the gospel

“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures . . .” -1 Corinthians 15:1–4

What is the Gospel? The word gospel simply means “good news.” The central message of the Bible is the gospel, or good news, about the person and work of Jesus Christ. In 1 Corinthians 15:1–4, Paul provides the most succinct summary of the gospel: the man Jesus is also God, or Christ, and died on a cross in our place, paying the penalty for our sins; three days later He rose to conquer sin and death and give the gift of salvation to all who believe in Him alone for eternal life.

Religion says that if we obey God He will love us. The gospel says that it is because God has loved us through Jesus that we can obey.

Religion says that the world is filled with good people and bad people. The gospel says that the world is filled with bad people who are either repentant or unrepentant.

Religion says that you should trust in what you do as a good moral person. The gospel says that you should trust in the perfectly sinless life of Jesus because He alone is the only good and truly moral person who will ever live.

The goal of religion is to get from God such things as health, wealth, insight, power, and control. The goal of the gospel is not the gifts God gives, but rather God as the gift given to us by grace.

Religion is about what I have to do. The gospel is about what I get to do. Religion sees hardship in life as punishment from God. The gospel sees hardship in life as sanctifying affliction that reminds us of Jesus’ sufferings and is used by God in love to make us more like Jesus. Religion is about me. The gospel is about Jesus.

Religion leads to an uncertainty about my standing before God because I never know if I have done enough to please God. The gospel leads to a certainty about my standing before God because of the finished work of Jesus on my behalf on the cross.

Religion ends in either pride (because I think I am better than other people) or despair (because I continually fall short of God’s commands). The gospel ends in humble and confident joy because of the power of Jesus at work for me, in me, through me, and sometimes in spite of me.

i truly truly believe

kpop is worse than crack.

jeremiah 17:9

"The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?"

ravishing and devastating

So please please please
Let me, let me, let me
Let me get what I want
This time

when there's no passion

life is so dull.

IM SO FAT

i wish i hated eating

KO to the maximum

finals week.

the worst ever.

didnt sleep for two weeks.

got sick on monday with a cold.

sore ass throat the whole week.

coughing.

then wake up the day before my

huge final with pink eye in both eyes.

survived on the Lord's strength alone.

Praise God!!!

the tragic queen of carthage

my friend who is a classics major told me that this character reminded him of me. interesting...

but the queen - too long she suffered the pain of love,

hour by hour nursing the wound with her lifeblood,

consumed by the fire buried in her heart,

The man's courage, the sheer pride of his line,

they all come pressing home to her, over and over.

his looks, his words, they pierce, her heart and cling-

no peace, no rest for her body, love will give her none.

Psalm 37:4

"Delight yourself in the LORD

and he will give you the desires of your heart."

that's truth right there. and He made me finally see the real issue.

it was about God.

Me and my amazing Savior who wants me for himself.

who wants to be my sustainer, who wants to be my saving grace.

God was just using my weakness to lead me face to face with Him.

to show me how much i need him, to show me how much He loves me.

i realized that i need so much more growth and i was reminded again of God's character.

we take him so seriously and yes he deserves our reverence and fear but God's such a funny God.

he created humor and he's always surprising me and making me laugh. God is so awesome.

anyways, i want to delight in my Lord.

i want to give everything of myself to Him.

i want to willingly give it all to him.

your will above all else my purpose remains.

the art of losing myself in bringing you praise.

man thats what i want to tell God.

that's all i want. to glorify him and be sanctified.

to have my eyes solely upon him, obsessed with him.

i'm still struggling though.

i still think and run away to the land of my worldly thoughts

where we will in love and have a screwed up and sinful relationship which just shows me

how much farther i have to go. i want to grant the desires of my flesh.

i want to get hurt. its strange and so wrong.

but in the end, i know this truth, that God is powerful and sovereign.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who

love him who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

john piper sermon notes on 1 John 2:3-6

So when God commands you to do something and you ignore it or go against it, John can only conclude one thing: You don't believe that God is love. And therefore you don't know him. For if you believed that God is love, then you would believe that all his commandments were the very best thing for you. And you would follow them. When you turn away from the commandments of God, you say in effect, a loving God wouldn't command me to do that. And so our diobedience displays our lack of trust in the love God has for us. And it shows that we do not know God.

restless and unsatisfied

How I wish you could see the potential
The potential of you and me
It's like a book elegantly bound
But in a language you can't read just yet

You got to spend some time, love
You got to spend some time with me
And I know that you'll find love
I will possess your heart