PERSONAL JOURNAL/MEDITATION AND REFLECTION: Hebrews 1:1-4

Hebrews 1:1-4

1 God, after He ^spoke long ago to the fathers in ^the prophets in many portions and ^in many ways,

2 ^in these last days ^has spoken to us ^in ^His Son, whom He appointed ^heir of all things, ^through whom also He made the ^world.

3 ^And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact ^representation of His nature, and ^upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He ^sat down at the right hand of the ^Majesty on high,

4 having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent ^name than they.

It is amazing to think that the preacher starts off his letter by no other word than “God”. Not only does he start off by announcing who this whole letter will be centered around, but that this God spoke. The God who is above all, who is omnipotent, without need or counsel, spoke. For by the very Word of God all things came into being. It is by the Word of God that His law was given. God spoke to the fathers in the prophets so that His will would be known. Therefore the first thing we must notice about this passage of Scripture and about the God whom it pertains to is that He is a God of communication. It is His desire to make Himself known. It is His desire to be personal with His people. He is the God who spoke.

Then the preacher seeks to contrast the way God has spoken to the “fathers” and to “us”. God spoke to the fathers, that is those of old, but not only the patriarchs, of those of the Old Covenant. With them He spoke in many portions and in many ways. What is it that the preacher wishes for us to see? I am drawn to the word “many”. In the Old Covenant He spoke in many times, with the Patriarchs, with Moses, with the Prophets, and many others. He spoke to them in many ways: by visions, by dreams, with Moses, the Lord spoke to him like a man. The way that God communicated was in many portions and in many ways, so that older revelation was expansive, but incomplete.

But “in these last days” He “has spoken to us in His Son”. Now before I entertain the speaking of the Son, what does the preacher mean by “last days”? If the preacher meant that he was in the last days then we would now have been in the last days for nearly 2,000 years. But that is exactly what the preacher means. As the preacher will show us by this letter, it is when the Son, whom was appointed heir of all things, sat down, that we entered into the last days. Just as when the decisive battle is won in a war, though there may be fighting and skirmishes afterward, by the blow of the great battle the victor has already been named and all fighting thereafter is seen as in the last days. So we therefore remain in the last days waiting until the great day when all things that have been subjected to Him are seen as subjected to Him.

The preacher proclaims, “He…has spoken to us in His Son”. Where the fathers had to deal with many portions and many ways, we have one speech at one time. Christ is therefore the climax of Scripture, both the fulfillment and end for which it was given. By the Scriptures we are shown the worth of the Son and by the Son the Scriptures are given their value. Jesus is therefore the Word of God. With the first phase of speech coming through the prophets, Christ is the second and last. Christ is the “radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature.” Christ, as God, shows the fullness of God. To see the Son is to see the Father. Therefore, there remains no speech to be given by God to make Himself known.

The Son is the “appointed heir of all things.” Even though was through the Son that the world was made, God appointed Him as heir. First, this gives rise to the deity of Christ. It was through Him that God made the world. The Son was present with God in the beginning to make the world, and it is by the “word of His power” that all things are upheld. Yet, the world, not referring to the earth only, but all created things, both in the heavens and earth, belong to God for Him to do with as He wishes. So by His appointment, God declares the Son to be the heir.

When the Son had fulfilled the purpose of God, “purification of sins” and what the preacher will show to be the fulfillment and end of the sacrificial system, He “sat down at the right hand of Majesty on high”. Thus the Son has inherited creation and has had all things put in “subjection under His feet.” Though we do not see it as so, Christ now reigns at the and by this He has become much better than the angels, though made lower for a time, speaking of His incarnation, because He has “inherited a more excellent name than they”—“Son”.

God has communicated and expansive and foundational revelation through the Old Testament, but God has spoken climatically in His Son as God’s prophet. Therefore it should be our greatest desire to know the God who communicates. Though the fulfillment of God’s revelation came in His Son, the Son will never be known fully in this life apart from what was given in the prophets in the days long ago. The preacher thrust this forward with quotation after quotation from the Old Testament to greaten our understanding and give rise to a passion for the Son who is much better than the angels and as we will see: Moses, the promise land, the priestly system, the Law and Old Covenant; having made purification of sins as our high priest. Therefore we ought to fix our eyes on Jesus and draw near to “the author and perfecter our faith, who for the joy set before Him endure the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” as our king.

Be Thou My Vision

It Is Well With My Soul

GOD is the Gospel

For those who might not be aware of John Piper I strongly suggest you check him out.

desiringGod.org

I heard and my inward parts trembled,
At the sound my lips quivered.
Decay enters my bones,
And in my place I tremble.
Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress,
For the people to arise who will invade us.
Though the fig tree should not blossom
And there be no fruit on the vines,
Though the yield of the olive should fail
And the fields produce no food,
Though the flock should be cut off from the fold
And there be no cattle in the stalls,
Yet I will exult in the LORD,
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.
The Lord GOD is my strength,
And He has made my feet like hinds' feet,
And makes me walk on my high places.
--Habbakkuk 3:16-19

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO GET SAVED?

What I'm Missing From Last Summer

Now last summer may have been one of the hardest summers on me that I can remember, getting up early, working all day, going to bed late, but it is also one of the best memories I have.

Last summer was election time for the Judge of White and Spencer counties. The father of the family I life with, Judge Benningfield, was up for re-election and since I didn't pay any sort of rent I was chosen to be his right hand man, actually more of his wife's right hand man, in the quest for victory.

I had many responsibilites during that time, mostly revolving around signs with Sam's name on them, but when ever possible it was good to be seen by the public eye (ie. getting your picture in the paper with "Re-Elect Sam Benningfield" on your T-shirt).

So that is what these pictures are. They are some that were taken during a little public outing: a fire hall fund raiser. Now most wouldn't have thought of me as a hotdog eating machine, and compared to the ones on ESPN, I'm not, but some how I held my own that day.

The rules were simple: eat as many hotdogs as you can, bun and all, in ten minutes. Anyone who looked like they were about to give the dogs back were asked to stop eating and move away from the area. Anyone who let loose was disqualified.




Now there is more to eating hotdogs than most would think. I took some advice from friends who watched the epic battles on ESPN and learned very quicking two things. Take the bun and dog apart. Dip the bun in water and squeeze all of the air our for better results.

The time hand come and we were off. I didn't really know at I was doing. The larger guy to my right started off much faster that I did. I didn't know if I would keep up. But I stayed at it, swallowing dogs and dipping bread in water.

I lost count of how many I had eaten pretty soon, my stomach started to feel up, my throat felt like I still had food in it after swallowing, and because I was eating much slower the bread was getting very soggy and made me near sick many times.

But I kept eating, I would have to stand up and stretch out my stomach. Eventually, the limit had been met. I shoved down just a little more to finish the dog I was eating and the final talley was taken. I thought forsure the guy next to me had won, even though he sat down very early. Coming down the line they announced the scores. The guy next to me had only eaten eight and I knew that I had passes that.

It was down to only two people, and older woman and myself. I remember her talking before the contest of her winning ones before. She was an expert and this was my first attempt. I knew that she had won, I knew that I had failed. They gave her number, 10.5. I was suprized, I thought it would have been higher. They gave my number, 13. I had won, I couldn't believe it. My stomach was fun and I was happy.


So, they gave me my award, $50, which I of course gave right back to them and then I had my picture taken, with my "Re-elect Sam Benniningfield" t-shirt on. It was a sucessful day. I had accomplished the task. Now, the fulfullment of all of that came when we were in Coffee Corner and it was anounced that Sam had won. Not that my eating won it for him, but it is nice to think that I took part in something that affected so many and the "honorable" Sam Benningfield kept his seat.



Oh, such great memories. Thank you to all who made such a great time possible. It was a hard summer, but I would repeat it in a heart beat. Long days of driving around putting up signs, meeting people I didn't know, going door to door for hours so many nights, and going home with the family that loved me enough to provide a place for me to live. I'll never forget last summer

Encouraging the Saints

It is a joyful thing that God has given me when He allows me the opportunity to talk with a fellow saint in need of encouragement. It is a wonderful gift to have a fellow saint encourage me when it is I who is weak. I find that encouraging one another should be a supreme concern of the brethren. We as man are weak and in great need of grace, from both God and His church. Not that God is insufficient in the grace that He gives, but that He chooses to administer much of His grace through the church.

I love grace. One of my favorite theologians and authors is Augustine of Hippo. He either understood grace better than most men understand it, or just had an amazing style to articulate it. Augustine loved grace. He realized the depths of his wickedness and need of God’s grace. I try to emulate Augustine’s love of grace. Augustine also believed that one of the church’s faculties was to extend that grace to His church, from one believer to the other.

What is it to extend grace? Does it mean that we allow all things to go and forgive without rebuke? No. May it never be. The definition of grace I am using is a gift of love unmerited by the receiver. We are to love our one another. We are to place each other above ourselves and be willing to surrender all for good of others. Why, be because they have merited it? No. We do it because we have received grace. We receive the benefits of grace in our justification and sanctification. No only has Christ spared us from the wrath to come at judgment but He transforms us into His likeness until it is finished at our glorification.

There are times when encouragement must come from a rebuke. A rebuke should not be a stand of self-righteousness. It should not resemble the attitude that the one rebuking is better than the one rebuked. Both are fallen sinners redeemed by God’s mercy. A rebuke should be a correction of an act that does not bring glory to Christ and an encouragement to do something else that will. Encouraging does not always mean making the other feel better. Some times, it means pushing them toward righteousness; encouraging them in their sanctification and encouraging them in their relationship with Christ.

On a personal note, I am an extremely prideful person. I try to be humble, but I fail horribly. If our salvation was based on whether or not we could be “good” Christians, I would have given up long ago. Those who know me best know that I am prideful, arrogant, and boastful. Many in their hope to encourage me tell me of my good qualities, which I contend are simply outpourings of the grace bestowed upon me. In these times, I must flee or I grow in love with their flattering words. Yes, it is good to be complimented at times, but to a wretchedly prideful heart, it is like the quake of the earth that causes lava to rise to the surface. The pride of my flesh still richly persuades the indwelling sin of my old man.

Therefore, I am most encouraged when I am rebuked for my pride. One of my closest friends, Lance, who I hold very dear to my heart, is very quick to rebuke me. My pride I fear is most evident on the playing surface of any sport I participate. It is a sinful act for me to walk onto the football field or basketball court without a moment of sincere prayer asking my God and Savior to be with me that I might not sin against Him by the overrunning of my pride. History will go to tell that I still fall into sin and have been in need of serious rebuke on multiple occasions. Sadly, I have to not entertain myself with athletic competition to often to help with the ego that I have.

However, I love Lance because he is quick to encourage me. He come to me in love and says, “Naak, stop acting like that.” At times, he says other words; most of the time he does not have to. He could quote to me Scripture, but I know them. So what happens? I see what he is saying and I repent and become the most humble person on the field. No, that never happens. Usually, I get mad at him for calling my actions into question. I finish the game with an angry attitude and empty of any joy. I go home and think how I was right and they were wrong, especially Lance who dared to say anything to me about it.

Few people I know are willing to give me the grace Lance has given so many times. Lance was willing to come to me and rebuke me. He corrected me and encouraged me to act in a manner worthy of my calling. That is grace and that is love. What has resulted from that? I hope that I am a little better at holding in my pride while playing sports. I hope that I am less prideful in my day-to-day life, though I know I am still far too prideful. This I know for sure. One, I am able to spot my pride easier and correct it to some degree before some one has to say something to me about it. Two, I do not defile the name of God and diminish His glory as bad as before because I do not allow myself to go as far as I once did. Note that I did say, “as bad”, because I still sin and hurt the Name above all names.

How does the story end when Lance showed grace in rebuking me? I would eventually see that I was wrong. I have always been a little slow. I do finally repent and ask forgiveness from my Father. Prayerfully ask that He will help me get better at not being such a prideful man. I go to Lance and apologize for my actions. What I love is finding that I am forgiven. Just like asking for forgiveness from my Father, I do so knowing that I am forgiven. My sin has already been wiped away. It has been removed from my debt. The same is true with Lance. Not once have I gone to him and him act angry toward me. I would not blame him if he did, but he never does. He tells me not to worry about it. He knows I learned my lesson. He probably even knows it will happen again. Nevertheless, what does he do? He shows grace. And by grace I am encouraged. This I know for sure also, Lance’s and my friendship has grown stronger because of his willingness to rebuke me. Now, the friendship that we have is mutual. We both encourage each other the like manners. Because of that, we are very close friends and when we need to be encouraged in our weakness we feel that we can go to each other because we loved each other enough to show grace when we needed to rebuke one another.

The only man who might have better-articulated grace better than Augustine was the Apostle Paul. There was another man who loved grace. Paul who calls himself the chief of sinners knew what it was to need grace. He was dependent on grace. If Augustine or any of us know what grace is, it is because Paul told us. Just to demonstrate how much Paul loved grace he wished grace on all of those who received his letter: from the immoral Corinthians to the self-righteous Galatians.[1] In those letters, Paul heavily rebukes them for their sin. He tells the Corinthians that they are doing things that even sinners do not do.[2] He comes before the Galatians and tells them that he is amazed that they have so quickly deserted Him who called them by the grace of Christ[3] and then finds it necessary to defend his calling[4] and message[5]. Even among these breather who are defiling the name of Christ Paul extends to them grace.

What is Paul’s hope in the extension of grace? Notice what follows Paul’s extension of grace in every one of his greetings. Not only grace to you, grace and peace. Where God’s grace is, there is also peace. Peace is the product of God’s grace. Where peace is lacking God’s grace is not evident. We must do all things out of God’s grace in the hope that it will bring peace. This understanding attacks the very core of self-righteousness, which wants to stir up strife so that one is seen as greater than the other one. The self-righteous heart wants nothing to do with peace. It has no understanding of grace. Everything we do should be judged by this: is it done out of grace in order to bring peace? This does not mean that truth is abandoned to keep peace, because God is truth and grace is of God and therefore peace is only found in truth.

Therefore, “Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But, each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another. For each one will bear his own load.”[6]

[1] Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:3; 2 Corinthians 1:2; Galatians 1:3; Ephesians 1:2; Philippians 1:2; Colossians 1:2; 1 Thessalonians 1:1, 2 Thessalonians 1:2; 1 Timothy 1:2, 2 Timothy 1:2, Titus 1:4
[2] 1 Corinthians 5:1
[3] Galatians 1:6
[4] Galatians 1:11-24
[5] Galatians 2:1-6:16
[6] Galatians 6:1-5

God’s Joy In His Glory: a sinner’s prayer

O God, my God, comfort me in my unbelief.[1] I am weak and I cry out to you, O God.[2] Father, place me beneath your wings and hold me close.[3] Let your presence be real to me, my Lord.

Father, great are You.[4] You are holy and amazing.[5] Father, You are glorious.[6] I stand dead[7] and fearful.[8] You alone are worthy of glory and honor and power.[9] Your ways confuse me at times. I do not always perceive Your will; for your ways are higher than mine.[10] But this I know—Your will is Your glory.[11] It is Your chief end. There is no greater desire in You than Your own glory, which brings you joy. Your Word proclaims that You have made a new covenant with Your people.[12]

Yes Lord, a covenant of water and Spirit.[13] You cleanse us with water. You sprinkle it over me and I am cleansed by it. All of my filth and idols are removed from me.[14] You reach down into my very soul and remove my heart. It is a heart of stone.[15]

I am unable to love You. I hide from you when I hear Your steps in the garden. I
tremble at Your voice and flee from you, never seeking to find You.[16]

Some how you found me though, as if I were truly hid. You slammed me down and crushed me. You are too great, O God. You tore from my flesh my heart. It was hard and cold. I was amazed and fearful. But You were merciful to me a sinner. Love and compassion You found on me. You gave me a new heart. It was not hard like my last. It was a heart of flesh.[17] Then You put Your Spirit in me.[18]

Your Spirit dwells in my flesh.[19] I am a living sacrifice.[20] Your Spirit enables me to treasure Your Word[21] and I walk in Your statutes.[22] In Your grace, You bless me. I am not worthy, Lord. I remember by evil and I loathe myself.[23] Grateful am I, Father, for my new birth. I have been born into Your family.[24] You drew me to Your Son[25] and He keeps me in His grasp.[26] To You be the glory.

Father, You found love and compassion on me, but it was not for my good. You did not do this for my sake; You did this for Your glory.[27] I could have just as easily been a vessel or Your wrath.[28] You would have been glorified in this. I am so thankful, Lord. I do not understand Your ways. They are far too great.

Awesome is God—Him I trust.

[1] Mark 9:24
[2] Psalm 102:1
[3] Psalm 17:8
[4] Psalm 95:3
[5] Revelation 4:8, Psalm 99:3
[6] Nehemiah 9:5
[7] Revelation 1:17
[8] Psalm 19:9
[9] Revelation 4:11
[10] Isaiah 55:9
[11] Ezekiel 36:22
[12] Jeremiah 31:31
[13] John 3:5
[14] Ezekiel 36:25
[15] Ezekiel 36:26
[16] Genesis 3:8-10, Psalm 53:1-3
[17] Ezekiel 36:26
[18] Ezekiel 36:27
[19] 1 Corinthians 3:16
[20] Romans 12:1, 1 Peter 2:5
[21] Psalm 119:11
[22] Ezekiel 36:27
[23] Ezekiel 36:31
[24] Ephesians 1:5
[25] John 6:44
[26] John 6:37
[27] Ezekiel 36:32-38
[28] Romans 9:22

TEN OBSERVATIONS THAT HIGHLIGHT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A MAN AND WOMAN!

1. A man will pay $10 for a $5 item he wants.
A woman will pay $5 dollars for a $10 item that she doesn’t want (or need).
2. A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband.
A man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.
3. A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend.
A successful woman is one who can find such a man.
4. To be happy with a man you must understand him a lot and love him a little.
To be happy with a woman you must lover her a lot and not try to understand her at all.
5. Married men live longer than single men, but married men are a lot more willing to die.
6. Any married man should forget his mistakes; there’s no reason for two people to
remember the same thing.
7. Men wake up as good-lucking as they went to bed.
Women somehow deteriorate during the night.
8. A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn’t.
A man marries a woman expecting that she won’t change, but she does.
9. A woman has the last word in any argument.
Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument.
10. There are two times when a man doesn’t understand a woman—before and
aftermarriage.

Akin, Daniel. God on Sex. Broadman &Holman Publishers. 2003.

Good Debate: Did Jesus Rise from the Dead

Now this is kind of old and many of you might have already seen it, but I found it worth watching. Dr. Gary Habermas has a debate with Dr. Antony Flew over whether or not the resurrection of Jesus really happened. It is pretty long and broken down into ten parts, but it gives an angle on how to show that the resurrection was real on a philosophical level.

Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six, Part Seven, Part Eight, Part Nine, Part Ten

Dr. Gary R. Habermas