1.   Shekinah Glory (as in: I could see the Shekinah Glory in the tent as the revival went late into the night)

2.   Rose of Sharon (as in: I could smell the Rose of Sharon as Todd Bentley knocked me upside the head)

3.   The Healing Balm of Gilead ( as in: the super out of contexted Biblical plant; or “I pray for the healing balm of gilead to heal my sick friend right now; or ‘what is this: The Lord of the Rings?)

4.   “If that doesn’t start a fire in your heart, then your woods wet.” (as in: no explaination needed)

5.   Quiet Time (as in: have you had your quiet time with the Lord yet today?)

6.   “,but when he got filled with the Holy Ghost…” (as in: I don’t believe that someone is truly saved or at least doesn’t have a valuable life as a Christian unless they speak in tongues. )

7.   “Brother” and “Sister” (as in: I don’t call my blood brothers and sisters ‘Brother’ or ‘Sister’ so why should I call some old guy at my church whom I hardly know “Brother”; or dare I say , call my own wife “Sister Susan”- gross!)

8.   Gold Dust (as in: “The Lord just started sprinkling gold dust on us as we worshipped him atthe revival.” Sounds a little like Tinker Bell to me?)

9.   Thus sayith the Lord (as in: Does God really use old English when He speaks to us in modern times??)

10. Spirit Filled (as in: “We’re a Spirit Filled church.” It implies that other Christian churches do not have the Spirit of God in them and thus sounds exclusive in nature)

Salvation belongs to God (Revelation 7:10), and is solely a gift of grace for Him to give (Romans 5:15; Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8) to sinful man. It is received by faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:12; Ephesians 2:8-10); whose holy life, substitutionary death, and glorious resurrection made it possible for our sins to be forgiven, our punishment to be taken away, and for His righteousness to be imputed to us (Ephesians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:18-19; see notes on The Person and Work of Jesus).

This faith in Jesus is received by hearing His Word (Romans 10:17). The Holy Spirit draws us into this faith in Jesus by convicting us of our sins, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8-11); thus revealing our need for Him.

Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation (John 14:6).

We are not saved by good works, but rather to do good works (Ephesians 2:10).

The Bible says in Romans 10:9, “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” This is an act of faith. It’s simply acknowledging that you are a sinner who needs the forgiveness of God in your life so that you can be restored in Him, and that the only way for that to happen is to ‘fully rest in the fact that what Jesus did for you took care of everything’ and ‘begin to follow Him’.

Once saved; the Holy Spirit baptizes the Christian into the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-15), dwells within them from the moment of salvation (Acts 2:38; Romans 8:9; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20), and seals them until the Day of Redemption (John 6:37-40; John 10;27-30; Romans 8:38-39; 1 Corinthians 1:4-8; 2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13; Ephesians 4:30; Philippians 1:4; 1 Peter 1:5).

The Holy Spirit sanctifies the believer-making them more like Jesus- (John 14:26; Romans 8:9), thus regenerating the believer and giving them a new life (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Those who are saved- Christians/ believers- will be known by their love for one another (John 13:35) and by the Spiritual Fruit- or good works- that they produce (Matthew 7:15-23; Ephesians 2:10).

It is a Christian’s desire to please God and abstain from sin (Romans 7:7-25); so they must not take advantage of God’s grace and the freedom it gives to indulge in sinful activity (Romans 6; 1 Corinthians 8:9-13; Galatians 5:13; Titus 2:11-15; Hebrews 10:26).

So last night i had an extraordinarily vivid dream.

In the dream I opened up my laptop and went to the Fox News Website. At the same time I was watching tv. On tv was, again, the Fox New Channel. On tv they were reporting some kind of devastating fires in the Los Angeles area.

While I was watching that story on the news, the Fox News Website’s Home Page changed with a breaking news story. The entire Home Page was covered with a picture that looked exactly as the one does that I created for this post.

The television news changed to this story immediately after seeing the image on my computer. And although I didn’t read the story on the internet and I couldn’t hear the story on the television in my dream; I knoew what had happened for some strange reason.

There had been two devastating earthquales in the Los Angeles area. One was somewhere between Downtown Los Angeles and Long Beach. It registered as a 6.1 on the Rictor Scale. The other one was somewhere in the South-Central portion of Orange County South of Irvine and Lake Forest. It registered as a massive 8.1 on the Rictor Scale.

It was unclear if one of the quakes was an aftershock to the other, but it was believed that they were two seperate quakes that happened nearly simultaneiusly. All I know is that they were completely devastating and there was no news feeds coming out the area at the time I was watching. I had this very forboding feeling in the dream that there was a possibillity of part of Southern California breaking off into the Pacific Ocean.

Last week I had a dream that we were near Disneyland, but couldn’t continue our trip there because of massive riots and an enormous fire accompanied by explosions happening near the anaheim area.

I am in no way saying that I am a prophet or that the Lord gave me this dream. Sometimes dreams do have a tendancy to be a warning about a future event though- the story of Joseph anyone? I am just saying that it was a very weird and vivid dream that seemed as if it was something that was going to happen and I woke up fearful both times. I just decided to post it here on my blog in case something really did happen. That way there would be record and proof of it.

But I certainly hope none of these things happen. I guess all I can do is pray- and maybe that’s why I had the dream.

So I have been starting to look for a new job- for far too many reasons to list for the purposes of this site.

Ministry job hunting is very different than “secular” job hunting. If a secular company asked the kind of bizarre questions that churches ask their potential employees, it would be considered discriminatory- that is not an exageration. I totally understand why though, and appreciate the precautious lengths that churches go to to make sure that they place a minister who will best fit in with their community.

Once I was interviewed by one of the largest and most influential churches in the nation. The interview did not go good. I thought I would be asked spiritual questions about my walk with the Lord, my ministry philosophy, or my heart for the lost. Instead I was asked…”Have you ever hired or fired someone?” What?! Of all the questions they could ask, this was one of the first ones they pulled out?? One of the next questions: “What kind of fishing do you like to do?” once again, not the most spiritual of questions.

Today I had a pleasant talk with a nice pastor and his wife. This was my second “interview” with them. One of the first questions I was asked? “Do you like sports?” Where does Jesus fit into this equation? This is nothing against the people or churches that I have interviewed with- just once again I am surprised by the things that matter to a church or a pastor when they are trying to fill an open minstry position.

So what does this have to do with doctrine…I know…I have been ranting and I am sorry. It’s just easy to get frustrated over things like this. Anyways, I am in communication with a church up North and they have asked me a lot of questions- a lot of great questions.

Yesterday they contacted me again and wanted to know what my ‘Statement of Faith’ was. I could easily give them a one sentence Statement for each category of my Christian Faith, but I felt it was important to give a more detailed answer with Scriptural references to each of my points. Not because I had to, but because I wanted to. I already had a paraphrased personal statemet of faith jotted down, but I wanted this to be an introductory to those who don’t know me to the deep faith that I have in God and His Word.

I know it’s cliche’, but I really do take a two-fisted approach to doctrine: closed-fisted and open-fisted.

Closed-fisted doctrine is that which I am unshakable about. I rest on it for all things involving  belief, hope, faith, decision, and relationship. The Closed-fisted stuff is what the Bible clearly states. It is essential doctrine to being a Follower of Jesus- being a Christian. With me, it is not open to debate or questioned within my life or ministry. I’ll gladly discuss it and listen to other perspectives. But I know that it is those closed fisted things that make me who I am in Christ.

Open-fisted Doctrine is the stuff that we as Christians can agree to disagree on. It’s the stuff that’s not essential for salvation. It’s sometimes the stuff that the Bible is unclear or vague about. Or the stuff that people have a really hard time understanding. These are the things that we usually all have opinions on, but are willing-sometimes to openly debate and discuss. Often, Closed-fisted doctrine is not as much about doctrine as it is about methodology.

I will describe both of these types of doctrine as we go through this blog series. I will start with the Closed-fisted doctorine and then work my way into the Open-fisted stuff.