Do You Have A Vision For the Glory of Christ?

Have you considered these verses lately?

" 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
Philippians 2:9-11

"In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple."
Isaiah 6:1

"2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,"
Hebrews 1:2-3


making much of Jesus...
--craig

A Lesson in Personal Evangelism From a Devout Atheist

I have seen this video several times recently viewing other blogs. I actually referenced it this past Sunday during an Apologetics Class that I am teaching at FBC Bloomfield. I believe it gives excellent insight on how to relate to a sceptic.



stay off the paved road...


--craig

Noelle Grace

Blessed

Wow! Three grand babies in less than a year. Here are some new pics of Noelle, Caleb, and Hannah. I will put up more pics of Noelle tomorrow. What a blessing from God.

Noelle

Caleb

Hannah

Noelle Grace Has Arrived

Hannah's little sister made her arrival today. Noelle Grace - 6lbs. 5oz. - 18" was born this morning. I will add more pics when we receive them. Please be in prayer for Noelle. She is having some minor respiratory problems. Everything else is great.

stay off the paved road...

--the proud papa

How Cute!!!

I thought you might like to see a few more pictures of Caleb.

stay off the paved road....

---craig

Do You Offend God?

Did you know that we offend God when we neglect the poor. Proverbs 14:31 says, "Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors Him." "Oppress" in this verse means to neglect.

There is also a positive statement in this verse. If you are really interested in honoring God, then you must be generous to those in need. Are you OFFENDING God or HONORING Him?

stay off the paved road...

--craig

Why Does God Want Us To Sing?

"Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth!  Serve the Lord with gladness!  Come into His presence with singing!  Know that the Lord, he is God!  It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people and the sheep if his pasture.  Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations."                           Psalm 100

Have you ever considered why God wants us to sing? Bob Kauflin does a great job as he shares the relationship between singing and true worship.

stay off the paved road...

---craig

The Pursuit of God

I just discovered that you can buy A.W. Tozer's Pursuit of God for $4.99. check out the Link.

Here is a brief quote from Chapter 1 which is called Following Hard After God.

When religion has said its last word, there is little that we need other than God Himself. The evil habit of seeking God-and effectively prevents us from finding God in full revelation. In the `and' lies our great woe. If we omit the `and', we shall soon find God, and in Him we shall find that for which we have all our lives been secretly longing.

This book will make a great gift.

stay off the paved road...

--craig

What's Another Trillion?

In 2008 a "governmental bailout package" was initiated that amounted to about 1 trillion dollars. Now, a "stimulus package" is being passed that will amount to another trillion. Have you ever really thought about one trillion dollars? I came across this list recently.

Here are some THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS:

• If you collected $1 million per day, every day since the birth of Christ, in 2009 you'd only be about 3/4 of the way to a trillion.
• If you got $1 every second, it would take almost 32,000 years to get to a trillion.
• If you stacked a trillion dollar bills on top of each other, it would go 68,000 miles into space--1/3 of the way to the moon.
• If you took 100-dollar bills and put them side to side, it would circle the equator 38.9 times

stay off the paved road...

--craig

Generations...A Lasting Legacy

We have begun our Generations...A Lasting Legacy Campaign at First Baptist Bloomfield. The video below will give you an understanding of the scope of the campaign. Keep checking in. I will provide updates on a regular basis.

GRAND Babies

What a tremendous joy to be grandparents. I thought I would share a couple pictures of Hannah and Caleb. Caleb is one month old today and Hannah is almost 11 months. We are enjoying Meredith and Caleb's visit to New Mexico and look forward to seeing Ashley, Trey, Hannah, and new baby Noelle in March.

Thoughts from Romans

It is certain that whatever happened in Rome did not stay in Rome. I have been studying in Romans lately and wanted to share a few thoughts from Romans 1:8. The verse states, "First, I thank God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world."

Paul was thankful for the believers at Rome for two simple reasons -the genuineness of their salvation and the testimony of the church. John MacArthur writes, "The testimony of the church in Rome was so strong that in A.D. 49 the emperor Claudius expelled all the Jews because of the influence of 'Chrestus,' which was undoubtedly a reference to Christ." Acts 18:1-2 tells us that Paul met Aquila and Priscilla in Corinth after they were expelled from Rome by Claudius.

This whole scenario makes me wonder about a couple of things. Why aren't more people today concerned about the genuineness of salvation? We often use John 14:6 to witness, but if Jesus is "the only way," then there is only one salvation. Is it possible that certain individuals, churches, and denominations are promoting something that is not genuine?

Secondly, does anybody know or care that your particular church exists? Do we have any influence beyond our four walls? There is evidence today that churches are more interested in growing their own kingdoms than seeing the Kingdom of God expand? Is our witness and ministry known throughout the whole world? Just some thoughts.

stay of the paved road

--craig

I'm Back

Well, it has been a long blogging break for me. I believe it is time to get back at it. As you can see, the blog has a new look. My goal is to keep it current by blogging at least 2 to 3 times a week. Please feel free to respond. I came across this video clip on God Tube and thought it would be great to share as I re-enter the blogging world.