Hey everybody! It has been at least a solid week since I have posted a blog. I am really sorry that it has taken that long since the last time I have updated everyone! I wanted to update everyone on the job/s situation and how things are going here on the campus of Southern Seminary. First of all, I have been looking for a job and many doors opened then closed, opened then closed. It was getting a little frustrating but God is Faithful! I recently got a job with Target working in the back room with the merchandise. Today I will finish up my training and next week I will be hitting the ground running with the responsibilities that were given me. I am very confident that I will be able to perform the duties that have been asked of me and look forward to how God chooses to use me in displaying the gospel through different avenues to my fellow team members. God has really given me vision in locating the lost and dark areas of where I work now. I look forward to building relationships with these people and revealing the gospel to them by any means! I have also been qualified to work with UPS! This is a BIG blessing! UPS has a program called the learn and earn scholarship/reimbursement plan. When you work with the UPS company, as long as you pass your classes with a C or higher you will receive a 1500 dollar reimbursement for your education. Plus you also get money for books. I consider myself very blessed and fortunate to have been given this position because it will really help out financially as I pursue my Masters here at the seminary! So, that is what's going on job-wise. Now this week has been just pivotal in providing just what kind of awesome God I serve! I have been visiting a church here in Louisville called Highview which has 7 different campus locations, with a few located across the state border to Indiana. I have been attending the Fegenbush campus. I recently sat down with the Music Minister over the Fegenbush campus and after having a long conversation over lunch with him, Dan stated that he would love to see me on the Creativity Committee for the Media ministry. Now if you know me at all, you know why this is such an exciting opportunity! For anyone that hardly knows me I have a huge passion for displaying the gospel through media to Students around the World. I hope to do this when I finish up my Masters here at the Seminary! I cannot express how incredible of a week this has been for me! Financially, I have now been given two jobs to support myself while I get a solid, Biblical education. Family-wise, Elijah is here and I couldn't be any happier to see his beautiful face and hear of his healthy arrival as well as Erin's safety through the birthing stage. Church, I have an incredible opportunity to use my gifts and talents at a church that is Theologically sounded and family oriented. Ministry-wise, I have an incredible opportunity to share the gospel with the people I work with at Target and soon at UPS! Education, I am at a solid A in Greek class, which if you have taken Greek you know how big that is! God IS Sovereign and He is so GREAT! He provides us with what we truly need and desire. He is the Alpha & Omega, The Provider, Our Refuge and Strength, Our Father and The Savior of the world! So if you wonder why it is I serve the one and true God. Well, I think I've pretty much summed it up. May your walk with God be ever so stronger as each day passes and if you don't know Jesus, then I pray that you would recognize how desparately you need Him and surrender your life over to Him. If you're confused to how that works, you simply admit to your sin and depravity, believe in the death and ressurrection of Jesus Christ by His dying for our sins on the Cross, and simply ask Him to SAVE YOU! God bless!
For His Kingdom,
Twiga
Friday, September 25, 2009
My nephew is Here!!!!!!
Okay I should have already posted this one! My nephew was born at 10:45 a.m. on Wednesday, September the 23rd. He is Awesome! I mean the kid is a stud. Jason and Erin named him Elijah Bailey Engle. I love that name! I was so excited to hear the news that I totally forgot that I had a blog to post about it hahaha...... You can see some pictures of Elijah along with the post. Plus, for those of you that might not know me well; Jason, my brother and his wife also have a precious little girl named Emma Claire Engle. They took some pictures of both Emma and Elijah together and they are the sweetest things you have ever laid eyes on! I hope you enjoy the pictures. I will most definitely post more pictures of Elijah as they come. I get to see him on Thanksgiving Day, which can't come soon enough aaaggghhh! Nonetheless, I will definitely be posting pictures of myself and him whent that day comes around. Once again enjoy the pictures and remember that God is soveriegn and is in Control!
For His Kingdom,
Twiga
Monday, September 14, 2009
I got a JOB!
Hey everybody! I just wanted to quickly update everyone on the job situation. I really appreciate everyone's prayers for the last several weeks! I got a call from Target this morning and found out that I have orientation on Thursday morning at 9 a.m. Please continue to pray as I get situated at the store and also that I would have many opportunities to be light unto the darkness with the ones that I work with in the future. I also have an interview with UPS on Wednesday. I am hoping to gain this job as well because of its benefits and education reimbursement plan at the end of each school semester. I will update more on that opportunity as time passes. Once again I really appreciate everyone's prayers and encouragement during the season of patience that God has called me to. I will continue to update everyone on how things are going at the Target that I am working at and fill you in on the different people I work with. By the way, just to give you an idea of what I will be doing. Target will start me off by placing me in the back to scan products and help out with inventory. I'm sure opportunities to move up will present themselves. I am so thankful for God's provision in my life right now! I have found certain days difficult as I had several doors close shut on me but I am thankful nonetheless for God's work in my life to help my faithfulness grow to a more mature level! I pray all is well with everyone and may God's grace remain with you in all things.
For His Kingdom,
Twiga
For His Kingdom,
Twiga
Monday, September 7, 2009
The perishing bodies that surround us
As I was reading through some devotional studies this morning and I came across something that I thought would be good to share with everyone. I was reading in the book of Mark where the people brought the paralytic man to Jesus by lowering him through a roof of a house. It presented a question to me on how concerned and devoted we are to bring the lost and broken to Jesus. This scripture in Mark is such a beautiful description of how faith is coincided with our passion for the lost! How far are we willing to tread, no matter how difficult the circumstances and obstacles are in life to bring the lost to Jesus? We will drive hundreds of miles in order to attend a football game or pay a vast amount of money to get to a concert we desire so much to attend! How easily do we give up at the first sign of adversity while dealing with lost souls? Now obviously we have no power to save people but that is all the more reason it is crucially important for us to go to lengths to bring others closer to the Savior of the world! Now maybe the question is, how do we do this? Well, I would venture to say that it may take a long travel to reach a soul in need of Christ or a sacrificial gift in order to show someone how serious we are about the condition of their soul. How many perishing bodies sit out in the midst of the sinful pits of death, while we sit in our comfortable rooms? If we claim to be in a passionate pursuit after God then shouldn't that affect our desire for the advancement of the gospel to others that are without it? While reading this devotional, a great parallel was made which said, "If hunger for bread can break through stone walls, surely hunger for souls is not to be hindered in its efforts." How deep does our pursuit for lost souls reach? How urgent is our zeal to present the gospel to those that we know are lost and hopeless without Christ? I pray that if we have to, we will carry them to the roof and lower them in before the Almighty Savior even after considering the cost! I challenge you as myself to open our eyes to the perishing bodies that surround us and bring them to Jesus.
For His Kingdom,
Twiga
For His Kingdom,
Twiga
Thursday, September 3, 2009
A Panel Debate over N.T. Wright's view on Justification
Hey everybody! It has been a few days since I have posted a blog. Things are going pretty well here! I am enjoying my Greek class and so far I have Aced all my quizzes except for one, which its no biggie cause we are allowed to drop the lowest 3 quiz grades at the end of the school semester. Dr. Plummer scheduled two quizzes for this week so I have been a little more occupied with studying and getting prepared for those. We had the first one this morning and the other one is tomorrow. Next week we will have the first of four midterms on Friday. So I will be digging hard in the books this weekend! And just a quick update for everyone. I had an interview with Target this past Tuesday and I will be going through Orientation this coming Tuesday. I will probably check with UPS on Tuesday as well but unless something else comes up I will go ahead and pursue this job opportunity. Anyways, I just wanted to give everyone a quick update on how things are going.
Now onto the actual reason of this post. Southern Seminary had a panel debate over N.T. Wright's recent book "The New Perspectives of Paul". I can only speak as a person informed on the issue and not with a personal critique or knowledge on what he wrote in the book, well because I haven't read the book myself. So as I discuss this understand and know that I am only revealing what I took away from the panel debate. So now you know.
The reason for the Panel discussion was - N.T. Wright and the Doctrine of Justification
Dr. Albert Mohler was the moderator
Men on the Panel:
Dr. Denny Burk
Dr. Tom Schreiner
Dr. Mark Seifrid
Dr. Brian Vickers
All of these men have a crucial role at the Seminary in teaching the New Testament to Seminary Students with Sound Theology! First of all it might be a good idea to give you the issue that is at hand. Basically, N.T. Wright presented a different view of the way justification works according to what was revealed by the panel. Wright believes that we are justified through Jesus at first but then he also believes that in the end we are justified by our works. Now there are places in scripture that talks about works like in James which says, "faith without works is dead" and other places such as Galatians but by what was presented by the panel it seems as if Wright's view is found outside of the tradition of the view of justification that many Southern Baptist have beleived for a long time! By the way the panel presented Wright's view and theology within the confines of this book which seems to point that its not really about our sin against God but our injustice to society. The panel also discussed Wright's view on God's judgment and how he often compares it to the actual court of law in our society. The idea that is presented by Wright would seem to point out that within our court of law, the judge's duty is to hold firm to justice and present the sentence with no structure of grace. Well, that would be correct. That is how the system of justice has been established for a long time obviously! But my question is, how could anyone ever compare God's way of Justice to something as corrupt as our worldly system. Now do not get me wrong! God is a just God! There is no doubt in that statement and truth, but we have also been given the gift of grace and love by way of the cross. Now please do not misread me here! The panel was not set up in order to have a "bashing session" on N.T. Wright. In fact the panel was very satisfied with a lot of N.T. Wright's views on the history of the church and the life of Jesus. The panel was even extremely impressed with the presentation of the Ressurrection of the Cross by Wright's works. However, even though Wright has presented a great foundational history of Jesus, we have to view every lense by way of the gospel. And now I will get to the point of the issue here. I really had to toil through this and that is why it took me a while to post the blog for the panel debate. Here is the question I came up with. If we are justified by our faith in Christ and yet separately justified by works in the end, then how does that point to the full weight of what was done at the Cross? I mean I agree that when we have been justified by God, we are then being changed and comformed to His image through the Spirit. Therefore, fruit is revealed through our lives but not by OUR work! From what was presented this morning, Wright has established a Man centered justification. That is NOT the Gospel! Now one of the professors stated that Wright, only a few years ago spoke at a church throughout the course of a week during Easter. The specific professor on the panel stated that N.T. Wright only spoke on the Crucifixion, Ressurrection and then of course the defeat of death but never presented the Gospel! There was no grace offered to the church! Now wait a minute! If someone claims to present the Gospel to others, then how is it Good News if there is no element of grace presented. Now once again this is what was told to everyone attending the panel session at the chapel this morning. I was not present for the sermons given by Wright at that specific church but for a professor to make this claim, especially one that has been rooted in the Word of God for such a long time, I can't imagine that he would go so far to make this claim and not fully research and investigate it before presenting such a claim. I plan on acquiring Wright's book and reading it for myself so that I can be more informed. I just wanted to talk about what was said in chapel this morning and inform everyone of this issue at hand. I will say this and finish up the blog because it is already becoming pretty lengthy. If the Cross ONLY stands for an image of restoration and that's all then we are in a lot of trouble! If this is true then we have completely obliviated the glory of God and will never be saved from our depravity! The Cross is what we hold firm to and have hope in. What was completed by Jesus through the way of the Cross is the very essence of our hope and Life in Christ! We have been bought by the His blood and can have confidence in our assurance of salvation! Now maybe N.T. Wright believes this truth to a certain point and that is what encourages me to read the book, but the panel discussion was a perfect example of how easy it is to get strayed by new revolutionary ideas! I cannot say with a 100% that I know this whole thing to be true because my lack of understand and reading of the book but I have really come to appreciate and respect the Proffesors and scholars of the Word. I believe that these professors are very firm in their understanding of the gospel and theology, therefore; I am very concerned in what I have heard earlier in chapel this morning! John Piper actually wrote a book refuting Wright's view on Justification and that was also discussed. This will also be another book that I plan on attaining. I am most certain that this blog will get some comments and that is totally fine! In fact I hope to get a hold of N.T. Wright's book myself so that I can be more informed and better acquainted with the text. I really wish I would have taken notes in chapel so that I could have been a little more thourough but I was so fascinated by what was going on that I just sat and listened. Well there you go! I'm sure that this will be discussed in many places and people believe certain things of how this book should be interpreted and not interpreted but I for one am glad that I have been informed of the situation and now I will inform myslef more on the issue at hand.
For His Kingdom,
Twiga
Now onto the actual reason of this post. Southern Seminary had a panel debate over N.T. Wright's recent book "The New Perspectives of Paul". I can only speak as a person informed on the issue and not with a personal critique or knowledge on what he wrote in the book, well because I haven't read the book myself. So as I discuss this understand and know that I am only revealing what I took away from the panel debate. So now you know.
The reason for the Panel discussion was - N.T. Wright and the Doctrine of Justification
Dr. Albert Mohler was the moderator
Men on the Panel:
Dr. Denny Burk
Dr. Tom Schreiner
Dr. Mark Seifrid
Dr. Brian Vickers
All of these men have a crucial role at the Seminary in teaching the New Testament to Seminary Students with Sound Theology! First of all it might be a good idea to give you the issue that is at hand. Basically, N.T. Wright presented a different view of the way justification works according to what was revealed by the panel. Wright believes that we are justified through Jesus at first but then he also believes that in the end we are justified by our works. Now there are places in scripture that talks about works like in James which says, "faith without works is dead" and other places such as Galatians but by what was presented by the panel it seems as if Wright's view is found outside of the tradition of the view of justification that many Southern Baptist have beleived for a long time! By the way the panel presented Wright's view and theology within the confines of this book which seems to point that its not really about our sin against God but our injustice to society. The panel also discussed Wright's view on God's judgment and how he often compares it to the actual court of law in our society. The idea that is presented by Wright would seem to point out that within our court of law, the judge's duty is to hold firm to justice and present the sentence with no structure of grace. Well, that would be correct. That is how the system of justice has been established for a long time obviously! But my question is, how could anyone ever compare God's way of Justice to something as corrupt as our worldly system. Now do not get me wrong! God is a just God! There is no doubt in that statement and truth, but we have also been given the gift of grace and love by way of the cross. Now please do not misread me here! The panel was not set up in order to have a "bashing session" on N.T. Wright. In fact the panel was very satisfied with a lot of N.T. Wright's views on the history of the church and the life of Jesus. The panel was even extremely impressed with the presentation of the Ressurrection of the Cross by Wright's works. However, even though Wright has presented a great foundational history of Jesus, we have to view every lense by way of the gospel. And now I will get to the point of the issue here. I really had to toil through this and that is why it took me a while to post the blog for the panel debate. Here is the question I came up with. If we are justified by our faith in Christ and yet separately justified by works in the end, then how does that point to the full weight of what was done at the Cross? I mean I agree that when we have been justified by God, we are then being changed and comformed to His image through the Spirit. Therefore, fruit is revealed through our lives but not by OUR work! From what was presented this morning, Wright has established a Man centered justification. That is NOT the Gospel! Now one of the professors stated that Wright, only a few years ago spoke at a church throughout the course of a week during Easter. The specific professor on the panel stated that N.T. Wright only spoke on the Crucifixion, Ressurrection and then of course the defeat of death but never presented the Gospel! There was no grace offered to the church! Now wait a minute! If someone claims to present the Gospel to others, then how is it Good News if there is no element of grace presented. Now once again this is what was told to everyone attending the panel session at the chapel this morning. I was not present for the sermons given by Wright at that specific church but for a professor to make this claim, especially one that has been rooted in the Word of God for such a long time, I can't imagine that he would go so far to make this claim and not fully research and investigate it before presenting such a claim. I plan on acquiring Wright's book and reading it for myself so that I can be more informed. I just wanted to talk about what was said in chapel this morning and inform everyone of this issue at hand. I will say this and finish up the blog because it is already becoming pretty lengthy. If the Cross ONLY stands for an image of restoration and that's all then we are in a lot of trouble! If this is true then we have completely obliviated the glory of God and will never be saved from our depravity! The Cross is what we hold firm to and have hope in. What was completed by Jesus through the way of the Cross is the very essence of our hope and Life in Christ! We have been bought by the His blood and can have confidence in our assurance of salvation! Now maybe N.T. Wright believes this truth to a certain point and that is what encourages me to read the book, but the panel discussion was a perfect example of how easy it is to get strayed by new revolutionary ideas! I cannot say with a 100% that I know this whole thing to be true because my lack of understand and reading of the book but I have really come to appreciate and respect the Proffesors and scholars of the Word. I believe that these professors are very firm in their understanding of the gospel and theology, therefore; I am very concerned in what I have heard earlier in chapel this morning! John Piper actually wrote a book refuting Wright's view on Justification and that was also discussed. This will also be another book that I plan on attaining. I am most certain that this blog will get some comments and that is totally fine! In fact I hope to get a hold of N.T. Wright's book myself so that I can be more informed and better acquainted with the text. I really wish I would have taken notes in chapel so that I could have been a little more thourough but I was so fascinated by what was going on that I just sat and listened. Well there you go! I'm sure that this will be discussed in many places and people believe certain things of how this book should be interpreted and not interpreted but I for one am glad that I have been informed of the situation and now I will inform myslef more on the issue at hand.
For His Kingdom,
Twiga
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