Journal #2 Matthew 5-7 (Sermon on the Mount) NKJV

Sorry for the short break, a few things came up so I didn't get on here. Anyway, here's my ramblings for today.

As I continue my trek through the New Testament, along came the Sermon on the Mount. After reading it, I realized I had read every part of it, but today was the first time that I have read through the entire section at once. If you mentioned the bits and pieces that are scattered throughout the passage, most people who have been around church for any amount of time have heard some of them. Things such as gouging out your eye, or cutting off your hand. Don't worry, store up treasures and heaven away from the moths. The speck vs. the plank, don't judge, and so on and so forth. All of these parts could easily be sermon serious by themselves. But all together, they create the greatest handbook for Christ-like living ever compiled. Multiple parts have been extremely helpful throughout times in my life especially chapter 6:25-34 commonly known as the do not worry section. I'm a chronic worrier, and it is a good place to re-visit and focus on what God has said about that.

Anywho, this time in all the awesome nuggets of awesomeness that is found in this section, what really stuck out was Matthew 6:22-23. The version I use titled this sub-section "The Lamp of the Body." It calls the eye the "lamp" of the body. This means that through the eyes are what really lead to the heart. Our minds are wonderful things, and the gateway to the mind is the eyes. We see tons of things everyday and are constantly logging them in our memories for later. Now this can be perfectly fine. Like verse 22b says, if your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. This is when we are glorifying God with what we watch and not filling our minds with crap. On the flip side, when we do the reverse, the opposite happens. We can easily fill our minds with nastiness and that will get shoved back deep into our brains and be horribly disgusting to Christ. Verse 23 says that when the eyes are bad, the whole body is full of darkness. It then goes on and states how great that darkness is. Once we get on a path of darkness, it's a slippery slope. One thing leads to another, and before ya know it, we're deep in a hole of yuck.

God, I pray that You will keep me determined to follow You with reckless abandon. That I would put each and every thing that You said in the Sermon on the Mount to practice. Especially what I put inside my head by what I watch. I know that has been a struggle for me most of my life. But You are beyond powerful. You have more than enough strength to help me defeat this evil. I pray that You would continue to brightly shine before me along The Way and use me as you see fit. I love You Lord; You are awesome, powerful, merciful, and loving.

Daily Journal #1 Matthew 1-4

Another one of the things I was convicted of during camp was at one point the speaker was like, for any Christian of 3+ years, reading the whole New Testament isn't that hard. I was like, wow. I've been a Christian for over 10 years and I haven't even come close. So that's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna read the whole New Testament, and you get to come along for the ride. So here we go.

Matthew 1 is a big genealogy lesson. The whole Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob and all that stuff. As I read through this, I noticed that it mentioned guys who had their sons through various women, but it didn't do that for all the guys. Then it came to, "David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah." (Matt. 1:6b) I was like, why didn't it say Bathsheba? It also mentioned Tamar and Rahab. It was an odd thing I had never thought of/realized. After reading the study notes, it said that Tamar was involved in a scandal w/ Judah. Rahab was a Canaanite harlot from Jericho. And Bathsheba was from the situation when David had Uriah killed so he could be w/ her. Even w/ all of these sins and horrible situations, they are still the direct line of Christ. Even from a flawed family line, Jesus still came through all of this. God showed that He can defeat anything that happens. Being a flawed human, I can easily butcher God's plan. But it's not really like that. God's plan isn't based on my performance. If I mess up, God's not like, "Crap, Nick screwed up. WHAT AM I GONNA DO?" His plan moves on regardless of what I do.

God, I pray right now that You can continue to get through my thick skull and show me Your path. I want to stay on the Narrow Way. Even through my mistakes, please use me as You see fit.

Back from Camp '08 and a new calling

Hey everyone, it's Nick. I'm back from Student Life Camp '08 and some things are gonna change. The theme of camp was THE WAY. "The Way" being one of the paths that we choose in life, the Narrow Way. Life on the Narrow Way is what Christ has called us to live. While up on Lookout Mtn. in Georgia, God convicted me on many things that I have either been doing or not been doing in my life recently. Mostly this was a wake-up call to my lack of reading Scripture and non-consistent prayer life. Here I am a leader, and I don't read much more than one maybe two times through the lesson we teach each week. Plus, I don't pray near enough. Coming home, I've heard God's called, and I plan on changing that fact. I am determined to read each day and pray as well. This blog will also become my journal. Each day I will add my journaling notes from what I read that day.

On another note, I felt God calling me to sponsor a child from Compassion. For $32 a month, a child will receive food, health, schooling, and even more importantly they learn about Christ. These are kids fro mall around the world who may be orphaned, very much under the poverty line, special needs, infected w/ disease, or any combination of all of these. So I have heard this call and "adopted" Karla Merari Valencia Camacho from Mexico. She's 4 years old, and as you can see from the picture, she's adorable. So that's what came out of camp. I'll be back later with my journal notes for today.



Later days.