The Purpose of The Blog.

THE GROW BY LEARNING BLOGGER PURPOSE

The original intent of this Blog "Grow By Learning." was design to express my experiences that I have had in my life time. Originally I thought that my posts were going to be priviate or for my family to read. But since I have learned that anyone who knows the domain can read what I say. That is okay. What you read is from my point of view and what I think and that is my desire.

I post photo of my family and friends, and church family.

Then I begin to use this blog to post articles about issues that I was concern about. I post my outlines from the sermons I preach, I post videos from sermons I teach.

I also post videos and articles that I think are helpful from other preachers that I generally like.

The one thing I do is to be honest with what I believe. I am not trying to cover up what I really believe. I say what I believe to the best of my ability.

I have grown spiritual over the years, I have grown in my understanding of the Word of God, and I have grown in many areas of my life. What I believed in 1960 or any other period of time, is subject to change if I discover I have been wrong.

I do not hold to tradition that is just that. So much of what we do is tradition of man and is not Biblical.

People really get upset when their viewpoint is challenged. My viewpoints are often challenged and its a challenge to stay discipline to challenge myself to learn. So much of what I learned in life has been mixed with untruth and not sound biblically, the challenge is to break with traditional belief and focus on the Word of God.

So much of what we learn is not the real truth and that gets us upset to learn the truth. Therefore I will express what I have learned.

I have a number of websites that I use to express my thinking and I share what I am learning from other preachers and teachers.

GROW BY LEARNING WEBSITE

(click)

If you go to this website you can find the websites that I have.

SUNDAY JULY 20 2008

God has magnified his love, and set forth the riches of his grace towards us, in a manner which should effectually allure our hearts to him. While we were enemies and rebels in open arms against him—he was pleased to send his beloved Son to die for our sins—in order to redeem us from sin and hell. He who is the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person, became a man of sorrows for our sakes. In the greatness of his condescension, he called himself the Son of man—but all the fullness of the God-head dwelt in him. He was declared to be God manifest in the flesh. He came down from his Father's bosom, and became man—not to condemn the world of mankind—but to give his life and blood for our sakes; to make his soul an offering for our sins, to suffer inconceivable anguish and sorrow, and to die for us, that he might bring us back to God and happiness. He poured out his soul to death, to secure us from the deserved wrath and vengeance of God. He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, that we through his stripes might be healed. He was stricken and smitten and afflicted by God—that he might open the way for us to partake of Divine mercy, and render the offended Majesty of heaven a more proper, and a more engaging object of our love.

By John Fawcett
Out side by home, the beautiful creation of God.
CLOUDS

The color of a cloud tells much about what is going on inside the cloud. Clouds form when relatively warm air containing water vapor is lighter than its surrounding air and this causes it to rise. As it rises it cools and the vapor condenses out of the air as micro-droplets. These tiny particles of water are relatively densely packed and sunlight cannot penetrate far into the cloud before it is reflected out, giving a cloud its characteristic white color. As a cloud matures, the droplets may combine to produce larger droplets, which may combine to form droplets large enough to fall as rain. In this process of accumulation, the space between droplets becomes larger and larger, permitting light to penetrate much farther into the cloud. If the cloud is sufficiently large and the droplets within are spaced far enough apart, it may be that a percentage of the light which enters the cloud is not reflected back out before it is absorbed (Think of how much farther one can see in a heavy rain as opposed to how far one can see in a heavy fog). This process of reflection/absorption is what leads to the range of cloud color from white through grey through black. For the same reason, the undersides of large clouds and heavy overcasts appear various degrees of grey; little light is being reflected or transmitted back to the observer.
So reads WIKIPEDIA

WHY PASTORS SHOULD BLOG
However, here’s why I think it would be good for you and your congregation if you did.
Pastors should blog…
1. …to write.
If you’re a pastor, you probably already know the value writing has for thinking. Through writing, you delve into new ideas and new insights. If you strive to write well, you will at the same time be striving to think well.
Then when you share new ideas and new insights, readers can come along with you wherever your good writing and good thinking bring you.
There is no better way to simply and quickly share your writing than by maintaining a blog. And if you’re serious about your blog, it will help you not only in your thinking, but in your discipline as well, as people begin to regularly expect quality insight from you.
2. …to teach.
Most pastors I’ve run into love to talk. Many of them laugh at themselves about how long-winded they’re sometimes tempted to be.
Enter Blog.
Here is where a pastor has an outlet for whatever he didn’t get to say on Sunday. Your blog is where you can pass on that perfect analogy you only just thought of; that hilarious yet meaningful story you couldn’t connect to your text no matter how hard you tried; that last point you skipped over even though you needed it to complete your 8-point acrostic sermon that almost spelled HUMILITY.
And more than just a catch-all for sermon spill-over, a blog is a perfect place for those 30-second nuggets of truth that come in your devotions or while you’re reading the newspaper. You may never write a full-fledged article about these brief insights or preach a whole sermon, but via your blog, your people can still learn from them just like you did.

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BLOGGERS

WHO IS THIS LITTLE KID? THERE ARE TWO DOLLS IN THIS PHOTO OF A FEW YEARS BACK

DO I QUARANTINE OR DELETE MY PRE-WRITTEN ARTICLES

(This post was written after the post following this post: I posted that article after Charity proof read the article.) The article was on quaratine for twelve hours.

Having spent the last nearly four hours in putting down my thoughts today, I have decided to put them in quarantine until after Charity gets home and she can proof read this article. She does offer her opinions about the content, but she doesn't change the article. She corrects the grammar and spelling and sometimes the clarity of the sentences. That is a task.

Oh, the photo? Guess who that little kid is? There are two dolls in the photo!

It's hard to wait to post, but it's smart.

Charles

SHOULD I QUARANTINE AND DELETE IS THE QUESTION

WHICH PART OF THE BRAIN WILL CONTROL MY MIND TODAY:

WHICH SIDE OF THE BRAIN HAVE I DEVELOPED IN BLOGGING?

WHICH SIDE OF MY BRAIN IS IN CONTROL TODAY IS THE QUESTION

JUST WHAT DO I DO WITH INFORMATION I FIND WHILE I DECIDE WHETHER I SHOULD BLOG OR NOT TO BLOG, THAT IS THE QUESTION?

There are many mornings before I get up, my mind is running as to where I want to go when I get up. Sometimes it's the spiritual side, other times it's the human side. "Lord, please control me today." I will click the button on the Gateway and return to start the morning on Microsoft Word Processor, or Firefox Google Reader, or check the Inbox e mails.

Like this morning, Charity had an early day at the bakery and I find myself at the computer. Where do I go and what do I put on GROW BY LEARNING/BLOG today?

With DSL, Verzion, the highest connection speed, I have little time to think sometimes. The old days with dial-up I had a lot of time to think. TO CLICK IS FAST.

I have discovered with Windows 2007 XP, programs that I had up on screen are saved even when I cut off the AOL, or Firefox. I have turned the computer on and there was music playing.

Well, last night I was reading Kent Brandenburg. blog, he is a pastor, Bob Jones grad, and a fundamentalist bar none other. One of his articles is on "Separation." This has been interesting, to the point I have been putting down some thoughts on this subject. (To quarantine or delete)

This morning Kent had an article on "Multi-Cultural Gobblygook from Young "Fundamentalist". Now there was a subject of interest. Here is one comment he made.

• "I can see other doey-eyed young fundamentalists whose brains have been softened by the modern media picture of race relations."
  

To quarantine or delete is the question.

Then another Kent like background pastor Don Johnson made this statement about John Piper:.3

• "Consider those who much admire John Piper. I have listened to one Piper sermon in its entirety. If that is a sample, his content, style and mannerisms (as far as I could discern from audio only) leave me cold. But that is just me. I am not so much concerned with style as philosophy."

To quarantine or delete is the question.

Then last night (too late to quarantine) the idea of "WHOSOEVER WILL" occurred in my brain. And I addressed this issue. A talk with a young lady triggered this article.

EARLIER THIS MORNING I AM THINKING, DO I KNOW EVEN HOW TO THINK CORRECTLY? Do we know how to take the Scripture and understand the principles that they are teaching us?

For example:

• Separation: A fundamentalist like Don Johnson, or Kent Brandenburg will view separation differently from Mark Dever, John MacArthur, Jr. or John Piper, or Charles Whisnant. Of course there are branches of fundamentalist, too.


• Whosoever will: An independent Baptist will view this term differently from an evangelical. and BOTH WILL AGREE THEY ARE BIBLICALLY CORRECT.

And somehow, all this lead to a research on CRITICAL THINKING. While reading the comments on Kent and Don's sites, with Jason I am thinking, how do I engage in a serious thought with these men on these issues?

SO HOW DO YOU ENGAGE IN THIS KIND OF CRITICAL BIBLICAL THINKING ABOUT ISSUES THAT WE ALL HAVE IN MINISTRY?

A BRIEF OUTLINE TO GUIDE IN ONE'S THINKING PROCESS:

POINT OF VIEW

• Frame of reference
• Perspective
• Orientation

PURPOSE

• Goal
• Objective

QUESTION AT ISSUE

• Problem
• Issue

INFORMATION

• data
• facts
• observations
• experiences
  

INTERPRETATION AND INFERENCE

• Conclusions
• Solutions
  

CONCEPTS

• theories
• definitions
• axioms
• laws
• principles
• models
  

ASSUMPTIONS

• presupposition
• taking for granted
  

IMPLICATIONS AND CONSEQUENCES

• Conclusion
  

AND I THOUGHT YOU ONLY NEEDED THE KING JAMES 1611 BIBLE TO SOLVE ANY ISSUE. LET THE KJV 1611 BE YOUR GUIDE. ( sorry, tongue in cheek)

Without question the Word of God is our guide in all matters that pertain to life and godliness. It's how you arrive at your THINKING that will guide you. How else do fundamentalists and evangelicals and reformed and Baptist, and the Bob Jones, Jack Hyles, J.F. Norris camps arrive at different opinions?

• Separation: What is our guide in this matter, who we have fellowship with?
• Whosoever will
• Translations of the Bible
• Elders and Deacons
• Multiculturalism
• And a multitude of other issues that are issues.

So do I Quarantine or Delete this article?

Oh my!

This article was written and put on hold, and then I posted the photo of Charity in the last post.

Proof read by Charity 7:30 p.m.

READING BOOKS AND SERMONS, AND ARTICLES

I love reading, let me be clear, I love reading in order to gain knoweldge , understanding, and wisdom. I don't like reading for fun, or to relax. I like Charity to read out loud on trips. She will read an enjoyable book she likes. Charity likes to read for the enjoyment of the story she is reading. She will read a book almost every night.

Reading is good. Understanding what you are reading is better. Knowing how to read a book is best. How to read a book is not all that easy. You might not read the Bible the same way you would read Elwell's Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. When I am John MacArthur, Jr.'s book Faith Works, or The Gospel According to Jesus verses reading Jerry Falwell's Autobiography, or even Charles Spurgeon's biography "Spurgeon & Son" they would be different reading styles. When I read most books, I can't read without marking, and unlining key thoughts. For example: Walter C. Kaiser, Jr, "Toward An Exegetical Theology, Biblical Exegesis for preaching and teaching. This book is marked, written in, highlighted, and read and read read, and even outlined.

Any of Watchman Nee's books are read, slowly, a little at a time. the books are marked up a lot. So would reading Wayne C. Booth's book "The Craft of Research" slow, learning, put into practice and so forth. I am still reading it. The principles in this book takes practice, and practice.

I buy books when the need comes about. For example in 2007 when I was for a brief time the Christian Educational director at a church last year, I bought books on the Children's Ministry. I used those books as research for ministry. For example: George Barna's "Revolutionary Parenting". Along with about ten others books.

I bought Alexander Strauch's book " A Christian Leader's Guide to Leading With Love." and also the study guide. Then I down loaded "The Mentor's Guide to Bibical Eldership: Twelve lessons for Mentoring Elders" by Strauch and Richard Swartley. 150 pages by the way.

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When Charity and I were in Lynchburg, Virginia, the beautiful mountains of Virginia, my birth place, and home for eighteen years, last year, we were at the Thomas Road Baptist Church, visited with Jerry and Macel Falwell, Macel gave me "Building Dynamic Faith" by Jerry. Outstanding book to read.

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Then I also download books and papers from the web:

• Christ-Centered Preaching: Preparation and Delivery of Sermons: Bryan Chapell & Covenant Theology Seminary: over one hundred pages.


• Why I Am A Premillennialist: Pulpit Mazazine Blog: over one hundred pages


• Dispensational Hermeneutics: Thomas Ice


• Dispensationalism, The Church and The New Covenant: series of papers


• The New covenant by John MacArthur


• The Shepherd Conferences 2007 all sessions. Over one hundred pages


• John Pipers's weekly sermons. All his sermons in 2007


• John MacArthur, Jr. sermons. Over thirty sermons


• Ray Pritcher's weekly sermons.


• Apostolic Hermeneutics: many resources: ExpositoryThoughts.blog.


• John Piper's The Future of Justification. Fifty pages


• Vern Poythress's New Testament Worldview. Twenty five pages


• The For the Gospel Conference. All the sessions.

Then there is the reading the bloggers of Bloggers and WordPress. The weblog number in the hundreds.

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As by father in law Bob Temple, Sr. says, "Charles your problem is, you learn and read so much, and you don't have an outlet to give it out, and that you get discouraged." And few want to hear it. People are not into Biblical language around here.

As an updated having visited Pulpit Magazine Blog

• What is so interested I just took out this book from my library today, and posted the book on my blog. It was in 1983 when I was at the Shepherd Conference when there were only 300 men there. And the book I bought was “Toward An Exegetical Theology.” I flew out of LA X and was stranted in the Denver Airport for eight hours and I read this 265 pages book

I was so mad, because I had graduated from BBS in Bible, but I had never read such a book on preaching. So I went back home and begin developing the principles I recieved from the Shepherd’s Conference and John MacArthur, and this book by Kaiser. For the next thirteen years I begin to learn how to use the principles in this book. And in those thirteen years taught the Scriptures from a exegetical theological and build the sermon based on the scriptural text
I liked the opening remarks Kaiser said about Tenney, “I first learned the analytical method of exegesis and who instilled in me an insatiable love for the Scriptures and the idea of applying the rudiments of this method to Hebrew.”

Along with John MacArthur who helped me put into practice this method of knowing the Scripture and applying the prinicples when preaching.

Learning to preach that is totally Biblical in that it is guided by God’s Word in its origins, productive and proclamation.

By far the best book I have read on how to learn to preach.

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This has been good to put down. I will address more later.

http://hstrial-cwhisnant2.homestead.com/

check out my Web site

Charles