free Dictionary, sin means "to commit an offense or violation".   One the first thing which may come to mind is sinning against the Mosaic Laws. There are the teachings of Jesus Christ.  Then there are offenses that we can commit against God by disobeying his direct authority.  God may tell me to do something directly and it may be specifically for His will in my life.  If I choose to disobey, then I am sinning against Him.  Now, at the same time, what He specifically told me does not apply to you because God's command was not relayed to you!

This had me in a "wow" moment, because all along I've always thought everything was spelled out in the Good Book.  Not so.  For example, I was lead by the Holy Spirit to remain at home with my wife while she was sick.  I looked for jobs, but no passionately as my real desire was to be home with her.  Had I gone back to work before ahead of time, I would have been in direct violation of God. Now that is not in the bible, but just because you don't see it in there does not mean it does not apply to me.

I would like to challenge you to think over your life and see how the Holy Spirit has spoken to you.  If you are a true follower of Christ, it will help you to put things into perspective on how you decide to answer God's calling in the future.

Be blessed and have a good one.

Regards,

Antoine E. Hall

Blog:   http://toinebo.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall


"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." - 2 Samuel 22:33

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JM: Clap Your Hands

*singing*  "If know that God is real, you should clap your hands....."  Today's music is by The Cross Movement and the song is called "Clap Your Hands".  Enjoy!

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The Impact of a Father

Hello, Hello!

It has been a crazy past two weeks for me, but I am still here alive and kicking!  Next week, life should slow down a little so here is looking forward to next week.  Before, we can reach next week though, we cannot do so without passing through Father's Day. While there is not as much hype surrounding this day as with Mother's Day, I think it is still good that we recognize the role and impact that fathers have in the lives of their children.  I am going to speak from my experience as a son and as a father.

Before I get started, I want to take a trip to Proverbs. 

Proverbs 4:1  "[ Wisdom Is Supreme ] Listen, my sons, to a father's instruction; pay attention and gain understanding."

Proverbs 13:1  "A wise son heeds his father's instruction, but a mocker does not listen to rebuke"

I list these scriptures to show that the presence a father in the house is one of great importance.   For a son, he has to look to his father to know how to become a man.  For a daughter, it is important for her to see how a man should treat a woman, so that she'll know what is acceptable in how she should be treated by a man.  Yes, the father figure in the home is very important, but we are living in a time when there are so many fractured homes.  There are many homes today with a single mother raising children and the father is no where to be found.  In some cases, parents are divorced and the father does spend time with there kids, but it is not the same as having a father in the home every day.

I speak as a child who is blessed to come from a home where my parents were married, remained together, and are still married 34 years to date.  Now, this is not to gloat against any one who was raised by a single parent.  This is just me saying it is a blessing to have had my father throughout my entire life.  To me that is HUGE and very important!  As a child, I saw my Daddy get up day in and day out to work from sun-up until sun-down.  He did it to provide for his family, so that we might have a better life.  (As a parent, I think it is our desire for our children to have an equal and/or better life than we had.)  I saw my father open doors for my mother, show affection towards her, and love her. 

I sometimes saw the arguments and disagreements between my mother and father, but I also saw that marriage kept going past the argument.  I know men can have a lot of pride and it is hard to swallow sometimes (even when we're wrong) so it was important for me to see that anything could be worked out through love.  All of these were things that I saw and learned from my father without him having to say a word to me.

Yes, there have been times where instruction has come verbally and that is important as well, however, I think the most important thing is not what you say but how you live.  As for me, I have received many tidbits of information from my Dad and many gifts I did not deserve to have, but the most important gift I have (and could have) ever received is his presence.  It is that presence that keeps me going every day. I have a wife and two children and now it is my turn to be present in their lives.  It is through our lives as fathers that the next generation obtains instruction to pass on the generation that follows them.

We use to have a substitute teacher named Mrs. Chapman in grade school and she had a saying before every class started.  She would say,  "I just want to tell every one of my students that you are special and you are somebody".  Fathers, even if you don't hear it or maybe feel it, you are special and you are somebody.  Have a Happy Father's Day and remember to always keep your eyes on the Lord.

Be Blessed.

Regards,

Antoine E. Hall

Blog:   http://toinebo.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall


"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." - 2 Samuel 22:33

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Wait a Minute, Wasn't That Just You?!

Hey Everybody and Happy Friday!  You know I am not going to beat around the bush, but rather I want to jump to the point.  If there is one thing that gets under my skin, it is for people to boast themselves up and put people down in the process.  This really bothers me and I see this especially in work places.

In an world where competition is eat or be eaten, people will try any tactic to "one-up" someone else at someone else expense.  In the Book of Romans, Paul tells us not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought, but rather be sober in judgment (see Romans 12:3).  Here sober means "proper assessment of yourself"1.  So in a nutshell, Paul is telling us we need to be aware of where we are in our lives before we start passing judgment on others.  Also, I believe we can say this means we need to be aware from which we've come!  You cannot assess where you are and where you are going without knowing from which you came.

I want to take a look at Matthew 18:21-35.  It is rather long, but stick with it.  It says,

(21) Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"  (22) Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.  (23) "Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. (24) As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents[b] was brought to him. (25) Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.  (26) "The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' (27) The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.  (28) "But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.  (29) "His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'  (30) "But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. (31) When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.  (32) "Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. (33)Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' (34) In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.  (35) "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."

Here is where you find the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant, however, I want to show you something else.  You saw someone who lost their sense of direction.  The servant seemed to forget where he once was and learned nothing about it at all.  Not only was he unmerciful, but he was not sober in judgment when trying to accuse someone of owing him money.

If you recall, there was once upon a time that you didn't know what you knew.  There was a time that you did not know who you now know.  There was once upon a time, where you were "fresh-off-the-boat" at something and there was someone at some place who knew more than you did.  Despite all this somebody took a chance on you. Someone looked at you and said, "I think that kid will be alright under the proper guidance". 

Before you start to turn your nose up at someone who you feel is beneath you, remember there was some point in your life where you had not arrived.  That person who you see now was you once not to long ago.


1. Piper, John "Assessing Ourselves With Our God-Assigned Measure of Faith, Part 1".  Desiring God.  August 29, 2004

Regards,

Antoine E. Hall

Blog:   http://toinebo.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall

"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." - 2 Samuel 22:33

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The Sinless Nature of Jesus

Good Morning,

I hope that you are doing well on this Tuesday morning.  Today is definitely a great day to be alive and I hope that you feel the same way too!  I would like to talk to you about the sinful nature of man and the affects of it on Jesus.  I hope that I do not bore you by all the detail and you will keep reading through the "thickness" as sometimes studying the bible can seem to be over our heads.

I arrived at this study this morning by spending a little time in Chapter 12 of the Book of Leviticus, where it talks about the purification process of a woman after childbirth.  If you have a look at this chapter, you will find something very interesting.  After the birth of a boy or a girl, a woman was considered ceremonially unclean for 7-14 days (7 for a boy, 14, for a girl).  "On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised." (Lev. 12:3).  After the birth of a son and after his circumcision, the woman had to wait 33 days to be purified from her bleeding.  If it was the birth of a daughter, then she had to wait 14 days as she was considered unclean.  After the waiting period she had to wait 66 days before she could be purified from her bleeding.  A woman was purified by offering a sin offering and a burnt offering.  (If you recall, we did a study on the different offerings once before.  Have a look at the Sin Offering and Burnt Offering for more details).  The sin and burnt offerings were done for atonement (or the making of amends for a wrongdoing).

It is because of the original fall of man, that every baby born is born in sin.  "As wonderful as a new baby is, God wanted it to be remembered that with every birth another sinner was brought into the world, and the woman was here symbolically responsible for bringing a new sinner into the world" ¹.  Now, you may be wondering just as I did, why the big difference in waiting times for a son versus a daughter?  "The longer period of ceremonial uncleanness for the birth of a daughter should not be understood as a penalty. Instead, it is linked to the idea stated in the previous verses - that the time of impurity is for the symbolic responsibility of bringing other sinners into the world. When giving birth to a female, a mother brings a sinner into the world who will bring still other sinners into the world" ¹.  Given what you now know, how would you apply these same laws to Jesus?

For that answer, let's look at Luke 2:21-22.  There it says,

"²¹On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived.  ²²When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord ²³(as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord"^[a]), ²⁴and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: 'a pair of doves or two young pigeons.'" 

Just as the law stated in Leviticus 12, Mary and Joseph had Jesus circumcised on the eighth day and Mary followed the time for the purification process.  After that, they offered a sacrifice for Mary's atonement.  How is it that every person is born into sin and Jesus is not?  We know that Jesus is both God and man.  We know that God has a sinless nature.  We know that God cannot sin.  Pretty much this is an open and shut case and I could leave the thoughts right there, however, I wish to add a little more meat to the bone here.   In an article by Matt Slick, he says the following:

"Some Bible commentators, with whom I agree, hold the position that the sin nature is passed down through the father.  Support for this position is found in the fact that sin entered the world through Adam, not Eve.  Remember, Eve was the one who sinned first.  However, sin did not enter the world through her.  It entered through Adam. Rom. 5:12 says, "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned." The concept behind this is called Federal Headship.  This means that a person (a father) represents his descendants...Since Jesus had not a literal, biological father, the sin nature was not passed down to Him.  However, since He had a human mother, he was fully human but without original sin." ²

No sense, in reinventing the wheel.  I could not have said it any better than that.  I hope you caught the reasoning for Jesus not being born into sin.  It is because of sin being passed down through the father instead of the mother and if God is the Father, then Jesus had no sin - only a mother who was still considered unclean due to the blood involved in the birth.

We ended up arriving at the same conclusion that Jesus is sinless, but I wanted to understand the reason a little further.  I hope this has helped you and I pray that you have a great day. 

Be blessed gang!


¹ David Guzik.  "Leviticus 12 - Cleansing After Childbirth".   Enduring World Media.  2004.
² Matt Slick:  "Why wasn't Jesus born with original sin?".  Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry.

--
Regards,
Ant  oine E. Hall

Blog:	http://toinebo.blogspot.com
Twitter:	http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall

"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." - 2 Samuel 22:33

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Vision: From Beginning to End

Greetings folks,

I hope that you are enjoying your short week so far.  I just wanted to share some things that I have learned over the past few days.  Well actually it's more like I heard a sermon on Sunday and I heard a radio broadcast today and they kind of meshed around the topic of vision.

So, vision.  Just what is it? According to the Free Online Dictionary, vision can be defined as "[t]he manner in which one sees or conceives of something".  I would like to talk about vision in the sense of being able to conceive of something that you cannot physically see and what it could, might, or will be.  For example, I have the vision to get my family out of debt.  I can see it in the future, but I can visualize it as though I am debt free right now.  Without a vision, people will perish (see Proverbs 29:18). 

If you have some goals in your life, you will never reach them if you cannot see yourself there.  If you cannot visualize where you want to go, you will never have anything towards which to drive.  Also, if you choose not to have a vision, then do not complain about where you are.  It does you or anyone else any good to complain about a situation if you have no intentions on changing it.  Read Habakkuk 1-2 and you will find that Habakkuk makes two different complaints to the Lord.  Upon the second complaint the Lord told him to envision it, then write it down (see Habakkuk 2:2) so it can be seen.

Something just as important as the vision is the plan to reach the vision.  Having a good idea is nothing but a good idea until you come up with a plan to reach the end-game results.  I have good ideas all the time.  With some of my ideas, I have watched as others implemented them and be prosperous as I had a vision with no plan.  This is what happens when you do not have a way to get there. 

Lastly, you need to be willing to execute the plan.  If you have a vision and come up with a plan, I hope you are willing to execute it.  I have been in so many meetings where someone had a vision and we met to create a plan only to have the end result be to schedule the next meeting.  If you never get started with the execution, your vision is no closer than it was when you first thought about it.   If you can visualize it, plan it.  If you plan it, execute it. 

Has God given you a vision?  Are you sitting on that vision?  If you are, I encourage you to not perish, but to write it down, come up with a plan and get started.

Be Blessed folks and have a good one!

Regards,

Antoine E. Hall

Blog:   http://toinebo.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AntoineHall

"It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect." - 2 Samuel 22:33

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