TJ DREYER

I have to say first off that John Piper is the man… I really enjoy his work and how he breaks down the Bible so unapologetically. For Christmas I got Finally Alive, one of his newer works on being born again.

The way he tackles the issue really helps firm up any questions you may have. Piper addresses everything from why you need to be born again, how it works, how it happens and finally how to help others in the matter.

One of my favorite parts or thoughts out of the book come from Chapter 4:We are Willing Slaves to Sin and Satan

Piper is talking of, apart from the new birth, no good thing dwells in us. The statement that stuck out to me the most from this section was this:

“Where people use all that God has made without relying on his grace and without aiming to show his worth, they prostitute God’s creation. They make it the instrument of unbelief. And they ruin it.”

Finally Alive is a great read for anyone no matter their theological expertise, I highly recommend getting it. It will help you if you have accepted Christ better understand and more fully appreciate you adoption as a Son of God. If you are a person still thinking about Christ and his role in your life it might give you the insight to accept him and become Finally Alive…

If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

-C.S. Lewis

Master of Apologetics

I have discovered a great fascination for C.S. Lewis and his works in the last year or so. I have read Mere Christianity and pieces of some of his other thoughts, but hope to over the upcoming year read more from him.  He has some of the best quotes you could possibly hear, and I wanted to post a couple that I enjoy for you to take a look at.

“Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn.”

“No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.”

“The real problem is not why some pious, humble, believing people suffer, but why some do not.”

“Nothing that you have not given away will ever be really yours.”

“The safest road to hell is the gradual one – the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”

“You don’t have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body.”

Feel free to add a couple in the comment section if you know some quotes of his that I should hear.

Amazing song, amazing lyrics…. I officially just fell in love with Thrice all over again.

Come all you weary, with your heavy loads,
Lay down your burdens find rest for your souls.
Cause my yoke is easy and my burden is kind,
I’ll take yours upon me and you can take mine.

Come all you weary, move through the earth,
You’ve been spurned at fine restaurants and kicked out of church.
I’ve got a couple of loaves, so sit down at my feet,
Lend me your ears and we’ll break bread and eat.

Come all you weary
Come gather ’round near me
Find rest for your souls

Come all you weary, crippled you lay,
I’ll help you along, you can lay down your canes.
We’ve got a long way to go but we’ll travel as friends,
The lights growing bright further up, further in.

Come all you weary
Come gather ’round near me
Find rest for your souls

Rest for your souls

Come all you weary
Come gather ’round near me
Come all you weary
Come gather ’round near me
Find rest for your souls
Rest for your souls
Rest for your souls
Rest for your souls

I’m a bit of a photography fan. Anything that looks different and really make you think how in the world did they do that draws my attention, and these shots fit in that category. They are all time delay shots where the shutter is opened for an extended period of time and the light is added from an outside source, like a flash light or L.E.D. light. Hope you think they are as interesting as I do.

I have found myself in the past year very interested in older generations faith, and specifically a fondness for some of their insights and quotes. I found these quotes that another pastor; Perry Noble of NewSpring Church had came across, and thought they were too good not to steal and post myself… he didn’t originate them so I guess it’s sharing not stealing anyways…

They are as follows:

“Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased!” – C.S. Lewis

“I believe the doctrine of election, because I am quite certain that, if God had not chosen me, I should never have chosen Him; and I am sure He chose me before I was born, or else He never would have chosen me afterwards; and He must have elected me for reasons unknown to me, for I never could find any reason in myself why He should have looked upon me with special love” – Charles Spurgeon

Both of these are powerful and no matter a person’s theology should stir your heart to think more about the faith in which we proclaim.

Repentance Unto Life from TJ Dreyer on Vimeo.

House of Freedom crew, skip watching it here I’ll be delivering it to you guys live soon.

If you take a little look around my blog you will notice several pictures or videos of my dogs, we don’t have kids yet so I guess they get the attention. I was trying to relax and mess around on the laptop at the same time and Zoey decided she really wanted to snuggle my head which made things a little difficult so I posted a video of it. And the other day we were washing the dogs blankets and Zoey decided she would relax in the clothes basket (of clean clothes) since we took her comfy spot to lay… picture attached as well.

Trying to Work from TJ Dreyer on Vimeo.

I am preparing a message on repentance for this Sunday and decided to look for a couple quotes to add in, here are a couple that I came across and thought were interesting:

Within the egg of sin there sleeps the seed of damnation!

Man, there must be a divorce between you and your sins.
Not a mere separation for a season, but a clear divorce.
Cut off the right arm; pluck out the right eye, and cast
them from you, or else you cannot enter into eternal life.

- Charles Spurgeon, “THE CHIEF OF SINNERS“

Bible knowledge without repentance,
will be but a torch to light men to hell.
– Thomas Watson

Zoey snoring/spoiled from TJ Dreyer on Vimeo.

Zoey is our Mini Bulldog and she is spoiled rotten… we were at Allison’s parents and caught this, thought it was funny.