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Monthly Archives: January 2013

Why Christ Came To Die Part 2: To Work as Our Perfect Savior

Notes from last week’s sermon:

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ John 1:29

The presumed injustice of convicting an innocent man.

I. The Need

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Rom. 2:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom. 6:23

And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, Hebrews 9:27

II. The Means; Behold The Lamb of God

And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. Gen. 3:21

For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. Lev. 17:11

Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. Rom. 2:4-5

but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 1 Peter 1:19

How will we escape the wrath from God that is to come?
John 1:29

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 1 Peter 3:18

III. The Result: The removal of your sins – 1 Peter 3:18

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Cor. 5:21

as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. Ps. 103:12

Revelation 5 – Only the Lamb is worthy.

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Posted by barrydean on January 18, 2013 in 1 Peter, Calvary Church Wahoo, Fifty Reason Why Jesus Came To Die, Michael Rue, sermon notes

Ready Player One – A Book Review

15 Jan

Just ask anyone close to me, like my bride, my kids, my pastor. They will tell you that I am a geek. But in the
loving sense of the word. Like the word “nerd”, geek can be defined as someone heavily interested in a hobby, or technology. There are book geeks, train model geeks, music geeks, even gardening geeks. But you usually don’t find many folks who are geeks of multiple persuasions. that would be me. You also are hard pressed to find any fictional books that appeal to someone of this persuasion until now.

Anyone who’s been around me in the last few weeks will have heard me jabbering in praise-worthy tones about a book I’ve been reading. (It’s actually an audio book I’ve been listening to.) Well I finally finished it. The book is “Ready Player One” by Ernest Cline. I discovered this book after reading a reading list posting from a blog site that I frequent called “The Blazing Center“. This blogger is somewhat of a multiple geek as well, and I highly recommend you bookmark his blog.

“Ready Player One” appeals to my geekdom on many levels. First of all it’s setting is futuristic. It is centered around technology, in particular, computer technology. It is about gaming, 80’s culture, 80’s music, early computer game consoles, and Rush. Yes, Rush the rock trio from the “great white North”. and in my humble opinion, the greatest rock band in history. All of which I know much about. The characters in the book, like me can not only quote the lyrics from any rock band from the 80’s, but give you album release name, band member names, publisher, and year of release. They can also quote verbatim all the lines from staple geek movies like “Monty Python and the Holy Grail“, “Weird Science“, “Short Circuit“, and “War Games“.

I totally recommend this book for anyone who has the slightest bit of geek in them. If you lived through the eighties, and survived it, this will bring back such memories that you will think you are back among the big hair, 8 bit video games, and Rubik’s Cube junkies of the past. I just can’t help myself. Below is a Rush video that is mentioned in the book. Enjoy!

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Posted by barrydean on January 15, 2013 in book review, Ernest Cline, Ready Player One, Rush

My Dad and Me

12 Jan

This past Holiday season I received a Christmas card from my Aunt Pat and Uncle Tony as usual. They like to keep the family up to date on their comings and goings during the past year. But along with the update, a picture was enclosed. The same picture seen to the right. It is a picture of my dad and me sometime during my first year.

Receiving the photo caused my mind to be flooded with all sorts of nostalgia about my dad. My dad passed away due to complications with diabetes when I was fifteen. I never really got to know him as an adult, and there are times I’ve really missed having a dad around. But receiving the photo allowed me to reflect on the time God allowed us to have together.

My dad was blind for most of my life but he never let the handicap prevent him from trying to do the things he loved. We used to build model airplanes together. We’d install real gas fueled engines on them and then fly them. He was an amazing golfer before he lost his sight and was actually pretty good without it. I would line up his club head behind his ball and give him the details of the hole, like dogleg right about 200 yds, and he would smack it. Most times the ball would go where he intended it. I learned much about the game of golf from our outings.

My dad always tried to make light of his handicap around others. I will never forget a time when I was about 10, my neighborhood friends and I were playing baseball in our back yards and we began to get into a heated argument about something. Probably balls and strikes. My dad came out the back door with a very serious look on his face. We thought we were really going to get it, and then he yells “If you kids don’t knock off the belly aching, I am going to come out there and insist on calling the balls and strikes.” You could tell everyone was thinking on what he said, and then all at once it dawned on us just what he said. We all busted out in laughter.

I miss my dad but I have the utmost confidence that I will see him again when it is my time to enter the gates of Heaven.

Soli Deo Gloria!

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Posted by barrydean on January 12, 2013 in dads, diabetes, Family, handicap

Why Christ Came To Die: To Bring Us To God

10 Jan

This past Lord’s day our pastor began leading us in a new sermon series called “Why Christ Came To Die”. The series is based on the book “Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came To Die” by John Piper. The following are my notes from the first sermon installment.

1 Peter 3:18
The Past Accomplishment of Christ’s Work
We have a deep need to commune with God.
We create a God in our own image.

1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,

I. The Need: Fellowship with God

Deut. 6:5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Romans 3:23-24 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

Romans 5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

II. The Means: The Suffering of God’s Perfect Son

the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God,

III. The Result : Fellowship With God

Psalm 16:11 You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

God is most glorified in us, when he is most satisfied in Him. Desiring God mission agreement statement.

Psalm 23:1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

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Posted by barrydean on January 10, 2013 in Calvary Church Wahoo, Fifty Reason Why Jesus Came To Die, John Piper, Michael Rue, sermon notes

My Top Rawk Albums of 2012

05 Jan

I have finally taken the time to review the top rock albums of 2012. Here is my list, condensed down to my top 25, and not in any particular order. Although my favorite, by far, has to be “All I Was” by Tremonti.