Incompetent? Are you Serious?

OK, I typically do not do two posts in one day, but I have to get this one off my brain.  While I was reading my morning news on CNN, I ran across a few comments about a particular article.  In the comments section, someone made reference that God is incompetent. 

Errrrrrrrr!  God and incompetent in the same sentence?!  I understand that there are people who believe in God and there are people who do not believe in God.  I understand that and know there are some who will just not believe, BUT......for someone to call God incompetent tells me two things:

1. The person recognizes that God does exists, and
2. They do not claim to be an atheist.

An atheist would not give this description of God because to describe Him would to admit that there is one....that's not going to happen.  This leads me back to the point that the person recognizes that God was, is, and always will be. 

Something....I mean something must have gone really wrong for this individual to give God this type of description, because out of all things we know that He is all-powerful.  If anything He is all-knowing and no words exist in our language that could accurately describe the Lord.  I would only have to say that God tells us not to be lukewarm for Him.  In Revelations 3:16, it says "So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth."   In a nutshell, God rather for you to be on fire for Him or nothing at all.  To be lukewarm about Him is an insult.

Be careful of your thoughts and what you let come out of your mouth towards God no matter how you may feel "wronged" by Him.  God is still God and at the end of the day we still answer to Him.

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: Made to Worship

Hello Family,

I hope that you all are doing well this fine Thursday.  Today, I wanted to share with you the song "Made to Worship" by J.A.Z.  God made us to worship Him and I this song highlights this fact.  Isaiah 43:21 says, "the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise."   The "I" in that scripture is God and the "they" is us.  If you lose sight of all other purpose in your life know that we were made to praise and worship Him.  Enjoy.

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Silence from God

Hello all and happy hump day to everyone.  Today, I do not have an original, but rather a link to a topic that I think we all have wondered.  Silence.  Not just any silence, but silence by God.  Have you ever been through a time in your life where you heard God every where you turned and then all of a sudden it was like drop dead silence?  I have and I am not afraid to admit that I am there right now, but I am happy to know that He has not left me.  It is funny through all the noise in life we crave just peace and silence, but when it is God who goes silent, we freak out! 

The sermon below is one that best sums up this subject and rather than re-inventing the wheel, we'll use the one we have.

Delivered by:  Dr. Ronald W. Scates
Sermon:  When God Is Silent
Link:  http://www.centralpc.org/sermons/1999/s990704.htm

Be easy folks and have a good rest of the week!

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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Two, Not One

Hello Family,

I hope that everyone is doing well on this fine Monday. Things are well with me and my family with the exception of trying to find a church home.  Goodness, this is a tough thing to do but meanwhile, we cannot let our learning be stifled no matter how discouraging it can be. "Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today.  Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime".  We have learned how to navigate through the Word and I must keep myself fed until we find a new church home. Anyway, that is not what I wanted to talk about today, but I just wanted to put my frustrations out there *lol*. 

Actually, today I want to talk about two words.  The first is Lord and the second one is Savior.  The word Lord has several meanings, but one of them is "a person who has power or authority over others."  In our case, we would replace "a person" with Jeus and "others" with "us".  So we could rewrite this to read, "Jesus has power AND authority over us".  The word Savior means "a person who rescues another from harm, danger, or loss."  Again, we would make a substitution for "a person" with the name Jesus and "another with "us".  Now, this definition could read as "Jesus rescues us from harm, danger, and/or loss".

In 2 Peter 1:11, is where we first see the phrase put together to identify and describe who Jesus is to Christians.  It says,

"and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

We often here people say something to the affect, "Giving honor to the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ....".  So we know who He is, but the my question to you is do you live your life like Jesus is both your Lord and your Savior? It is easy to claim He is our Savior because we call on the name of Jesus when we need something.

The twist comes into play when we have to be reminded that Jesus is also Lord.  That means he rules our lives and has authority and power over us.  Do you allow Him to have this authority over you or do you think you have things under control? If you have not relinquished control to the very one who you claim to serve then something is wrong with your formula for being a Christian.  When we accepted Christ into our lives, the deal was all or nothing....not partial like a buffet to where we can pick and chose what we want.

So, again I like to ask you, what is Jesus Christ to you?  Is He your Lord and Savior or have you demoted Him in your life to only be a rescuer in a time of trouble?

Be blessed fam 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: Jesus Musik

Hello Family,

I hope you guys are doing well this fine Thursday.  Today I want to start a new type of post I would like to call "Jesus Musik".  This will be where I post video, audio, and/or lyrics to songs in which I am listening.  It will be something like, "What's playing in my headphones now".  With that said, I figured what better way to start this than with the video, Jesus Musik by Lacrae.  Enjoy!

Be easy Family!

-Antoine

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What Killed Jesus?

Good Friday to you all.  Seeing how this is Good Friday, I figured what better time than now to bring up the subject of "What Killed Jesus?".  I first would like to preference this with the point that I did not figure this out on my own, but I did put this together myself *lol*.  I was listening to a Pastor on the AM radio again and of course I like to share with all of you as usual.

By now, we all should know that on this day, Jesus was crucified by the Roman governor Pontius Pilate.  Over the years, people have analyzed what really killed Jesus.  When someone was crucified, nails were placed in both of their hands and feet.  Typically, the individual's legs were broken so that they could not stand up.  Each hand nailed to either side of the cross coupled with the broken legs would cause the body to slump down cutting off oxygen supply to the lungs -- the result equaled suffocation.

Jesus' legs were not broken, but he was flogged and stabbed in the side by a spear. He also had the infamous crown of thorns pressed into his head. If you are unfamiliar with the term flog, it is a method of being beaten/whipped.  The end of this whip would have multiple straps with sharp objects infused in the ends.  This meant that every time you were whipped, the flesh was torn and ripped away.  As you could imagine this could probably cause lots of bleeding and probable infection later on down the road.

This brings us back to the question.  What killed Jesus?  Did He die from...

1. ...bleeding out from the flogging? 
2. ...bleeding out from the spear being stuck in this side?
3. ...suffocating from being tired of just hanging there?
4. ...the shear pain, shock, & agony
5. .....

The list and speculation could go on and on however, all of them of wrong.  Remember, Jesus was born a man, but is still God which means He was not born into sin like the rest of us.  Can we kill God?  Nope, don't think so.  This means that anything the Roman soldiers and the unruly crowd did could not have killed Jesus.  He did not suffocate.  He did not bleed to death.  Jesus did not die until He chose to die for our sins.  He could have chosen to stay up there for an eternity, but He didn't.  John 19:30 says, "When he had received the drink, Jesus said, 'It is finished.' With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit". 

Despite what science or any graphical sermon may say, let the speculation end.  No physical or emotional condition could kill Jesus.  He had to make the choice to die.......and that He did for you and I.

I hope this helps someone on this Good Friday.  Be blessed fam!

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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What Kills a Church?

Hello Family!

It has been a while, since I've posted, but since then my wife has undergone a kidney transplant (the kidney was donated by her sister) and they are both on their way back to regular lives!  Thank you Jesus!  I just had to get that in there, because every chance I get, I'm thanking God for his blessings.  OK, on to the topic for the day.

It's odd that last night I spoke to my uncle and he was telling me how their church was pretty much closing its doors.  So, this morning I was driving into work and I was listening to a pastor on the radio talking about what kills a church.  Ironic?  It could be, but I beg to differ.  He was talking about how some churches die and how the idea is not new - it has been happening since the New Testament.  He went on to say that churches do not die because of outside influences.  They die because of the members or from within.  As an example of how outside influences affect a church, he used the the church at Smyrna.  The church received the most persecution from being so close to Rome, but yet it's members came together and it grew into one of the most flourishing churches (see Revelation 2:8-11).

Now this made me go hmmmm.  What in the world could kill a church from the inside? I mean all the members are suppose to be the church right?  They are all saved and sanctified Christians, how could that possibly happen?  Let's look at Romans 12:4-5.  It says,

(4) Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, (5) so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

The church is a body made up of many people and those individuals possess different talents and purposes.  As long as everyone is doing what they are suppose to do as an individual, contributing to the body, then the church can flourish.  The moment that the many members start to waver or if they lose fire for Christ, the church is doomed.  There could be many reasons for this wavering, but it doesn't matter because they have lost their focus.  If you lose a member of your body, other members will try to compensate for that loss, but if you start to lose many members then the body becomes in-effective for its purpose.  It's from the inside out that a church perishes and it can only look within and to its members to realize what happened.

Be blessed gang!

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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After the Music Stops

After the show, after the set, after the music stops what's next?
Will there be fellowship, prayer, disciples, will you open your bibles after the music stops.
After it's over, after it ends, after the music stops, what then?
Will you understand that Christ is King? Or will you just like the words we sing after the music stops.

These are the lyrics by Lacrae's, "After the Music Stops".  He is one of many Christian Rappers/Ministers out there reaching the masses through music.  One thing that intrigues me about this is that we, all listen to music in church.  Sometimes it is foot-stomping music.  Sometimes it is hand-clapping music.  Sometimes it is slow head-bobbing music.  Sometimes it might be a combination of all three and then some.

At any rate, we can be some emotional people and music has a way of moving and touching us.  Sometimes, I wonder if it is the moment or is it really reaching our hearts.  Are we really latching on to the contents of the music and going to the Word to learn more or is it just a moment?  At the end of the day and after music is done are you changed or do you just like the words that were sang after the music stopped?

One of those things that makes you go hmmmmm......

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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Check-in At Night

A few nights ago, I went into the kids room to check on them.  What parent does not go check on their kids before they go to bed right?  My daughter moved, opened her eyes to look at me, rolled over and mumbled something to me.  Then at that moment, I had a flash back from when I was a child.  I still have vague memories of waking up in the middle of the night to have one my parents standing over me. 

Just in that instance, I realized that I was performing an action that had been done to me as a child.  It is amazing what you remember and it sometimes shocks my Mom of what I can remember.  She will sometimes say, "You remember that? You were just a little boy".  The good thing is that I remembered and I feel comfortable knowing that my children will have the same memories of my wife and I tucking them in late at night.

As adults, we have the memories of our parents, but no one comes to check in on us at night - well at least not in the physical.  Now we have a Father who is in heaven who checks in on us as parents.  In the morning when I wake up, I can know that it was God who took care and watched over me through the night.  For me, it feels good to know that even as an adult someone is still looking over you, no matter where you lay your head at night.

May the Lord continue to watch over each of you and may His grace and mercy continue to be sufficient throughout your day.

Be easy folks.

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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Knowing Price of Everything & Value of Nothing

A playwright, poet, and author by the name of Oscar Wilde once said, "What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing."  There are different variations on this quote, but the key part of it is "__________ knows the price of everything and the value of nothing."  Today I want to fill in this blank with the phrase the church.

You may ask, how is it that you know the price of everything but do not know its value?  Aren't the two the same?  Well, no...they are not.   It is a marketing site, but KnowThis.com gives a good definition of the two.  It says that "value refers to the perception of benefits received for what someone must give up".  The price is "what someone gives up".  As people, we shop all the time and we pay the price for many things.  A lot of the times we tend to purchase items without even thinking the benefit to us.  Most of the time, we go off of emotions or because it has been marketed to you very well.  Besides, the purpose of marketing is to convince you that the product being up-sold is something that you need.

If you have ever stepped foot in a church, then you should at least have a clue that its goal is to market and sell Jesus Christ to you.  I don't mean to put it in such a light way, but it is essentially what is done.  You are told that Jesus is the best thing that can happen to you.  For someone who is saved, He is the best thing that HAS happened to you.  Why?  Well, it is because "....Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:3) and He paid a price he did not owe.  Christ was born into a sinful world, but He was not born into sin.  He did not have to pay the price for our sin, but He did!

The church understands this price, but I think a good majority of the people fall short of understanding the benefit and value other than a good Easter Sunday Morning service.  Our benefit is that we get to have eternal life (John 3:16) and we are free from the old Mosaic law.  We relate to things we can understand through our senses.  If we could imagine what eternal life with the Father in Heaven would be like, we would appreciate the true value of Jesus' death.  If we had lived under the old Mosaic Law, we would have a great appreciation for the freedom that we have because of His death and resurrection.  The good news is that the good news (the gospel) is there for our consumption.  The more we read His Word and understand it and become more closer to God, the more we will understand the value of His death.  Being a church attender on Sunday's doesn't make you know the true value - being animate about the Word does.

Be blessed gang 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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