Morning & Evening

I have not posted anything on my blog for a very long time now, but I felt the need to post something today and there is no other thing that I wanted to share than this right here.

I read Charles Haddon Spurgeon’s daily devotion he wrote titled, “Morning & Evening”, and I read what he had to say for this morning, and it hit me like a ton of bricks and really made me evaluate myself even more, everyday.

Here is the devotion for June 23rd.

“Ephraim is a cake not turned.”
—Hosea 7:8

A cake not turned is uncooked on one side; and so Ephraim was, in many respects, untouched by divine grace: though there was some partial obedience, there was very much rebellion left. My soul, I charge thee, see whether this be thy case. Art thou thorough in the things of God? Has grace gone through the very centre of thy being so as to be felt in its divine operations in all thy powers, thy actions, thy words, and thy thoughts? To be sanctified, spirit, soul, and body, should be thine aim and prayer; and although sanctification may not be perfect in thee anywhere in degree, yet it must be universal in its action; there must not be the appearance of holiness in one place and reigning sin in another, else thou, too, wilt be a cake not turned.

A cake not turned is soon burnt on the side nearest the fire, and although no man can have too much religion, there are some who seem burnt black with bigoted zeal for that part of truth which they have received, or are charred to a cinder with a vainglorious Pharisaic ostentation of those religious performances which suit their humour. The assumed appearance of superior sanctity frequently accompanies a total absence of all vital godliness. The saint in public is a devil in private. He deals in flour by day and in soot by night. The cake which is burned on one side, is dough on the other.

If it be so with me, O Lord, turn me! Turn my unsanctified nature to the fire of Thy love and let it feel the sacred glow, and let my burnt side cool a little while I learn my own weakness and want of heat when I am removed from Thy heavenly flame. Let me not be found a double-minded man, but one entirely under the powerful influence of reigning grace; for well I know if I am left like a cake unturned, and am not on both sides the subject of Thy grace, I must be consumed for ever amid everlasting burnings.

May God richly bless you, Brad Ormonde Jr.

Brian McLaren Denies the Account of Genesis & The Fall of Man

Well the Heading says it all. You’ve guessed it! Brian McLaren, founder and leader of the Emergent Church, has discussed yet another thing that he does not believe in. The Fall of Man. How can you not believe in the fall of man? We know that we are depraved and the we have fallen short. Romans tells us, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” This is one of the essential doctrines, in realizing that we are sinners in need of a Savior. If there was no fall of man then God wouldn’t have had to send His Son to die for our sins.

You can listen to his response to this and see what you think. Leave a comment here so we can see what everyone is thinking about this subject.
Brian McLaren Denies the Fall of Man

What’s On Your iPod?

I just thought it interesting as I was thinking about the different kinds of music there is out there right now, and how many kids have music from the 70’s and 80’s and how much they love to listen to it. iPods have revolutionized our culture and our music industry tremendously. So I just wanted to ask the simple question, “What’s in your iPod?” I have the first generation iPod video that holds 30GB of music. It’s old and it’s getting worn out, and I think it’s time for me to get a new one. I wish I had the 120GB iPod because I’ve filled mine all the way, and I don’t even have all my music on there, but I don’t think I would ever fill the 120GB iPod.

Here are some of the few bands I have in my iPod.
1. David Crowder Band
2. Copeland
3. As Cities Burn
4. Jack Johnson
5. Hillsong United
6. Chris Tomlin
7. P.O.D.
8. Thrice
9. Underoath and finally
10. U2

That’s just a little bit of what I have, but those groups/artists are what I listen to the most. Well there ya have it. Part of my music collection on my iPod.

What’s on Your iPod? Leave a comment with some of the music on your iPod and see all the different kinds of music we have on here, then we’ll take a poll to see who is the favorite out of them all.

Blessings, Brad Ormonde Jr.

Revealing The Heart

Ok, so I designed this picture and it’s from a concept that I have been thinking of for a while. I’ve titled it, as you can see, “Revealing The Heart”. It comes from Hebrews 4:12. “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

The word of God reveals who we are by piercing through it and discerns our thoughts and intentions. The Bible is very powerful and very important. It is the guideline by which we must live. I want the Bible to reveal my heart so that I may understand the things that I must work on in order to be a stronger Christian, and I must do it daily. We must all, every day ask the Lord to reveal to us the things we need to work on in order to have a stronger relationship with Him.

May you ask the Lord to reveal your heart so you may be able to become a stronger believer in the Lord.

There are two life verses that I have been trying to apply to my life daily, and I encourage you to do the same. Here they are.

2 Timothy 2:15
“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”

Acts 20:24
“But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”

Blessings, Brad Ormonde Jr.

Please Pray for the Arthurs

Well, a lot of people already know by now, and we have all been praying for the Arthur family, hopefully, but this morning Pastor Ralph Arthur passed away in his sleep peacefully.

Pastor Ralph was such a great man of God and was a very loveable guy. I have known Pastor Ralph since I was about 9, but he has known me since I was a little guy and he was always so nice and so kind. Every time I would walk by and see him, he would embrace me with a big hug and say, “Hey big guy!” I loved just seeing such a great and bright smile on his face all the time. The one thing I remember about him more than anything, was his genuine faith. He didn’t play pastor, and he didn’t just act like he loved you, he truly and honestly loved you very much.

It’s hard to imagine that this is really happening and I am so heart broken for Cheri and the kids. I am just so thankful that he is now in the presence of our Almighty God and his Almighty God as well. Pastor Ralph is now in Heaven and for that we are thankful but at the same time we grieve.

Ralph can now look at God face to face and embrace God with such a big hug and smile on his face and just gaze upon the glorious face of our Lord and Savior. The reason Pastor Ralph is in Heaven is because he was a man of faith. He believed in God and he confessed Jesus as Lord of his life. It wasn’t by his good works although everything he did was good but he is now in Heaven because of his confession of Jesus as Lord.

May we take the example of how Pastor Ralph lived his life and live that way as well. Live your life genuinely.

We love you Pastor Ralph

If you would like to leave condolences with the family, you may do so here: Harvest Blog

Pray For The Lusk Family

Just this past week, Jeremy Lusk, a professional MotoCross dirt bike rider, died last week while attempting a trick in an event in Costa Rica. The injuries he sustained are what took Jeremy from this earth, but praise the Lord that he was a believer and now he is in the presence of our Almighty God. I can’t even imagine the pain and agony the family must be in right now, especially for his wife. Thank the Lord that she is a believer as well and now she can hopefully and prayerfully find rest and comfort in the hands of her Father in Heaven.

For a believer, the whole life of one who has dedicated their life to Christ has this hope of Heaven. This hope is a confident expectation of what is to come for one who is on earth living for Christ, and following Him daily. Jeremy had this hope on earth and now he no longer has to hope because he now stands before his Father, face to face, finally being able to say, “This is what I have lived my whole life for.”

I pray for you and for myself that we have this confident expectation of knowing that when we die we will go to Heaven. If you do not have that assurance, send me an email and I would love to help you out and help strengthen your walk with Christ.

Let us please keep the Lusk family in prayer, and for the family friends, and pray that this can open the eyes of many to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior, just as Jeremy did.

Study To Show Thyself Approved…

I am preparing a message for this upcoming Sunday morning at Harvest Christian Fellowship in the Jr. High Ministry. Just thought I’d upload this picture so you can kind of see how I set things up when I’m studying and working on this message. I got all my books out, have my Bible(of course), will NEVER teach without that, and of course you see that wonderful cup of coffee. Coffee just seems to help me more when I’m studying. I love coffee. But anyway back to the subject, I will be speaking on 2 Chronicles 5, the ark of the covenant being brought into the temple. I will show how it is referred to in the Old Testament, and also how it is referred to in the New Testament, and even to this day.

I will be teaching all 3 Jr. High services, so if you are a Jr. Higher, I will see you there, if not they may have a recording of it if you want to hear what God spoke to us about. God’s Word never turns void, even with someone like me. 1 Corinthians 4:6-7.

Blessings, Brad Ormonde Jr.

The Voice™

The Bible is such a powerful “book” isn’t it? Well for believers we know that the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword according to Hebrews 4:12. And even in 2 Timothy 3:16 it says that all scripture is breathed out by God… We know the power of the Bible because it has transformed our life and has had a great impact on our life.

There are many different translations to read from, NIV, NLT, NKJV, KJV, ESV, & NASB. And then there is the paraphrased version known as The Message. And a few Study Bibles made by specific people, and there is now a new translation known as The Voice.

I was blown away by this translation for one reason, it’s known as the Emerging Church Translation.

The Emerging Church is already scary enough as they try to manipulate scripture and become to relevant with people. They have become so “relevant” that the “pastors” who are part of the Emerging Church have stopped reading God’s Word from the pulpit. They started talking about political issues and how to save the environment and to be more “earth-friendly”. This movement if you will, now came out with their own translation known as The Voice and has been translated by Scholars and by people who have degrees in that field. A group of fiction writers came together and compiled this translation together. Instead of reading what I have to say, look at it for yourself.

Leave a comment and tell me what you think.

The Voice

Gadgets Of The Year

I’m always looking at the different gadgets floating around. Since the new year is here and 2008 is over, so I wanted to see what gadget was awarded “gadget of the year”. There is a list of the top gadgets of the year, and I like what’s on the list. TIME magazine compiled this list so it is a reliable source. Check for yourself, I just thought it would be cool to post it on here for you guys if you want to see it.

here’s the link for it:

Gadgets of the Year

Help!

hey guys I need help. I want to design a custom header image but I’m not design savvy, and I want it to look good. Anyone know of any good ideas? Or is anyone willing to submit a design they made?

If you have a custom header image you think would look good on my blog, that goes along with the color scheme then email me your design.

The header image has a few limitations as far as the size of it. The header image size has to be 780×95. That’s the only limit. If you have an image you want to submit, email a .jpg file to me at bormonde@me.com.

Thanks and God Bless. Hope to see a few designs. Later

BAO