NextGenKent

In my devotional this week I was confronted with some thoughts I believe had their basis in unfounded truths. So I did some digging into what the Bible has to say (as well as a devotional guide I am reading). Some initial thoughts: 1. The Sun stays the same ... yet changes. How much can an object change yet still be referred to as unchanging? Time a factor. Scientists believe our sun could burn out in 5.5 billion years. So it is not in a big hurry. Shoo! Relatively speaking, the sun will be constant in my lifetime. 2. The Garden of Eden is said to have been perfect, yet it needed tending. To what extent does perfection not reach and still hold its meaning? Can things be perfect yet incomplete? Can the qualities of perfection still need to be maintained and be perfect? Can a garden not be perfect without the addition of a caretaker? Could the continual maintenance by God's first created human of a garden created to be incomplete add up to perfection? Perfection was not i...

Most of us believe critically thinking about things is good. Most of the people I hang with know they don't just do what they feel like doing. Education and learning happen by levels and degrees--first grade, then second, Algebra I, then II, etc. Your thinking skills can graduate to a more critical thinking level as you add different knowledge bases to it--an understanding of Science can add to your ability in being an Accountant or Pastor. A video entitled " Ed Schultz Yells at guest Ryan Anderson, then cuts his mic " made me think of the following comparison when it comes to how some people think. Let me use gears as a metaphor for thinking. Getting our gears turning is like using the energy necessary for thinking. Some people think egg beaters and others like watches. Both ways of thinking are viable forms for accomplishing what they were created for. Keeping time is much more of an intricate process than beating eggs. An egg beater has two gears inte...

2 Timothy 3:16-17.  All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. This is the last letter Paul wrote to Timothy. Paul wants Timothy to know how important God’s Word is to His people. Scripture is historically a chronicle of God's activity in His people's lives--recording the commands, promises, blessings, and curses. God's Word can be trusted; even in those places where we are unsure, God will testify to us by His Spirit.  Jesus was God’s Word embodied so all of Jesus’ teachings should be considered as “Scripture.” (cf. 1 Cor. 2:12–13; cf. Heb. 3:7; Acts 1:16; 2 Pet. 1:21). There are building blocks in all areas of life—things that have to be done in order. You have to accomplish first grade before you advance to second and so on. What other areas besides education must be built upon in levels? God’s plan for growing spirit...

Exodus 2:11 One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. 12 He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, “Why do you strike your companion?” 14 He answered, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.” 15 When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well. "One day, when Moses had grown up;" whatever that means, he came to point where he was different; he was his own man now, he saw things differently, FELT THINGS DIFFERENTL...

THE GLORY SHINE –or- SON-TANNED ON the 10 th of September, we remember Moses’ descent from Mt. Sinai.  What once came with glory, a glory that was displayed on Moses’ face--a radiance that disabled people from looking Moses in the eye--not only came to an end but was drained of its glory because something better was to come along: the permanent ministry of the Holy Spirit in working righteousness. Let’s not forget why Moses’ face shone = because he had spoken to the LORD. The people could not look intently into Moses’ face so he put a veil over his face so people would not be afraid to come near him; but when he spoke with God he would take the veil away. In  Exodus 34:28-35, we read that Moses wasn't even aware that his face had become "radiant" ["horned" = to push with horns, so there was a radiant quality that pushed]. And so it is with us. We can hope in this "pushy glory" because it is eternal yet present with us—we are experiencing som...

“Growth For The New Year” Matthew 12.33  Are you bearing fruit? 33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. 36 I tell you,  on the day of judgment  people will give account for every careless word they speak , 37 for by your words you will be justified , and by your words you will be condemned .” I n a word, what is one thing you do to make something work better? One of my first jobs was roguing where you take a sharp tool with you as walk through a cornfield and cut out weeds or corn that has grown up 'rogue' and bunched together. Early in my college year...

We Need More Christian Sparring. Does that sound a bit odd? Let me explain. There are two things in my son's two years of Tae Kwon Do I have continued to reflect upon: training by the level and sparring. My son has been in Tae Kwon Do for the past two years and has really enjoyed it and our Christian instructors. He has come up to his fifth gup and is now a green belt. As a youth pastor and educator, one of the things that made me smile was how the higher level kids were being asked to train the lower ones--and it's not so much an age thing. A girl my daughter's age (then 11) was asked to train my son (then, 7) and she did a fantastic job. I have always heard the adage: "The best way for you to know something is to teach it" (for me, it was Greek) and she really knew her stuff! The second thing that has continued to impress me just as much has been the sparring. It is absolutely necessary. It isn't enough to have kids stand in to throw a slow motion punch...