Avanim Articles

My git config

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 16:41:00 GMT

[user]
  email = avonderluft at avlux dot net
  name = Andrew vonderLuft
[alias]
  a = add
  ai = add -i
  b = branch
  br = branch
  co = checkout
  c = commit
  ca = commit -a
  cp = cherry-pick
  count = count-objects
  f = fetch
  h = help
  lf = ls-files
  l = log
  logs = log --oneline --graph --decorate --all
  ls = log --oneline --graph --decorate --all
  m = merge
  plam = pull avonderluft master
  psam = push avonderluft master
  plom = pull origin master
  psom = push origin master
  rem = remote
  rh = reset --hard
  shbr = show-branch
  s = status
  st = status
# Just for fun
  down = pull origin master # so I can type: 'git down' now and then
  back = reset --hard # 'to where you once belonged...'  
[apply]
  whitespace = nowarn
[github]
  user = avonderluft
  token = xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[color]
  status = auto
  branch = auto
  ui = true

On the Permanence of the Incarnation

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 15:20:33 GMT

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1.14), but He did not cease to be man, in the flesh, when He ascended into Heaven. As He appeared to many in a glorified human body after His resurrection, this is also how He ascended into Heaven. And the angel declared that He would return in the same way:

“This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” (Acts 1.11 ESV)

He reigns in Heaven as the Son of Man:

“Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.” (1 Peter 3.21–22 ESV)

“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.” (Daniel 7.13–14 ESV)

and when He returns to judge the earth, it will be as the Son of Man:

“you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” (Mark 14.62 ESV)

Though it is not Scripture, I appreciate John Milton’s description of the Incarnation, and of glorified Manhood of Christ ascending to the throne of God. The following is from Book III of Paradise Lost, where the Father is addressing the Son. I have bolded the lines concerning the manhood of Christ in Heaven.

O thou in Heav’n and Earth the only peace
Found out for mankind under wrauth, O thou
My sole complacence! well thou know’st how dear,
To me are all my works, nor Man the least
Though last created, that for him I spare
Thee from my bosom and right hand, to save,
By loosing thee a while, the whole Race lost.
Thou therefore whom thou only canst redeem,
Thir Nature also to thy Nature joyn;
And be thy self Man among men on Earth,
Made flesh, when time shall be, of Virgin seed,
By wondrous birth: Be thou in Adams room
The Head of all mankind, though Adams Son.
As in him perish all men, so in thee
As from a second root shall be restor’d,
As many as are restor’d, without thee none.
His crime makes guiltie all his Sons, thy merit
Imputed shall absolve them who renounce
Thir own both righteous and unrighteous deeds,
And live in thee transplanted, and from thee
Receive new life. So Man, as is most just,
Shall satisfie for Man, be judg’d and die,
And dying rise, and rising with him raise
His Brethren, ransomd with his own dear life.
So Heav’nly love shall outdoo Hellish hate,
Giving to death, and dying to redeeme,
So dearly to redeem what Hellish hate
So easily destroy’d, and still destroyes
In those who, when they may, accept not grace.
Nor shalt thou by descending to assume
Mans Nature, less’n or degrade thine owne.
Because thou hast, though Thron’d in highest bliss
Equal to God, and equally enjoying
God-like fruition, quitted all to save
A World from utter loss, and hast been found
By Merit more then Birthright Son of God,
Found worthiest to be so by being Good,
Farr more then Great or High; because in thee
Love hath abounded more then Glory abounds,
Therefore thy Humiliation shall exalt
With thee thy Manhood also to this Throne;
Here shalt thou sit incarnate, here shalt Reign
Both God and Man, Son both of God and Man,
Anointed universal King, all Power
I give thee, reign for ever, and assume
Thy Merits; under thee as Head Supream
Thrones, Princedoms, Powers, Dominions I reduce:
All knees to thee shall bow, of them that bide
In Heaven, or Earth, or under Earth in Hell;
When thou attended gloriously from Heav’n
Shalt in the Sky appeer, and from thee send
The summoning Arch-Angels to proclaime
Thy dread Tribunal: forthwith from all Windes
The living, and forthwith the cited dead
Of all past Ages to the general Doom
Shall hast’n, such a peal shall rouse thir sleep.
Then all thy Saints assembl’d, thou shalt judge
Bad men and Angels, they arraignd shall sink
Beneath thy Sentence; Hell her numbers full,
Thenceforth shall be for ever shut. Mean while
The World shall burn, and from her ashes spring
New Heav’n and Earth, wherein the just shall dwell
And after all thir tribulations long
See golden days, fruitful of golden deeds,
With Joy and Love triumphing, and fair Truth.
Then thou thy regal Scepter shalt lay by,
For regal Scepter then no more shall need,
God shall be All in All. But all ye Gods,
Adore him, who to compass all this dies,
Adore the Son, and honour him as mee.

The Purpose of the Prophets - 1 Peter 1.10-12

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 03:14:00 GMT

Introduction

The last time I was here was Easter morning, and we looked at the first 9 verses of Peter’s first letter, which focus on the Living Hope we have in Jesus Christ, our risen Lord.

Now, since I am a diehard proponent of exegetical preaching, I am going to simply continue where I left off, picking it up in chapter 1 at verse 10.

Please turn there in your Bibles: 1 Peter 1, starting at verse 10.

Exegetical Preaching

Before we read the passage together, I will explain what I mean by Exegetical Preaching, especially since the gist of our text bears directly upon it.

Exegetical Preaching, also known as Expository Preaching, is working through Scripture line upon line, going through a book of the Bible sequentially from beginning to end.

Exegesis – (the Greek word ἐξήγησις) means to explain or interpret, literally to “lead out” the author’s meaning from his writing. Its opposite is Eisegesis, which means to read my own preferred meaning into the text.

Exposition (expose-ition) – means to expose the author’s meaning, to lay it open before the hearers.

Exegetical preaching has sadly diminished in recent decades, which has a lot to do with the weakened state of the church at large. We should be particularly thankful to have a pastor who has always been committed to exegetical preaching.

In contrast, the all too common practice today is for a preacher to cherry-pick verses from anywhere in the Bible that suits his purpose, and then marshall them to support whatever point he wants to make. Any lazy and ignorant person can do this. Many have and many do. But this is not faithfully feeding the Lord’s sheep. It is not exegesis – it is not leading God’s meaning out of the text; rather is is eisegesis – reading my meaning into the text.

We may not take the easy road, or the lazy way, if we want to really grow in our faith. We must read and study God’s Word sequentially, systematically, and contextually.

Pastoral Prayer - July 4th, 2010

Mon, 05 Jul 2010 00:11:00 GMT

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name

O Lord our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory above the heavens.
When we consider the moon and stars, and all the works of your hands,
the beauty in all creation that testifies of your power, wisdom, and goodness,
we are awed and compelled to ask:

What is Man that you are mindful of him, or the son of Man that you take thought of him?

And yet you do take thought of us.

Once we had not obtained mercy, but now we have obtained mercy.
Once we were not a people, but now we are Your people,
Your adopted children, whom You have loved with an everlasting love.

We are graven on Your hands, and are the apple of Your eye. You have set your love upon us in Jesus Christ, who tasted death for us that we might become your children and now come to you as Father.

O Lord our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Your kingdom come, your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.

Our Father, as your beloved children, we come to you and pray that Your Holy will be accomplished in all things.

We pray for our nation’s leaders, that you would grant them to govern with wisdom and restraint, according to your principles, in order that we may lead peaceful and quiet lives, godly and dignified in every way.

We pray your gospel would triumph and conquer all opposition; that it would continue to bear fruit and increase throughout the world, that all peoples would acknowledge and submit to your Lordship, that all the nations of the earth would honor and worship Jesus Christ the Kings of Kings and Lord of Lords.

We pray that you would be glorified in Your Church, that your work of grace will continue in us, that we would become more and more conformed to the image of our dear Savior, Jesus Christ. We pray that we will become one in heart and purpose, that we would grow up into maturity, a Bride adorned with grace, worthy of her Lord.

And so we ask that You would fill us with the knowledge of Your will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that we may walk worthy of You, fully pleasing You, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of You.

Please strengthen us with all power, according to Your glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the You, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

Give us this day our daily bread,

Lord, help us not to be anxious for our daily needs: food, clothing, shelter, work. You care for the birds of the air, and the grass of the field.
How much more will You our Heavenly Father care perfectly for Your own beloved children. You know that we have need of all these things.

So we ask that you will help us Lord to seek first Your Kingdom, and Your righteousness, knowing that you will provide all of these other things for us.

and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.

When we sin, grant us the aid of Your Spirit, that we would not think lightly of any sin, but own it for what is: an offense against You, for which our dear Lord Jesus suffered the agony of death on the cross.

Help us to confess our sins, and to forsake them, knowing that as we confess our sins, You are faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Please assist us in being ever mindful of how great a debt you paid for us, through the suffering of our Lord Jesus, so that we will be always ready and eager to freely forgive whatever offense another may commit against us, however great or small.

Lord we pray that would not allow any root of bitterness to spring up in us, causing trouble, and defiling many. Grant us always to forgive as we have been forgiven.

And lead us not into temptation,

Lord, you have birthed us into a Living Hope. You have given us Your Spirit. In Jesus Christ, old things have passed away, and all things have become new. But we still live in this fallen body, and our flesh wages war against the Spirit. We confess that apart from You, we can do nothing. There is no good thing that dwells in our flesh.

Therefore we pray that You would help us to put to death the deeds of our fallen nature, by the power of Your Spirit. Help us to reckon ourselves dead indeed to sin, but alive to You. Thank you for Christ in us, the hope of glory.

but deliver us from evil.

As we hold fast to You, deliver us from trouble and those who would harm us.
As we cling to Your Name which is a strong tower, protect us from calamity and keep us in the Safety of your embrace.

For yours is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory. Amen.

Radiant and conflicting versions of Rspec

Fri, 02 Jul 2010 20:20:00 GMT

If you are developing sites for more than one version of Radiant, you may run into version incompatibility issues with Rspec. For example, Radiant 0.7.1 requires Rspec 1.1.12, and Radiant 0.9 requires later versions. In order to use the appropriate version for each of your projects, you need to unpack the gems into the proper location of your project.

The following example assumes that your project is Radiant 0.7.1; that you have frozen radiant into your project; and that you have installed the 1.1.12 versions of rspec and rspec-rails.

cd RAILS_ROOT/vendor/radiant/vendor/plugins
gem unpack rspec -v 1.1.12
mv rspec-1.1.12 rspec
gem unpack rspec-rails -v 1.1.12
mv rspec-rails-1.1.12 rspec-rails

Now your specs will run in your 0.7.1 project, and your projects with later versions of Radiant will use the most recent version of the rspec and rspec-rails gems which you have installed.

Q.E.D.

Notes for other Rails apps

The same thing applies for a standard Rails app, you just unpack the gems into /vendor/plugins

Notes for TextMate users

If you want to use the TextMate RSpec Bundle to run your specs:

the RSpec bundle will look in vendor/plugins for your unpacked gems, so create symlinks:

cd RAILS_ROOT/vendor/plugins
ln -s ../../vendor/radiant/vendor/plugins/rspec
ln -s ../../vendor/radiant/vendor/plugins/rspec-rails

Make sure your version of RSpec.tmbundle is compatible with the version of RSpec you are running, e.g. I’m using this git commit on my Radiant 0.7.1 projects, which require RSpec 1.1.12 – 5d2551c0265b709bd13e7731e7f36cc5b8ecc57f

Pastoral Prayer - June 27th, 2010

Sun, 27 Jun 2010 23:52:00 GMT

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name

O Heavenly Father, You dwell in a high and holy place, in unapproachable Light; no mortal can see you and live. All things are created and exist at your pleasure. The Living Ones around Your throne unceasingly cry Holy, Holy, Holy.

And yet though you are so high, you regard the lowly. You also dwell with those of a contrite and humble spirit, with those who tremble at your Word. By your gracious condescension, You have come down to us in Jesus Christ to make us Your own, that we might be with You, and share Your glory, forever. And now You have sent the Spirit of Your dear Son into our hearts, so that we come to You in love and adoration, crying Abba, Father. Help us to worship You in Spirit and in Truth. Help us to pray, for we do not know how to pray as we ought. Help us to rejoice in You, and to be mindful of, and thankful for, your Fatherly care.

We pray that Your great name would be honored and praised in all places, that the knowledge of Your glory will fill the earth, as the waters cover the sea.

We pray that as Your people,
our lives would faithfully reflect and testify to Your glory:

that we would give no occasion to those who hate You to blaspheme Your great name
that we would not deny with our deeds that which we profess with our mouths

Our Lord, we ask that you would send out Your Word to heal the nations. For those who blaspheme Your wonderful name, we pray that You would silence them by converting them and writing your Law on their hearts, as You did with the apostle Paul.

And for those who will not be converted, we pray that you would hear the prayers of your afflicted people, sustain them through their suffering, and avenge yourself speedily on those who oppress Your children.

We pray that

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Our Father, you have set your King, Jesus Christ, upon His royal throne, and He is reigning in glory as You bring everything in subjection to Him, until every tongue confesses that He is Lord.

We pray that He would reign in our lives, in our thoughts, in our attitudes.
We pray that He would reign in our homes, in our relationships, in our vocations.
We pray that He would reign in His church, in this nation, and among all the peoples of the earth.

Please guard our hearts from thinking of Your Kingdom as something vague and generic, that makes few demands upon us. Let us comprehend it as intensely personal and practical.

You have said that if we love You, then we will keep your commandments, and that Your commandments are not burdensome.

O Lord, give us hearts to enthrone you in all parts of our lives; to love you supremely, with all our heart, soul, mind and strength:

More than our own comfort
more than our possessions
and more than our pride

Give us this day our daily bread

Our Father, You are the faithful shepherd, and we are Your sheep – we shall lack nothing. No good thing will You withhold from those who walk uprightly.

But sometimes we have not, because we ask not.

We reflect back on the past weeks and months, and we see a clear record of your faithfulness.

You have healed the sick.
You have provided employment.
You have supplied physical needs.
You have restored relationships.
You have acted on behalf of loved ones.
You have comforted us in our troubles.

And so we come with confidence, as your beloved children, and ask of you, our Heavenly Father, to hear now our private petitions.

[pause]

For those situations where do not yet see Your answer, enable us to persevere in our prayers, and not to faint. Help us to trust in You without wavering, knowing that You will always do what is good and right, and in Your perfect time.

forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

Our father, we have no plea for our sins, but one: that our Lord and elder brother Jesus has taken the rap for us. His shed blood pleads our case before You, our Judge. And so, dear Father, for His sake, we ask you to forgive our sins and remove our transgressions far from us, as far as the east is from the west.

Please grant us Your help to humble ourselves under Your mighty hand, to confess our sins to You daily, so that You might restore the joy of our salvation and lift us up.

As You have so graciously forgiven us, help us Lord to freely forgive those who have wronged us. We know that if we do not forgive others, neither will You, our Heavenly Father, forgive us. While we were still your enemies, Christ loved us, and died on on behalf. So we ask that your Spirit will do that work of grace in us that we cannot do for ourselves: to make us like our Lord and Savior, kind and tenderhearted, even toward our enemies, forgiving them as You have forgiven us.

And lead us not into temptation,

Our Lord, we find that though our spirit is willing, our flesh is weak.
Keep lies and deception far from us.
Guard us from temptation:

to think and speak contrary to your Truth, believing the wisdom of this world, rather than your Word
to refuse to receive what you have freely given, such as your peace which passes understanding
to seek after what You have not given us, such as something good that you have given to our brother
to take and hold an offense
to defend ourselves when we should humble ourselves

When we are tempted, help us to flee to Jesus, our way of escape.

but deliver us from evil.

You are our protector. We are defenseless and vulnerable without You. We pray that you would keep us from calamity, both physical and spiritual. Let your blessing be upon us, and guard us from the enemy our souls and his wicked schemes to subvert your Kingdom.

For yours is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory.

Amen.

Have some stones when you speak

Sat, 15 May 2010 22:21:02 GMT

Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.

Installing mysql gem on OSX Snow Leopard

Thu, 13 May 2010 16:55:28 GMT

With Rails 2.2, the bundled mysql.rb driver has been removed, so if you haven't installed the mysql gem before, you will have to do so now. To save yourself a lot of trial and error, try this first:

sudo env ARCHFLAGS="-arch x86_64" gem install --no-rdoc --no-ri mysql -- --with-mysql-config=/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql_config

The Living Hope

Thu, 08 Apr 2010 02:18:37 GMT

Testimony to the Word, and Prayer

Our Lord Jesus said:

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Luke 21.33 ESV)

Introduction for Easter

The resurrection is a fact.

Today we are considering the life and words of an eyewitness to the Resurrection, and the one who preached the very first sermon of the Resurrection, the apostle Peter.
Our text today gives Christians practical encouragement and exhortation, based ond the resurrection.

Text – 1 Peter 1.1-9, ESV

1.1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

Set TextMate's default file type

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 22:21:00 GMT

Let’s say you want all new files to open as Textile, you would follow this sequence of shell commands:

$ cd /Applications/TextMate.app/Contents/SharedSupport/Bundles/Textile.tmbundle/Syntaxes
$ plutil -convert xml1 Textile.plist
$ grep -A1 uuid Textile.plist

<key>uuid</key>
<string>68F0B1A5-3274-4E85-8B3A-A481C5F5B194</string>

This is just an example. If you wanted all your new files to open as Ruby, then you would use Ruby.tmbundle/Syntaxes on the first command, and Ruby.plist on the 2nd and 3rd.

But here‚ or the Textile example, 68F0B1A5-3274-4E85-8B3A-A481C5F5B194 is the UUID. Now we tell Textmate to use that as default by altering its defaults database.

Quit TextMate, then from terminal run:

$ defaults write com.macromates.textmate OakDefaultLanguage 68F0B1A5-3274-4E85-8B3A-A481C5F5B194

Start TextMate, and notice how all new documents are set to be Textile by default.

Avanim Articles

My git config

On the Permanence of the Incarnation

The Purpose of the Prophets - 1 Peter 1.10-12

Introduction

Exegetical Preaching

Pastoral Prayer - July 4th, 2010

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For yours is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory. Amen.

Radiant and conflicting versions of Rspec

Notes for other Rails apps

Notes for TextMate users

Pastoral Prayer - June 27th, 2010

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name

We pray that as Your people, our lives would faithfully reflect and testify to Your glory:

Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread

forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For yours is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory.

Amen.

Have some stones when you speak

Installing mysql gem on OSX Snow Leopard

The Living Hope

Testimony to the Word, and Prayer

Introduction for Easter

Text – 1 Peter 1.1-9, ESV

Set TextMate's default file type

Your kingdom come, your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.

and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.

We pray that as Your people,
our lives would faithfully reflect and testify to Your glory: