Pictures

Hey there, here are some pictures of my life recently





Sorry if in the last few posts it felt condemnatory at all, sometimes I don't think things through and usually with these posts I write them and never even look over them. I want to preach someday, and so I think that this blog is a good place to formulate my thoughts and expand on things that God has been teaching me. A lot of crazy stuff has been happening lately in my apartment and so I've been busy. God bless

God's moving

And I'm excited. I just want to be a part of what he's doing, and not miss out because of my selfishness and refusal to deny myself and take up my cross and follow him. Yesterday I found a really great site

http://www.allathisfeet.com/

If you are ready to reconsider christianity and how it is lived out, go there. Check out the book "a day of small beginnings", I've been reading it this afternoon and it's really powerful. There's a couple times so far when God has just convicted me about how focused I am on my goals and I so little care and love the people around me except when I'm comfortable or it will advance my reputation. If there's anything I've learned from the bible it's that people who put their reputation in God's hands go down in history but those who try to make a name for themselves might be succesful and well-known for awhile but in the end their works will turn to ash on the day of judgment.

Is life a competition or a cup? Peter saw it as a competition and so he cut of Malchus's ear because they were trying to take away his saviour. Jesus saw life as a cup... he realized the suffering and things he would have to go through and he so abandoned to the will of God that none of that mattered. Do you realize that the cross looks like the biggest failure of all time. Jesus convinced so many people to believe in him and even his disciples said he was the son of God (Matthew 16:16). But it looked like everything was lost and Jesus died because he couldn't hold his tongue and be a people-pleaser even for a second.

I know these thoughts may seem kind of jumbled but God has been teaching me a lot lately. Being constant in prayer is probably my greatest desire for this year 1 Thessalonians 5:17. A really good book on it is called "Practice the presence of God" by brother lawrence

http://www.fireonthealtar.com/books/

it's the second last book on that page, the very last book called "Mr contentment and your five wooden cups" rocked my world. How should we spend money? Really when our eyes our are on eternity, none of these physical pleasure should mean anything. The more focused we are on eternity, it's exciting, we will have a greater passion for souls, a greater understanding of the ridiculousness of sin, suffering will be inconsequential compared to the joy of heaven.

Here is a cool excerpt from the top book that I was reading today called a day of small beginnings. Anyways to preface the quote this bible college proffessor just found out that one of the godliest strong christians in his class fell into temptation with his girlfriend and she is pregnant. He is crushed with the revelation and searching the word and... well read and find out what he finds out.

Spent, George lifted himself off the floor and sank wearily into his desk chair. He still had more questions than answers as he turned to face his Bible, still open from that morning. His eyes caught a phrase in Hebrews 3: “Sin’s deceitfulness.” Boy, if that doesn’t describe what happened to Rick, I don’t know what does. As George thought about the whole situation with Rick, he felt a surge of anger in his heart. He was angry, knowing the deceiver had maimed yet another one of God’s lambs through his lying tactics. Lord, does it have to be this way? Surely, there must be a way to keep this from happening. He looked again at the worn page, hoping for an answer.

“Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” What?! He read it again, hoping he hadn’t missed something. That’s what it says! Sin’s deceitfulness can be prevented! Truth illuminated his heart. Could obedience to one simple command really help keep people—people he loved—from being deceived and hardened by sin? It says it right here. He answered his own question, thumping the page. The Holy Spirit did write that verse, he reasoned. George’s heart began to surge with excitement and hope—hope that his efforts to care didn’t have to be forever subject to arbitrary failure.

Bringing Freedom

heartcrymissionary.com is a link to a mission society that is run by Paul Washer. There is one sermon there called shocking youth message I believe. It is the most powerful message I ever heard. He says at the beginning "The only thing you really need to decide is wether I am a false prophet or not, I know that we who teach will be judged more harshly, so I really had to approach this prayer and trepidation, but if what I'm saying is true then you need to take it seriously." But then he goes to talk about what real repentance means. It is incredible, and I believe as well soberingly biblical.

What is repentance? The simple sunday school answer would probably be "It's turning from sin". And looking at how the word is contructed and came about I believe that is right. But practically what does that mean? If we still sin after we have repented what then? Is this verse literal and true?

Hebrews 10:26
If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left

I'm not saying I know all the answers, I don't even know most of them. I don't know exactly what that verse means, but I do know one thing. We do not take the word of God seriously enough. God doesn't mess around, and I don't want to see how close I can get to hell without going. If we are going to be worshipping God for all eternity, I want to get to know him as close as I can. God is holy and Matthew 5:7 says that only the pure in heart will see God. These verses scare me, as they should.

Whatever happened to the fear of the Lord?

The book of proverbs says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. If you say "Oh, that's Old Testament" Well then what about this verse

Acts 9:31
Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.

Sometimes it seems like the church in North America is living in a constant party atmosphere. I went to an City wide Easter Sunday service in Alberta last year and they sang "How deep the Father's Love for us" In a really upbeat celebration style (Perhaps it wasn't that song but it was a similar type song). It burdened my heart, because without the fear of the Lord we begin to congratulate ourselves and lose our sensitivity to the seriousness of sin.

I'm not saying this as one who is superior because I've been there time and time again. I've never really shared this in public before, but do we need reality or what? Throughout high school I struggled with pornography, and gross lust in my mind. I would ask for forgiveness and then within a week or two fall again. It was a vicous cycle of defeat that kept getting worse. There were times when I really went into God's word and found freedom for awhile but it never lasted. What was I missing? I read all the teachings but nothing seemed to set me free. Even during bible school last year when I came home I fell sometimes. Finally I just really starting taking seriously the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5,6,7 for those who don't know. It is the greatest sermon ever preached in my opinion. Jesus takes every major problem that we will encounter in our lives and shows us how to solve them as well as be shining lights in this dark world.

Matthew 5:6 says that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be satisfied. I clung to that promise and later on in Matthew 5 Jesus told us simply how to deal with lust. He said we need to radically amputate anything that causes us to sin. It is really as simple as taking a hold of those two truths. When I got rid of any open door to sin in my life and had high standards of where I would put my eyes, I asked God to do the rest to transform my sin desiring heart into a heart that desired God and holiness more than anything else. Life in the kingdom of God is so simple we just need to be obediant. I would really encourage anyone reading this to read the Sermon on the Mount and take it seriously. If you have any questions about any of this you can email me at davidhepting@gmail.com.

If you have habitual sin in your life there is freedom, Proverbs 24:16 says that though the righteous man falls seven times, he rises again. That is all God is asking of us, if we fall we can rise again and run after him. He is our Father! I love God, and I still fall short of Matthew 5:48 but I know that God is able to keep me from falling (Jude 1:24) and he is helping me and guiding me like a loving Father. Therefore, let us throw off everything that hinders, and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us :) (Hebrews 12:1). God bless you guys

Explanation

Oh yeah so there are a few things I want to explain about those pictures. In the first picture with all my campers really covered head to toe. That week was one of the craziest, we had a wasps nest right behind the cabin and my guys kept asking if they could go hit it with sticks, and I said all right if they covered up. Anyways, throughout the week I think each guy got stung like three or four times but they just had a blast and kept on going out there. It was incredible. Then the night time picture was just this night we went into Charlotte to walk around and stuff, two of those guys are my roommates.

FIRE

I finally got internet working on my own laptop so here a just a couple of pictures from camp and tonight. There will be many more coming in the future. God bless y'all

A new day

Yesterday was a really great day, I'm still trying to process it all but God taught me a lot of things. In missionary life class we had two FI missionaries come in and speak. Eric and Casey from the Phillipines. They are so passionate about God and his glory it was exciting. But I think that the most unusual and beautiful thing was how honest they were about things. It was refreshing, I think that that is one of the greatest needs in christians today is just plain honesty. We always want to look good in front of people and make a good impression. But in reality people who are just genuinely real and honest make such a better impression. So that's something that God has been working in me.

But one of the main things that they talked about was just being comfortable in who God created you to be. Now that's definitely not being comfortable in where you are at with God and the world and not stepping out of your comfort zone. There is a huge difference. When these guys used to live in Pensacola, Eric the husband used to get up and preach anywhere and his wife had such a burden for the lost that sometimes she even stopped and picked up prostitutes and gave them a ride and talked to them about God with her kids in the back. But he was saying how if we get caught up in what the people around us are doing that we don't have then we will become so frustrated and in despair. God is leading each of us down different paths and we each have different giftings and unique callings. He doesn't fast like some of the other guys on his team do and for awhile he was wondering if he just wasn't a good christian but God affirmed that he was also on the right course.

I guess for me the reason that that message was so powerful is because here are FIRE there are so many more people that have way more passion for God than I do. Maybe I just don't express it in the same way but there is a boldness and a faith here that I really want. And being a naturally competitive person I always want to excel and outdo other people. But God has been teaching me that it's not about striving so much of this life is resting and abiding in God and following his will. If it's not something huge it's all right because God knows what is best. And if it is something huge that's ok too because God can lead me through whatever he has for me and he knows me better than I know myself.

What is my calling? Well in the summer of before high school I spent a week at my grandparents farm and it was great time but there wasn't really much tv or music to distract me so I thought a lot. One day we were driving in to Lipton a nearby town and I distinctly remember just dreaming about my future and what I would do and I really felt God calling me to Egypt, perhaps to start a farm there. Since then he has revealed more and I think he wants me to run a discipleship school there with my wife and either train North Americans for one of the biggest harvest fields in the world and toughest to reach: the Muslim world. Or else train the native Egyptian believers to change their nation for Christ. Or it might be a bit of both. Either way if anyone knows me this seems way to big to be me. There is no way that I could pull it all off apart from God. But as I read these missionary biographies and my bible I am more and more convinced that if God could lead and provide for those people then he can lead and guide me. He is the same God!!

What do you guys think? What is God calling you to?