The Comforter

"The Holy Spirit has graciously come to be your Comforter. Do you suppose, O weak and trembling believer, that He will be negligent of His sacred trust? Has He undertaken something that He cannot or will not perform? If it is His work to strengthen and to comfort you, do you suppose He has forgotten His business, or that He will fail to accomplish His loving work? Do not think so little of the tender and blessed Spirit whose name is the Comforter. He delights to give the oil of joy for mourning and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Trust in Him, and He will surely comfort you until the house of mourning is closed forever, and the marriage feast begins." ~Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Purpose

Qualification - This post was actually created July 11, 2005. I have back-dated it so that it occurs first in my journal, as it is my "introduction" of sorts. Many of the following posts are transcriptions from my physical journal taken from a couple years ago, but I want this listed earliest.

"Purpose" is one of my favorite words in the entirety of human speech. I'm sure one of these days I'll get around to explaining why, although after reading my journal, it might become obvious without explanation.

But in this context, I'm referring to the purpose of this journal. One purpose will be for me to record excerpts from my real journal that I might want access to. Over the years, I've recorded a lot of thoughts and musings that I go back to on a regular basis to remind me of lessons I've learned. But also, I've decided to leave this a public journal in hopes that something here might be an encouragement to someone else - in fact, that might become the journal's main purpose. We'll see how things go.

I guess I should introduce myself. "Sakrysta" is an internet handle I've worn for about 8 years now. Originally sci-fi related, it's since come to mean more than that to me. The name is derived from the term "sacristy," which is the room in the church where sacred things are stored. So to me, the name means I want to store up what is sacred in my heart and life. I never cease to be amazed at how God can take parts of our lives and make them completely about bringing glory to Himself - especially those parts we had no intention of letting Him have.

I am:

• a born-again believer in Jesus Christ. By this, I mean that I believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal, sinless Son of God, that He came to earth and was born of a virgin, that He lived a sinless life, that He died a brutal death on a cross to pay the penalty for my sins and those of the world, that after three days of burial He was raised from the dead by the Father, that after being seen in physical form and communicating with His disciples He ascended to Heaven, and that He currently sits on the right hand of God the Father in Heaven awaiting the Father's word to return to earth for His saints. There's more to it than that, but that's as much as I can comfortably get into one sentence, and it covers the basics.
  
• an independent Baptist. By this, I mean that I hold to the vast majority of traditional Baptist doctrines, and that I am a member of a Baptist church that is not affiliated with any of the major denominational groups (Southern Baptist, Regular Baptist, etc.).
• a conservative fundamentalist. Boy, will this distinction get you stoned today. ;) By this, I mean that I consider the Bible the final authority and the ultimate source of all truth, and that the truths clearly taught in Scripture are not up for debate with the world.
• anti-KJV-Only. If you've made it this far and are still with me, you probably know what that means, but just in case... By this, I mean that I do NOT believe that the King James Version of the Bible is the only reliable translation available today. I understand why many prefer to use the KJV, and in some circumstances I myself prefer that version. But all the Scripture we have today is the result of translations of copies, and a translation should be judged on its faithfulness to the manuscripts and knowledge we have available to us today. Personally, I use several different versions in my Bible study and must depend on the expertise of others to tell me what the original Hebrew & Greek words mean.
• female. By this, I mean to say that I don't intend to preach here. I believe wholeheartedly that the roles for men and women set forth in the New Testament apply today, and I am grateful beyond words to be more on the "support" end and less on the "responsibility" end.

I think that's enough for now. As more occurs to me, I will no doubt elaborate as time goes on. And I don't intend to harp on most of what I just stated, because that's not my purpose in maintaining this journal (there's that word again ;). My main goal is to be an encouragement to those believers of like mind and heart who happen upon this corner of the web. I think a lot of fundamental Christians are afraid of the internet, and so truly conservative, Christ-centered resources are scarce, or at least seem to be from my searchings. I plan to allow comments -- please keep them within the spirit of the journal. I reserve the right to delete anything that is dishonoring to Christ.