The woman who fears the Lord

"An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life... She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her. "Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all. Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." Proverbs 31:10-12, 27-30.

Today I worked diligently for the Coast Guard and got quite a bit done as always the Lord blessed me in my work. I am exhausted mentally, I've put in 16 hours in the past 24 to the website in work. I can't wait to hit the publish button. I need to do some work on the business plan that I've been working on, the deadline approaches. I am so tired that I was just going to go home today and rest.

However, it is imperative that I get this work done and when Marie (my wife) called me today to ask how I was doing, I simply told her that I was tired. She said, "I know honey, you've been working hard. (keep in mind she works much harder than I do, homeschooling four children and keeping our house the way she does in immaculate condition, feeding all of us and blessing me as a wife)

She asked when I was coming home and I told her that I would probably come home earlier.. she asked about the business plan that I'm working on and I told her that I really needed to work on it. She said that maybe I should work on it some tonight after work. Keep in mind that part of the reason that I want to go home is that I feel that I've been neglecting her in my time.

But instead of "guilt" or "nagging" or anything of the sort, my beautiful wife said, "honey, I know how important it is what you are working on, why don't you do some tonight and maybe tomorrow on Friday you can come home on time and we can have a good start to our weekend."

What an amazing, selfless act from my wife. So I'm praising God publicly for blessing me with her as a helpmate. She is in fact "an excellent wife"!

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I have to tell you guys that Marie is truly an amazing woman and in fact a "woman who fears the Lord" open to practically any page of her bible and it is evident from notes, highlighters, scribbles and tear stains that she has been there and spent time there.

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Thank you Lord God for blessing me with her, I truly don't feel worthy of Your blessing.

Break Break

I went to lunch with Chris today, and once again I'm amazed by the work God is doing in his life. I went over with him justification, sanctification and glorification salvation. He confided some things to me that have me in prayer for him. I'm sure that God will continue to do a mighty work in his life and the life of his family.

Praise God for the work of His hand in your life Chris!

Well folks, that is it for now... I've got to get to work on this business plan.

God bless,

Pastor Eric

How frustrating!

How frustrating, I just took over an hour to make a post and even though I clicked "save" multiple times throughout it deleted it!

I'm pretty frustrated.. but I will not allow the enemy to have victory when the Holy Spirit reigns in me. Perseverance is commanded in Scripture.. so guess what devil...

I'm back!

Basically in my post that I just finished... I talked about several things:

1. The new website software
2. My meeting with the Dead Preacher Society (and a full breakdown of Greek verb tenses)
3. My post meeting with Pastor Wayne Barber
4. My meeting with Chris at the office
5. Joel Osteen's comments on Mormonism being the same as Christianity
6. My trip with Chris to the bookstore to purchase a bible.

So now instead of reading my entire ramble.. you'll get the condensed version:

1. Kolan turned me onto a new website software that I've been fiddling with for a few hours. The more I use it the more impressed I am.

2. I met this morning with Pastor Wayne Barber and the Dead Preacher Society at Hoffmantown Baptist church. (By the way Mike, he says hello) It was a study on Greek Verb Tense Parsing and 2 John 7-11. It was the most amazing study. During my notes, I simply stopped and wrote out the following prayer..

Thank you Lord God Almighty so much for bringing me to this fellowship! I feel your presence among the believers gathered around the table.. I feel an amazing peace and a hunger for the continued presence of the Holy Spirit with these believers!

3. After the meeting I sat one on one with Pastor Wayne and we spoke and prayed together, I asked him to review the BTF doctrinal statement which he did. He assented to the statement and even stopped from time to time to point out things that he really apprecaited about the statement. I could see that in fact we were brothers in the faith. I was so excited to spend this time with him and more importantly, I kept praising God for bringing us together.. I was almost in tears thanking him for putting me together with Pastor Wayne.

I asked Pastor Wayne if he would consider mentoring me personally to which he responded "I would love to, that is exactly what God has called me to do." It was amazing.. I'm so very blessed! If I could fast forward to next week, it would be done already!

4. Back at the office.. Chris came in and shared that God was in fact moving in his personal life! God had broken Chris' heart over some long held family issues... and told Chris to "get ready and prepare himself" what an awesome testimony!!!

5. On a quick note, it is important to know that famed preacher Joel Osteen has stated publicly that he believes that Mormons are Christians. Joel Osteen is a false teacher and it is imperative that believers know his stance. Make no mistake about it, the Mormon Jesus is NOT the Jesus of the bible! Please check the Scripture, ask me, and if you like read a solid book on this topic entitled "One nation under gods" by Richard Abanes.

6. After work I went with Chris to Barnes and Noble where he purchased a study bible. I discussed the differences in translations and styles of bibles. He picked a good bible and I'm excited for him and the work that Christ is doing in him.

God bless you all...

Pastor Eric

THE LOST POST!

Remember my post from yesterday where I said "How frustrating"???? Well guess what.. I found it somehow buried in the recesses of this computer. Praise God! Well here it is, so you'll have to read this (if you are a reader of my blog) and understand that this was actually yesterday's post.

This post was originally entitled, "Mentor my mentor"

Can you say that God is moving in my life? Can I get an Amen out there?



Today has been an amazing day, I woke up this morning, checked my email and saw that Kolan had emailed me about a new place for me to look at regarding websites for the church. I checked it out and was very impressed with the site. I've signed up to a free membership and will fiddle with it for the next 30 days or so to see what can be done. I've already fidlled with it for a couple hours and I've become more and more impressed with each passing minute.



Then I took off to go to work. I arrived at work and went through a bunch of administrative things that I needed to do. Blew through them quickly, God blessed me in it surely. At 1025 I left to attend "Dead Preachers Society".



This is a meeting, a fellowship, a bible study led by Pastor Wayne Barber of Hoffmantown Baptist Church. We were studying 2nd John 7-11. It was an amazing time of study and most importantly I felt the Holy Spirit present with our study. I actually stopped taking notes at one point and simply typed out a prayer... the following is what I typed:



"Thank you Lord God Almighty so much for bringing me to this fellowship! I feel your presence among the believers gathered around the table.. I feel an amazing peace and a hunger for the continued presence of the Holy Spirit with these believers!"



The study was amazing and very intimate in its connection with Him.



Pastor Barber was gracious in his teaching and humble in his own wanting to learn from those gathered even as much as he was teaching and leading the fellowship.



We went over the significance of the Greek verb tensing of words.. here is a brief synopsis that was given by Pastor Matt (fellow of Pastor Barber) at the study:



Greek Verbs: Tense, Voice, Mood



Tense - Time and Kind of action (Time - past, present and future) (Kind - linear/incomplete, perfected/complete, punctiliar/undefined)



TENSE:

Present - action taking place in the present, continuous or repeated action

Aorist - punctiliar action with no reference to time, usually translated as past (completed)

Perfect - completed action/process in the past with results continuing to the present

Pluperfect- similar to perfect, except result of action also in the past

Imperfect - linear/continuous action in the past

Future - punctiliar action that will take place (Aorist tense put in the future)



VOICE:

Active - the subject performs the action

Passive - the subject receives the action (someone else is causing the action)

Middle - the subject is enabled in the action (no English equivalent)

Direct - subject acting upon himself; Matt 27:5 "and he.. hanged himself"

Indirect - subject acting for or by himself; Acts 22:16 "... be baptized and wash away your sins"

Deponent - middle in form, active in meaning; Acts 17:11 "they received the word" (dependant upon something happening)



MOOD:

Indicative - statement of fact or question

Imperative - command, exhortation, or entreaty

Subjunctive - probability: doubt, uncertainty, or indefiniteness

Optative - possibility: wish, prayer, or indirect quotation (rare in NT)



We discussed 2 John and how it is an exhortation to live the Christlike life first.. then be prepared to defend it from heresy. We talked about the cult of liberalism and cultic groups. We discussed the pollution of the church from those from within.


It was brought up that Joel Osteen (false teacher) said recently that the Mormon Jesus is one and the same as the Christian Jesus. Absolutely heretical! Yet 30,000- 40,000 people fall under his leadership every week.



Here is the dialogue that took place:



The discernment of Joel Osteen, or rather, lack thereof, came out yesterday on Fox News Sunday in this interview with Chris Wallace:

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Chris Wallace: And what about Mitt Romney? And I've got to ask you the question, because it is a question whether it should be or not in this campaign, is a Mormon a true Christian?

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Joel Osteen: Well, in my mind they are. Mitt Romney has said that he believes in Christ as his savior, and that's what I believe, so, you know, I'm not the one to judge the little details of it. So I believe they are. And so, you know, Mitt Romney seems like a man of character and integrity to me, and I don't think he would -- anything would stop me from voting for him if that's what I felt like.

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Chris Wallace: So, for instance, when people start talking about Joseph Smith, the founder of the church, and the golden tablets in upstate New York, and God assumes the shape of a man, do you not get hung up in those theological issues?

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Joel Osteen: I probably don't get hung up in them because I haven't really studied them or thought about them. And you know, I just try to let God be the judge of that. I mean, I don't know. I certainly can't say that I agree with everything that I've heard about it, but from what I've heard from Mitt, when he says that Christ is his savior, to me that's a common bond."

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Yeah, why get hung up on those little details?



Unbelievable! Anyhow, please be not decieved. Let me say outright that Mormons do not believe in the biblical Jesus. If anyone would like more on this, read the Scripture and find out what it says about the Christ. Further there is a book called "One nation under gods" by Richard Abanes. Fantastic book that examines the Church of Latter Day Saints or Mormons.



BREAK BREAK



After the study, Pastor Wayne Barber took an hour of his time to sit with me and review the doctrinal statement of BTF. He reviewed it in its entirety and assented to the truths finding nothing in error. It was such a blessing to have a man of God like Pastor Wayne take the time to read our statement and give his approval.



I asked Pastor Wayne if he would consider mentoring me directly to which he agreed. Not only that, he said, "I'd love to, that is my passion."



I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am, even there with him I was moved by the Spirit to praise God for providing a Paul to my Timothy... may Almighty God bless our time together and may I learn all that the Spirit has to teach me through His faithful servant Wayne.



If I had a time machine I would fast forward time to next week.. I was immensely blessed.



BREAK BREAK



After the study I went back to the office to finish up my work for the night. Chris came into my office and shared that the Spirit of God really spoke to him clearly after he got out of the shower last night. That specifically he was to "get ready and prepared" as he was to reconcile with his father who he hasn't spoken to in some time. The details aren't important as the fact that the Holy Spirit is moving in Chris' life in a stronger way than ever before and that Chris is feeling the direction of Christ in his life.



After work, I accompanied Chris to Barnes and Noble where he wanted to go and purchase a bible. We looked at various and he ended up going with the NIV Study Bible which is a great tool for where he is at. I pledged to him that when I found a good study version of the ESV that it would be my gift to him.



Again an amazing day.. now off to work on my list for both HOSFU and BTF.



God bless!



Pastor Eric

Elders, brothers and bibles oh my!

WOW!!! My goodness.. Mike are you reading? I hope so!

There is so much to tell, I know it has been awhile since I posted so I'll try and update the latest.

First and foremost, I just want to praise Almighty God for His provision and for his providence. We serve an awesome and amazing God!

Although there is much to tell, I don't know how many of you will read my entire post, so I'll start with the most amazing thing and then head onto more BTF specific things that some of you might be interested in reading.

So this morning I woke up in Albuquerque to a blanket of ice and snow, the schools were closed down and everyone was delayed into heading into the office.

At 7am I met with Kolan for our monthly Elder's meeting as he will be out of town next Thursday for our scheduled time. We went over a ton of things regarding BTF that will be discussed later.. we closed around noon in prayer with a laundry list of for action items for each of us.

As I packed up my things and headed to the office, I was going to turn on the radio when the Lord put it on my heart to drive in silence and spend some time with Him. I left the radio alone, stretched out my eyes upon His creation (my morning commute is scenicly beautiful) and listened for His voice.

He clearly put it on my heart to speak to my co-worker Chris about His Son. I of course reminded the Lord that I had already spoken to Chris on multiple occasions and that He should know that. ~cringes~ He reminded me that I had not been faithful to truly ask Chris the "question of the ages" Matthew 16:15 where Christ is speaking and He says to His disciples...

"But what about you, who do you say that I am?"

So I prayed more and then rememebered that I didn't have my bible on me, (I carry two.. my study bible usually kept at home, and my pocket ESV usually in my backpack) but last night I had been doing a study in Joshua and this morning with Kolan I had my study bible out. All that to say that both my bibles that I usually have had been left at home.

I made a decision to turn around to go get my bible, but as I looked at the clock, it was already 12:34 and I really needed to get into the office so I pressed on, praising God for the mind of Scripture recollection that He has blessed me with. Figuring I'd be able to talk with Chris and use my recollection to quote Scripture as needed.

When I got to the office (only three of us work there.. Chris, Ray and myself) Ray was out on errands and so it left Chris and I there by ourselves providentially to have a significant discussion on the person, nature and work of the Christ and to literally ask Chris what he believed about Jesus.

I sat and talked with Chris for awhile about general things then glanced over at the mail that had come in while I was out on the road last week. One of the items that stood out was a box from Texas addressed directly to me.

I took it into my office even as I prayed about the words to speak to Chris. I opened the box and there was a letter from my brother in the faith Mike G from Texas! (see the previous post entitled "Providence not Coincidence")

The letter basically said that he was praying for me and that he was hoping that what he sent would bless the ministry, myself and others and have an eternal impact.

I moved the paper and looked at what Mike sent me.. The Apologetics Study Bible published by Broadman and Holman! I smiled broadly.. closed my eyes and said.. "OK LORD I GET IT.. I'LL TALK TO CHRIS!!!

Sometimes the Lord has a way of hitting me upside the head with a spiritual 2 by 4. But I praise God for His provision and for His confirmation of His will.

So around this time, Chris comes into my office and we begin a dialogue that would last some 4 hours. We covered a myriad of topics ranging from Adam and Eve and the first messianic prophecy in Genesis 3 all the way through the conversion of Saul and the writing of the New Testament. We covered applicable heart issues and relationship versus religion. It was an amazing discussion.

We went to a very very late lunch and talked more about Christ. I asked Chris the question of the ages.. I asked him.. "But what about you (Chris), who do you say that He is?"

He said, "I do believe that Jesus is the Son of God." I said.. "Do you believe that Jesus is God?" He said, "Yes." I said, "So you believe then that Jesus is eternal and that He died in your place to pay a debt He didn't owe and one you couldn't pay?" He said, "Yes, I do."

I said, "Praise God.. then in fact you are my brother."

The conversation went on for quite some time.. we talked about obedience to baptism.. he said he had never been baptized and although he had believed on the Christ a little while back, he had never really stated it to anyone so directly, because he had never really been asked so directly.

I praise Almighty God.. the Holy Spirit for bringing about his conviction, conversion and call to obedience!

We talked about the role of a godly husband to his family and many other things.. suffice it to say that I believe that although in his heart Chris might have had Jesus as Savior before today.. it was clear to Chris today that Jesus must also be Lord and Master. It was a wonderful time of real fellowship.

Chris if you are reading this for any reason.. let me tell you I was blessed in great measure by our time together.. I personally pray for the fruit of the Spirit in your life!

Thank you Mike G. for your gift and it has already been used of God in His kingdom work. May Almighty God continue to bless you!

BREAK BREAK

Elder meeting.- Kolan and I met today for our monthly meeting for BTF we outlined a ton of things that need to be done and brainstormed for several hours. Ultimately we assigned five action items to each of us and one to each of our wives. The list is as follows:

Eric:
1. Standard Operating Procedure with emphasis on inventory control and childcare background checks
2. Business cards
3. Purchase a bookcase for my study
4. Establish an order of worship for our corporate worship service
5. Purchase Microsoft PowerPoint for my computer.

Kolan:
1. Purchase the website from our ministry partner Ricky Reyes so it can be placed in the name of BTF instead of Rick's and then set up email accounts.
2. Purchase a digital camera for BTF
3. Research membership software
4. Purchase Bibles (ESV x20), some pens and sign up BTF with christianbooks.com
5. Develop a budget for the ministry

Lisa:
Organize the BTF filing cabinet

Marie:
Set up a 3 month fellowship schedule

BREAK BREAK

In other news I was encouraged to receive a call from "Miss Blanche" today.. she is a sweetheart and fellow Christian from First Baptist Church of Riverview where I pastored prior to coming to Albuquerque. She calls from time to time and encourages me, asking always about the family... I love her dearly and am thankful to God for those that would keep me in prayer and bless me with their love. If you are reading this Miss Blanche.. know that you are loved and missed greatly.. and that I too pray for you often!

God bless you all.. much more to follow.. but this post is long enough..

Lastly if you have read this far, please take the time to comment.. I pray to hear your input and like Miss Blanche.. it encourages me greatly to know that you are faithful to keep up with BTF!

Pastor Eric

Brother In Service

Today was my Coast Guard meeting day two in Austin, TX. I met all of the Chief's in charge of their respective areas. To my surprise and blessing, it turns out that one of the Chiefs is also a Christian and studying for the ministry as he has felt a call from God upon his life.

I'm excited for him and for the calling that God has in his life.

I also had an opportunity to tour the Capitol building of the State of Texas. Interestingly enough on the Senate floor over the Speaker's chair the words "In God we trust" are engraved into the marble.

I wondered to myself how long it will be before those words are removed or replaced.

Pray for our nation today.

Pastor Eric

Providence not coincidence

Providence not coincidence
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This morning I headed to Austin, TX for a Coast Guard conference. While at the airport I finished up my blog from yesterday entitled “Loaves, fishes and cake”, then I packed up my computer and boarded my plane.
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As I boarded I looked around at the seating which was about at 60% capacity and thought to myself that perhaps I should look for a more spacious seat, one that wasn’t directly next to a stranger. But I instead sat in my assigned seat next to a well dressed man.
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We struck up a conversation and come to find out that he is a believer in Christ. He actually is the Southern Regional Sales Manager for Broadman and Holman publishing! What a small world! His name is Mike G. and I was very blessed to have met him. He told me that he was familiar with Albuquerque as he had lived here for a portion of his life and that he knew of the believers at Hoffmantown. It is always amazing to me how God works in mysterious ways.
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This feels no different to me than perhaps how Tychicus, Timothy, Titus etc all knew of each other and the believers in the various cities of the early church.
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Anyhow, as of my title in this post, I do believe in providence and not coincidence. So often we hear of “luck”. Is there really such a thing in world where God is sovereign?
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I’m so thankful to serve a God who is control, a God who is a loving and holy God. I pray for God’s perfect will and not just his permissive will. May His providence be present and visible in the ministry He has called us to.
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Mike, I don’t know why I met you, but I’m sure God has a reason. It is a blessing to live for a higher calling than just business. You are not a “salesman” as you put it to me Mike. You are a Christian! Not only that, but a Christian on a mission! Sent wherever you travel with credentials from the One who spoke, and the Universe came into existence!
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I pray that God will bless you in His business and His calling on your life. I pray that He will give you clarity of thought and wisdom in decisions that you are called to make and lastly that He will make His presence felt in your life in a more powerful way than He ever has before. It was a blessing to have met you Mike. We will meet again.
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Providence not coincidence.
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Pastor Eric

Loaves, Fish and Cake

Sorry I didn't post yesterday, it was a very busy day for me. I will try and post daily but I suppose there will be times that I miss.

Yesterday was Silas' fourth birthday and we we took him to "McDonalds what has a play place".

After a long day of work I came home and packed for my trip to Austin. Then we took off for Silas' birthday.

When we were there there were a few other families in the play place and we had a medium sized cake, so God put it on my heart to offer everyone in the play place a piece of cake.

You would be amazed at how people were blessed by the simple little gesture. All of a sudden what was 6 different families having dinner became a community celebrating a gift of free cake. Praise God that Marie got the medium sized cake as there was enough to share and a couple pieces left over.

The sense of community that developed in the McDonalds among strangers on Albuquerque's southwest side was extremely encouraging to me in the idea of BTF.

I'll try and upload some pictures. Forgive me if I'm technically deficient.

Pastor Eric