The Testimony of a Faithful Teacher (1:12-17)
Paul reveals several essential qualities to be found in the Christian, which the leader/teacher must exemplify.

Dependance on Christ (1:12) • Strength for Christian life and ministry come from Christ. Paul’s life and ministry was marked by the manifestation of spiritual “power”. His work brought results, but does not credit seminary education, up-to-date methods or personal charisma, but credits and thanks Christ for empowering him.

• Paul’s ministry was sustained by and originated in Christ. We who would share Paul’s goals and vision for life and ministry must also share his complete dependance on Christ.
Experience of God’s Grace and Mercy (1:13-14)
• Paul was fully aware of the change in direction that the grace of God brought to his life. He was saved. The outpouring of grace from the Lord produced in him faith and love- that is genuine spiritual life.

• Paul’s references  to faith and love and to his prior condition of ignorance and unbelief are again directed at the false teachers.
Committed to the Gospel and God’s plan of Salvation (1:15-16)
• At the center of his plan is the Gospel message. Paul was fully convinced of it’s reliability. This is God’s plan: salvation is linked solely to Christ and the message about him. Commitment to anything but the apostolic gospel is heresy

. • God redemptive plan is imperturbable, as Paul’s own experience taught him. It reaches to the depths of depravity. Paul’s self-confessed pre Christian history ( as the worst of sinners [v. 15], a reference to his persecution of Christians) made him, ironically, the perfect illustration of the effectiveness of the gospel, the boundless grace of God and the inexhaustible Patience of Christ.

• The readers are reminded that salvation requires “belief” in Christ. Further more, Paul’s language (believe on him) indicates that he means personal faith in Christ, not simply adherence to a dogma.

• The ultimate goal of the plan of salvation is eternal life. Paul’s connection of ideas makes it clear that the believer’s personal faith in Christ is the necessary stepping stone to the ultimate goal of eternal life.

• Most of us would be reluctant to do what Paul has done here. Humility aside, each Christian’s spiritual history is filled poignant reminders of God’s grace and mercy. While it will not do to live in the past, from time to time we must take our bearings from it as we move forward on a path that may not be clear. Paul knew in his heart and was fully convinced that this message was true. And it is essential that every Christian share this conviction borne out of experience. We must remember, however, that this proof cannot be based solely on a mystical encounter with God: it must be backed up by a changed life (v.14) Could the false teachers with their version  of the gospel make the same claims as Paul? No! God’s salvation plan is linked solely to the Christian gospel. It requires faith and produces a new manner of life.

Testimony leads to worship (1:17)
• Paul could not reflect on God’s grace in his life and the promise of the eternal life without being moved to worship.

• Verse 17 takes the form of a doxology. It imparts a powerful vision of majesty of God. King eternal ascribes to God’s absolute sovereignty over all the ages. Immortal  recalls  Romans 1:23, where God is contrasted with images with images of mortal humans and animals. By nature God lives eternally: death is foreign to him. He is also invisible. For sinful human to see God is to bring death. Finally, God is “one”, the only God, a thought that returns to the commandment, the starting point of the Christian faith.

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The Fire

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The decision was made,
for the price had been paid,
to wring out my heart
for the cost is to change.

For my heart is obscene
and it drips the red ink
that inherits the words,
“all I live for is me”.

And the cloud in my mind,
with the darkness entwined,
blasts insult to injury,
the mist of all lies.

But inexorable the fact,
apparition’s not the act,
it’s numinous with truth
and I say this to you…

Humility is in light of Him
and in light of Him I live.
It’s His glory I live for,
and every molecule I’ll give.

-Scotty Kunkel

Lord God, You have been so good to me- You have blessed me so so so much and i take so much of it for granted. God, I must remember you, You are Life, and there’s nothing that can take your place, indeed you’re My sustainer, My full embrace. How often do i Really give my all to you? I know there are times in a day where you can be the furthest thing from my mind- God Keep me on You. Lord if Seek You, You Will Reveal Yourself, If I Draw near, You will Draw near. I Love and Believe in your promises, and I can’t help but be so full of Joy when I’m Thinking of you Correctly!
I owe everything that I am to you. My Portion to you is everything. Nothing short will work- You’ve chosen to choose me. I Must worship you with my whole entire way of living! I Must I Must I Must! I Want To, Because there is no other way, and indeed, if i had another way, I’d Follow You! Because the World thinks they have many ways to Live, but there is only one. Oh Christ, Be the center of my life, be the place i fix my eyes, Be the center of my Life- My Life was bought for a price! I Must Live Like it Was! I am always and forever, in the safest place i can ever be..

Hey Guys! Recently I’ve felt Led to really think about our needs for mentors in our lives. I’m not just talking about brothers in Christ or a plan of discipleship, but to have that and more with a relationship with someone who is Older and much Wiser- Thinking about my Life, I realize time and time again that I’m in need of leadership, and of some serious help sometimes from people who been alive a lot longer. Knowing this, I talked to my worship pastor at Brookside, Nick Hudson, about what I’ve felt I’ve been needing and went for a drive- I respect Nick so much and his walk with God. The way he handles his kids, the way he is with his wife, and just the way he lives life- With all honesty, my past was everything but pleasant and there’s no way that any of that can creep back in my life! As it’s said, I’m Dead to Sin, I don’t have to live that way any more. I know the truth and it always prevails! More than he knows, Nick has been an influence in my life… Growing up with multiple fathers being without one now for about three years, this something i most definitely need. I’m just really excited to have this connection and purpose going on in my life and this has help substantially! I Know this is some what of a sall post but i hope you feel just a little bit more informed about me. Have a Great week guys! = ]

. . .The wind was actually frightening, the waves were actually high, the water was actually, water… But he still Stepped out. And Why?… When he finally got the courage to go, it was only because of one reason, because he finally gained recognition of what he was so posed to be doing. “And He said ‘Come!’” Jesus was his reason to get going out of that boat and as soon as he stepped out, it obviously seemed that other things began to take priority in his thinking. . . The Waves, Thunder, Lightning.. it was all there and I don’t know about you, but that would seem pretty distracting/frightening to me!

As soon as he stepped out, he began to reckon with those actual things and guess what happened? He began to sink. He began to sink and cry out to Jesus, “Lord, Save Me!” And that’s exactly where the Jesus thought, “Where did He did doubt? Why?” We can be like this about a lot of things in today’s life as well as theirs back when. We decide to step out and do what we’re for God, but as soon as we do, Self-consideration comes in and Guess what? Down we go…

Just weeks ago, I was in Chicago with my Youth group visiting Moody Bible Institute and of course also to check out the City lights. When we’re up there one of the things we do is open street evangelism. How Exciting! How Sweet! How.. Scary… The group met upstairs on the second floor of Moody’s girls dorm (Yeah that’s right, I was in the sacred girls dorm lol) and Some guys from Moody who did stuff like this regularly talked to us and tried giving us advice before they set us lose. We went over these things before during the last time I was here in the ending of last year and I can’t even tell you how nervous I was the first time I actually Evangelized. Remembering what it was like the last time I evangelized in Chicago, I began to become nervous all over again sitting in the meeting on the seconded floor.

Butterflies… Like my friend Chris Purdy had said about butterflies, “They never actually go away, but the more you do it, instead of them going everywhere making you sick, the more they start to fly in formation.” Isn’t that Genius? lol So we left the dorm and started on our way toward where we’d evangelized before. And funny enough the story about peter in the boat popped in my head and I starting to think about what I have wrote down earlier = ] And it Made so much sense and it still does, if i just keep my heart and mind on Jesus, I can walk to Him, I can do what I Want to do For Him…

It was a Step Process in My Mind and so All I did was..

1. Took the Story of peter, replaced his name with mine (Scotty),
2. Took the words “Waves, Lighting, Thunder,” and exchanged them for words like, “Groups, People, Non-believers”
3. Choose either to step out of the boat (or onto the sidewalk) or not.
4. After choosing to step out, and learning something from Peter, I pushed my Self-consideration away unlike Him and Choose to keep recognizing Jesus in every Step I took, and so in every person i talked to, I saw the real Goal.

DON’T let yourself be Fooled. Don’t question yourself with things like “Do you think God really meant that I should Do That?” Cause as soon as you do, it starts to get buried in your mind, and you consider yourself(self-consideration) before what HE wants you to do. Take my advice, if you Feel Him pulling you to do something, Do it. Take that Step. Please don’t Wait. What will that do for you anyway? Just do it.

That day, I witnessed and prayed with a ton of people, and not once was I scared or frightened. I saw Him in everything I did and with that thought, whatever I was doing there I was doing for Him and Him alone. I never felt more focused. =] Be encouraged by this Post! and Don’t Sink!

With Love,