"New Year, New Me"

Everyone tries to make resolutions and change during the New Years season.  But, while most of us won't keep them, this time of year is a great time to make a change in your life. 

"It's a new year, a new section of life, and the road ahead is unknown."

I would have agreed with the above statements, but I would have not looked at in quite looked at it the same way.

This was my first full fiscal year of being a Christian, saved by Grace.  It will be two years this February and I can say that being saved didn't make my life easier, but I would never change a thing. 

Through a crazy year of losing relationships, family members, seeing others come to faith, and seeing God's great plan unfold over the last year, I realize I could never do it with out Him. 

The Word of Psalm 46 ring just as true this year as ever, but I'm just starting to truly embrace it.

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging" ~Psalm 46:1-3
But, I thought it appropriate that among the "resolutions" and "new starts" and ultimately the New Year that is coming upon us, to share my testimony of how God made me new, through faith, by His grace alone.

You can read my testimony below.  Thank you all ShownTheWay readers for the amazing 2011.  Have a wonderful and blessed 2012!

From A.W. Tozer "The Pursuit Of God"...

"For this great sickness that is upon us no one person is responsible, and no Christian is wholly free from blame. We have all contributed, directly or indirectly, to this sad state of affairs. We have been too blind to see, or too timid to speak out, or too self-satisfied to desire anything better than the poor average diet with which others appear satisfied. To put it differently, we have accepted one another’s notions, copied one another’s lives and made one another’s experiences the model for our own. And for a generation the trend has been downward. Now we have reached a low place of sand and burnt wire grass and, worst of all, we have made the Word of Truth conform to our experience and accepted this low plane as the very pasture of the blessed.

It will require a determined heart and more than a little courage to wrench ourselves loose from the grip of our times and return to Biblical ways. But it can be done. Every now and then in the past Christians have had to do it. History has recorded several largescale returns led by such men as St. Francis, Martin Luther and George Fox. Unfortunately there seems to be no Luther or Fox on the horizon at present. Whether or not another such return may be expected before the coming of Christ is a question upon which Christians are not fully agreed, but that is not of too great importance to us now."
- From pg 27


I have been reading this book, and though it is a hard read, it is a wonderful read!

I would suggest to anyone looking for “spirtual meat” as opposed to milk.

Hope it encourages you in some way.  God Bless!

Stuff Christians Can't Answer

Image From:
http://noapologies.info/images/Trouble%20Answering%20Questions.jpg

I’ve been away from doing this series in the old blog for a while. This is due to lack of material to use. If you can find contradictions in the Christian faith email me at Shownthewayblog@hotmail.com and I will use them in future blogs.

Now to today’s “crisis with faith.”

Is the God of the Old Testament the same as the God of the New Testament?

I believe 100% yes! Let me make my case through some iconic Old Testament events. Let give Three Points.

The Statements Of Jesus


Let’s start in Exodus 3. God visits Moses from within a burning bush and gives him his mission of taking the Israelites (God chosen people) out of Egypt. In verse 14, Moses wonders what name he should call God,

God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” ~Exodus 3:14

Lets contrast this too the New Testament. In John Ch.8 (verses 48-59), the Jews and religious leaders of the time are skeptical of Jesus and claim Him to be “demon possessed.” Jesus ends out the chapter by making this statement, “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” ~John 8:58. His listeners knew very much what He was talking about by the fact that they tried to stone Him following His speaking. (verse 59)

Jesus claimed to be God. Now, is there evidence to His claim? Let’s continue.

The Modern Day Holocaust.

What one question changed there minds from pro-choice to pro-life?
180-Changing The Heart Of A Nation

Merry Christmas!!

I shall be taking the rest of the week off from the blog to rejoice in the season.  Along with enjoying family and friends.

Have a Merry Christmas.

Don't forget it's about more then the gifts, but about the ultimate gift we received 2,000 years ago.

"Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth"

Atheism And The Modern Gospel

Here are two scenarios:

A pastor stands at a pulpit in anywhere U.S.A.  The music from worship has just faded and he has begun his message.  As he ends he says, “God is love, and has a wonderful plan for your life.  I promise that once you except Christ nothing bad will ever happen to you.  Christ died to make you happy.  Christ wants to know you today, and so, if you want Him, come forward and pray this prayer with me.”

Another man enters into his pulpit, the classroom.  He is a professor at one of the top universities in the country and he thinks Christianity is ridiculous.  “How could men believe and want to worship a god who is tyrannical monster?”

What is do both of these men have in common?

Tales Of The Fearful Fisherman: A Fear Of Sharks

"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." ~Matthew 4:19

When Jesus gave this call to His disciples there are three things He lift off; for good reason I might add.

He never said:

1) It would be easy.

2) It would come quickly.
3) They would never make mistakes.

Why didn't Jesus say these things?  I mean, it certainly would have comforted the disciples and made them want to follow Him more, right?  Well, we forget, Jesus is Truth. 

He didn't say things to His disciples because they weren't the Truth.
If fishing for men (that's Christian for "sharing our faith") was meant to be easy, Jesus would have never left this promise at the end of the Great Commission "...And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” ~Matthew 28:20b  Would Jesus have said this if He knew we wouldn't struggle and ultimately need Him to complete taste He had set before us; which was to "go and make disciples of all nations"?
I struggle with what I call "a fear of sharks." 

Signature Of Divine

Something I wrote almost a year ago on the old blog about "How Can We Trust The Bible?"

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. 

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

We’ve all heard the common Atheist phrase, “Reading The Bible will make you an Atheist.”  But I beg to differ, not thinking will make you an Atheist, The Bible tells us in Romans 1:20 that “God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”  It says that everyone is without excuse before God, no matter what Idolatry they’ve committed, or lie they’ve told, when they stand before God on Judgement Day, where our every wandering thought will be judged we can not say, “Lord, there was never any sign you were there…”  Romans 1 is a promise from God, that He will always be here, even when He feels far away from us, He is there.

The Weight Of History

As I read through the end of the Gospels, I wonder what Jesus thinking and His mindset during His arrest and eventual crucifixion.  My answer came too me during a reading of Matthew 26.  In verse 50, this is during Jesus arrest, right as Judas arrives, Jesus says, “Friend do what you came for.”   After this, the verse says, men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him.  I know throughout the Gospels, Jesus talks of the events of His crucifixion, His death and raising again.  But, did Jesus know the pain He was going to endure, I mean, how heavy are the sins of history?

"Cause if you don't respect her when she says no,
you certainly don't love her.
So start studying her heart, and stop studying her booty,
Or maybe invert the same amount of time in her, that you do Call of Duty..."

A Shelter for the World

Week three of the summer Series "The Shelter"

It’s going to be hard to get back into this, but, I’ll somewhat explain where I was last week, and why there was no service.  I have been sick, not only physically, but emotionally, and what I really found out is that my own sin really makes life harder.  It creates hostility between us and God, and puts distance and space between us. (Romans 8:7)  My own impatience made me sick to my stomach, and in the long run, I stressed myself into submission. 

I’ve learned that sometimes it’s easier to trust God.  You know how sometimes, when you really want something to be easy, you end up doing things the hard way in the end?  Such as procrastinating on an assignment or being too lazy to get up and get the remote and suffering through some awful television show just because you don’t want to get up?  Isn’t it just easier to get up and do it?  But, it shows that our enemy is alive, and active.

A Present Tense Confidence

Part two of the Summer Series "The Shelter"

I’d like to start out with a couple simple thoughts before I jump into Scripture.  The Church is more then a building.  I remember I was having a conversation with a friend and we were talking about the Church, what my local one was doing and I was giving what I think God calls all Churches to be in the world, missions and evangelism centered.  When I typed a lower case “church” they responded back by capitalizing it.  I never put much thought into this, but God spoke too me through that.  I always knew the church was more then a building, but it really came full circle when you think about the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit has been granted too all Christians upon Salvation, it’s a piece of God inside everyone of us.  Here’s the thought I’ve had:

Is not the Church a gathering together of not only God’s People, but also of God’s Spirit?

The Fathers House

This week I'm reposting my summer series back from the old Tumblr called “The Shelter.” 

I definitely wanted to tie something summer-y into the series this week, but I didn’t really come up with much.  But I can tell you one thing, it’s been a hot week.  For those who don’t know, me and my home church traveled down to New Orleans last week to “Love the City” through the missionLab program.  And let me emphasize one thing, “It was HOT!”  Not even the dry heat I’m used too but humid heat, kind of like you’re inside heated up Jell-o.  So, I thought it would be cool down these next few weeks, and whats better to cool of with then water right?  And what person knows more about water then anyone else in the Bible?  Noah, that’s who!

But, seriously, God spoke too me through this passage about our responsibility as the House of God and even more personal, to ourselves as Christians, to reach out and help each other as people (despite color or creed) in this broken and dieing world.

Noah lived in much similar society we do today, one that is far from God.  And that is what Chapter 6 of Genesis makes much of it’s focus.  The Nephilim were the people on the earth at that time.  And too save you time in reading about them (which I would post if I knew you probably would just skim over it)  I’ll sum it up in one verse.  ⁷ So the LORD said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth- men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and the birds of the air- for I am grieved that I have made them.” 

I don’t know what kind of translation you have, but what I love about the way it says this is how it rounds the men right in with the animals.  The people at this time had forgotten where they came from, and we see that we as people, even long ago, can truly do nothing outside of the Grace of God.  We truly are bent toward sin, that’s why we need to keep in mind, that we as the Shelter of God, need to keep God as the focus, because if it becomes about us, we’ll not even be able to do anything for ourselves much less for those who are hurting around us.

Currently in transition....

I am currently in the process of setting up this new location for the "ShownTheWay" Blog.

Sorry for the clutter.  I'm working on moving over some of the greatest entries from the old Tumblr blog over here.

Please stick with me, follow me and share with your friends.  Hope you'll stick with me though this.

As always.

Much Love, God Bless! :D