Married to a doctor - mother of one son - stepmother to another - we live in a beautiful home nestled at the foothills - The "boys" enjoy golf - my athletic sport is shopping and we can't forget walking our dog, Polo - however, our most precious times are around the kitchen table having a Bible study.
What is this site about? Well, here is what it is not... It is not to influence you to buy real estate. It is not to pressure you into becoming a Christian. It is not a way to manipulate God within the business industry. Simply, it is about sharing. One overlooked facet about real estate involves the personal stresses that people assume when moving from one home to another, and for many, from relocating from one state to another. That is why our family shares personally with those who are trying to connect with this new community. Purely as an option, you are welcome to comb through my husband's journal entries about faith, and hopefully, his personal insights may provide you with some encouragement.
Feeling a bit rusty since I last wrote in this diary. The short-term sabbatical has given me some insight into the Word of God as well as my own life. Rather than hang our hopes on the rituals of New Year’s resolutions, Cherise and I have been leaning on the Word of God for His transforming power. One sharp message of truth keeps penetrating our hearts, as it did Paul when he wrote his prison epistles. “Be very careful, then, how you live – not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15-16, NIV). We believe that we are facing some real challenges with making the most of our opportunities, instead of increasing our calendars to get the most out of life. Quality over quantity. Imagine how the presence of God manifests when we fully devote ourselves to the work He has given each of us…
POSTED BY GORDON SELLEY
Date:
January 5, 2004
Recently, our family has dealt with the death of a loved one on my wife’s side of the family. Thank goodness her grandmother claimed salvation through Jesus Christ during her latter years. This experience reminds me of the unlimited dimensions of God’s grace. Funerals are utterly devastating when the pastor tries to manufacture the relevancy of the Gospel for the deceased who does not know the Son. But for the one who clings to the message of the cross, the wondrous Christ fulfills his or her hope. “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God” (1 John 3:1, NIV).
POSTED BY GORDON SELLEY
Date:
January 10, 2004
Today, the contemporary Christian faces some very difficult challenges of walking out his or her faith in a world where the power of modern ideas dominate the centers of academia, commerce and theology. Since the turn of the twentieth century, there has been a process of erosion from Christian theism to the worldview of Naturalism. The intellect of the Western culture now struggles to identify with the image of a transcendent God. Technology, politics, wealth, social status, and self-improvement seem to be more important than the germane perspectives about life and death. As reported by the liberal media of our post-modern generation, the importance of history is manmade and only deemed meaningful if the television ratings bring in lofty profits, regardless of the content of information being reported. Typically, the worse news begets higher ratings, inevitably shaping our viewpoints about the world in which we live. Accepting the myriad of religious worldviews headlines the moral position of the societal majority. Being politically correct usurps the realities of absolute truth and eternal consequences. In effect, modern man has traded in his accurate way of thinking about God to guide his way of life to relying on the presuppositions that knowledge is wholly derived from the closed system of the universe. “The laws applying to matter apply to us. We do not transcend the universe in any way” (Sire, 1997, p. 57). This particular way of thinking takes on many dangerous forms in our society, dampening the concept of redemption and directly contradicting the nature of a sovereign God.
POSTED BY GORDON SELLEY
Date:
January 12, 2004
For the one who rejects Christian theism and adopts Naturalism, there seems to be an attitude of pride toward humanism, yet there is a distinct violation of human dignity.
For the naturalist, abortion and euthanasia support situational ethics. An activist negates the authority of man to rule over environmental considerations and animal rights, and instead, maintains an unhealthy, overzealous position, trying to make the human species equal to all other forms of organic life, whether vegetation or carbon-based. Another example of how our Western culture so easily accepts the direction of naturalism is found in America’s fascination with space exploration. The importance of finding the key answers to life has become paramount when we reduce the effective will of God to laws of the universe. Rather than relying on the Spirit to guide our vision regarding how to live, our society has chosen the other alternative, to expect the Spirit rover to find out the mysteries of life from another hypothesized evolutionary source on the planet Mars.
POSTED BY GORDON SELLEY
Date:
January 15, 2004
The clash of worldviews in our Western culture is certainly understood, but the acceptance of naturalistic views in combination with Christian theism particularly concern this Christian author, as the influence of the church today has been weakened significantly. For instance, if God’s rule is extended onward in this world through the church, then why does its leadership continue to remain silent about the duplicitious ongoings of mainstream politics? In an article entitled, Lawmakers, Lawbreakers, “Senator Ted Kennedy, a pro-abortion Roman Catholic, and former President Bill Clinton, a pro-abortion Southern Baptist, are members in good standing of their respective churches” (p. 27). The perversion of values demonstrated by these high-powered individuals undermines the importance of human life, and simultaneously, encourages the construct of power over the precepts of the law. Nonetheless, the church accepts their notions and fails to discipline their behaviors. As the yeast of naturalism spreads throughout the whole batch, so does it poisonous effects. In conclusion, Sire (1997) affirms that an increase in humanism will occur, “shifting further and further from the memory of Christian ethics” (p. 61). The emphasis about the truth of the kingdom of God continues to take a backseat to the inflated value of the individual person.
POSTED BY GORDON SELLEY
Date:
January 20, 2004
As you have read in the past three journal entries, I have offered some insight to the necessity of holding firm to the Christian theistic worldview. The false teaching among us is catering to the appetites of this world. “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4, NIV). Central to Christian theism is Jesus Christ. “Everyone who believes that Jesus is Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well” (1 John 5:1, NIV). It is from this construct that we can love God by carrying out his commands. This does not mean to sit in the church pew, pretending to be the good Christian that others think we should be. Rather, it means that we need to encourage each other as we are all dealing with issues of sin. This is showing our love for God. When times get difficult, or when fatigue shouts at me to give up, I know that I need to turn to the Son and worship him with a Spirit of truth and love. He has already promised to destroy the works of the devil. The words of John comfort my soul and encourage my walk of faith, “Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure” (1 John 3:3, NIV).
POSTED BY GORDON SELLEY
Date:
January 26, 2004
The importance of absolute truth cannot be understated. I have found in my own life that because truth does not change, it has the capability to change the things around me -- as so with the covenant that has been freely given to those who believe in Jesus Christ. One does not need a covenant to live an unrighteous life, instead, the covenant from God (based on absolute truth) was given to those who choose to live a righteous life -- one that is eternal and fully abundant.
POSTED BY GORDON SELLEY
Date:
January 28, 2004
To live in America is to live in a default culture. Because speed and volume tend to fill our daily needs, I would say that life is becoming a “blur,” as the proportion of my years lessen and shorten. My own memories of things are like looking through a glass dimly. In fact, my wife and I are desperately trying to deal with this autopilot culture within our own family structure at the moment, realizing how easy it is to get caught up in business, as well as in the busyness of life. Everything revolves around quick-paced decisions, and there is little time for peace and serenity – something that is essential for the people of God. Rarely, do we find the time to balance our senses, except for our times of Bible study and prayer. “For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith” (Hebrews 4:2, NIV). As a Christian theist, I believe it is essential to live within the will of God, rather than in a place of “nowhereness,” in which identity and purpose are deluded by sensory overload. Instead of trying to solve our problems by adding more technology and sensory gratification into our lives, I so realize the importance of making the most of every opportunity, in terms of quality over quantity. God help us to apply the methods of balance through the guidance of your Spirit.
POSTED BY GORDON SELLEY
Date:
February 2, 2004
Do you ever lie in bed at night with the feeling that everything feels unsettled? You are not alone. Oftentimes I hear from people who say that it feels like our world is crashing down around us. The institutions of higher education, finance, and religion once provided a sense of stability for many of society. Yet in our modern culture, nothing feels stable anymore, except the hope in Jesus Christ that purifies us. As a believer, it is apparent that our civilization is enduring the End Times, whether or not if the Rapture occurs within the next five minutes or one hundred years from now. I would encourage everyone to diligently seek God for stability and comfort. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9, NIV).
POSTED BY GORDON SELLEY
Date:
February 4, 2004
“Remember, the Word of God was not written to satisfy our curiosity; it was written to change our lives” (Hendricks & Hendricks, 1991, p. 95). Bible study and prayer are not segregated disciplines. No desire, even extensive study of the Word, is quite the same after it has been offered up to God in prayer; it has been purified and elevated. As a result, the interconnection of prayer and reading helps to transform the mind of man into the mind of Christ.
POSTED BY GORDON SELLEY
Date:
February 5, 2004
Too many Christian minds have conformed to the modern spirit that spawns great thoughts of man and leaves room for only small thoughts of God. Instead of man expecting God to always function at his level, thorough interpretation of the Word opens new territories of exploration into God Himself and the business of heaven. When man begins to try to live his life according to the standard measure of the Word, then he will surely obtain the elevated riches of abundant living.
POSTED BY GORDON SELLEY
Date:
February 8, 2004
Oftentimes, the Word becomes law in many believers’ lives, handcuffing them to inward stagnancy. The missing link involves love and how the Christian audience perceives it. Emotional desire and postmodern thinking are not the rudimentary actuaries of love. Adler & Van Doren (1972) ascribe, “Love…is an intellectual act, not an emotional one.” Of course, there is an emotional reaction to love, but to grow in love is to grow in knowledge. For the Christian, this principle aptly applies when gaining in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. “It takes the power of God to make God known. It takes the knowledge of God to enable mankind to love God. It takes God to love God, and God to know God” (The Holy Bible, personal notes, p. 1080).
POSTED BY GORDON SELLEY
Date:
February 9, 2004
Although it may be unintentional, it seems oftentimes that when we pray to God we do so in some measure of expectation that he will bend to our requests, making things to turn out in our favor or to further better our circumstances. Lately, God has spoken into my heart about this issue. Prayer is not for his benefit, it is for ours, transforming us each day into the essence of Christ…
POSTED BY GORDON SELLEY
Date:
February 14, 2004
You may want to ask someone of a different worldview from Christian theism, "would you like to experience 'more'?" It seems like many postmoderns today reject the church because they feel captured and controlled by the rituals and self-serving agendas. Jesus felt differently about religious constructs. He came to set us free and to give us abundant life. This is the 'more' that people want to hear about, because it is the truth from God.
POSTED BY GORDON SELLEY
Date:
February 20, 2004
It is much easier to start the race of life than to finish it strongly and with honor. Unless we have the divine passion and personal love for Jesus Christ, we will quit the work before we are much older. The good news is that Jesus gives us the strength to finish the race, acquiring the depth of soul and living in the eternal simultaneously. His death on the cross was about the love of God and the glorious redemption of human life.
POSTED BY GORDON SELLEY
Date:
March 3, 2004
As this generation draws near to an end of the modern period, the church community is once again called upon to roll up its sleeves in order to serve a new populous of nonbelievers in a postmodern world. Kimball (2004) states, “We are rapidly moving from a modern to a postmodern world and from a Judeo-Christian nation to a post-Christian nation” (p. 45). In other words, the church-community remains blind to the emerging culture and its spiritual needs. “As a result, we need to develop new approaches to ‘church.’ This involves a shift in our worldview, ecclesiology, and epistemology” (p. 45)… The order of the church-community is of divine origin and character, though it is, of course, intended to serve and not to rule. The offices of the church-community are “ministries” (1 Corinthians 12:4, NIV). They are appointed by God (1 Corinthians 12:28, NIV), by Christ (Ephesians 4:11, NIV), by the Holy Spirit (Acts 20:28, NIV) within but not by the church-community…The offices exist to serve the church-community; they can be justified spiritually only through service (Bonhoeffer, p. 230).
POSTED BY GORDON SELLEY
Date:
March 7, 2004
For the Christian who believes, serves and testifies to the love of Christ, he or she represents the reality of the kingdom of God. In the culture today, this concept is often repulsive and blatantly rejected by the majority of postmodern individuals. As they hunger for spirituality, they cringe at the thought of rules and regulations and the stereotype that follows the judgmental, politically correct, Christian congregate. Instead, they are searching for something real, something that appeals to their senses, and something that actually works to better their lives. Webber (2002) comments about Lesslie Newbigin, a missionary to India in the middle of the twentieth century, who challenged the Western world to consider his or her own backyard as a perfect place for a missionary setting. Because Christianity is countercultural to postmodernism, “the church’s mission is to show the world what it looks like when a community of people live under the reign of God” (Webber, 2002, p. 133).
POSTED BY GORDON SELLEY
Date:
March 12, 2004
Our entire family thoroughly enjoyed the movie, “The Passion of the Christ,” as we were fully engaged in the depth of love that Christ really has for each one of us. Please do not be discouraged about this film from other critics, including various leadership elites in the fundamental Christian world. Even though the film does portray the reality of violence with the scourging of Christ and his Crucifixion, “The Passion of the Christ” will speak volumes about the grace of God and His love for all of mankind, including His enemies. “A central theme in the personal life of Jesus Christ, which lies at the very heart of the revelation that He is, is His growing intimacy with, trust in, and love of His Abba” (Manning, 2002, p. 61). This wonderful and connected bond vertically with the Father freed Him from the temptations of this world, thus empowering Him to walk ever so faithfully in the will of God. In essence, Jesus embodied the will of God. I firmly believe that the example of Christ’s love for His father is the epitome of one who earnestly seeks after God’s heart – being able to die to self, serving the kingdom of God, and walking obediently to the heartbeat of His love.
