Karl's Random Sharing

How does it glorify God by predestining people to hell

*H*ow I Stopped Eating Food* * by rob* * [image: centralwetmarket_ray_laskowitz] Food is the fossil fuel of human energy*.* It is an enormous market full of waste, regulation, and biased allocation with serious geo-political implications*.* And we're deeply dependent on it. In some countries people are dying of obesity, others starvation*.* In my own life I resented the time, money, and effort the purchase, preparation, consumption, and clean-up of food was consuming*.* I am pretty young, generally in good health, and remain physically and mentally active*.* I don't want to lose weight. I want to maintain it and spend less energy getting energy*.* I hypothesized that the body doesn't need food itself, merely the chemicals and elements it contains*.* So, I resolved to embark on an experiment*.* What if I consumed only the raw ingredients the body uses for energy*?* Would I be healthier or do we need all the other stuff that's in traditional food*?* If it does work, what would it feel like to have a perfectly balanced diet*?* I just want to be in good health and spend as little time and money on food as possible*.* I haven't eaten a bite of food in 30 days, and it's changed my life*.* The Experiment* * There are no meats, fruits, vegetables, or breads here*.* Besides olive oil for fatty acids and table salt for sodium and chloride nothing is recognizable as food*.* I researched every substance the body needs to survive, plus a few extras shown to be beneficial, and purchased all of them in nearly raw chemical form from a variety of sources*.* The section on the ingredients ended up being quite long so I'll save that for a future post*.* The first morning my kitchen looked more like a chemistry lab than a cookery, but I eventually ended up with an thick, odorless, beige liquid*. * I call it 'Soylent'. At the time I didn't know if it was going to kill me or give me superpowers*.* I held my nose and tepidly lifted it to my mouth, expecting an awful taste*.* It was delicious*!* I felt like I'd just had the best breakfast of my life*. * It tasted like a sweet, succulent, hearty meal in a glass, which is what it is, I suppose*.* I immediately felt full, yet energized, and started my day*.*Several hours later I got hungry again. I quickly downed another glass and immediately felt relief*.* The next day I made another batch and felt even better*.* My energy level had skyrocketed at this point, I felt like a kid again*.* But on day 3 I noticed my heart was racing and my energy level was suddenly dropping*.* Hemoglobin! I think, my heart is having trouble getting enough oxygen to all my organs*.* I check my formula and realize iron is completely absent*.* I quickly purchase an iron supplement and add it to the mixture the next day*.* I have to be more careful not to leave anything out*.* On day 4 I noticed how much healthier my skin was*.* It's long been dry and rough, with splotches and red bumps but now it's soft, smooth and clear*.* Before I rarely had enough energy to go to the gym, but this day I had plenty so I decided to put the diet to the test*.* I'd been running off and on for several months, never able to do more than a mile straight, but this day I ran 3*.*14 miles non-stop*.* This is an irrational improvement. My cravings and tastes closely matched with my needs*.* One day I accidentally put in a tablespoon of salt, rather than a teaspoon*.* I immediately noticed the mixture tasted unpleasantly salty*.* When I was deficient of iron I felt a strong craving for red meat*.* As I started running longer distances I craved more carbohydrates*.* After a week advertisements for fast food looked repulsive*.* All I crave is Soylent. Week 2 was rough since I started experimenting with the proportions, trying to find the optimum amount of everything*.* When I was off I paid for it dearly, but I soon found just the right mixture*.* The rest of the month went smoothly*.* It quickly became part of my routine and I didn't have to think or worry about it*.* I was fully expecting to crave traditional food, but I don't as long as I've had my Soylent*.* Hunger comes from two chemicals triggered by a lack of nutrients, ghrelin and leptin, as well as mechano-sensors in the stomach*.* If there's something in your stomach and all your nutritional needs are met you won't feel hungry *.* I feel full after drinking a single glass of Soylent and while the smell of Mexican food from the street used to drive me crazy, now I am unaffected*.* It's like finding a new partner you really care about*.* When all your needs are met, you don't have a desire to stray*.* Results* * *Quantitative* I had my blood tested in two ways: complete blood count and chemical panel, and got a lipid panel near the end*.* This shows stuff like red/white blood cell counts, Na, K, P proportions, and more*.* The internist had to bill it as "testing for blood-borne diseases"*.* She said a lot of providers do not support preventative care, which I thought was strange*.* I also monitored my heart rate, and bought a glucose meter to track my blood sugar (I'm not diabetic)*.* I am 6'3" so my BMI was on the upper end of normal at the start *.* Remember I am not trying to lose weight here. Week 0Week 1Week 2Week 3Week 4Weight (lbs)204196192188191Blood Workreport (pdf) report (pdf) Max run<1mi3*.*5mi5mi6mi7miNoteslow blood sugar, is this why I always elt tired*?*one belt loop downfeel greattwo belt loops down, blood work excellentstarted getting chilly, added a few pounds I wasn't able to get a lipid test until week 3 but my triglycerides and cholesterol are certainly low now*.* I have a family history of heart disease, but my risk is now well below average*.* I also got my genome sequenced*.* Genetically, my body's response to exercise should be typical, along with my response to diet, though on average I should have a slightly higher BMI, consistent with my status before the experiment*.* My LDL cholesterol is subject to be slightly higher than average, while my HDL levels typical*.* Though this is only one case, it should be representative of most people since my diet and exercise genetics are typical*.* Some people can eat all they want and never gain weight, others can't shed pounds no matter how hard they try*.* The trick is in the genome, though both extremes are uncommon*.*23andme is awesome*!* *Qualitative* I feel like the six million dollar man*.* My physique has noticeably improved, my skin is clearer, my teeth whiter, my hair thicker and my dandruff gone*.* My resting heart rate is lower, I haven't felt the least bit sickly, rare for me this time of year*.* I've had a common skin condition called Keratosis Pilaris since birth*.*That was gone by day 9. I used to run less than a mile at the gym, now I can run 7*.* I have more energy than I know what to do with. On day 4 I caught myself balancing on the curb and jumping on and off the sidewalk when crossing the street like I used to do when I was a kid*.* People gave me strange looks but I just smiled back*.* Even my scars look better*.* My mental performance is also higher*.* My inbox and to-do list quickly emptied*.*I 'get' new concepts in my reading faster than before and can read my textbooks twice as long without mental fatigue*.* I read a book on Number Theory in one sitting, a Differential Geometry book in a weekend, filling up a notebook in the process*.* Mathematical notation that used to look obtuse is now beautiful*.* My working memory is noticeably better*.* I can grasp larger software projects and longer and more complex scientific papers more effectively*.* My awareness is higher*.* I find music more enjoyable. I notice beauty and art around me that I never did before*.* The people around me seem sluggish. There are fewer 'ums' and pauses in my spoken sentences*.* My reflexes are improved. I walk faster, feel lighter on my feet, spend less time analyzing and performing basic tasks and rely on my phone less for navigation*.* I sleep better, wake up more refreshed and alert and never feel drowsy during the day*.* I still drink coffee occasionally, but I no longer *need* it, which is nice*.* *Time* I used to spend about 2 hours per day on food*.* Typically I would cook eggs for breakfast, eat out for lunch, and cook a quesadilla, pasta, or a burger for dinner*.*For every meal at home I would then have to clean and dry the dishes*.* This does not include trips to the grocery store. Now I spend about 5 minutes in the evening preparing for the next day, and every meal takes a few seconds*.* I love order of magnitude improvements, and I certainly don't miss doing dishes*.* In fact I could get rid of the kitchen entirely, no fridge sucking down power, no constant cleaning or worrying about pests, and more living space*.* I just need a water source. *Money* Monthly I was spending about $220 on groceries, and another $250 eating out for lunch and the occasional dinner*.* The average american spends $604/month on food, about half of which is groceries*.*1,2 As a percentage of income this is actually the lowest of any nation*.* Kenyans for example spend 45% of their income on food*.*3 I used to dream of one day being able to afford shopping at Whole Foods, but now it's irrelevant to me*.* Consuming only Soylent costs me about $50/month, another order of magnitude improvement, and would be cheaper if I didn't need the energy for running every day*.* At scale the cost would be even lower. *Edit: this was a miscalculation from a mistake in my spreadsheet, at personal scale it actually costs me exactly $154.82/month.* *The Quantified Diet* It's wonderful to have full visibility and control over what's going in to my body*.*Besides making food allergies irrelevant, it's trivial to increase or reduce consumption of a particular substance by a precise amount *.* I am hopeful diabetics could use this to control their blood sugar*.* I was able to control mine to within about 5mg/dL by varying carbohydrates and fiber*.* Starting a more intense workout routine? Increase protein and carbohydrates 20%. Want to lose some weight*?* Reduce fat consumption by 30% (don't eliminate it entirely*!*)*.*Blood work shows potassium deficiency? Increase it by the precise amount required*.* In fact, unless you work on a banana plantation you're probably not getting the recommended amount of potassium (3500mg is 9 bananas), and never have*.* Ever wonder what it would feel like if you did? *Social Implications* As any Instagram user knows, food is a big part of life*.* Food can be art, comfort, science, celebration, romance, or a reason to meet with friends*.* Most of the time it's just a hassle, though. Americans only eat out for 12% of meals*.* I think it would be nice to have a default, healthy no hassle meal* .* Similar to drinking water most of the time, but wine or beer when you're socializing*.* If you saved money on food at home you would have the freedom to go out more often*.* I for one would not miss the stereotype of the housewife in the kitchen*.*Providing diverse, palatable, and nutritious meals for an entire family every day must be exhausting*.* What if taking a night off didn't mean unhealthy pizza or expensive take out*?* How wasteful society has been with its women! The endless hours spent cooking and cleaning in the kitchen could be replaced with socializing, study, or creative endeavors*.* And why beg children to eat vegetables? Soylent has every vitamin and mineral the body needs, and it's delicious*.* To me diet always seemed to be a trade-off*.* Time, money, health: pick two* .* You certainly have the capability to be healthy, but it will cost you*.* What about the single mom, the poor student, struggling entrepreneur or artist, the unemployed, or the elderly*?* These people desperately need energy, and its harder for them to be healthy than anyone else*.* Living on fast food and ramen is cheap and convenient, but unhealthy*.* Shopping at places like Whole Foods costs a fortune to many people and cooking healthy recipes takes practice and time*.* Cooking should be a hobby, like hunting*.* People used to hunt for survival, now they just do it for fun*.* *Global Implications* With Soylent you can be in peak mental and physical condition for less than $2/day*.* Soylent does not spoil for months, does not require refrigeration, is easy to transport, cheap and environmentally friendly to produce, contains no pesticides, hormones, or preservatives, is trivial to prepare, without even requiring a heat source (though you do need clean water), does no harm to animals, and drastically lowers sanitation requirements*.* I almost forgot to mention, when everything going in to your body is diffused in to the bloodstream, you don't poop*.* I only have to remove a few grams of fiber from my system per week*.* I also noticed I was generating far less trash than before*.*The vast majority of personal refuse is food-related*.* Why else would the trash can always be in the kitchen*?* Discussion* * This is one case and it's only been a month, so it's early, but I'm certainly not stopping now*.* Also, every body is different and there may be long term effects so more data is necessary*.* However, I am consuming no toxins or carcinogens and I get all the nutrition and energy I need with about 1/3 the calories the average American consumes so I *hope* in the long term my longevity will be improved (caloric restriction has been shown to reverse the effects of aging in rodents)4,5 while lowering my risk of cancer and disease*.* If you would like to try this experiment as well please contact me so we can pool our results*.* It's fine to have a normal meal too, nutritional fundamentalists really irk me*.* The point is freedom, you don't *have* to*.* I started consuming Soylent exclusively just to test the effects*.* I see nothing wrong with eating traditional food as well, I just don't have much of a desire to*.* The only thing I missed was eating with friends. Now that 30 days are up I'm going to start doing that again*.*I only drink socially, and now I only eat socially*.* I notice only now how much of this city is devoted to the stuff*.* Wherever you are I challenge you to find a search term for google maps that returns more results than "food"*.* Travelling back home to the American south I am still shocked to see how prevalent obesity is*.* How many people still spend their lives just surviving, living to eat, and it's killing them*?* The food is eating us. I don't know how to change peoples' behavior, but now that I've discovered Soylent, I'm healthier than I've ever been, have more freedom with my time and money, and never have to worry about the stuff*.* Finally, I can have my cake and eat it too. *update: *Getting way more responses than I can respond to individually*.* Please sign up at soylent.me . Follow up post w/ ingredients here: http://robrhinehart.com/*?*p=424 [1] http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/Publications/FoodPlans/2012/CostofFoodDec2012.pdf [2] http://www.gallup.com/poll/156416/americans-spend-151-week-food-high-income-180.aspx [3] http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2012/01/america-food-spending-less [4] http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10*.*1111/j*.* 1474-9726.2012.00825.x/abstract [5] http://www.cell.com/molecular-cell/abstract/S1097-2765(12)00905-7 **

http://theresurgence.com/2010/01/27/10-temptation-truths?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=theresurgence&utm_campaign=The%2BResurgence%2BFacebook 1. SATAN IS A REAL ENEMY Satan is a real enemy. Do you believe that? You need to discuss that at your community group and with your friends. If you don’t, if you still think, “I think that’s hocus pocus. I think that’s psychological projection. My community college professor really confused me on this point,” you need to articulate that. Don’t be a liar. Be honest. Come clean. See, one of the most amazing things Satan did is he presented himself in the media: cartoons, little horns, red cape, and pitchfork. “Here he comes. Yeah, we know it’s him. How can we tell? He’s the red guy.” It’s not that easy. He’s into marketing and advertising. He’s subtle and crafty and sly and he’s very adept at baiting the hook. You have a real enemy. If you don’t believe that, confess that as sin. That’s the beginning of all your troubles. You have a real enemy. You’re born into a real war. You’re born again as a Christian on Christ’s side of the battle. But, the battle rages in your life as it did in his. (*Click here to see the rest of this post *) 2. SATAN WILL H.I.T. YOU Satan will H.I.T. you. By that I mean, be particularly aware when you’re * hungry*, *isolated*, and/or *tired*. How many of you find that your physical condition weakens your resistance to temptation? Jesus had physical hunger. When you’re physically hungry, you’ll get more grouchy, grumpy, tempted, and isolated. Now, solitude is good. The Bible says, and we’ll see it a little bit further in Luke, Jesus often withdrew to lonely places to be alone with the Father (Luke 5:16). Solitude’s good. It’s “I need a break from all of my activities to get alone with God and have him refresh me.” Isolation is dangerous. Jesus here was led by the Spirit into isolation, to do battle with Satan, to win where we and Adam lose. But, for you, isolation is a very dangerous thing. Isolation means you don’t really have a lot of Christian friends, or the friends you do have, the relationships are very shallow. “How are you doing?” “Great, how are you?” “Great.” “Well good, nice that we’re all caught up now.” It’s even inviting your friends in defining the terms of your relationship. “Okay, look, we’re Christian friends, not in some legalistic, weird referee, whistle-blowing religious way do I want you to ask me accountability questions. But, as a loving friend in the course of relationship, I want you to ask me real questions. You know my weaknesses towards sin. Ask how I’m doing. You know my vulnerabilities. You know how Satan baits my hook.” And, if they don’t know how he baits your hook, ask your friends and in your group and with your spouse. That’s the first question. “So, what bait’s usually on your hook? Great, do you mind if I ask every once and a while how it’s going?” Those kinds of relationships draw us out of isolation and into community. They’re very important. And, what happens is, most people don’t pursue them until they’re in crisis. So, they don’t pursue Christian friendships. They don’t join a community group to live on mission together as a church, opening the Scriptures habitually every week together, doing life together. They wait till they’ve taken the bait, they’ve got the hook in their mouth, they’re headed off into Satan’s possession and their destruction, and then they run into the church and say, “Give me deep, significant, profound, life-changing relationships right now.” We’ll try, but it would’ve been a lot smarter to get started before the hook was in your mouth. It’s not too late. We’re not going to give up on you. But, it’s better to be preventative than reactive. It’s better to have friends help keep the hook out of your mouth than wait till the hook is in your mouth and then beg for some people to come and take the hook out of your mouth. Isolated. This includes church hopping and shopping and bouncing, not committed, plugged in, dialed in anywhere. Find a home. And *tired*. Sometimes that tiredness is our own sin: staying up too late, watching TV, surfing the internet, disorganized. Sometimes it’s just a season of life: crisis happens, the baby’s teething. It’s just one of those times when you’re just tired. And what can happen when you’re hungry or have physical need? This can be a propensity then toward gluttony, comfort food rather than Christ giving us the Holy Spirit as our comforter. Drunkenness, just, “I’ve had a hard day. I just deserve a stiff drink.” This can be sexual sin and pornography and things of various sorts and kinds. “I’m lonely, I have urges, my body desires things so I must satisfy them.” Isolation. “I’m lonely, there’s no one to help, God you’ve abandoned me. Where are my Christian friends?” Tired. “I’m exhausted, I’m worn down, and I’m weary.” Jesus was hungry, isolated, tired, and without sin. Don’t use biological, physical desire, relational isolation, or personal fatigue to allow you to sin and say, “Well, God, look, it’s hard. I feel like you owe me one.” No. You will be hit when you’re hungry, isolated, and tired. That’s why you need to make particular provision for those seasons where you’re experiencing one or more of those factors. You just need to. You need to be honest about that, particularly if you’re married. 3. JESUS CHRIST IS YOUR VICTORIOUS WARRIOR-KING Jesus Christ is your victorious Warrior-King. Up until this point, you’re all depressed. You’re all like, “Alright, I’ve got the big idea. I’m really bad. Satan’s a winner, winner, chicken dinner, and I am a loser. I got it, big idea, thank you very much.” Here’s the hope. The hope is not in you. The hope is Christ in you. That’s the hope. You’re not a winner. You’re a loser. See, some of you say, “Well, now life makes sense,” because see, in school, they keep telling you, “You’re a winner, you’re a winner, you’re a winner.” And, if you’re paying any attention, you will notice that you’re not. And what they’ll say then is, “Okay, you’re a loser, but if you have high self-esteem then you’ll be a winner.” No, then you’ll be a proud loser. And pride is the worst sin of all. And if you walk into a church, they’ll tell you, “You need to have more esteem so that you can be all you can be. You’ll never have to be poor. You’ll never have to be sick. You can be a winner.” It’s all a lie. Here’s the truth. Jesus is the winner. That’s the truth. We’re not victorious. He is. We’re not righteous. He is. We don’t redeem ourselves from slavery to sin. He does. We don’t change ourselves. He changes us. I’ll read it to you, one of my favorite texts, Colossians 2:13–15 : “And you,” that’s you, “who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.” Here is what he is saying. There’s a list of laws and commands and Satan would stand as the accuser of the children of God, that he would condemn us day and night and he would simply check the list: “This is your sin and your sin and your sin, thought, word, deed, omission, commission. You have done what you ought not do. You have done what you ought not have done. You’ve said and done that which is in violation of God’s laws. Guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty. You are my possession. You belong to me. The hook is in your mouth. I am your master. You will worship me.” And Jesus comes, and he identifies with us humbly. And he’s tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin. And he goes to the cross, and what looks like the greatest defeat in the history of the world is the great victorious liberation of the captives who become the children of God. And Jesus substitutes himself on the cross. And he who is without any sin takes our place, suffers, and dies in our place for our sins. And he says that cancels any right Satan has to you. You don’t belong to him. You belong to God. You’re not a slave, you’re an adopted son. You’re not an addict, you’re a worshiper. Worship got you into trouble and worship will get you out. And so, you need to worship Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and he triumphed over Satan at the cross. He disarmed him. Satan can’t defeat you. He can get you to defeat yourself, but your victory is in Christ. I have so much hope for you. All day I’ve been praying with people who have no hope. And I look them in the eye and I tell them the same thing I tell you: I have hope because we have Christ. And he is not finished with you and he has not given up on you. And I know you may be feeling guilt and condemnation and shame right now. But there is now no condemnation in Christ. There is conviction but not condemnation. The conviction should cause us to love Jesus, give him our sin, go and sin no more, and walk in his great triumphant victory. Condemnation is paralyzing. Conviction is liberating. Condemnation will cause you to live out of an identity that is stained and marred and broken and worthless and a failure. And Jesus will give you a new identity as one who is changed, loved, healed, forgiven, and granted his perfect righteousness. Jesus’ victory is your victory. Jesus’ righteousness is your righteousness. Live up to what you’ve already obtained. See, this is why we love Jesus so much. See, some of you would’ve come in here and you would’ve said, “I think Jesus is good. But sometimes he’s not very fun. He doesn’t let me do some things that I really want to do. And maybe Satan isn’t that bad because he would let me do those things.” No, Satan is bad and Jesus is good and sin is death and he’s a liar and you need not be a fool. He’s your victorious King. 4. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS YOUR POWER The Holy Spirit is your power. Jesus was filled and led by the Holy Spirit. How did Jesus resist temptation for forty days? Answer: by the power of God the Holy Spirit, the same Holy Spirit who takes up residence in the children of God. You have the same presence and power of God the Holy Spirit in you that Jesus did. You can live as he did. You can defeat the temptation that comes to you as he did by the presence and the power, by being filled and led by God the Holy Spirit. This isn’t religion and it’s not guilt and it’s not more that you need to do, it’s more of you yielding to his purposes and presence and power so that you can follow in the life of Jesus by the enablement of the Holy Spirit. God doesn’t just stand back and say, “I’m keeping score, you need to do better.” Jesus dies to forgive, redeem, give new identity, sends the Holy Spirit to redeem, regenerate, transform, and give new power. That’s an amazingly loving, gracious God. 5. BIBLICAL TRUTH IS YOUR COUNTERPUNCH The Bible is your counterpunch. Biblical truth is your counterpunch. Satan will lie to you. You need to know the truth. Jesus says this in his high priestly prayer in John 17, “My prayer is that you protect them from the evil one. Father, sanctify them by the truth. Your Word is the truth.” Every Word of God, Proverbs 30:5–6, is flawless. This is the truth. When Satan comes, you need to know the Scriptures. I just want you to read your Bible. I know some of you come here and the only time you pick up your Bible is when I’m talking. I’m grateful that you would come. I’m grateful that you would let me teach you. I’m grateful that you would come to listen and learn. But if this is the only consistent time you pick up the Scripture, you are really doing great danger to your soul. 6. CHRIST IS YOUR IDENTITY Christ is your identity. I don’t care what you’ve done, and I don’t care what has been done to you. Those things are horrible and we can deal with them in Redemption Groups, biblical counseling, community groups, friendship, and relationship, but here’s your identity. It’s not what has been done to you or what has been done by you, but it is what Christ has done for you. In the eyes of Christ, you are clean. You were forgiven. You were adopted. You were redeemed. You are beloved. You are, you are. And I know some of you, the guilt is deep, the sin is real, and life is a wreck. And Christ is good. And if you believe that your identity is transformed in Christ as an adoptive, loved, forgiven, regenerated, transformed, empowered, renewed, hopeful child of God, you will live differently. 7. ESCAPE IS ALWAYS POSSIBLE Most of you don’t believe this: escape is always possible. What happens is, for some of us, the hook has been there so long that it’s like, “I can’t ever get free of it. I used to eat all the bait. Now, I eat some of the bait. I used to eat the bait every week, now I only eat the bait once a month.” Or, “I eat the bait, but it’s my dad’s fault, he ate the bait too and it’s a habitual family issue. My counselor says it’s a genetic issue. I come from a long line of people who are addicted to this particular bait. I can’t really stop.” So, I need to blame someone else, manage it, and hide it. “Oh, I’ll just go over here in the dark all by myself and I’ll eat my bait and I’ll put the hook in my mouth. But, if I do it privately, it won’t count.” God’s there too. See, some of you would take the bait and you’ll put it, you’ll walk so close to it. Like, “Oh my goodness, look at that. That’s amazing. I would like to eat that, smoke that, drink that, get my hands on that, do that twice.” God would say, “Hey, there’s a door over here that’s open and you could walk out it and be free.” “I don’t see any door.” “Really? Well, there is one right over there.” “Yeah, this is so big and so real and so awesome and so close.” God would say, “Do you see the hook?” “No, I don’t see the hook. I see some pretty amazing bait.” The truth is you have two choices: the hook or the door. You either bite the hook or run out the door. Those are your only options. I’ll give you a verse, so that I can win: 1 Corinthians 10:13–14, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.” Don’t worship anything or anyone other than God. What he’s saying is this. When temptation comes, keep your senses. Look for the way out. There is a door of escape somewhere. There’s a way out of it. Some of you have said for so long, “Well, I’m already dating them. I’m already at the club. I’ve already logged onto the internet. I already started this conversation, you know. I’m already halfway there.” Run. Run out the door of opportunity that God gives. You have two choices, friends, the hook or the door. You bite the hook or run out the door. Your whole life, it utterly depends on the decisions you make in those moments. There’s always a way out. You and I, we love to always be the victim. “I couldn’t help it. It was not my fault, my friends blank, my life blank, this blank, God that.” No way. The door was open and your eyes were closed. Repentance is believing that. Some of you need to go back over your life history and some of the major traumatic decisions you made and say, “Holy Spirit, show me where the door was open so that I can repent of having my eyes closed. And please help me to keep my eyes open. And please help me to keep my feet moving.” 8. SATAN EVENTUALLY TAPS OUT Satan eventually taps out. Resist the devil and he will, what? Flee from you. Eventually. Maybe it takes forty days. 9. REPENT WHENEVER YOU TAP OUT, AND FIGHT ANOTHER ROUND Repent whenever you tap out and fight another round. Some of you, Satan tempts you, you’re in a fight, and after a while you’re like, “Okay, I tap out, I give in, I’ll do what you want, I’ll believe what you want, I’ll behave how you want.” So, what do you do then? 10. LIFE IS A BATTLE WITH MANY ROUNDS Fight some more, because, number ten, life is a battle with many rounds. Just because you tapped out in one round doesn’t mean it’s over. He’s going to be back anyways, just like he was to Jesus. He’s going to come back into Jesus’ life repeatedly. He’s going to, in fact, indwell and empower Judas Iscariot to murder him. This was just one round. The battle will rage all the way through the empty tomb. And it rages all the way to this very day. Some of you come here having already tapped out. Repentance is acknowledging that you bit the hook rather than running out the door. It is acknowledging that Jesus is your only hope for escape and victory. It is confessing your sin to him in humility, so that that control Satan has in your life would be broken, that you could live a new life as a new

http://theresurgence.com/2011/05/18/youre-already-a-theologian?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=theresurgence&utm_campaign=The%2BResurgence%2BFacebook In graduate school, they had some things all wrong. I was told that before doing biblical theology—making big-picture connections between biblical books—you have to earn a PhD and publish several academic books. If you weren’t senile or dead by the time you finished, you could write biblical theology. That whole premise is wrong. We should *always *try to make large-scale connections. Everything in the Bible teaches us about God. And we can all connect God *with* God—on the verse-to-verse level and the idea-to-idea level. Anyone can do biblical theology. GIVE IT A SHOT It’s simple: Don’t read biblical texts in isolation; find out how they relate to each other. You can do so by looking up the references in the margins of your Bible and running searches for key words onBiblia.com or in Bible software. Here’s an example and four steps to follow: *On his death bed, when offering his parting words to his sons, Jacob cries out: “I wait for your salvation, O Lord.” (Genesis 49:18)* * * *Context: *The Stuff that Precedes and Follows the Verse* * - *The Saved.* Jacob recognized that his sons were sinners who needed to be saved from themselves (e.g., Genesis 49:5–7). - *Tribes.* Jacob’s instructions for his sons *as* tribes of Israel suggest that Egypt, where they resided, was not their final resting place, nor his (Genesis 49:17, 22–26). *Cause: *The Reasons Why the Verse Was Said or Written - *Abraham.* To find out why Jacob cried out for salvation, we have to backtrack. Salvation is a blessing. God began His work of blessing the nations with Abraham (Genesis 12:1–3). But Abraham never saw the promised land because he also went down to Egypt (Genesis 12:10–20). - *Forefathers.* Jacob expected to inherit the land promised to Abraham, but he didn’t (Genesis 46–47). It wasn’t until the end of his life that Jacob realized that Egypt couldn’t save him. Don’t read biblical texts in isolation; find out how they relate to each other. *Connections: *The People and Events that Developed the Idea* * - *The Technicolor Man.* Like Jacob, Joseph also realized that Egypt was not God’s plan. He asked that his sons would bring his bones back to the Promised Land when they left Egypt someday (Gen 50:24–26).* * - *The Battle Royal.* Joseph’s bones were returned to the promised land when the Israelites invaded it (Josh 24:32). But inheriting the land wasn’t true salvation. It was only temporary peace. Because of their sins, God’s people would eventually lose their land, and be taken into exile. *Culmination: *Jesus’ Version of the Concept - *Prophecy.* While God’s people were in exile, he promised to reveal his strength. He would bring his salvation in the form of a servant who would suffer for them and “bear their iniquities” (Isa 52:10; 53:12). Jesus, as the ultimate sufferer, is that servant (Matt 27:26). - *Proclamation.* During his ministry, Jesus* *proclaimed: “Salvation has come ... the Son of Man [being Jesus] came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:9). Jesus is “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Rom 1:16). - *The Church.* Those who followed Jesus came together and began spreading this new message of salvation to the world (Acts 2). Jesus’ followers became the true children of Abraham (Gal 3:23–29; Rom 9:6–8). - *Apocalypse and the Now.* God will continue to deliver the salvation Jacob longed for—our salvation—until the end: “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb [being Jesus]!” (Rev 7:10). TIME TO DO IT ON YOUR OWN That’s a biblical theology of salvation. You can follow these steps for any concept. The more you read the Bible, the easier making connections—doing biblical theology—becomes. Biblical theology will help you connect God in the Old Testament with Jesus. It will show you that they are one. In doing so, you will see God’s loving nature—everything in the Bible will become applicable. Biblical theology gives us the opportunity to grow closer to God each time we study. Go be the theologian you already are*.*

http://pastormark.tv/2012/02/01/11-practical-ways-for-men-to-lead-a-family?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=pastormark&utm_campaign=Pastor%2BMark%2BFacebook 11 Practical Ways for Men to Lead a Family As men, we bear a greater burden before God for the well-being of our families and our church . Our wives and children should flourish under our loving leadership. By the grace of God, you can be who God has called you to be, do what God has called you to do, and love as God has loved you. As men, we will never in this life experience perfection, but by the grace of God we can experience progress every day until we enter perfection in the life to come. So don’t sulk, don’t sin, and don’t settle, but instead strive. Here are 11 practical tips for husbands to strive to lead their family well: 1. As the family leader, model humility, honesty, repentance, service, study, and worship. Your life preaches at least as loudly as your words, so teach and model humble godliness by the grace of God. 2. Make sure everyone in your family has a good, age-appropriate Bible that they regularly read. Read the Bible yourself and with them so they are encouraged to read on their own. 3. Make sure you have some basic Bible study tools available for your family in either print or digital form and that everyone learns to use them. If you do not know where to begin, ask your pastor or a godly student of Scripture in your church about things like a good Bible commentary , concordance, dictionary, and atlas. 4. Buy good Christian books for everyone in your family to read. Include Christian biographies among those books. 5. Choose good books that you and your wife can be reading together, including books of the Bible, and discuss what you are learning. 6. If there are Bible-based classes offered in your church, attend with your family. 7. Redeem your commute by listening to good sermons and classes, many of which you can download for free. 8. Have dinner together with your family most nights, and use that time to pray together, keep a journal log of prayer requests for other people, and read a portion of the Bible and talk about it together. 9. Pray for each member of your family every day and let them know you are praying for them. 10. Place a hand on the head of each of your children every day and pray over them. Then kiss them on the head and make sure they often get a loving hug . 11. While either snuggling or holding hands, pray with and for your wife every day and remember to include the reasons you are thankful to God for her that day. If these things have not been common in your home, it is very likely that your family has been aching for them and will be thankful for your loving leadership as the head of your home.