Unpacking Genesis 1:1
This text is indeed interesting in that even though it communicates one action of God, creation, this action encompasses everything that we know and understand and so much we have yet to realize or encounter. God acted and the effects and consequences of His action reverberated in many ways. It is as if a shotgun shell were discharged from a rifle, with pellets flying in various directions at various speeds. Even today, God’s action depicted by Moses is in so many ways influencing each day of our lives. We are able to follow various trajectories back to God’s nature and purpose in creating all things. For example, one may follow various trajectories by examining the phrases or words, “In the beginning” or “God”, “created”, “heaven”, “God created”, “earth” and because Genesis 1:1 includes all of God’s work in creating, the ways in which God’s action finds meaning in our lives is glorious, eye-opening and multi-faceted.

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Before anyone gets excited, I am not offering free plane tickets to Hawaii for this Sunday. :) But rest and refreshing on the Day of Worship is a topic worthy of getting very excited about.

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When people normally talk about their faith, they usually mean a particular world religion (e.g. Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, etc). And this is quite valid for there are various religions that in fact differ in “faith.” They all have different understandings of what faith is, how it is expressed, what is its object and so on. If that is true, why is it that many within our Reformed circles label what we believe with the same concept of “faith?” Is it similar to a commonly known world religion itself? If so, would I find the “Reformed faith” in a discussion of world religions? Does it differ from the Christian faith? Now obviously all those in the Reformed camp as far as I know would say “no” to the above questions. So why it is that we talk about Reformed theology in terms of a "faith?"

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As Believers we should daily strive to understand and obey God’s Word. And God's Word is beautiful and all sufficient for our guidance. That beauty and all sufficiency is magnified in our awareness during those moments when God seems to grab our hearts in blessed understanding. Let us consider some ways we can allow God to stretch the understandings that those moments provide into our daily lives for his glory.

It comes as quickly as the wind but provides more refreshing than any summer breeze ever could. You know, those moment when the reality of God‘s will and Word seem to speak so clearly to you, as if your ear were raised to heaven. It may come through a sermon, personal Bible study, prayer, the sixth hour of your twenty-four hour fast, the passing of a loved one, or watching your children at play. However that moment presents itself, you surely must think, “I desire to feel this way and live in light of this truth to the glory of God all the time”. I’ve often left church on Sunday with a renewed or entirely new understanding of God’s Word, and felt so joyous and zealous as if I could lead the next Reformation :). I’ve experienced such peace when praying to the Father that I was certain that no sin or scheme of Satan could lure me away from it. But something always happens after such experiences-the passing of time. Time provides two opportunities afterwards: 1) it provides God opportunity to continue to sanctify and use us in light of the truths that he has caused our hearts to meditate on, and 2) it provides opportunity for us to forsake what we have learned.

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As humans, we continually need to be changed in various ways. We encounter situations and issues in our lives, which mandate that we change our disposition, attitude and approach for appropriate reasons. Therefore, the human is constantly in flux, changing his mind and approach to events, situations and experiences based on pertinent information. This is a normal aspect of existence and is not inherently a bad quality or trait.

Believers desire to be changed and transformed by the Christ of the text through Scriptural meditation. He/she desires to be influenced and affected by the text. The believer in right attitude encounters the text with great desire and anticipation expecting to be granted illumination through the Holy Spirit.

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This is an article (slightly edited) that I submitted for my alma mater (Go Geneva!) last year. One of the most humbling things is to search our hearts. It is then that we are reminded why we needed Christ to save us and how grateful we should be that he has. Praise God for changing our hearts when we came to Christ; we are no longer slaves to sin (Romans 6: 15-23). However, the heart will always be in need of guarding, and therefore in need of the grace of God to keep it from falling into sin. May God give us hearts that daily ask as David did, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23, 24). Much love to the family in Christ!



The heart is an idol factory. Whatever your opinion is of John Calvin, these words of his are undeniably true. And they ring true from the Garden of Eden’s folly to the very last idolatrous thought that shall be had before the Return of the Christ. We, the overseers of the factory know what horrible things it produces all to well- and we love it (as far as the natural man is concerned). Surely this is why some do not often enough probe the depths of their heart, using the Word of God as a guide, to search out what ought not to be. In light of this, do not consider this an article but a tour into the heart, the factory of all things idolatrous.

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"It's All About the Gospel"

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith." Romans 1:17

Worship Speakers: Mike Jones, Lance Lewis, Wy Plummer, Thurman Williams

June 16 - 18, 2006 @ Redemption Fellowship Church in Fayetteville, Georgia

This is the annual convocation that will be held prior to the Presbyterian Church of America's (PCA) General Assembly in Atlanta, GA. Also the Founders of RBA are tentatively scheduled to be in attendance. If you are in the area or plan to attend, please look us up. We would love to meet you!

For more information and to register, please click here

Introduction
Instead of building upon all of Murray’s insightful quotes at once from the previous blog (some of which have yet to be mentioned), let us build upon just one at this time. “…a theology that relies upon the past evades the demands of the present.” The main idea of this brief work is to highlight 2 approaches to theological development. First, I briefly communicate the influence of Calvin’s Institutes on the Confession and then the influence of the Westminster Confession on Charles Hodges’ systematic theological work. I do this in order to outline a particular theological tradition called the majority approach discussed below. Then I introduce and discuss 2 distinct approaches to theological development and provide brief conclusion.

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