Friendship compared to Iron
“Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friends.” ~Proverbs 27:17
Some Characteristics of Iron Iron ~A silvery-white Lustrous metallic element Malleable occurring abundantlyDuctile in combined forms, notablyMagnetic in hematite, limonite, Magnetizable magnetite, and taconite, and used alloyed in a wide range of important structural materials.
A Glance at the Making of Iron
Iron ore is mined from the ground. This ore is then brokendown to separate the worthless particles of sand and rock from the ore. Washing the iron ore removes tailing (waste) leaving the concentrate. (good ore) When the ore is washed it is ready for the other ingredients to be added. Coke and limestone are added to the iron and cooked in a furnace while being blasted with hot air. The outside of the furnace is then cooled by water.
A true friend is somebody who can make us do what we can. ~Lavator
The Characteristics of Friendship and Iron Compared.
Friendship and Iron are lustrous. They have a glow that draws one to them. They both gleam and radiate.
Iron and friendship are malleable. They must both be shaped and formed in order to be useful. They are shaped through pressures and are easily influenced and changed.
Iron and friendship are ductile. That means they can be drawn out into a wire or hammered thin. They are readily shaped. A friend is someone who will be persuaded and influenced by the things you say and do with them. They are tractable.
Friendship and Iron both have magnetic qualities. A magnet attracts iron and certain other materials by virtue of a surrounding field of force produced by the motion and alignment of electrons and atoms. Friends are drawn to each other through common interests, locations, activities, and situations.
Friendship and Iron are both magnetizable. They are both a substance that can be magnetized.
Friendship attracts and influences different forces according to the strength of the magnetization.
Thoughts to Ponder
Iron and Friendship are both used everyday.
We take often take iron and friendship for granted.
Friendship is magnetic. ~It draws people together.
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Good luck to the Hall Bros.
Good luck guys! I'm keeping my fingers crossed!
Event Entry List for Mac Tools U.S. Nationals!
~Stock eliminator
4782 C/SA
Steven Hall SweeneyTX '67 Mustang Ford 390 TAYLOR HOME TOUCH/HALL BROS
4783 A/SA
Rusty Hall Sweeney TX '68 Mustang Ford 428HALL BROS/PJ'S TIRE&LUBE
I know you guys have what it takes, may the winds be with you and may you take the races for Texas. Go boys go!
Event Entry List for Mac Tools U.S. Nationals!
~Stock eliminator
4782 C/SA
Steven Hall SweeneyTX '67 Mustang Ford 390 TAYLOR HOME TOUCH/HALL BROS
4783 A/SA
Rusty Hall Sweeney TX '68 Mustang Ford 428HALL BROS/PJ'S TIRE&LUBE
I know you guys have what it takes, may the winds be with you and may you take the races for Texas. Go boys go!
It occurs to me...
On some days it occurs to me that pehaps I should update this place...but then what would I write about?
Life today was normal at best. I read a book, picked up sticks in the yard, visited with a few of the locals and spent my day playing around on the computer. Not a lot on the whole but enough to keep me active.
If anything I am in a rather bored mood.
Life today was normal at best. I read a book, picked up sticks in the yard, visited with a few of the locals and spent my day playing around on the computer. Not a lot on the whole but enough to keep me active.
If anything I am in a rather bored mood.
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Thoughts on Government
"Give us more laws for we will follow."
It would seem that America’s battle cry these days could be summed up using this general cry “Give us more laws for we will follow, tax us for we will give, and by all means use more force to make everyone comply.” It is a nightmarish vision. Can we be so stupid as to believe happiness will ensue??
Simple laws are added and forced upon us at an alarming rate. It comes to the point where people beg to live in the bondage. Can the convenience of being told exactly where, how, and what time they can get rid of the garbage really be worth the cost of freedom which one is forced to pay? Why for the convenience of not having a messy neighbor are people so willing to give up the rights of decision making which allow life to be enjoyable?
To simply state my political standpoint I am inclined to see a small, weak form of government to be more of an ideal goal. It would seem that with each new investment of power in government we turn over more freedoms thus the corruption increases and the bondage deepens.
I believe that higher law is of greater validity than civil law. Right and wrong are not matters of opinion which can be bended and molded to fit the whims of society. The founding fathers were wise to base their patterns of liberty on higher law using patterns from the old common laws.
I would say that in my general use of the word law I would define it as is a morally binding rule of conduct. To be a good law it must be based on these two basic ideas. Fulfilling all you have agreed to do and not encroaching on the rights of others.
Government as a whole actually would seem to be at odds with those those laws. Since a government is set up as a institution which claims the privilege of violating both of these ideas. It is continuously encroaching on the rights of law abiding citizens and it does not hold up it’s end of the bargain. I see government as the bully who sets himself up on the playground. He tells people the way his games are to be played but breaks his own rules whenever he can do so to his own advantage.
A state of government is inevitable for there will always be a bully on the playground who is capable of strong arming his victims into submission. I must concede then that the key to keeping a good government would seem to be keeping it in check, allowing it to have only a small influence so that the power it invests over the whole of it’s realm is relatively harmless. Much like an alliance on the playground to insure that the bully isn’t able to harm those he seemingly controls.
To quote Thomas Paine, “Government even in it’s best state, is but a necessary evil.”
It would seem that America’s battle cry these days could be summed up using this general cry “Give us more laws for we will follow, tax us for we will give, and by all means use more force to make everyone comply.” It is a nightmarish vision. Can we be so stupid as to believe happiness will ensue??
Simple laws are added and forced upon us at an alarming rate. It comes to the point where people beg to live in the bondage. Can the convenience of being told exactly where, how, and what time they can get rid of the garbage really be worth the cost of freedom which one is forced to pay? Why for the convenience of not having a messy neighbor are people so willing to give up the rights of decision making which allow life to be enjoyable?
To simply state my political standpoint I am inclined to see a small, weak form of government to be more of an ideal goal. It would seem that with each new investment of power in government we turn over more freedoms thus the corruption increases and the bondage deepens.
I believe that higher law is of greater validity than civil law. Right and wrong are not matters of opinion which can be bended and molded to fit the whims of society. The founding fathers were wise to base their patterns of liberty on higher law using patterns from the old common laws.
I would say that in my general use of the word law I would define it as is a morally binding rule of conduct. To be a good law it must be based on these two basic ideas. Fulfilling all you have agreed to do and not encroaching on the rights of others.
Government as a whole actually would seem to be at odds with those those laws. Since a government is set up as a institution which claims the privilege of violating both of these ideas. It is continuously encroaching on the rights of law abiding citizens and it does not hold up it’s end of the bargain. I see government as the bully who sets himself up on the playground. He tells people the way his games are to be played but breaks his own rules whenever he can do so to his own advantage.
A state of government is inevitable for there will always be a bully on the playground who is capable of strong arming his victims into submission. I must concede then that the key to keeping a good government would seem to be keeping it in check, allowing it to have only a small influence so that the power it invests over the whole of it’s realm is relatively harmless. Much like an alliance on the playground to insure that the bully isn’t able to harm those he seemingly controls.
To quote Thomas Paine, “Government even in it’s best state, is but a necessary evil.”
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Salt
I have been staying with my parents this month. I'm really enjoying being at home. There is a certain sense of stability in it. Many things can be counted on and one fact in particular. - My parents and siblings will retire much earlier than I. This tends to exile me to my room in the evenings. Thus it happened that I was reading on the topic of salt from an old textbook of mine this week.
This may seem an odd topic but I have actually enjoyed it. Salt is something of a novel substance to me. Salt is made by a blend of sodium and chlorine. It's chemical symbol being NaC1. Sodium is an alkali metal with unstable properties. It is capable of bursting into flame when exposed to water. Chlorine is a lethal gas. Yet the combination of these chemicals creates sodium chloride or a solid substance called salt.
I was thinking of Matthew 5:13a which says "Ye are the salt of the earth;"
We are the salt of the earth. Unstable alone but stabilized by Christ. A christian may not always serve the Lord but rather choose to operate without Christ. This would make him unstable like sodium. Able at times to ignite into flame when exposed to the right substances but not always getting the same effect. That, or perhaps lethal at times like chlorine. Affecting others by his lack of zeal for the things of Christ or with his overbearing spirit, giving them a lethal dose of empathy toward the things of Christ.
Sodium and Chlorine alone do not have the same effect as salt but when those chemicals combine they become something that preserves, gives life, and is of service to man. A Christian when bonded with Christ in a proper relationship is salt. Salt that works at preserving nations, standing for purity, promoting cleanliness, enhancing the lives of those around us, and softening others toward the things of Christ, above all perhaps creating the thirst for a relationship with Christ in others.
This may seem an odd topic but I have actually enjoyed it. Salt is something of a novel substance to me. Salt is made by a blend of sodium and chlorine. It's chemical symbol being NaC1. Sodium is an alkali metal with unstable properties. It is capable of bursting into flame when exposed to water. Chlorine is a lethal gas. Yet the combination of these chemicals creates sodium chloride or a solid substance called salt.
I was thinking of Matthew 5:13a which says "Ye are the salt of the earth;"
We are the salt of the earth. Unstable alone but stabilized by Christ. A christian may not always serve the Lord but rather choose to operate without Christ. This would make him unstable like sodium. Able at times to ignite into flame when exposed to the right substances but not always getting the same effect. That, or perhaps lethal at times like chlorine. Affecting others by his lack of zeal for the things of Christ or with his overbearing spirit, giving them a lethal dose of empathy toward the things of Christ.
Sodium and Chlorine alone do not have the same effect as salt but when those chemicals combine they become something that preserves, gives life, and is of service to man. A Christian when bonded with Christ in a proper relationship is salt. Salt that works at preserving nations, standing for purity, promoting cleanliness, enhancing the lives of those around us, and softening others toward the things of Christ, above all perhaps creating the thirst for a relationship with Christ in others.
Sunday, August 07, 2005
Eternal Security
Eternal Security
What are my beliefs on eternal security?
I believe that when a person becomes a Christian he is given eternal security. This security is received through salvation as a gift from God.
I am secure in my salvation for these reasons:
1. I have heard His voice and know Him. He has given me the gift of eternal life.
John 10:27-30 “My Sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
2. After hearing the Word of truth and trusting in the gospel of salvation, I believe I was sealed with the Holy Spirit. The Lord takes pleasure in giving us this gift.
Ephesians 1:7, 9, 10, 13 (7)“In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace;” (9) Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself.”(10) “that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him:”(13) “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of Promise.”
3. My works will be judged, but I shall be saved.
1 Corinthians 3:15“If any man’s works shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet as by fire.”
4. Jesus blotted out the handwriting against me.
Colossians 2:14 “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.”
5. God keeps his promises.
Hebrews 1:16-20 “(16) For men verily swear by the greater oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.(17) Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by oath:(18) That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: (19) Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entered into that within the veil;(20) Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
6. Christ said it was finished when He died.
John 19:30b “He said it is finished: and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost”
7. I have become a new creature in Christ.
2nd Corinthians 5:17-21 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself be Jesus Christ, and hath given us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
8. I am persuaded that nothing can separate me from the love of God.
Romans 8:37-39“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
(All Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.)
What are my beliefs on eternal security?
I believe that when a person becomes a Christian he is given eternal security. This security is received through salvation as a gift from God.
I am secure in my salvation for these reasons:
1. I have heard His voice and know Him. He has given me the gift of eternal life.
John 10:27-30 “My Sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
2. After hearing the Word of truth and trusting in the gospel of salvation, I believe I was sealed with the Holy Spirit. The Lord takes pleasure in giving us this gift.
Ephesians 1:7, 9, 10, 13 (7)“In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace;” (9) Having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself.”(10) “that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him:”(13) “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of Promise.”
3. My works will be judged, but I shall be saved.
1 Corinthians 3:15“If any man’s works shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet as by fire.”
4. Jesus blotted out the handwriting against me.
Colossians 2:14 “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.”
5. God keeps his promises.
Hebrews 1:16-20 “(16) For men verily swear by the greater oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.(17) Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by oath:(18) That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: (19) Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entered into that within the veil;(20) Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
6. Christ said it was finished when He died.
John 19:30b “He said it is finished: and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost”
7. I have become a new creature in Christ.
2nd Corinthians 5:17-21 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself be Jesus Christ, and hath given us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
8. I am persuaded that nothing can separate me from the love of God.
Romans 8:37-39“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
(All Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.)
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Plan of Salvation
A sinner is a person who has done something that will keep him from being in fellowship with God because God cannot look upon sin. Being a sinner also comes with a death penalty because the wages or payment that we owe for sin is death.
Romans 6:23 “For the Wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
The Bible tells us that we have all sinned. No man can measure up to the standards of God’s holiness. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 5:8
Our sin separates us from a loving God who wants us to live with Him in heaven when we die. In order to be rid of this sin someone who hadn’t sinned had to die to make the payment for our sin. We couldn’t earn our way to Heaven because we had already sinned, “But God Commended His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
We cannot save ourselves but God loves us, and he gave us the gift of grace to keep us from being separated from him “For by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is a gift of God. Not of works lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9) “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:16-17)
He sent Jesus his son to die in our place. The Bible says that if we believe that God’s Son Jesus died in our place and if we are willing to accept His gift of salvation we will be saved “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead thou shalt be saved.” Romans 10:9-10 God will save anyone who will take Him at His word and give them the power to become his children. “But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” John 1:12
Romans 6:23 “For the Wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
The Bible tells us that we have all sinned. No man can measure up to the standards of God’s holiness. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 5:8
Our sin separates us from a loving God who wants us to live with Him in heaven when we die. In order to be rid of this sin someone who hadn’t sinned had to die to make the payment for our sin. We couldn’t earn our way to Heaven because we had already sinned, “But God Commended His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
We cannot save ourselves but God loves us, and he gave us the gift of grace to keep us from being separated from him “For by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is a gift of God. Not of works lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9) “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved.” (John 3:16-17)
He sent Jesus his son to die in our place. The Bible says that if we believe that God’s Son Jesus died in our place and if we are willing to accept His gift of salvation we will be saved “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead thou shalt be saved.” Romans 10:9-10 God will save anyone who will take Him at His word and give them the power to become his children. “But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” John 1:12
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)