vassal of the King

The necessary requirement to get ‘unsaved’ before getting ‘saved.’ by Geoffrey R. Kirkland The prevailing notion today that “ man is basically ‘good’” has infected all of us—none excluded. This thought is, at its core, nothing new. Pelagius, the British monk who lived in 350 AD, believed this same reasoning. He thought that humans were born ‘good’—that is, with the same human nature and human perfection that Adam had when he was born (pre-fall, of course). Then, it isn’t until that person chooses to sin that he/she becomes a sinner. But this demands that we ask: “Is there anyone who is fundamentally good ?” If so , then a person can initiate relationship with God and can have a part to play in his/her salvation. If not , however, then God is the one who must save us and come to us and initiate all reconciliation with us because we are ‘dead in sin’ (Rom 5:12). Last night, I preached at our Mid-Week service on Psalm 14. If there is one Scripture in the Bible that absolu

I finished Wayne Mack's excellent book, Strengthening Your Marriage , and found it extremely helpful and practical. I wrote a book review and posted it on our church's website . You can see it here if you'd like.

I've been in the OT a lot as of late. I'm preaching through the book of Psalms for our mid-week service, I'm underway in a preaching series through the Minor Prophets (we started Hosea this week), and an I'm going through Isaiah with an elder in our church. With all this OT I've been immersed in in recent weeks and months, I have found God's glorious and majestic character unveiled in magnificent ways. I have convinced myself (again!) that a proper understanding of self, sin, salvation, sanctification and every other theological doctrine must begin with a proper understanding of who God is. A person can't be saved without understanding the holiness and righteousness of God. A person can't realize he's a dead and hopeless sinner apart from a proper perspective of God's righteous standard of perfection. Furthermore, no one can be sanctified without properly understanding who the Holy Spirit is and the utter incapacity we have of sanctifying ourse

Here we are in the synagogue in Capernaum reading and discussing Jesus' sermon in John 6 Here is my friend Daniel demonstrating the "castnet" while on a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee Pastor Eric is baptizing Andy in the Jordan River The Elders thought about having a meeting on a Roman Latrine here at Bet Shean Our group in the Wilderness of Paran after we spent 40 minutes (thankfully not 40 years) meditating on Deuteronomy 8

Tonight I'm starting a series on the Minor Prophets at Church. I'll try to blog some of my thoughts as we progress. Tonight I'm on Hosea 1-3. I've been overwhelmed with the loyal and steadfast love of Yahweh as I've studied the past few weeks for this study!

Elizabeth and I at Buckingham Palace - London, UK Here's our group at Trafalgar Square - London, UK Here's our group at the remains of Herod's Palace - Caesarea Maritima Here we are at the mudbrick gate from Patriarchal times - Tel Dan Here are Tyson and Lindsey overlooking Syria and Mt. Hermon - Golan Heights Sunset overlooking Sea of Galilee - En Gev Here we are after a COLD dip in the Sea of Galilee after a day of touring Here is the group scattered on a hillside following along as I read from Mark 5 - Cove of the Sower, Sea of Galilee

Well, after a 36 hour journey beginning at 4am (Israel time) and a 5 hour flight to London with a brief layover, we made it home to LA at 8pm (PST) last night. God truly was good to us on our trip--even with a day taken away from us because of a bad snowstorm in London. I'll post some pictures and stories in upcoming posts. Thanks for praying!