Coolest band i discovered this year…

I love music and occasionally go on to purevolume.com and check out bands on there and see if i come across any that sound like they have any potential to make it someday. I haven’t had much time for that this year but this one band i found a few weeks ago really impressed me. They are called  ”We Came As Romans.” i liked their sound, lyrics, and their name. They ROCK, but don’t take my word for it. Take a listen here and read some of their lyrics. let me know what you think of them.

Weekly Quotes

Here are some quotes that stuck out in my reading this week. I didn’t do as much reading this week as last week due to all that was going on with Christmas being this week, but i did start reading Romans during my quite time with God so i gleaned a lot from that. 

“To break free from falsehood, someone has to upset the applecart…”

-Bill Hybels, from the book Axiom.

Psalm 145:3

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
and his greatness is unsearchable.

Psalm 147:1

Praise the Lord!
For it is good to sing praises to our God;
for it is pleasant, and a song of praise is fitting.

Romans 2:13

For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.

Romans 5:2-6

2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

The Best Albums of 2008

#1 “New Surrender”- Anberlin

#2 “Viva La Vida” and “Prospekts March EP”-Coldplay 

#3 “Lost in the Sound Of Separation”-Underoath

#4 “Rebel”-Lecrae 

#5 “The Alchemy Index, Vol. 3 & 4: Air and Earth”-Thrice

#6 “While Broken Hearts Prevail”-Emery

#7 “You are my Sunshine”-Copeland

#8 “The Antimother”- Norma Jean

#9 “With Arrows, With Poise” – The Myriad

#10 “The Bright Sadness”-Charlie Hall and “This is Our God”- Hillsong

BEST SOUNDTRACK OF 2008

“The Dark Knight”

The Truth about Christmas

http://www.adventconspiracy.org/

NEW LECRAE SINGLE AND MORE REACH RECORDS NEWS

So here it is what is up in the world of  Reach Records:

-Tedashi is in the studio working on a new album that is supposed to come out in April 2009. get pumped!

-Trip Lee’s album “If they only knew” and Lecrae’s album “Real Talk” are on sale here for only $4.99!!!

-speaking of Lecrae. He has a new single that has been released. It has only been heard at his concerts and is not on any of his albums. you can pick it up on iTunes and Amazon for .99 cents. it is worth it. It is such a phat track!!!

Things that stuck out in my reading this week…

I’m doing a lot of reading over my Christmas break and thought i would share some snippets of what has stuck out to me in my reading this week. 

 ”materialism fails to take seriously the gospel of Christ’s sacrificial death for us”

-Tim Keller in the december 2008 edition of themelios

Pslam 123:1-2

1To you I lift up my eyes,
O you who are enthroned in the heavens!
 2 Behold, as the eyes of servants
look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maidservant
to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
till he has mercy upon us.

Psalm 122:9

For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
I will seek your good.

“If you’re in a dating relationship, be forward and plain stated about your intentions.  Don’t waste valuable time playing games.  Just don’t be a stalker.”

-Steven Furtick’s blog

Psalm 121:5-7

5The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
 6The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.

 7 The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
 8 The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.

Psalm 119:80

May my heart be blameless in your statutes,
that I may not be put to shame!

Psalm 119:130-131

The unfolding of your words gives light;
it imparts understanding to the simple.
131 I open my mouth and pant,
because I long for your commandments.

“The Nature of human beings is such that we tend not to drift into better behaviors. We usually have to be asked by someone to consider taking it up a level.”

-Bill Hybels, from the book Axiom:Powerful leadership Proverbs

Psalm 130:3-6

3If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
 4 But with you there is forgiveness,
that you may be feared.

 5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
 6 my soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen for the morning,
more than watchmen for the morning.

A cool Quote…

I came across this as i was doing some reading today and i thought i would share it. 

“if we are to be transformed by the renewing of our mind, then we must be reading the scriptures perennially[continually], seeking to think God’s thoughts after him, focusing on the gospel of God and pondering its implications in every domain of life. we need to hear competing voices of information from the world around us, use our time in the digital world wisely, and learn to shut that world down when it becomes more important to get up in the morning and answer emails than it does to get up and read the Bible and pray.”

-D.A. Carson, from the December 2008 edition of Themelios.

Tools for the Journey pt. 2

#2 Reading

I know to many reading is torture, but  if you think about it even those that say they hate reading probably read plenty of e-mails, facebook wall post, and articles about there favorite bands. Unless you don’t know how to read you probably read a lot more then you think you do(FYI: you are reading right now). 

Thanks to the internet there is so much material at our finger tips that can encourage and help us in our walk with the Lord. I Find that reading the blogs of pastors like Perry Nobel and Mark Driscoll are very helpful. Pastors like them write blogs for the purpose of helping others. Here are some links to some blogs that i read: 

The Resurgence

Perry Nobel

I have also found it helpful to read books written by Godly men and women. I often find suggestions for books to read through the podcast i listen to and the blogs i read. All of these tools often tie together like a swiss army knife or a multi-tool. Authors that i find to be particularly helpful and edifying are: Mark Driscoll, John Piper, Erwin Mcmanus, C.S. Lewis, Augustine, and there are many more but i would encourage you to ask your pastors and friends about the books that have been really impactful on there lives, and also encourage you to read a mix of both old and new books.

Speaking of Impactful books DO NOT FORGET TO READ YOUR BIBLE. Forget about all the suggestions i have made above till you start reading your Bible. If you are not doing that then you are missing out on reading the very words of God!!! Do not miss out on that. The above reading should not be considered as a substitute to regular reading of the scripture. The Bible should be your main source for information, encouragement, and conviction in your journey of faith.

Tools for the Journey pt. 1

In my short yet eventful life i have come to find there are things that help along on my journey toward learning more about God . I’m going to spend the next few post going through these in hopes that you all will gain something from it and be encouraged and better equipped for life. i’m no expert on the tools we need for life(God is the only expert in that area), but there are somethings that God has taught me that help me immensely.

#1 Podcast:

I find it extremely beneficial to be emerged in solid Bible teaching through out the whole week, not just on Sunday. I subscribe to a bunch of podcast and i don’t expect everyone to listen to them as much as i do, but it is so encouraging and helpful to hear the Bible preached through out the week from different Godly people.  Also, it allows me to hear different passages of scripture taught instead of just one. Scripture is Awesome and there is so much there, by listening to multiple pastors you gain a broader knowledge of the scripture and get challenged in more then just one area of your life. For Example, your pastor at your home church may be teaching on not lying and that challenges you and then if you listen to another pastor on a podcast you may be challenged in your prayer life. This may seem like to much challenging for some but it helps me to be working on multiple areas of my life all at once, and if you think about it all challenges are going to fall into two areas: 1) your relationship to people 2) your relationship to God.

I have also found sermon podcast to be very encouraging when i’m feeling very down spiritually and/or physically. God always has something He speaks to me about as i listen to a podcast in my dorm room or at home and it helps me to refocus on God during a busy week of classes and life. 

Here are some podcast you can search for on itunes that I highly recommend:

Mars Hill church- Mark Driscoll

Cornerstone Church-Francis Chan

Elevation Church-Steven Furtick 

Newspring Church-Perry Nobel

Imago Dei Community Church-Rick Mckinely 

Mosaic church-Erwin Mcmanus

North Point Church-Andy Stanley

The Village Church-Matt Chandler

Resurgence featured audio

Sovereign Grace Leadership Interview Series

Help change someone’s Life….

What up?

It is that time of year again. Everyone is off buying and buying and buying, But what are you doing this time of year to help those that really need something? I am not talking about people that say they “need” an Ipod or an xbox 360 but those that need money for food or need someone to be a role model to them because they don’t have a dad or mom. I would like to encourage you all to give to some kind of non-profit during this season and during this coming new year. I started giving to some nonprofits around this time last year and God has used that to rock my world. It helps me take my mind off myself and reminds me that there are people out there with real important needs. 

Lately i’ve been thinking a lot about the fatherless and widows and that is why i would like to share a video with you by The Mentoring Project. it is a great organization. 

Check out this link and watch the video and consider giving to some kind of organization this holiday season:

https://www.thementoringproject.org/

Stop being so selfish!