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The problem with biblical grounded christians

In this day and age finding a biblically grounded church, pastor, or a biblically grounded person in general is a very hard thing to do. But a personal fault and a fault I have found amongst biblically grounded people is the use of various theology books or commentaries instead of using the bible as their main book of truth. Don't get me wrong, I love my theology books and commentaries, in fact I have a very sizable theology library in my house, from John Piper, John MacArthur, and Francis Chan, all the way back to Spurgeon, Jonathan Edwards, and C.S. Lewis. With that being said however, I can count numerous times that I wanted to look up a theological topic such as salvation, and instead of using the bible as my main source I immediately went into a systematic theology book, or a commentary instead of using the bible. How many of you sitting there reading this will listen to a sermon, read a theology book or commentary and just sit there and not open the bible and see if what that person said is actually biblically correct. I know I used to do that very thing. Now I try to always look first at the bible and always use that as my main source and if I use a commentary or theology book I remember that it should not be a focal point of my research and that everything needs to come back to the bible.

Jesus in a Dream

It was a couple of months ago now but I can still remember big details about this dream. This dream took place on a night where nothing abnormal occurred so the only thing I can attribute it to is God placing the thought in my head.

During this dream I was given two perspectives, both in body just like a normal day and also an out of body perspective where I could see the earth and people on it. I started out with this dream thinking it is really bright here. Then I looked up and could see the sun, it looked no different than it normally would except for some reason it seemed dull. The light I was seeing was from Jesus, he was dressed in a white robe with a purple sash and brandished a sword that was so bright it almost seemed on fire. That’s where the source of the light was coming from. Jesus was so bright and so big that the sun looked like a golf ball compared to him. I then could see the whole world at once and Jesus’ brightness encompassed the earth so that everywhere was bright and not a nook or cranny of the surface of the earth was dark. People on every corner of the earth looked up and had either one of two reactions. They simply either ran toward him or ran away from him and tried to hide. The thing though is that more people were running away and trying to hide from him and several people, but still few in comparison to the aforementioned group, ran towards and embraced the return of The King, their Savior. I then was seeing with normal vision and I made the decision to run toward Jesus, and embrace him as my savior.

If Jesus came back this very moment, are you going to run towards him or run away and try to hide from him?

Grandma's Graveside Sermon and Urn

My grandmother, Anna Jane Mittelstaedt, passed away Sept. 12th, 2010. I was asked to take an active role in her celebration of life by making her urn, as well as writing and delivering her graveside sermon. Attached are pictures of her urn as well as her graveside sermon.
God Bless,
Dios te bendiga,
Mitchell C. Mittelstaedt

            I would like to thank you all for gathering here today, I know that it means a lot to grandma. She was a great grandma, mother, wife, and a friend to all. A part of her will always be within each and every one of us as she touched us in many different ways. We have mourned our loss of her here with us on the earth for a few weeks now and we gather here today with mourning hearts and a tear in each of our eyes whether we choose to let that tear show or not. This is normal. It is a good thing to mourn and grieve the loss of Anna Jane. But even though she is gone physically from this earth, each one of us has those memories of her that we can hold dear to our hearts until the day when we meet her again.

Because death is not the end, there is a future and a hope for those who call on the name of Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior just as Anna Jane did. She lived her life in full demonstration of this, showing each one of her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and friends the joy of living when we live within God’s will and purpose for our life-- not only in times of joy and celebration but even in pain and suffering. And because she lived her life in that confidence she will be raised from this grave, according to scripture, with a brand new, imperishable body, for eternity.  1 Thessalonians 4:13 says” But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus .For this we say to you by the way of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words”. If you believe these words of God given to us in scripture to be true, then you can join me in saying Amen. 

Mourning is such a personal thing.  For some it lasts  for just a few months, and for others it never completely ends.  Why is that?  Why is mourning so difficult?  It is an experience unlike any other because we were never created for separation.  Unfortunately, because of man’s fall, separation became the hallmark of man’s final experience.  But for the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, according to scripture, we do not mourn without hope.  Because of the resurrection of our Lord, our confidence is that we too shall rise to the same newness of life that is now the joy and experience of  Anna Jane.  So it is that we should not leave  here with a heavy heart, but with the confidence that the personal faith that guided Anna Jane in life is the same faith that has safely delivered into the hands of her loving Savior.

In the name of Christ whom Anna Jane loved and served, we commit her remains to this resting place knowing that her spirit is with the Lord in His house of many mansions. And in so doing, we rest our hearts in fresh confidence upon the sure and certain hope of the resurrection unto life eternal through Christ Jesus our Lord.