ESF Spring Conference 2010

So the Empire State(Empire State meaning NY(NY meaning New York)) Fellowship(Affectionately known as ESF) has these things called conferences that are tons of fun to go to and that are great places to grow. So what made me want to go is the guys that were speaking. The first of which was Uncle Jim( who is actually my great grandpa on my Dad's side), and the second of which was Pastor Butler(from Yorkshire, who most of you know). Here's what went on...

• The name of the Conference was "James by men named James", so James Moore had the first session. The basic jist of his sermon was that everyone in the Bible had trials and that trails are things we can be happy about, because they strengthen our faith.
• The next session was by Past James Reed, who was a substitute for Pastor Mott(whose first name was also James). The skinny of Pastor Reed's sermon on James 5:13 was that during good and bad times we need to pray to God for help and praise him. In the words of a Shiloh Eagles player, "Guys, Coach is right. We praised God when we won; now we're gonna praise him when we lose."
• Guess who we met up with? Here's a hint: Their name starts with a W and rymes with Honer. That's right, the Whoners! So we had a good visit with them before dinner, and then during dinner we met up with Pastor Fraser, whose name was James who was speaking at the last session. Nothings better than food, a table, some chairs, and people to talk with.
• We found out that two churches are going to be with out pastors. Not cool stuff! The churches really need prayer. Switching pastors is no fun!
• After a great dinner, we came back for another session. The session was on James 3: 1-13 and it was on partiality and favoritism. And let me say that Pastor Murphy hit the preverbial nail smack dab on the head! Great session!
• The next morning after sleeping in the Howard Johnson motel(which wasn't too bad for the $45 bucks we paid for it), we went to hear Pastor Butler speak. His sermon was on how to identify an alive faith. He quoted John Calvin, who had a pretty interesting statement. Calvin said "It is faith alone that justifies, but the faith that justifies can never be alone." Unfortunately, I didn't hear the tail end of the sermon,because I sprung a bloody nose near the end. Hate those things!
• Pastor Balson(first name is...you guessed it...James) talked about the proclivity and the inconsistency of the tongue from James 3:1-12. Good message!
• Uncle Jim(pastor of Henrietta Baptist Church) preached a good militaristic message about how to submit to God and resist the devil. He also talked about how churches need to have a more offensive and less of a defensive strategy. Good stuff! Hoorah!
• During the final session Pastor Fraser talked about wealth and how it corrupt people and how to have the right balance. Good way to wrap up!

And that's where I was these past few days!

2 Kings 7:1-11

I just finished reading this story in the Bible and I found it to be (in a word) AWESOME! God pulls through again! Here's the summary of the passage:

• Donkeys cost a pretty penny.
• Ladies are eating their sons.
• The king wants to kill Elisha.
• Elisha says that there will be food tomorrow and that it'll be dirt cheap.
• One officer doesn't think so.
• Elisha says that that guy will see the food, but won't eat any of it.
• God makes the Arameans, who are attacking the Samarians, see and hear things.
• The Arameans flip out and think that the Egyptian and Hittites are coming, and they run.
• Lepers decide to surrender to the Arameans.
• The lepers discover that the camp is empty and then they have a feast.
• Then they decide to tell everyone in the city about it.
• All around celebration and eating.
• Happy ending.

So here's what I found interesting.

These guys are lepers. Dirt poor, starving(like everyone else), and sick with a disease that eats away at your skin(kinda gross). No one is going to come near these guys. They figure that they are going to die( a reasonable assumption,because of their disease) and so their best bet is give up and surrender themseves to the Arameans. For a minute, replace the word 'leper' with the word 'Christian'. These lepers have no where else to go. Sometimes when people go to God they are at thier lowest point. The lepers surrendered, just like Christians have to do over and over again. (Trust me I know from personal experience.)Now they go to the camp no one is there. They eat up and drink. Now this could be compared to God blessing us after we surrender and follow him. But the lepers don't keep this to themselves they go in the middle of the night and spread the word. Just like we do or need to do with our faith. Cool how it lines up!

The Medieval Reality

So I just finished up a chapter in World History about the medieval period. And I quickly realised that the reality is that the 'Dark Ages' (Appropriately named) were not as they are protrayed in movies and books(unless you watch and read documentaries and History books). Geeks like science and Nerds like Math. I however like history so I guess that makes me a buff or a dweeb, I'm not sure which. But anyhow, before I started this chapter I really admired the knight's, kings, and heroic peasants.
But now, I'm not so sure. The knights errant (errant meaning they had no where to go) usually resorted to banditry and being highwaymen because during peace time there was no form of work. The kings were power-hungry maniacs that didn't have too much power,because all the nobles sort of were in control. And the peasants were dirty, farming, poor, and all around not very pleasant.
So of all the people I ran into in history these are the ones I admire.

• Harold: This guy was from England, Duke of Wessex actually. He was crowned King of England and then this jerk, named William who didn't even live in England,but was king of France. And so because, Eddy the Confessor died, and Willie was allegedly promised the throne, Willie decided he should be king. And so after a few battles, and letting Harold beat up the other dudes who wanted the throne, Willie comes in at the last second and fights Harold's tired out smaller army.
• Henry the V(which by the way means he was number 5, which looks nothing like a V. The English language is goofy that way.): Henry V beat up the French with an army half the size of the French army at Agincourt. Unfortunately, he killed a bishop named Thomas a Becket. But I still think he was pretty cool.
• Richard the Lion-Hearted:No he didn't have an animal organ transplant. This guy went on the Crusades and kicked rear and took name. He was the hero of the people,but he only ruled in England for 6 months. A little while later, he brother John took over.
• John the First(and only): Yes, this is the same guy that was trying to kill Robin Hood. This is the dude that everybody hated. However, history says that John was a great guy. He was a good administrator and even though he wasn't as good a fighter as his brother. He was an awesome, misunderstood leader.
• Fransis of Assisi: This guy gave us the three wisemen and live nativities. He gets an A for effort, even though he gave our society the totally wrong idea about the manger.
• The knights: They aren't armor clad heroes, sure,but they had a lot of other responsibilities no one ever thinks about. These guys had a hard life filled with guts and blood, chivalry, and sometimes boring lives,but I still think that all in all they are still good guys.
• Urban the II: Without him there would be no Crusades and the freeing of Jerusalem for a period of time.

These are the various people I really loathe:

• The Popes(namely Innocent the 3rd): These guys sometimes could be a pain in the neck("Don't do this!", "You can't tax us!" "We are in charge", "Bow to me or I'll excommunicate you!"). But sometimes they were right on("No,man, you can't divorce your wife." or "Hey man! That's my land, and I was here first!"). But all in all they were really hypocritical.
• The Crusdaers: These guys were really cool to begin with,but during the 4th Crusade or the "Diverted Crusade" they were responsible for the destruction of Zama and Constantinople. They really failed in the end because of their greed. Bummer, I really like the Crusaders for a while.
• Phillip II: He was a loser French king who couldn't fight worth beans, and wanted to get England for himself. Not only that he divorced wife number 1, for wife number 2. Pope Innocent the 3rd for once makes the right call, and says, "That is not right, dude!". When P2(Phillip the 2nd) doesn't repent, PI3(Pope Innocent the 3rd) excommunicates P2 and puts France under interdiction. P2 "repents" divorces wife 2 and remarries wife 1. So in the end the bad guy wins,because either way he divorced some lady. Oy, some people, drive me up the wall!

So that is what I've been learning about lately!

Bible Reading: 1 Kings 14:21-31

So I decided to try to read 1 Samuel- 2 Chronicles, and make an application from what I read. It is actually not as easy as it sounds. But anyhow, I was reading 1 Kings 14:21- 31 and I noticed a few things. For your convenience I have put the verses below...

21 Rehoboam son of Solomon was king in Judah. He was 41 years old when he became king, and he reigned 17 years in Jerusalem, the city the LORD had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel in which to put his Name. His mother was Naamah; she was an Ammonite. 22 Judah did evil in the eyes of the LORD. By the sins they committed they stirred up his jealous anger more than their fathers had done. 23 They also set up for themselves high places, sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree. 24 There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites. 25 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. 26 He carried off the treasures of the temple of the LORD and the treasures of the palace. He took everything, including all the golden shields Solomon had made. 27 So king Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned these to the commanders of the guard of duty at the entrance to the royal palace. 28 Whenever the king went to the LORD's temple, the guards bore the shields, and afterward they returned them to the guardroom. 29 As for the other events of Rehoboam's reign are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? 30 There was continual warfare between Rehoboam and Jeroboam. 31 And Rehoboam rested with his fathers and was buried with them in the Citry of David. His mother's name was Naamah; she was an Ammonite. And Abijah his son succeeded him as king.
Whew! After typing all that I feel sorry for the monks who copied the whole Bible. Anyhow, one of the things I noticed was a repeat of the phrase "mother's name was Naamah; she was an Ammonite" in both verses 21 and 31. I'm not sure what signifigance that phrase has,but if it is in there twice it must be imporant. Another thing I noticed was that in verse 27, Rehoboam replaced the gold(high quality stuff) shields with bronze (cheap stuff) shields. Also in verse 28, it says that the guards only used them when the king went to the temple. This makes me think that because of both the cheap stuff he used for the shields, and only using them on temple occasions, that Rehoboam's heart wasn't in serving God. If he had really treasured the shields, he would have made them of a better metal, and used the shields more. This is kinda what we do with our Bibles. Sure, we take them out on Sunday, and maybe even open them,but after that, they end up on our dressers or on the coffee table or on top of the toilet in the bathroom until next Sunday. Instead of bronze disused Bibles, we should strive to have golden Bibles, that don't stay in one place long enough to get dust!
That's what I took away from that passage. If you saw any other applications, I'd love to hear about them.

What happened...

So what happened to me?

• Christmas(which was good)
• Stay at the McGinnis house(Sorry, if I didn't get to talk to you while I was there in the area!)
• Christmas vaccation

And in the near future I'll be having cousins at my house, and running sound board at church on Sunday. That's it for now! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!