a little gecko blog

© 2007. To copyright holder.

A long the years, I have built and managed many websites that were just for fun and learned from experience what goes where and how much damage a comma can do. I discovered that I had a penchant for web stuff, so I can code, and play, but what I really like to do is to design and manage. And this is what I have focused on.

After all these years and such rich military experiences and life’s school of Hard Knocks of my past, I wanted to run my own business. I had developed multi-tasked skills and a passion for learning and puzzleing out the WWW. Most of all, to spread what I had learned, from my world travels and experiences, to those who would listen to my tales, and soak up the wisdom not to make the same mistakes. I offer website design themes , blogs, CMS’s and also custom work, so if you’re looking for a personal or corporate website/blog, please consider hiring me. www.jollymoon.com

I usually am a friendly person. I enjoy listening to good music, watching a good movie, being in the company of friends and being online. I love my church family, which you will here more about here, and I want to share my walk with God and growing in Grace and spirituality with Jesus Christ. I definitely have some geek blood running in my veins and keep thinking that I wish the net had been around when I was a kid and in my teen years. But then again, don’t we all?

T he nature of true, saving faith is presented in the Bible as essential to a believer, more so than just mental assent or knowledge of Jesus. Not all faith is saving; only faith that is evidenced by obedience is redemptive.

© 2007. To copyright holder.

John MacArthur, Jr. in his book The Gospel According To Jesus talks extensively about ‘Lordship Salvation.’ This comes by making Jesus Lord of all facets of your life, not just on Sunday or ‘head knowledge.’ “Unsaved people must obey Christ, give him their hearts, surrender their lives to Him, repent of their sins, submit to His lordship and follow Him. Many erroneously believe they can come to Christ, receive absolution and immortality, then walk away to continue living life as they please.”

James 2:14-20 says ‘faith without works is dead and cannot save.’ James describes spurious faith as pure hypocrisy (v.16), mere cognitive assent(v.19), devoid of any verfying works (v.17-18)–no different from the demons’ belief (v.19). Obviously, there is more to saving faith than merely conceding a set of facts. Faith without works is useless (v.20)

       ”Yet some in contemporary evangelicalism refuse to allow for any kind of relationship between faith and works. With this limitation, they are forced to receive virtually any profession of faith as the real thing.”

The gospel appeal is tacked on to a wholly inadequate explanation of what it means to believe,” says MacArthur. “The modern definition of faith (i.e. most churches today-I say) eliminates repentance, erases the moral significance of believing, obviates the work of God in the sinner’s heart, and makes an ongoing trust in the Lord optional.” Nothing could be further from the truth. True saving faith is active, repentant, constant, yielding, and obedient. Merely thinking about Jesus is not enough, nor is saying ‘I believe.’ You must show the Father that you are serious and will DO what it takes– an outward evidence to show what is really in your heart evidenced by verbs not thoughts.

W hen Paul turned his attention from his masterful exposition of the gospel in Romans 1-11 to practical issues of Christian living, the first thing he did was call for commitment,’ says Jerry Bridges in his book “The Discipline Of Grace .” “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship.” (Romans 12:1)

© 2007. To copyright holder.

Look for those who have walked with God down through the ages” he says. “Certainly, that is why the Bible is given to us. If God had intended it to be a textbook of doctrine, well, then, he would have written it like one. Oh, yes, we learn many crucial things about doctrine and Christian character in the Scripture, along with a great deal of wisdom. But if you’ll flip from cover to cover, you’ll notice that it’s overwhelmingly a book of stories–tales of men and women who walked with God.

‘When we commit ourselves to the pursuit of holiness, we need to ensure that our commitment is actually to God, not simply to a holy lifestyle or a set of moral values.’ As believers we need to be careful that we commit ourselves to God and not to a system, or church, or even just outstanding morals as pietific humanists. ‘We can be committed to a set of Christian values or to a lifestyle of discipleship without being committed to God Himself. But Paul said, offer yourselves to God, and in so doing that, commit yourselves to the pursuit of holiness in order to please Him.
         ’We should not seek holiness in order to feel good about ourselves, or to blend in with our Christian peer group, or to avoid the sense of shame and guilt that follows the committing of persistent sin in our lives…we need to work at ensuring that our (journey toward) holiness is a commitment to God, not to our own self-esteem.

We indeed must be careful not to become “churchified” or legalistically righteous, or even humbly pious, without truly searching our motives for why we are doing so. Danger truly follows us if we commit to a “system” of any kind. We must wholeheartedly, in repentance and with diligence, give ourselves to God daily, denying self and sin in our lives, to please God, not because we “have” to, but because we are truly grateful for His Grace and Mercy (hope, love, gifts, and forgiveness) that He lavishes on us.