Category - General

1. KNOW JESUS
a. Personal relationship
b. Changed life
c. Daily time
d. Giving heart
2. DISCIPLINE YOURSELF
a. Do not be deceived, life is hard
b. Claim God’s promises
c. Repent when you sin
d. Surrender to the Lord every moment
3. CLAIM YOUR VICTORY
a. Jesus is God’s everything
b. He lives in you
c. Your life counts (people count with God)
d. Death in Christ brings life
4. DEMAND YOUR FORGIVENESS
a. Deny the demons-God HAS SAID
b. Repudiate your past
c. Look to heaven
5. LIVE A HOLY LIFE
a. Be changed
b. Be confident
c. Be controlled by Christ
d. Be happy-count your blessings

The majesty of the name of the Lord is worthy of my consideration and contemplation. His majesty is the very thing that I can relate to and have a specific feeling about.

I am constantly trying to succeed at things. But it is the failure to succeed that pulls me down and the results of success itself that encourages me to inflate my own estimation of self. Neither is ever correct. Just around the corner from failure is success. Just down the road from success is failure. Humanity lives with this reality. I experience this in my own life.

The Lord has perfect knowledge. He neither overestimates himself nor does He have a poor view of himself. In the midst of His work in me I do not disappoint nor do I elate. Majesty is indeed a proper expression for me of God’s name. My success eternally is a once and for all time choice of Him. When I choose Jesus I choose success.

The Lord sees me complete in Christ. The Father expresses absolute love for me in Christ. I will eternally receive only good from the hand of the Lord. This indeed encourages me to proclaim Majestic is your name o Lord. The Lord is good and is robed in majesty. What a God we serve!

I. RESCUES US FROM EVIL
a. Forgiven our sins
b. Purchased our freedom
c. Brought us into His kingdom
II. IMAGE OF GOD
a. Always was God
b. Always with God
c. He is God
III. HEAD OF THE CHURCH
a. Body of Christ
b. Belongs to God
IV. BRINGS MAN TO GOD
a. Reconciles-peace with
b. Makes us His friends
c. Watches over us
d. Calls us to serve
V. REVEALS GOD’S SECRET
a. God’s mystery was Jesus work
b. His riches at our disposal
c. Christ in me

New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary is holding “campus” classes at our North Georgia Campus in Decatur, Georgia. This is an every two year event where we bring our faculty and staff from New Orleans to the off-campus center. It is expensive and logistically a night mare but well worth the investment. When you are training people to work with people it is important that you have a feel for the training process and that those studying see those leading the program in the flesh. We are doing that.

Ah, but on the road is still on the road. I love to travel but I don’t love the process. Hotels and restaurants aren’t my cup of tea. When I was young I loved all of it. As I age and all of the aspects of aging set in it gets tougher. I heard someone say that “if they had known they were going to live this long they would have taken better care of themselves.” I think I agree with that. Hindsight is so clear.

Everything gets out of whack when you travel for several days. Eating is a major chaotic event. Discipline of exercise, quiet time, rest and all other things get confused. But there is the time away when the system gets reset and the anxieties of everyday life are set aside.

Travel well.

I have a friend in Jerusalem, Tom Brimmer, who is extremely gifted as a tour guide, singer, and all around make things happen guy. He and his wife moved to Israel more than fifteen years ago and began their married life from scratch. They felt led to go to Israel as Christians are sometimes led and have bloomed in the desert. Tom is one of the top tour guides in Israel and his wife is one of the senior executives in a Chrisitian Jewish Relief Organization, Bridges for Peace.

When I’m on the road my thoughts often turn to traveling to Israel. I take seminary groups there 1 or 2 times each year. Our last trip was in Dec/Jan this year. It was outstanding. I am amazed that after 20 plus years of taking Christian groups to Israel I still find out something new each visit.

Tom has been our tour guide for the last ten years. I can truthfully say that his knowledge of the land, politics, economic and daily issues in Israel have been a blessing to our groups and to me.

I am discovering that it is good to think about friends. Those that the Lord blesses us with as we journey through this life. I have felt all these years that the Lord was leading me to take our seminarians to Israel. Tom has been a blessing as he helped us to “live the Bible” on these trips.

Blessings on your day.

I’m working on a trip to Greece and Rome for my students. Our trip will be in November 2005. There are two significant limitations, the first is cost and the second is time. We will be following the footsteps of the Apostle Paul and the westward movement of the development of the New Testament. Our group will be composed of graduate and undergraduate evangelical seminary students and a number of faculty and senior adults.

My first thought was to fly to Thessaloniki, travel to Philippi and Neapolis, then to Athens via Veria, Vergina, Delphi and Corinth. Two days in Athens then fly to Rome. Unfortunately I’ve not been able to find any inexpensive fares from Thess. to Athens and then Athens to Rome. The cost would have been over my limit of $2,000 per person.

What I think I am moving towards is to fly into Athens and upon arrival tour the Acropolis and overnight at the Jason Inn Hotel. Tour day 2 we would travel to Corinth, Delphi and overnight in Thessaloniki at the Minerva on Ignatia. Tour day 3 would be to Philippi and Neapolis and overnight in Thess. at the Minerva on Ignatia. Tour day 4 Veria, Vergina, Athens early in the day and overnight at the Jason Inn Hotel.

The Minerva is a bit above my budget but their accomodations, food and location is very good for our students. It is located on the Ignatian Way so there is a connection for Paul’s journey on to Athens. The Jason Inn Hotel is wonderfully located, within a block of the Plaka and metro. The hotel is clean, good food, nice staff and very comfortable for students and senior adults. I’ve stayed there several times and have enjoyed each stay. Back to the trip.

Tour day 5 we will have a half day in Athens and then depart for Patra and take the overnight ferry to Bari. Tour day 6 we will transfer to Rome, stopping at the Catacombs, then discover Imperial Rome and overnight at the Lancelot Hotel near the Colosseum. This is a popular hotel with excellent meals and a very friendly, caring staff. Tour day 7 we will visit the Vatican Museum, the Vatican, Trestevere and overnight at the Lancelot Hotel. Tour day 8 half-day tour of a couple of major churches, and important piazzas. The afternoon we will give directions and let everyone revel in the beauty of Rome. Return to the USA the next day. Total trip is 10 days and my target is to get the total cost per person under $2,000. If you have any suggestions I would love to hear them.

So much for the business side of the trip. We will have a faculty member do a daily Bible study through one of the New Testament books written in Greece or Rome. We will spend time on the bus in Greece discussing the development of the early Christian mission movement. In Rome we will look at the culture and the political climate during Paul’s time in Rome. This period of history is an amazing time. It is hard to imagine the pressure that Christians in that era went through.

Blessings
Clay