How to Know When Jesus Will Return

I Can Hear it Now

“So… Ben, you know when Jesus is retuning? That’s pretty impressive considering that not even Jesus knows the day or the hour of his return according to Matthew 24:36.”

Ok, I’ll call uncle on this one. I don’t know the day or the hour when Jesus will return. However, I do know the main factor that is keeping Jesus from returning right now. Look at 2 Peter 3.

2 Peter 3

1 This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, 3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Ha! Calvinism Defeated! …Right?

See, verse 9, “…not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” Calvinism teaches that God predestines some to be saved and the rest will perish, but if God doesn’t wish that any should perish then Calvinism must not be true, right? Not so fast. We need to put this verse into context. Let’s break down verses 1-13 into an outline.

1. Scoffers will claim that Jesus is not going to return because it has taken so long (v. 4).
2. They deliberately overlook the great flood where God destroyed the earth with water (v. 5-6).
3. Similarly, the world will be destroyed again, but this time with fire instead of water (v. 7)
4. God’s time is not man’s time (v. 8a).
5. God’s apparent slowness is actually patience towards “you” (v. 8b).
6. When Jesus returns, the fire of God will consume the earth and everyone on it whose works are evil (v. 10).
7. Therefore wait with patience and holiness (v 11-13).

So the overall effect of this passage is to state that the delay in Jesus returning is not due to God’s slowness in fulfilling his promises, but rather due to his unwillingness to allow certain people to perish (namely, his elect). I can easily see someone objecting to me inserting the idea of the elect into this passage, but I think that it is truly a necessary implication. If Jesus is truly not wishing that any should perish (not a single person), then why is this tied into Jesus’ second coming? Whenever Jesus returns, we know for certain from the Bible that many will perish. If Jesus is delaying the second coming to prevent any people from perishing, he will have to simply never return. Therefore the “you” of verse 9 must refer not to the entire human race but to a select group whom God refuses to destroy. We know biblically that this must be the elect.

Why Has it Taken 2000 Years?

The answer is simple: the elect are not gathered yet. If Jesus were to return right now multiplied millions of those who were destined to eventually repent and trust in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins would be destroyed by the fires of judgment before they reach repentance. God is faithful and does not wish that his elect should perish and therefore Jesus still waits to this day. In Biblical end-times prophesy, Jesus is portrayed as a bridegroom and the church as his bride. We can look ahead to the great wedding feast that will occur immediately after Jesus returns, but at our point in history, Jesus is not a husband to the church but a fiancé. I remember the days of my own engagement to my wife, and how difficult and painful the wait for our wedding day was. Jesus however has been waiting for 2000 years. Thank God for his patience! If he had returned a year of two after he ascended to heaven, imagine how many would have perished in smoke! Don’t scoff at the return of Jesus or consider it to be indefinitely far off. One glorious day, the fullness of the elect will be gathered and Jesus will not hesitate to return in glory and set everything right. He will destroy his enemies and marry his church.

Download John Piper’s 225 Sermons on Romans

John Piper preached 225 sermons on the book of Romans.

If you want to listen to them, you have to download them from www.desiringgod.org one at a time and keep yourself very organized.

Or, you can buy the mp3 CDs for $29.99.

Now you can also download the whole series by bittorrent.

Here is my rationale for making this torrent:

1. I had an interest in listening to this series anyway, and since I needed to do all the downloading, renaming, tagging, and organizing manually, I figured it would be valuable to make this available.
2. There are 225 sermons in this series, and downloading them all individually is extremely time consuming.
3. It is difficult to keep the titles and ordering organized when downloading from desiringGod.org
4. The 2GB of sermons consume a lot of bandwidth to download, and Desiring God has to pay for this bandwidth by the MB. Making them available through P2P sourcing can lighten the financial burden.
5. Buying, packing and shipping the series on mp3 CDs seemed like a waste to me other than the fact that a portion of this supports Desiring God. I consider Desiring God a very worthy cause for your financial support, so if this series is of interest to you I would highly recommend giving a contribution to the ministry or purchase other resources from their store.

Downloading this audio is explicitly permitted according to the Desiring God Ministries sharing policy.

Enjoy!

Download it Here

Please do your part and seed the torrent if possible. My computer is not on 24-7! If you are not finding peers, please contact me and I will seed.

Edit 9/2/2012: Due to the unreliability of torrent trackers, I’ve decided to mirror this collection on my Dropbox. If the torrent does not work for you, download it from http://db.tt/gK0E4yai.

Discrimination Against LGBT People

Intentional Secrecy

Why does everyone know what “coming out of the closet” means? It’s such a cultural phenomenon for people to expose the long-kept secrets of their homosexuality or gender preferences that we have an entire unrelated phrase devoted to it that almost everybody understands. It really begs the questions, “Why do people feel like they needed to keep this a secret?” and “Why do they describe feelings of liberation when they’re vocal about it?”

Fear

What if “coming out” means that your roommate no longer feels comfortable living with you? What if you are afraid that people will judge you as morally bankrupt or disgusting? What if you’re afraid that you will lose relationships with friends, family, employers, and (if applicable) churches? Coming out would be terrifying. Naturally, it’s easy to imagine the sigh of relief of the LGBT person who has come out without their world imploding around them.

Who Discriminates Against LGBT People and How?

I find it difficult to believe that so many people would have this fear if it were unwarranted. For this reason I have come up with a list of what I consider to be legitimate discriminations against LGBT people and who is discriminating.

• Blame Shifting – Perpetrators include: The Catholic Church, the Religious Right. While the Catholic Church is buried in the quagmire of pedophilia, sexual abuse, and cover-up from within the priesthood, it really takes a lot of bigotry to blame homosexuals. Equally bigoted are leaders of the Religious Right/TBN crowd who would blame the 9/11 attacks on God’s wrath against the nation that tolerates homosexuality. Meanwhile their own folks are investigated for fraud and getting caught in adultery.
• Genuine Homophobia – Cowards include: Miscellaneous fearful. While often “homophobia” is used pejoratively against anyone with a less than favorable opinion of homosexuality, there are many who are genuinely fearful of LGBT people. It seems rather irrational to be literally afraid of people on the basis of homosexuality but, then again, I suppose that’s what a phobia is.
• Unintentional Condescension – Holier-than-thou include: Repentant bloggers, concerned friends. This one is subtle. It happens when Christians, desiring to be loving, urge people to repent and receive forgiveness when they discover their homosexuality, but can’t prevent themselves from talking down to them in the process. It tends to happen with that acquaintance that you haven’t talked to in a while, but think that the news of their “coming out” is the perfect time to confront them about it. Of course, plenty of other friends whom you know a lot better are openly unrepentant of a variety of other sins but unworthy of your loving exhortation. Hypocrite.
• Cavalier Mockery – Scoffers include: Middle schoolers, people trying to ruin any chance of relating to LGBT friends. “Man that movie was GAY!” ‘Nuff said.

But Homosexuality is a Sin…

So as a Christian who is politically conservative, why did I write this post? Have I lapsed in my belief that homosexuality is a sin? No. I want to call us all to repentance and the forgiveness of sins. But before I continue I want to acknowledge one final type of discrimination against LGBT people. It’s from an unlikely source: Liberal churches. In these churches, LGBT people are denied the good news that all other sinners can otherwise hear and believe for salvation: repentance and the forgiveness of sins purchased by the shedding of Jesus’ innocent blood and secured in his resurrection from the dead. We all need, it, so why withhold it from one group? Is that not discrimination?

Jesus

Jesus had one major stump speech, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” It applies to every person on the planet including the LGBT community and any who discriminate against it. Jesus has lived a life of obedience on your behalf and died on your behalf that you may have everlasting life, the forgiveness of sins, and victory over the power of sin to conform you to Satan’s will. Confess you sins and find them forgiven in Jesus. Experience the deep love of God, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us – the godly for the ungodly. Praise God!

What is Faith?

Faith According To Mormons

Occasionally, I meet with Mormon missionaries on campus and ask them questions about their beliefs. They tend to be very friendly and painfully agreeable, to the point that, based on their answers, it’s difficult to tell the difference between Mormonism and Christianity. After asking difficult, pointed questions, finding unsatisfactory answers, and answering with a rebuttal, the usual response is that you simply need to have faith and the inner conviction of the Holy Spirit will guide you to the truth of Mormonism. I am told to have faith in order that I may know that Mormonism is true. In other words, I am asked to suspend my critical faculties when judging the assertions of the Mormon Church, opting instead for subjective internal feelings that are accepted on faith.

Faith According to Atheists

As friendly and agreeable as most Mormon missionaries are, most Atheist missionaries are that angry and disagreeable. An exhaustingly jocular movement based around the satirical Flying Spaghetti Monster began in order to mock religions for accepting assertions based on faith. The thrust of the argument, after cutting through a few miles of sarcasm, is that if you’re willing to believe in God on faith apart from evidence, then you’re no different than someone who believes that the world was created by a monster made of pasta. Again, the definition of faith in the view of the Atheist is what enables a religious person to judge a set of assertions to be true apart from or in opposition to objective reasons.

Whaduhya Know!

Hebrews 11
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

The Atheists were right, huh? No, I hope you don’t read this passage that superficially. What does Hebrews 11 mean in context? Go back to chapter 10. Remember, the original manuscripts have no headings, and no chapter or verse divisions. Notice that all the chapters begin with words like, “therefore,” “since,” and “now.” When Hebrews 11 begins with, “Now faith…” it is continuing from a chain of arguments that goes all the way back to the beginning of the letter.

Hebrews 10
19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Notice, the justification for faith is not blind. It is not belief in assertions suspended in the air entirely unsupported. The reason for faith is the faithfulness of God, “for he who promised is faithful.”

My Faithful Wife

As a newlywed, I really love my wife. I have faith in her. We are faithful to each other. My faith in her should be an honor because when I declare, “I trust my wife,” I am really saying that I consider her trustworthy. Suppose my wife asked me, “Ben, why do you consider me trustworthy?”, and I answer, “because I just do!” She would be incredibly insulted. Hallie has done things and proven herself time and time again that she is faithful and trustworthy. When Hallie reports something to me, I believe her, not because I relax my brain and refuse to think, but because Hallie has proven that she is trustworthy. In the same way, Christians put their faith in Jesus because he is trustworthy, not because we have turned off our brains.

God Proves Himself to Israel

The Israelites were people who constantly wavered in their faithfulness to God. It seems that they were always hesitant to trust in God and always quick to abandon him. Yet these were people who walked across the parted Red Sea, who ate the bread from Heaven in the wilderness, who saw Moses’ face glow when he brought them the commandments from Mt. Sinai, and watched the walls of Jericho fall without siege. God was speaking along the way, saying things like “…that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel,” “…that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you,” and “…that you may know that I am the Lord your God.” God is constantly doing things in order to prove himself to his people. He has always required faith in him, but he has always provided his people with reasons to believe him. This is why people are morally culpable for their faith! For the Jews to reject the Lord is for them to blindfold their eyes to what he has done.

Jesus Proves his Divinity

Jesus wants you to believe that he is God, that he created the world, that he died for your sins, and that he rose from the dead, but Jesus is not asking to believe simply because you believe. Throughout his earthly ministry, Jesus constantly justifies the things he does using Old Testament scripture. He enters debates and offers evidences so that you may believe. Meanwhile, he is going throughout the Roman world privately changing water into wine and transfiguring into a celestial form, and publicly healing the blind, the sick, and the lame, walking on water, raising the dead, and multiplying food. When the disciples are skeptical that Jesus rose from the dead bodily, he showed them his hands, and asked to eat broiled fish to prove that it was him and that he was not a spirit, but flesh and bones. Paul reports that over 500 people at a time witnesses the resurrected Jesus. Jesus does not simply command belief in him without doing anything that would warrant it, he proves it time and time again.

But I Wasn’t There

It would be fantastic to have lived in the first century and witnessed the life and work of Jesus personally, but unfortunately for us we can’t. How then do we know whether these proofs are historical? Well, how do we know that anything is historical? These events occurred before photography, video, and audio recording existed. Before you’re tempted to claim that we can’t know things without photos, videos, or recordings, remember that to make such a statement means that we have to throw away all history prior to the inventions of recording devices. In all matters of history, historians rely on witnesses, documents, and testimonies and can establish credibility based on objective features.

Peter Proves Jesus is the Messiah

Throughout his preaching to the unbelieving masses in the book of Acts, Peter calls people to believe based on proofs and reasons.  Throughout his sermons Peter exposits the Old Testament to show how what was was foretold, has been fulfilled. He doesn’t call them to believe for no reason, but because of the soundness of scripture. Even when miracles surrounded his preaching, Peter never once pointed at them to prove that these things were so, but insisted on the scripture’s testimony and his firsthand witness. In his second letter, Peter expounds on the merit of his testimony saying,

2 Peter 1: 16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Do Christians Believe Anything Without Evidence?

Given that evidence supports the assertions of Christianity, do we believe anything apart from evidence? Answer: Yes. When Christians take things on faith, they are not suspending their reasoning and building their beliefs on the air, they are trusting the mouth of the God whose works speak for him. No one has witnessed the beginning of the world. God has. Do we trust him? No one has experienced life in the new Heavens and the new Earth. God sees it like it is today. God’s track record for honesty is solid, so when God speaks we need to believe him, not in spite of reasons, but because he has proven himself trustworthy.

Did You Gouge Out Your Eye?

Confession

The months leading up to our marriage, my wife and I suffered under extreme, debilitating sexual temptation. We had a long-distance relationship the whole time that we had known each other, making our visits in person emotional, physical, and all around tempting. We prayed earnestly and continually for the desires to postpone until our wedding, and pursued means to withstand the temptation without succumbing to legalism, but still we found ourselves yielding to desires prematurely.

At one point, I found myself so jaded from constantly faltering in the same way that I emotionally began to question whether 1 Corinthians 10:13 was true:

1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Eventually, I took my concerns to a pastor at my church who gave me the wise council, “If you’re still committing the sin, then you are obviously neglecting the means of grace than God has provided for you to get out of it. “

I protested initially telling him, “You don’t know how many different ways we have tried to fight this.”

He responded, “Did you gouge out your eye? Jesus said that if your eye causes you to sin, then gouge it out.”

I got the point. There is at least one means of grace that I have not used: gouging out my eye. Suddenly, I had a fresh desire to find alternative means of grace.

When the time came around for me to visit my wife-to-be, I called a close friend and invited him to stay the night. He did, and as a result, we avoided sexual sin. Sure it was uncomfortable, but it beat losing an eye.

No More Excuses

What are the areas in your life where you have given up at repentance? Do you have fits of anger against others when they do something that you consider stupid? Do you continually dishonor your parents because you don’t feel like they deserve honor after the way they have treated you? Is it ok for you spread that bit of gossip even though it’s all true? Have you resolved to live a homosexual lifestyle because you prayed about it and God didn’t take it away? Have you given yourself to pornography because, hey, it’s better than sex right?

1 John 3:9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.

This is not perfectionism, this is repentance. No one, John of first John included, is claiming that you will cease to sin entirely as evidence of your new birth, but rather the familiar message of repentance and the forgiveness of sins. The first of Martin Luther’s 95 theses that launched the Protestant Reformation was this:

“When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said ‘Repent’, He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.”

Be Killing Sin, or it Will Be Killing You

It is time to put to death the sins that so easily entangle. Turn to Jesus, calling on his name. Use the means of grace to fight your sins. You might not even have to gouge out your eye.

Podcast Pushing

I love podcasts. One might say that I am addicted to podcasts. With the current iPod touch software, you can listen to podcasts at 2x speed, and I listen to about 3 or 4 hours of podcasts a day during down time at work. If you consider that I’m listening at 2x speed, you could reasonably say that I consume 6 to 8 hours worth of material throughout a normal day! That being said, I think it would be helpful for me to review, summarize or recommend materials on this blog for the up-building of the church and to just keep my own thoughts organized. I would encourage you to consider whether it is worth your time to download and listen to these resources. If so, you may find PodShifter a useful tool for speeding up the podcasts.

Timothy Tennent: Introduction to Buddhism (20 Episodes)

At the time of this recording, Dr. Timmothy Tennent is lecturing at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Dr. Tennent is an expert on world religions, and has many years of missionary experience in Buddhist parts of Asia. This 20-lesson series will help you develop a working understanding of Buddhism in such a way that you will really begin to understand your own faith better and understand the worldviews that Buddhist people hold.  Unlike much material in the realm of apologetics, his lectures are not just a box of arguments against Buddhism, but really a comprehensive introduction to the doctrinal evolution and practice of Buddhism as a whole. The tone is academic and engaging for me as a Christian yet I would feel entirely comfortable giving them to a Buddhist. These lectures are highly recommended.

Timothy Tennent: Introduction to Islam (24 Episodes)

Like his Introduction to Buddhism, Dr. Tennent’s 24-lesson Introduction to Islam will help you develop a working understanding of Islam. As an Abrahamic religion, Islam shares a similar worldview to Christianity and Judaism and thus requires much less lecture time than the Buddhism lectures to explain how Muslims view the world. While far from being sympathetic to Islam, Dr. Tennent avoids widespread misconceptions about Islam (especially radical Islam) without sparing them criticism where criticism is due. He does expose some historical facts that can be the dagger-to-the-heart of the Islamic religion, but his process is far more systematic and composed than simply shooting down the religion. It is crucial as Christians that we understand other religions before we consider debating them if we are remotely interested in seeing them consider the gospel of Jesus. Highly Recommended.

John Piper: Pastoral Theology (9 mini-classes ranging from 3 to 11 episodes per class)

Most people who know me know that I am a fan of all things Piper. This lecture series is no different. If you are a Piper veteran, you have probably have heard most of this considering the the topics are fairly standard John Piper: Christian Hedonism, Future Grace, Biblical Inerrancy, Sexual Complementarity, an so on. The real gem of this lecture series is the class on TULIP, or the five points of Calvinism. Piper goes point by point through the five points of Calvinism addressing them from scripture and addressing problem texts and defending them from common accusations with composure through scripture. I had problems with the mp3 tags not matching the lectures, so be careful when you download them to be organized.

D. A. Carson: The New Perspectives on Paul (iTunes only, 3 episodes)

D. A. Carson is a reformed, evangelical academic who you need to know about. He is a book writing machine (wikipedia reports he is at 57), and he is always well versed on contemporary issues and willing to write and speak about them. His lectures on the New Perspectives on Paul are no exception. The New Perspectives are a very complex, loosely connected series of academic perspectives about the teachings of the Apostle Paul that seek to reconsider whether Paul was addressing legalistic Judaism when he presents dichotomies of faith and works. The movement is extremely controversial because, unlike many liberal movements to redefine Paul, the New Perspectives are essentially a conservative movement arguing on the basis of scripture rather than undermining it. The ramifications of the New Perspectives will influence how justification is understood, and there are arguments floating around these circles for justification, at least partly, on the basis of works. The New Perspectives are finding their way into Calvinist circles with mixed responses. These lectures serve as a fine introduction to the perspectives and critical analysis of the assertions regarding Paul.

Personal Announcement

As you may have noticed, the blog has been very quiet lately. Much of this silence reflects the fact that I am back in school and have been lacking time to write, but more importantly though, I am getting married December 27, 2009 to Hallie Clara Parker, the love of my life! Needless to say, there will be a lot to do before then, and so I expect the blog to remain fairly quiet. This is not to say that I have forgotten or abandoned this blog, since in fact, I have been jotting down ideas as they come and plan on becoming more regular with my posts. It has always been my prayer that this blog would be educational, edifying, and sanctifying, and so long as I believe there is ministry potential, I plan to continue blogging. To my subscribers and loyal readers: please bear with me through this joyful but busy season and pray for me and my wife to be. In the meantime, if you’re looking for some good reading, why not follow some of the links on my sidebar? If you want to go the book route, here are a few personal recommendations:

When Helping Hurts

Spectacular Sins

The Bible

Do We Marginalize Cults?

From the outside looking in, it is always easier to see the weirdness, falsehoods, and brainwashing that cults subject their followers to, but it is always stunning to see how many apparently normal people get indoctrinated. Were these people just stupid? I don’t think so.

There are probably hundreds of reasons why a person would join a cult, but perhaps one of them comes from the outside world. It is common for people to mock the ridiculousness of scientology’s Xenu, or the creepy old man self-proclaimed prophet who recently changed his name to something psuedo-Jewish like Hebbudiah Immanual Jah-Haddesh who demands total obedience and 37 wives. Cults are ridiculous for sure, but when cults seek converts, they don’t parade their weirdness, they parade their normalcy.

There are friendly faces. Everyone loves the group. Everyone is universally accepting. There are free events and free food. Everyone wants you to join. Everyone is full of hope and really believes what the cult believes, and they believe they are on a mission. When they explain what they believe, the beliefs are very tame and have the illusion of being well thought-out and not exactly ridiculous.

People aren’t on guard for these kind of groups. They are on guard for groups of weirdos. They sneak in falsehoods little by little.

Maybe we need to be more patient and systematic about testing beliefs to scripture so that people are not deceived.

What do you think?

Some of My Ambitions

It is frustrating to discover that I have a hundred awesome ambitions, projects and curiosities, when I know that I have only 24 hours in a day, I sleep away about 7 of them, I work three jobs, and I’m about to start back in school.

To clear my brain, I suppose I could blog out a few goals that come to mind (in no particular order):

1. To read the parts of the Bible that I am not sure that I have read.
2. To listen to seminary lectures on my iPod. (These are available for free on iTunes U for “Reformed Theological Seminary”)
3. To rewrite some classic and powerful hymns with modern styling.
4. To write a concept album that preaches the Law of God and the Gospel together.
5. To read “The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment” by Tim Challies.
6. To blog more and more, hopefully one day making this blog into a functional Bible study that disciples Christians in faith, the way that I have been discipled by some of my closest friends.
7. To continue listening to my 15+ GB sermon library (Available free through the iTunes podcast directory). Along with this I want to organize the most powerful sermons that I hear, and also potentially burn copies to CDs to give out to others.
8. To start working through some of the guitar pedal schematics I have found and start building a few pedals.
9. To grow solid in my prayer habits, and increase in love of God.
10. To get back to distance running.
11. To start a wiki-based song book where the community researches the scriptural basis of songs and cross references and catalogs them, making it easier to sing songs that relate to the pastor’s scripture text for the sermon.
12. To start a community effort of compiling an audio bible from the preaching of pastor’s sermons.

What are your ambitions? Leave me a comment.