MWBartko

Are you Saved? Be Careful.

2010-11-15T09:38:00.001-05:00

If you wonder about your salvation have a listen.

Remain Close to Jesus » Providence Church

Dragostea din tei - opera version

2010-11-10T06:06:00.002-05:00

I thought i had seen every way the numa numa song could be done. I was wrong. This was great. Now I am one closer to seeing every way it could be done (most of them not worth seeing twice or even once).

American Macho Buddha

2010-11-10T00:50:00.004-05:00

American Macho Buddha, not the worst thing I have watched and certainly not the best. I saw it at the Regent Square Theater as part of the Three Rivers Film Festival.

Fathers Take Hope Fight Porn

2010-11-08T11:24:00.002-05:00

This is an excerpt taken from http://www.challies.com/christian-living/hope-in-a-pornified-world

A New Generation of Parents

There is another thing that gives me hope. My generation and the generation that follows were raised by parents who had no real sense of the world their children would grow up in. We cannot blame them for this because no one saw the porn culture coming. Our parents did not see the seismic shift until it was too late. What it means, though, is that few Christian parents (and dads especially) raised their children to deal with porn saturation. We were taught the birds and the bees, but we were not taught about how to deal with bombardment by pornographic pictures and pornographic messages.

But these generations of men are now raising children of their own, and I know that they are raising them in an entirely different way. I know because I am among them. We are not raising sons wondering if they will someday encounter pornography; instead, we are raising sons and equipping them to deal with thewhen rather than the if. Already I am preparing my son for the inevitable reality that at some point he will be invited to look at pornography, at some point he will encounter it, and he needs to be prepared. He needs to know what pornography is, he needs to know how it will harm him, and he needs to be equipped to run the other way. As my daughters grow up I will seek to instill similar messages in them, telling them of the expectations that they may be burdened with in such a world as this.

This generation of dads will not assume that their boys or girls are getting through life unscathed. Instead, we will be asking our boys what they are seeing and what messages they are receiving. We will not let our kids have computers in their bedrooms, assuming that they know how to handle them responsibly. We will remember the way we struggled, we will remember what pornography did to us, and we will move heaven and earth to help our sons and daughters avoid it. We will pray unceasingly that God will protect them from seeing what they should not see.

Those of us with daughters will challenge our future sons-in-laws, asking what they have been exposed to and demanding that they detox, that they reshape the false messages pornography has taught them, lest they extend harm to our girls, lest their history become our girls’ history. We will not take for granted what our fathers took for granted. We cannot and we must not.

We will fail at times, and our children will still see things, do things, experience things that will grieve us. But we will help them detox from the smut, we will give them gospel hope, we will help them seek and find forgiveness and freedom.

Amidst all of the pornography, amidst all of the despair, there is hope. God gives hope through the gospel, and God gives our children hope through us, through this generation of fathers who cannot afford to be naive, who simply cannot take porn for granted.

Motivation

2010-11-06T13:26:00.001-04:00

I have been enjoying these, they make me think.

Education

2010-10-26T12:01:00.001-04:00

Let me know what you guys think.

Relationships

2009-11-27T12:35:00.004-05:00

"Good relationships are always built on the foundation stones of identity and worship" is a quote taken from a book called Relationships: A Mess Worth Making By: Timothy S. Lane , Paul David Tripp ($14.99 CBD Price)

The book goes on to say "When we talk about identity, we are not referring to your name, birth date, and social security number. We are talking about how you define yourself - what talents, qualities, experiences, achievements goals, beliefs, relationships and dreams you use to say "this is who i am." Similarly, when we talk about worship, we do not simply mean the order of worship at your church on Sunday morning. What we are getting at is that, because you are a human being , there is always something you are living for; always some desire, goal, treasure, purpose, value, or craving that controls our heart."

I think it is very helpful to think in these terms when thinking about our relationships. Who am I really? Who is the other person? What am I a worshiper of? What do they worship?

My Numbers

2009-10-02T17:33:00.000-04:00

	Matt *
Weight	310
G Weight	230
Hight	6'4"
Waist	47
G Waist	34.8
Sex	m
Age	27
BMI	37.8
G BMI	26
WHR	59.2
G WHR	45.8
Body Fat	20.3
G Body Fat	18
S Metabolic	2762
L Metabolic	2872
M Metabolic	3314
V Metabolic	3756
E Metabolic	4418
Surface	2.74 m sq
Blood
G Blood	115/75

I really enjoyed all 6 parts.

2009-09-08T15:39:00.000-04:00

I wish my wife was :)

2009-09-02T18:32:00.000-04:00

Paradise Lost

2009-07-28T06:38:00.002-04:00

I just finished Paradise Lost. It is well worth the read to a mature christian, the theology but being great but the imagery being wonderful. you can read the whole book by clicking the link above or download it from Librivox as an audio book. In particular I was impressed by the last 2 books which displayed a understand of the whole story of scripture I find most modern Christians unable to give. Here is an excerpt.

"To whom thus Michael. Doubt not but that sin
Will reign among them, as of thee begot;
And therefore was Law given them to evince
Thir natural pravitie, by stirring up
Sin against Law to fight; that when they see
Law can discover sin, but not remove,
Save by those shadowie expiations weak,
The bloud of Bulls and Goats, they may conclude
Some bloud more precious must be paid for Man,
Just for unjust, that in such righteousness
To them by Faith imputed, they may finde
Justification towards God, and peace
Of Conscience, which the Law by Ceremonies
Cannot appease, nor Man the moral part
Perform, and not performing cannot live.
So Law appears imperfet, and but giv'n
With purpose to resign them in full time
Up to a better Cov'nant, disciplin'd
From shadowie Types to Truth, from Flesh to Spirit,
From imposition of strict Laws, to free
Acceptance of large Grace, from servil fear
To filial, works of Law to works of Faith."

Woe to Us

2009-07-12T01:26:00.000-04:00

If God humbled himself to take on human flesh and use human langauge, woe to us if we arrogantly presume to ignor the humanity of christ and the grammar of Scripture. - John Piper

Radical Womanhood

2009-06-09T16:26:00.002-04:00

Radical Womanhood by Carolyn McCulley is an amazing message that addresses the history of American feminism and how we must respond to it. It is addressed to women but I highly recommend it to men as well. We must ultimately be aware of the glory of our God! That being said we should also be aware of the world around us and the history of that world. Carolyn McCulley also runs the blog Radical Womanhood and is the author of Radical Womanhood: Feminine Faith in a Feminist World.

Kevin DeYoung

2009-06-08T16:46:00.002-04:00

Kevin DeYoung, the pastor of University Reformed Church, gave a message titled Christ's Life at the THISISNEXT conference. It was very good, click the link to take a listen. He also runs the bolg DeYoung, Restless, and Reformed that seems pretty good. He has written a couple books that I have heard good things about. The only one that I have read is Just Do Something: How to Make a Decision Without Dreams, Visions, Fleeces, Open Doors, Random Bible Verses, Casting Lots, Liver Shivers, Writing in the Sky, etc. It was great once I finished it. Much like Ecclesiastes it would be a bad idea not to read it through to the end.

International Justice Mission

2009-06-05T01:24:00.001-04:00

International Justice Mission is a human rights agency that secures justice for victims of slavery, sexual exploitation and other forms of violent oppression. IJM lawyers, investigators and aftercare professionals work with local officials to ensure immediate victim rescue and aftercare, to prosecute perpetrators and to promote functioning public justice systems.

IJM Rescue Update
Location: Mumbai, India
Date: Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Result: Trafficking ring crippled - 8 suspected perpetrators arrested, victims freed

Listen to our recent 'Miracles in Mumbai' Freedom Partner podcast and learn more about the challenges and triumphs of our work.

I'm pleased to share that in a carefully planned, multi-stage rescue operation conducted last week in partnership with the India Central Bureau of Investigations, IJM struck a blow at an organized trafficking ring that had entrapped victims from as far away as Bangladesh. In cooperation with IJM staff, police arrested the suspected perpetrators and safely removed 34 women and girls from a restaurant, a hotel and the trafficker’s apartment and brought them to a safe location where they are now receiving counseling and care.

Join IJM - help us rescue more girls and women from forced prostitution.

Become an IJM Freedom Partner today by giving $50 or more a month.

Gratefully,

Laurie Hayes
Freedom Partner Program

* Great friends of IJM are currently matching the entire first year’s giving (dollar-for-dollar) of the next 175 new Freedom Partners! Join the movement today. Learn more about the Freedom Partner program.

Biblical Manhood and Womanhood

2009-05-28T17:53:00.003-04:00

Offers great resources such as their Gender Blog and Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood

Next 2009 Conference

2009-05-27T23:08:00.000-04:00

All of these where wonderful!

MP3The Preeminence of Christ Joshua Harris

MP3Christ's Incarnation D.A. Carson

MP3Christ's Life Kevin DeYoung

MP3Christ's Death C.J. Mahaney

MP3Christ's Resurrection Sinclair Ferguson

MP3Christ's Return Sinclair Ferguson

Light Saber Nun Chucks

2009-05-18T08:41:00.001-04:00

He so guessed what I was thinking.

Star Trek

2009-05-12T12:29:00.005-04:00

I am a geek! That means I know the pain of seeing something you love hurt or defamed by its creator. I was afraid that the new Star Trek movie going to be awful or at best just plain bad. It was amazing! very good. I was happy to see it.

Work Worth Doing

2009-05-05T05:12:00.003-04:00

Zambia

Twenty-One People from Providence Church are traveling to Ndola, a small town in the African country of Zambia, to serve impoverished children of the region. Due to the disastrous effects of HIV/AIDS, many are left orphaned and without basic education or clothing.

The Team’s Mission includes building a new schoolhouse for Lighthouse Christian School, a school that reaches out to the poorest children of Ndola. The team will also deliver needed school supplies and clothing, and participate in other relief/ministry-oriented initiatives.

There are many ways you can help, whether you’re a member of Providence Church or a member of our community. There are many costs for the team to go—each team member is required to raise nearly $3,000.

A tax-deductible donation can be made to Providence Church and mailed to the church office listed below (please put “E-Team” in the memo).
We are also collecting gently-used children’s clothing and new school supplies to be delivered to the children of Ndola. These items can be dropped off at our church office, or pick-up can be arranged.

Church Office (Monday-Friday, business hours)
4162 Library Road, Suite 200
Pittsburgh, PA 15234
412-942-1000 or 412-942-1001

Sunday Morning Meeting Location (Sundays, 10:00am)
Independence Middle School
2807 Bethel Church Road
Bethel Park, PA 15102

** In partnership with Lighthouse Christian School and Covenant Mercies.

I am not going, but am praying and looking for ways to support those who are.

Tea Party

2009-04-15T20:23:00.004-04:00

So I went to a tea party (http://taxdayteaparty.com), thinking it was to be on taxes and spending of the federal government. There where dumb democrats and dumb republicans, so I had fun and handed out fair tax stuff and info on The CommunitarianParty.org. It reminded me why I'm not left or right but top (look to the left) and inspired me for the latest post over at The CommunitarianParty.org.

X-Men of the Apocalypse

2009-04-09T22:51:00.006-04:00

So I was reading up on some comics today and found Mystique in Rogues head, Professor X and Gambit looking for her and the last time anyone saw Sunfire was with Gambit. Then I thought to myself what a wonderful team, but I do like teams of 5 so I tossed in Angel. The first story line would be Rogue getting the powers I've detailed below, the team coming together in the process and Rogue using her new found powers on the team. Story line #2 could be hunting down Apocalypse along with his offspring and Rogue saying something like I do horsemen better. 3 would be about integrating what they can (and trying to destroy the rest) from Sinister's net works to Professor X's, based on what the Professor learned from having Sinister in his head. Story lines 4 5 and 6 should deal with the Thieves & Assassins Guilds, Worthington Industries, and politics in Japan in any order they feel like writing them. Oh and Rogue is team leader. (Marvel if you read this feel free to use it)

Rogue: has the mutant ability to absorb psyches and abilities of individuals or several beings at once, though the experience can be confusing and disorienting for her. Rogue can absorb the memories, knowledge, talents, personality, and physical abilities (whether superhuman or not) of another human being (or members of some sentient alien races) through physical contact of her skin with the skin of that person (some times she also duplicates in herself physical characteristics of her victim). This absorption usually leaves its victim weakened, and sometimes unconscious. Their powers may also be temporarily weakened or removed. If Rogue absorbs too much there is a risk of a personality overwhelming her and taking control of her body. Rogue currently has powers of Mystique, Sage, Leech, Elixir and Fabian Cortez. The combination of witch gives her total control of her own powers as well as, a perfect memory, total control of her body, shape shifting, the ability to think at superhuman speeds, Rogue can sense mutants and their potentials, with a touch she can activate, maximize, dampen, or turn off another mutants powers, her touch can heal or kill.

PESTILENCE: Archangel: has the power of natural flight with either feathered or metallic wings. His wings have superhuman strength, his bones are hollow, and he possesses a greater proportionate muscle mass than normal. As a result, his strength, speed, agility, endurance, reflexes, eyesight, and hearing are at their peak. While using his feathered wings he also has a healing factor and can heal others. He is nearly immune to injury because his healing powers are constantly working. His metal wings are composed of a hard, sharp, organic material that resembles "organic steel". The wings give him the ability to project his bio-metallic feathers out from his wings at great speed and with tremendous force. The feathers are laced with various infectious diseases, generated by Archangel's body while using his metallic wings. He has the ability to switch between metal and feathered wings at will.

WAR: Professor X: can use his telepathy to read minds and even read residual thought imprints left on objects touched by people, communicate with others by broadcasting his thoughts, control minds, create illusions by altering the perceptions of others, fire psionic blasts that can scramble an opponent's thought processes, project his mind into the astral plane and even pull the astral projections into the physical world. His telekinesis allows him to move, levitate, and manipulate matter by using his thoughts, create defensive shields by focusing his telekinetic energies around himself and others, and channel his psychic powers into explosive psionic force blasts. By levitating himself, he can fly. He also has creative uses of his powers such as using his telekinesis to channel the Earth's magnetic field mimicking the powers of Magneto and reading / broadcasting digital information giving him technopathic abilities as well.

FAMINE: Sunfire: has the ability to absorb radiation, and convert it into thermal energy. He can project his powers as blasts of searing heat, deadly radiation, explosive force, or simple flames. By ionizing the air around him, he can surround himself with an aura of heat intense enough to melt steel or fly by focusing his aura downwards in a tight stream of ionized gas to propel him though the air like a rocket. Sunfire can radiate energy that thermodynamically either bolsters or breaks down organic energy stores causing growth or starvation. He can convert the tissue of his body into living thermal energy. Sunfire can reconstitute his energy form even if it is completely destroyed, without permanently harming himself. He can see heat, by shifting his vision from visible light to infrared. Due to the nature of his powers, Sunfire is immune to extreme heat and radiation.

DEATH: Gambit: can manipulate kinetic energy. He can boost his body giving him superhuman strength, stamina, agility, flight and he can charge all matter within his line of sight by mere thought resulting in the violently powerful explosions. By charging the air around him he can a force field. Gambit can use small charges like a defibrillator or a steady but small flow to help a person fighting for life.

What do you guy think would make a good story or who would make a great team? Pick and choose from any where doesn't have to be comics or even fiction.

Suffering

2009-04-04T15:47:00.003-04:00

I have been learning a lot about who God is and how He can use divers temptations of many kinds and the trying of our faith to produce patience, prayer, humility, repentance, and many other good but secondary things. He uses suffering to draw us closer to Himself. Mark Dever says it better listen to him here.

Title: Justice Up Close — The Message of Lamentations

Series: Big Hopes

Speaker: Dr. Mark Dever

Scripture: Lamentations

Type: Sermon

Length: 56:38

Justice Up Close -- The Message of Lamentations [56:38m]: Play Now Play in Popup Download (948)

Put in the Fire for the Sake of Prayer

2009-04-01T18:20:00.003-04:00

Folloing up on my last post this one is good too.

listen it at

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/MediaPlayer/3468/Audio/

God is who He is and we should learn to live like it!

2009-03-10T00:23:00.003-04:00

I have been a christian for longer than I can remember. For nearly as long as I can remember I have wanted a wife and children. I have felt called to ministry for more than half of my life. And for all of my life I have repeatedly forgotten just who God is and what He requires of me. Oh if you asked I could give the right answers, but my life... if you have seen the right answers from my life it's all Gods grace and rarely becasue I was trying to live it that way. This message reminded me to live the answer.

http://asxarchive.moodyradio.org/Founders_Week/2009/09_MFW_07.asx

Why play the Wheel of Time MUD?

2009-01-30T00:40:00.003-05:00

The Wheel of Time MUD is a classic old MUD (Multi User Dungeon): a multiplayer game which has been enjoyed for free by web users since 1993. It has since become the most popular online game set in the Wheel of Time world, with a unique mixture of MUDders and Wheel of Time fans!

It looks a bit geeky...

If you can play MMORPGs you can play MUDs. The difference is this: MMORPGs are like McDonalds but MUDs are like a Thai restaurant. MUDs are an acquired taste, but have a closer community and the roleplay is deeper. And, without graphical rendering, PvP is faster. Your call, Burgers or Thai =).

So... how do I start?

As easy as 1,2,3! Just follow the 1,2,3 on the top left - have a quick peek at the rules, and if you've never mudded before, the 1 page playguide. Then just use any of the "play using..." links on the top left to connect directly to the MUD... and jump in! This is a free MUD, there is no need to download any software, to be validated or even register to start playing.

pledge: The Wheel of Time MUD will forever remain a free MUD - nobody can buy an advantage here and you'll never need to pay to keep up with other players. It is part of the culture of the web, created because we felt like it, and because we can.

Overcoming Sin and Temptation

2009-01-14T17:51:00.002-05:00

I was afraid to read this book. I thought that it would be fill with legalistic demands I could never live up to. I was wrong this is a wonderful work full of grace and encouragement. I recommend to you

Overcoming Sin and Temptation $14.96

Even more surprising

2009-01-08T00:30:00.002-05:00

I have often listen to recordings of sermons after hearing them live. Last Sunday was the first time I listened to a live sermon after listing to the recording. Even more surprising I listened to the recording Monday at around the same time the preacher decided to preach that sermon. Here is the sermon.

January 4, 2009

Stand Firm for Freedom (download)

Mark Prater

Galatians 5:1-14

65 minutes, 7.6MB

Faith that Works - The Message of James

2008-12-29T15:29:00.001-05:00

This is a wonderful message that I think is well worth every one listening to. You can also find in in the book "The Message of the New Testament: Promises Kept"

taken from http://www.chbcaudio.org/1995/05/14/faith-that-works-the-message-of-james/

14 May 1995

Faith that Works - The Message of James

Title: Faith that Works - The Message of James
Series: Living in the Real World
Speaker: Dr. Mark Dever
Scripture: James
Type: Sermon
Length: 34:08

Faith that Works - The Message of James [34:08m]: Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download

CommunitarianParty.org

2008-12-18T16:08:00.004-05:00

Yay. CommunitarianParty.org actually works at CommunitarianParty.org now (: , before you had to go to CommunitarianParty.blogspot.com, but now it works where i have always wanted it to.

MTG

2008-12-15T18:21:00.004-05:00

Magic: The Gathering (colloquially "Magic", "MTG", or "Magic Cards") is a collectible card game created by mathematics professor Richard Garfield and introduced in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast. Magic is the first example of the modern collectible card game genre and still thrives today, with an estimated six million players in over seventy countries.Magic can be played by two or more players each using a deck of printed cards. (taken from Wiki)

"Friends do not teach friends to play Magic The Gathering." - Matthew Bartko

I first learned to play this game (from a friend) in 2002, I quit in 2005. I spent about $3,000 and countless hours on the stupid highly addictive game, which is why I say the above quote. I slip up from time to time a fall back into the habit. This most recent fall was brought about by visiting friends from college and hearing the words here is a deck, play! I had been clean for over a year and will start counting again when I leave here. The feel of the cards in my hand just feels to good to put them down for long while I'm here.

Job

2008-12-10T13:28:00.005-05:00

I have an interview tomorrow at 5pm I would really like to get this job and for them to let me have Sundays off. The job would be selling Verizon home services (the same stuff I used to sell door to door) in Verizon wireless stores for 20/20.

Communitarian Party

2008-12-08T12:00:00.001-05:00

I've started a new blog (http://communitarianparty.blogspot.com/) let me know what you think.

When I Don't Desire God

2008-11-12T13:39:00.007-05:00

When I Don't Desire God: How to Fight For Joy: John Piper: Books $11.19
I have been reading this book as part of my devotions. May I highly recommend it to any one who is...

a) unjoyful.

b) struggling with what it means try to do what they can't do.

c) wants to know God more

christian radio station II

2008-11-11T18:00:00.004-05:00

Christian music is now in western PA!

Closer to the city I hear it on 105.5 but that one isn't on there web site (http://www.klove.com/).

City Frequency
Pittsburgh 94.1
Somerset 97.7
Nanty Glo 90.7
Uniontown 106.3
Weirton 99.3
Morgantown 93.9

Resolved to honor God

2008-11-05T14:19:00.005-05:00

I saw this on a buddys Facebook and thought is was well worth sharing.

Joel Rishel - Resolved to respect Obama (today at 7:01am)

Resolved: to respect Obama (Rom 13:7) even when I disagree with what he stands for.

Resolved: to pray for Obama (1 Tim 2:1-2) even when I don't want to.

Resolved: to pay all new taxes (Rom 13:7) even when I think it's bad economics.

Resolved: to support Obama (Rom 13:1-2) for the next four years.

Resolved: to place my confidence in King Jesus, not in 2012.

Time for bed

2008-11-04T22:19:00.002-05:00

Obama won PA and Ohio. I can go to bed no Republican has ever won without Ohio. I ended up going for Bob Barr. In the words of a friend "vote your concince and God will handel the rest."

VoteMatch Results

2008-11-04T07:59:00.003-05:00

I have placed my match results at the bottom of my page if you don't see it there you can see it here VoteMatch Results

This is one of my older posts that explains a little more of my views

Christian Democracy is, I feel a better alternative to the parties we have now. It’s core values are that as a country we need to be focused on our community more then our individuals.

The Democrats understand that we need to pull together as a country focusing on the community from an economical standpoint, and have taxes of some kind to pay for or discount things that will benefit us all. We need basic things like education, health care, housing, food, and utilities and advanced things like the military, infrastructure, and making sure the dollar stays stable. But even thought they see the need (not saying how well they meet that need just that they acknowledge it) to pull together from an economic standpoint, they miss the boat socially.

The Republicans understand that we need to pull together as a country, focusing on the social aspects of community having laws of some kind to keep order in away that will benefit us all. We need obvious protections, like protecting human life (anything living that has human genetics is a human life), protecting property rights from theft of other persons, theft from government or theft from corporations, protecting truth by working against perjury and libel, protecting people’s right to work hard and get what they want, so they won’t be as tempted to covet their neighbor’s life and not as obvious protections, like protecting family as it is the center of the community, protecting marriage as it is the center of the family and should not be broken by divorce, adultery, or trying to change what it means to be married, protecting children by guiding them to stay under their parent’s house till they can make good decisions on their own. If they would add concern for making sure people have at least one day a week off to rest they would have the second half of the 10 commandments covered. But even thought they see the need (again not saying how well they meet that need just that they acknowledge it) to pull together socially they miss the boat economically.

Now don’t get me wrong, both parties want a balanced budget and both want some kind of social order, but it seems they both get too caught up in the individual, and lose focus on the community at different points. Christian Democracy if done well, would be a great answer to many problems. All that being said, I don’t think we need what we have seen in Europe and South America, but a good old-fashioned USA approach to real problems. I think the way that most of us believe, would look and sound a lot like what Christian Democracy is supposed to do.

for more about Christian democracy check out the Wikipedia article or Christian Democratic Union

Amendment 9

2008-10-17T09:58:00.004-04:00

Amendment 9 of the Constitution. Ratified 12/15/1791.

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

please let me know what you think this amendment 1 means 2 was ment to mean when it was added.

In the word of Obama

2008-10-13T12:05:00.002-04:00

This is a quote from an article i have linked to below. Yet so many liberals can't admit this.

"Our law is by definition a codification of morality, much of it grounded in the Judeo-Christian tradition."

http://obama.senate.gov/speech/060628-call_to_renewal/

Air Bag

2008-09-24T16:20:00.002-04:00

This is not for families. As many of you may know I had a bit of a car accident that totaled my car and left me a bit hurt. Well one of my friends sent me a link to this. (some foul language)

This must be seen.

2008-09-18T11:37:00.000-04:00

A Sister's Thoughts

2008-08-18T20:16:00.003-04:00

My birthday gift from my little sister :)

MY BROTHER:

· My brother is a big smelly oaf. Standing at 6foot 3 inches at a weight of 2 thousand pounds, my brother’s body mass is roughly 4 times mine
· My brother’s cologne never emits a pleasant smell for more than 1 hour, and at 2 hours is replaced by the smell of nothing. Yes the smell from the vast expanses of space suddenly rushes my brother and surrounds him until the great battle of odor vs. nothing vs. cologne starts. Call it a game of risk if you wish. The nothingness smell of space could be Siberia. The strong tyrant body odor could be Kamchatka were as the week army of the cologne is, lets say, Yakutsk. Now usually within the first 20 minutes of the fierce battle Yakutsk is knocked out of the fight (sometimes it holds on until the final battle but not very often). Then we are left with the two powerhouses and the battle begins! Yakutsk sends in some of those little tank things and a couple of horseys but Kamchatka send in more. Then Yakutsk sends in more. Then Kamchatka sends in more. Then Yakutsk sends in more. Ect. Then finally its 3 am and everyone just want to go to bed so they call it a draw. The body odor is just a weaker form of matt musk.
· My brother lives with his grandmother and plays dungeons and dragons. But hey, DeeDees a cool grandmother who will cuss at you when need be and dungeons and dragons is kinda neat… so it evens out.
· My brother sings really loud.
· My brother drives really fast because of a condition the doctors call ledfootitis. It’s a real disease that reasearchers are still trying to find a cause/cure for. One theory is that its hereditary and can be cured my killing said person but this form of treatment has not been legalized yet (the practice of this cure is said to reach the supreme court in October of 2010) side effects of this disease are: having an actual led foot or other metallic substance, driving really fast, many driving tickets, destroying two incredibly durable cars with nature, and sucking at life.
· My brother once banged my head off of a wall… on purpose.
· My brother takes sadistic joy out of giving me broken electronics. When they finally die while in my custody, he blames it on me.
· My brother will eat anything including but not limited to: soggy nachos, poop, half melted ice cream, and life as we know it.
· My brother is not a deaf dumb or blind kid, nor is he a pinball wizard.
· My brother suffocates kittens, puppies and baby turtles with 3 inch thick rope made of black daisies.
· My brother is hott (yes two “t”s)! Some would say smoking! He has a consistent body temperature of 6400 degrees Fahrenheit. Water hits him and automatically evaporates. People die when they touch him.
· I’ve never seen my brother wear shoes with laces… ever. Usually when people die they’re buried in dress clothes with really shiny shoes, not my brother when he dies people will try to put dress clothes and nice shoes on him and he will bitch slap them out of rigormortis and say “its too hott for that!” and then continue to do that until the mortician a) quits or b) puts on the ugly sandals, blue t-shirt and cargo shorts that he died in back on him and calls it a day.
· My brother s fat.
· My brutha is actually black
· My brother was actually born on August 13th but when I was born decided to screw up EVERYTHING and steal my birthday by going back in time and conversing with himself in the uterus telling himself to come three days earlier the he planned.
· My brother killed Carmen Sandiego and hid her body so well that everyone asked, ”Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?”
· Have you ever heard crufles? They’re like truffles but only rarer and more expensive. They are only found growing on my brother’s elbows. Mathew being a sadistic fungus hater who likes to be poor kills them.
· My brother will die at my hand
· My brother loves it when you eat all but one scoop of ice cream or eat all the fudge bars and leave the box in the freezer.

Thank you for reading the “my brother list”. More will come someday.

For those of you who know my sisters can you guess which one wrote this?

Thats my King

2008-08-06T09:28:00.002-04:00

This is wonderful if you haven’t seen it already and even if you have watch this.

Dr. Lockridge was the Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, San Diego CA from 1953 - 1993. He entered heaven in 2000.

Legislating Morality

2008-07-23T15:33:00.003-04:00

I have been told that laws that we pass in this country should be ethical but we should leave morality out of them. So I looked up some words, I like these definitions I found at Dictionary.com they are below. I am wondering what definitions my friends and coworkers are using when they say that I shouldn’t support legislating morality. At heart I want to know how it is right to say it is illegal to steal but it is wrong to say don’t commit adultery?

Ethical: pertaining to or dealing with morals or the principles of morality; pertaining to right and wrong in conduct.

Moral: pertaining to, or concerned with the principles or rules of right conduct or the distinction between right and wrong.

Principle: a fundamental, primary, or general law or truth from which others are derived.

Law: any rule or injunction that must be obeyed.

Truth: actuality or actual existence.

Love you neighbor as your self.

2008-07-17T10:39:00.011-04:00

At church we where asked to come up with ideas of how to serve our communities and create outreach opportunities. How to as Christ said, “love you neighbor as your self”(Mark 12:31) the only grater command is to love God. Here are a few ideas: Here are a few ideas: tutoring (adults and children), mentoring, helping the unemployed find work, watching someone’s kids for them, visiting or doing ministry with: the elderly, people in prison, hospitals or nursing homes, people with special need or handicaps, helping people to move, find housing or find better housing, volunteering in a pro-life ministry or volunteering to ply you trade for free or at a reduced cost for ministries or people in need, help people fix up their houses and properties particularly in run down parts of town, and bring orphans and widows into your family or take care of them however you can. Here are some places where this work is being done. If you know of any others let me know and i'll look into adding them.

Covenant Mercies Pittsburgh Project
Providence Church of Pittsburgh
South Hills Crisis Pregnancy Center

Community Care Pregnancy Center

Human Metrics

2008-07-16T17:27:00.003-04:00

So I took a personality test at HumanMetrics.com and this is what it said about me, let me know if you agree or not.

Rational Portrait of the Fieldmarshal (ENTJ)

Of the four aspects of strategic analysis and definition it is marshaling or situational organizing role that reaches the highest development in the Fieldmarshal. As this kind of role is practiced some contingency organizing is necessary, so that the second suit of the Fieldmarshal's intellect is devising contingency plans. Structural and functional engineering, though practiced in some degree in the course of organizational operations, tend to be not nearly as well developed and are soon outstripped by the rapidly growing skills in organizing. But it must be said that any kind of strategic exercise tends to bring added strength to engineering as well as organizing skills.
Hardly more than two percent of the total population, Fieldmarshals are bound to lead others, and from an early age they can be observed taking command of groups. In some cases, they simply find themselves in charge of groups, and are mystified as to how this happened. But the reason is that they have a strong natural urge to give structure and direction wherever they are - to harness people in the field and to direct them to achieve distant goals. They resemble Supervisors in their tendency to establish plans for a task, enterprise, or organization, but Fieldmarshals search more for policy and goals than for regulations and procedures.
They cannot not build organizations, and cannot not push to implement their goals. When in charge of an organization, whether in the military, business, education, or government, Fieldmarshals more than any other type desire (and generally have the ability) to visualize where the organization is going, and they seem able to communicate that vision to others. Their organizational and coordinating skills tends to be highly developed, which means that they are likely to be good at systematizing, ordering priorities, generalizing, summarizing, at marshaling evidence, and at demonstrating their ideas. Their ability to organize, however, may be more highly developed than their ability to analyze, and the Fieldmarshal leader may need to turn to an Inventor or Architect to provide this kind of input.
Fieldmarshals will usually rise to positions of responsibility and enjoy being executives. They are tireless in their devotion to their jobs and can easily block out other areas of life for the sake of their work. Superb administrators in any field - medicine, law, business, education, government, the military - Fieldmarshals organize their units into smooth-functioning systems, planning in advance, keeping both short-term and long-range objectives well in mind. For the Fieldmarshal, there must always be a goal-directed reason for doing anything, and people's feelings usually are not sufficient reason. They prefer decisions to be based on impersonal data, want to work from well thought-out plans, like to use engineered operations - and they expect others to follow suit. They are ever intent on reducing bureaucratic red tape, task redundancy, and aimless confusion in the workplace, and they are willing to dismiss employees who cannot get with the program and increase their efficiency. Although Fieldmarshals are tolerant of established procedures, they can and will abandon any procedure when it can be shown to be ineffective in accomplishing its goal. Fieldmarshals root out and reject ineffectiveness and inefficiency, and are impatient with repetition of error.

The web site of Providence Church of Pittsburgh

2008-07-09T10:51:00.007-04:00

I wanted to bring a great recourse to you attention, the web site of Providence Church of Pittsburgh. I encourage you to use the calendar to keep up on any events, which you may like to attend. You can read about our ministries, the family of churches we belong to (Sovereign Grace Ministries), our beliefs and doctrines, our music, and find other resources that we have released released. Including sermons from speakers like Mike Pierson, Jeremy Hetrick, Mark Prater, Mark Altrogge, Darren Lander, and C. J. Mahaney (I recomend http://www.pcop.org/podcast.xml). As well as books, packets, and outlines, that are available as PDFs.

Infinity Gems

2008-07-07T14:42:00.004-04:00

These are a few of my favorite comic gems each one has a fantastic power, you can read about them below or click the wiki link for their history. Some times I like to think of what characters I would like to see use which gems. So here is my list let me know yours.

Space - Amelia Voght (reformed to goof guy status)
Mind – Professor X
Soul – Phoenix
Reality – Magneto (reformed to goof guy status)
Time – Forge
Power – Juggernaut (reformed to goof guy status and minus the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak)

From Wiki: Infinity Gems

Space: It allows the user to exist in any location (or all locations), move any object anywhere throughout the universe and warp or rearrange space.

Mind: It allows the user to boost mental power and access the thoughts and dreams of other beings, it is possible to access all minds in existence.

Soul: Arguably the most dangerous, this gem is sentient and has a hunger for souls. It allows the user to steal, manipulate and alter souls, living or dead. Ironically, the gem is the gateway to an idyllic, pocket-universe.

Reality: Perhaps the most powerful and difficult gem to use, it allows the user to fulfill wishes, even if that wish is in direct contradiction with scientific laws. It can result in disaster if one does not conceive the wish carefully.

Time: This gem allows the user total control over time, including time travel. From the primordial past, to the distant future, any period is accessible or visible through its power. This would allow a user to even use time as a weapon, trapping enemies or entire worlds in unending loops of time. It can also cause those nearby to become physically older or younger.

Power: It contains access to all power and energy that ever has or will exist. It allows the user to duplicate almost any physical superhuman ability and become invincible.

Good Books for Bible Study

2008-07-05T10:27:00.000-04:00

When I went to New Attitude I heard a pastor by the name of Mark Dever speak about the authority of the word of God. I have already bloged about the conference and linked to a recording of his message there. Mark wrote two books.

The Message of the New Testament: Promises Kept, Price: $29.99

The Message of the Old Testament: Promises Made, Price: $39.99

I have found them to be very useful and encouraging you can find previews on Google Books Search by searching for Mark Dever.

The Stuff on the Side

2008-07-03T17:24:00.004-04:00

So I have found that I really enjoy blogging and that there are many blogs I enjoy. It is highly unlikely that any of my posts. However I feel that I show give you something for coming to this page. That is why I give you the side bar. To the right of my posts you’ll find things I think are either fun, worth while, both, or just because I thought it would make someone happy. Those things being my profile, other profiles people have written for me, the opportunity to ask me whatever you’d like, the labels I use to organize my posts, and I have saved the best 3 for next to last, some of my favorite links, better blogs then mine (at least some of them are). I bring you MWBartko Search, this search engine will only search site that I give it and the results will load at the bottom of the page, let me know what you think of it, oh and then last of all the archive.

The Lord Loves Ministry

2008-07-02T13:05:00.003-04:00

Last night I went down to the jail for the Tuesday night bible study with the inmates. I was feeling weak, unorganized, and exited. You see, the Lord loves ministry and He loves us being completely dependent on Him, so I knew that God would be up to great thing in the jail last night because I wasn’t up for much of anything an had no choice but to depend on Him. The night started out with us sharing some evangelistic tracks and asking how the guys where doing. One of them asked us to explain Luke 11:24-28, I love it when they have questions about the bible waiting for us. He had misunderstood and thought it was talking about temptation instead of possession. While we where trying to explain what the passage said and the difference between temptation and possession another one of the guys, who was with us for the first time, talking about how good he is. The leader of the group started giving scriptures and doctrines for why the inmate thinking he was good was a hurtful way to think but rather he should say, God is good and I am blessed in Him. The inmate was giving him a look that said what is the big deal? By Gods grace I was able to share the gospel to show why it was such a big deal. At the end the end of the night we charged them to meet daily. What a wonderful blessing to be used by God. Please join with us praying that God would glorify Himself in the jail and that He would meet with the inmates each day as He calls them to gather in His name.

Jesus for President

2008-07-01T15:24:00.009-04:00

This book by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw looks interesting.

Jesus for President: Politics for Ordinary Radicals Price: $11.55

You can find their blog as well as other info @ http://www.jesusforpresident.org/ which is a interesting website.

There is a wiki for Shane Claiborne (i linked to it above). I was not able to fined one for Chris Haw but Zondervan says this about him “Chris Haw, an aspiring potter, carpenter, painter, and theologian, lives in Camden, New Jersey, with his wife, Cassie, and his fellow community members.”

The Litany of Resistance as well as other writings on their book page are thought provoking.

I would like to know what you guys think of there politics and or anything else you find. I haven’t read the book. I first found them on CNN in this article “Evangelical movement touts 'Jesus for president'”. I would love to be able to support more politicians or a political party that I agree with. To me these guys seem sloppy but at least they are doing something. For more on my views I refer you to my posts with the politics label.

Devotions

2008-06-26T09:50:00.003-04:00

I have made a new blog for my devotions MWBartko Devotions. I will place it on my side of this page as well as the link above. Subsequently I have move my old devotions post into one big one there and deleted them from here.

Bad or Worse

2008-06-10T10:25:00.004-04:00

Well we know that one of two men will be president of the United States of America. It will be John McCain or Barock Obama and I’m really have a hard time with this one. In the interest of full discloser I’m leaning toward Obama. Why you may ask. It comes down to when you catch McCain in a lie he ignores the accusation and claims the lie is truth, then when presented with evidence simply restates the lie again (I saw this in the republican debates) (I have not yet caught Obama in such a situation). But I have more than a little trouble with a young man with so little experience who is opposed to me morally or at least thinks it not the governments place to say. How can you not say it’s wrong to kill a baby but say its wrong to kill a man???? (If it’s wrong to kill a human and the government can say so then they should). So I took this little test. Please tell me how you find the candidates compare on the issues and or who you support and why (mainly interested in McCain or Obama).

Who You Should Vote For

Barack Obama: 47%

Mike Huckabee: 47%

Hillary Clinton: 40%

John McCain: 27%

Ron Paul: 27%

Who you agree with on the war in Iraq: Mike Huckabee and John McCain

Who you agree with on the economy: Hillary Clinton

Who you agree with on health care: Barack Obama

Who you agree with on taxes: Mike Huckabee

Who you agree with on abortion: Mike Huckabee and John McCain

Who you agree with on gay rights: Mike Huckabee

Who Should You Vote For?

A song brought to mind by my devotions

2008-06-04T09:40:00.004-04:00

You can buy the album that has this song on it for $10 or buy the single for $0.99.

I once was lost in darkest night
Yet thought I knew the way
The sin that promised joy and life
Had led me to the grave
I had no hope that You would own
A rebel to Your will
And if You had not loved me first
I would refuse You still

But as I ran my hell-bound race
Indifferent to the cost
You looked upon my helpless state
And led me to the cross
And I beheld God’s love displayed
You suffered in my place
You bore the wrath reserved for me
Now all I know is grace

Hallelujah! All I have is Christ
Hallelujah! Jesus is my life

Now, Lord, I would be Yours alone
And live so all might see
The strength to follow Your commands
Could never come from me
Oh Father, use my ransomed life
In any way You choose
And let my song forever be
My only boast is You

© 2008 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI), by Jordan Kauflin

Thoughts Inspired by my Devotions

2008-06-04T08:54:00.002-04:00

The hard work of putting off old things, putting off worldly things, the very hard work of putting off sin and pressing into to Christ is a blessing, is a prize, and is amazing! I remember what I am apart from Christ, nothing. He is all my righteousness, my only claim, my all and all, my savior, my sovereign and my God. To press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus, the very ability to press is a gift of God. The act of pressing is fellowship with God and the prize is fellowship with God. Praise God! For the reward is in the work and how much more must we praise Him for the work (even though we must do it) has its beginning, it’s completion, and every bit of it based in and achieved through Christ. For years I have asked but if it is all done by Christ what is left for me? And the answer is to be used. He causes the movement, He makes me to work, He allows me to have a part of the work He is doing. As a father lets his son help him and doesn’t need his help but delights in his sons desire to help and willingness to work so he let him. All the work is done in Christ! He just lets us have a small part and not only is it great that we should have any part of the work, He then gives us the finished work!!! We will have fellowship with Him fully and forever. We see that the fellowship that we have had with him through our work here was only a shadow of thing that will clear when the work is done. Now again I say yeah but if He will do it any way why bother working that hard? Because the work is a blessing and if you don’t work hard you are missing out on the blessings He has for you now.

Devotions

2008-06-02T15:40:00.000-04:00

Hey everybody one of the things that happened at New Attitude was we where to commit doing regular devotions. My plan is to do a chapter a weekday and post my thoughts here on the blog like I was doing with Ephesians. Here’s the stick all of you get to demand answers of me for why I didn’t post devotions on any day of the week except Saturday and Sunday. But to take advantage of this opportunity to pick on me when I fail you must sign up (I thinking of the people at New Attitude who said they check up on me here but anyone can feel free). Simply post a comment on this post sating that you will check in at least once a month and give me much harassment if I have missed one or more.

New Attitude

2008-05-29T09:36:00.009-04:00

I went to a conference over the long weekend called New Attitude it was a good time. The preaching was by far the second best part. The messages came from God through Josh Harris, Eric Simmons, Mark Dever, Al Mohler, C.J. Mahaney, and John Piper. The messages where:

Ripping, Burning, Eating: A Right Response to God's Word by Josh Harris • Saturday, May 24

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The Authority of Scripture by Mark Dever • Sunday, May 25

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Bible Q&A by Al Mohler • Sunday, May 25

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The Troubled Soul: God's Word and Our Feelings by C.J. Mahaney • Sunday, May 25

What's the Point?: Growing in Vision for Diligent Study by Eric Simmons • Monday, May 26

William Tyndale: A Life Transformed By God's Word by John Piper • Monday, May 26

Fighting for Faith with God's Word by John Piper • Monday, May 26

God as Father: Understanding the Doctrine of Adoption in God's Word by C.J. Mahaney • Tuesday, May 27

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They are all good and if you weren’t there I recommend listing to them. I would also like to point you to NweAttitude.org as a great site to lean more about the conference and what it represents Humble Orthodoxy. Hope you enjoy – your bloger in Christ – Matt

christian radio station

2008-05-21T17:21:00.001-04:00

There is a new christian radio station playing in the burgh 94.1 K LOVE. Do you guys get this where you live? That station isn’t listed on their web site.

Bible Studies, one of God's many blessings

2008-05-20T17:35:00.004-04:00

I just wanted to type for few moments about how good God is. I’m involved in two ministries in which I get to teach, a bible study in Clairton and one in the Allegheny County Jail. These opportunities to try and serve the Lord are humbling because when I pour out all my effort and it only goes as well as the Lord blesses, then when I do very little perpetration it still goes as well as he chooses to bless. It really is all about Him not me. That being said, I get a lot more out of the studies when I prepare in God's strength. It has just been such a blessing to meet with God on these two nights a week. In Clairton we have done Hosea, Hebrews and now we are working through Isaiah. In the ACJ, we have done James and are working in Romans. To see God showing Himself and growing the inmates and people who come to the bible study in knowledge of Him is very good. It is what I want my life to be about. I want to have whatever part of glorifying His name that He’ll let me have. I am also learning a lot from watching people work to understand the word and apply it to life, so if any of you come or have ever come to one of the bible studies, thank you.

The Role of Faith in Government

2008-05-20T16:02:00.006-04:00

My friend Jenn made a good entrée on her blog (a blog of little consequence) talking about the role faith should play in politics. Here is her post and below are my thoughts, please feel free to share your thoughts as well.

Her post The Role of Faith in Politics

In reply to her post I wrote.

So where you thinking of me when you wrote this one?

Christian Democracy
http://mwbartko.blogspot.com/2008/05/blog-post.html

and Tony Campolo
http://mwbartko.blogspot.com/2008/05/tony-campolo.html

I think its great that you push for the church to stand up and do its job, but if the church isn't and people aren't then I think it is a good thing for the government to demand it be done. I'm thinking of Hezekiah and how he commanded the church to open and the priests to serve 2 Chronicles 29. However we (thank God) do have a separation of church and state that keep the government from demanding anything of the church (that in no way means the church should not have demands of the government.) So if the government would pursue righteousness what is left open to it other than to pass laws the punish sins of commission and try to compensate for sins of omission?

Tom Bombadil

2008-05-16T17:12:00.007-04:00

This is a great song.

Hey dol! merry dol! ring a dong dillo!
Ring a dong! hop along! fal lal the willow!
Tom Bom, jolly Tom, Tom Bombadillo!

Hey! Come merry dol! derry dol! My darling!
Light goes the weather-wind and the feathered starling.
Down along under Hill, shining in the sunlight,
Waiting on the doorstep for the cold starlight,
There my pretty lady is, River-woman's daughter,
Slender as the willow-wand, clearer than the water.
Old Tom Bombadil water-lilies bringing
Comes hopping home again. Can you hear him singing?
Hey! Come merry dol! derry dol! and merry-o,
Goldberry, Goldberry, merry yellow berry-o!
Poor old Willow-man, you tuck your roots away!
Tom's in a hurry now. Evening will follow day.
Tom's going home home again water-lilies bringing.
Hey! come derry dol! Can you hear me singing?

Hop along, my little friends, up the Withywindle!
Tom's going on ahead candles for to kindle.
Down west sinks the Sun: soon you will be groping.
When the night-shadows fall, then the door will open,
Out of the window-panes light will twinkle yellow.
Fear no alder black! Heed no hoary willow!
Fear neither root nor bough! Tom goes on before you.
Hey now! merry dol! We'll be waiting for you!

Hey! Come derry dol! Hop along, my hearties!
Hobbits! Ponies all! We are fond of parties.
Now let the fun begin! Let us sing together!

Tolkien sings it much much better and not to this tune.

The story of Tom Bombadil as read by Tolkien so you can have a feel for how he would have done it.

Tony Campolo

2008-05-16T10:33:00.016-04:00

Tony Campolo is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Eastern University in St. Davids, Pennsylvania. He previously served for ten years on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania. He is a graduate of Eastern College and earned a Ph.D. from Temple University, founded and is currently the president of the Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education. He is also: a media commentator on religious, social and political matters, the author of 35 books, and an ordained minister who has served American Baptist Churches in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and is presently recognized as an associate pastor of the Mount Carmel Baptist Church in West Philadelphia. (a shorten version of the biography on his webpage)

I first heard of Tony Campolo from his sermon “It's Friday, But Sunday's Coming” (available for $0.00 download) and well I loved it. He works through what humans need and how those needs are meet in Christ alone.

Later on I got to read his book Sociology Through the Eyes of Faith which really help me think about my major (sociology at the time) with a Christian perspective.

Sociology Through the Eyes of Faith $15.95

I have yet you hear or read something by him that I did not enjoy and find helpful, though I have heard that there may be things out there that are not as solid. So like with any human take him with a discerning mind. If you would like to find out more about Tony or find more books or recordings check out his web site http://www.tonycampolo.org/ or on Wikipedia

I have now read some things that I did not enjoy or find helpful, thanks to my friend Jenn. Here is what she pointed out to me. Some of the statements on that web page I have no problem with others I do. Like I said take him with a discerning mind, I think he has a lot of good things to say and some questionable material as well.

"I am concerned that you commend Tony Campolo. He has made countless heretical statements and has not recanted them (to my knowledge). Please reconsider commending him to anyone. (http://battle4truth.wordpress.com/2008/05/05/heretic-quotes-from-tony-campolo/)"

THE WORK OF THE PASTOR

2008-05-15T16:04:00.005-04:00

THE WORK OF THE PASTOR by William Still $4.99 (money well spent)

Reviews

"This is a really good book for anyone in or interested in pastoral ministry. It has personally challenged me to earnestly prepare for what ever work the Lord is calling me to."

Matthew Bartko

"A Great little book by a remarkable missionary to whom I owe an immense personal debt. Every minister shoul read it once a year - at least!"
Sinclair B. Ferguson

"A tried and proven theology of pastoral care based on belief that the whole word of God proclaimed and applied is sufficient to meet dynamically the pastoral needs of God's people. In an age when methods often take preference over theology, this book is an important and timely reminder of the essential priorities of the ministry."
Russel Birney

"The fact that this book has already gone into several editions has something important to say. It contains the distilled wisdom of many years of fruitful ministry, and shoould be in the hands of every true minister of the gospel."
James Philip

Contents:

1:'Feed my Sheep'
2:The Pastor Outside the pulpit
3:Complete and Comtemporary
4:Comissioned by God
5:Walking the tightrope

The Christian Classics Ethereal Library

2008-05-14T17:34:00.003-04:00

As I finished my devotions today I was thinking how blessed I am to know about The Christian Classics Ethereal Library. It is a wonderful huge library containing several wonderful works of the early church fathers, the reformers, hymn writers, and many more. I would strongly recommend browsing and enjoy this web site.

Questions or Topics

2008-05-12T15:08:00.004-04:00

Hey one of the things I want to do with this blog is interact with people. So if you have any questions for me or topics you think I should post about, you can submit them as a comment here : )

silly questions will be answered here not as a new post.

One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

2008-05-12T14:56:00.005-04:00

I was thinking more about my devotions today and about worship at church on Sunday. During the worship time the Lord gave me a wonderful sense of how all things come together for His purpose and by His will. He showed me how He created all things and all things are sustained by His power, from the beginning till the end of time. Then He told me that it is His power that sustains me from my birth to my death. He gives strength to my joints and to my soul. The power of my youth is in His hands and if there is any rest or refreshment in life it is by His mercy. I was just overwhelmed by the greatness of God and His unending holiness, power, and how worth He is of praise. It amazed me afresh how He is over all things. My spirit cried out holy holy holy is the Lord God and had a great time of prayerful praise. Then today to me surprise today I read Ephesians 4:6 “one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all”. I love that God has given us both the word and the spirit, for we cannot understand one without the other. So I say wow Lord you are so good to me thank you.

Ministry

2008-05-09T15:21:00.006-04:00

Most of you know that I have felt called to the ministry for a number of years now. Some of you know I have been going to a new church for almost 2 years. I have been reading these two books to see how these two thing might someday come together.

Am I Called? Discerning the Summons to Ministry BOOK DOWNLOAD $0.00

Polity: Serving and Leading the Local Church BOOK DOWNLOAD
$0.00

Mimic

2008-05-08T11:35:00.007-04:00

So I was catching up on some of my geekiness and reading some comic books, the title I am working through now is a run called Exiles, and it has me thinking about and old character that I like named Mimic. He was an old X-Man villain turned short-term team member. His ability is to permanently mimic the powers of up to five other people but only at half strength. In order to round out the geekiness I must now list the five people who's powers I would mimic and ask you to leave comments on which ones you would choose.

Here is my list.
X-Man (Nate Grey)
Magneto
Apocalypse
Voght
Forge

Profile

2008-05-07T15:19:00.001-04:00

I have been wondering how much and what type of information should go in my profile? So I decided that all of you who know and love me most should write profiles on me and I will choose one. I’ll leave all the ones that aren’t offensive up in the comments to this post. This way I get a profile I didn’t have to write and you guys get to tell the world wide web what you really think of me.

Christian Democracy

2008-05-07T09:19:00.020-04:00

Christian Democracy is, I feel a better alternative to the parties we have now. It’s core values are that as a country we need to be focused on our community more then our individuals.

The Democrats understand that we need to pull together as a country focusing on the community from an economical standpoint, and have taxes of some kind to pay for or discount things that will benefit us all. We need basic things like education, health care, housing, food, and utilities and advanced things like the military, infrastructure, and making sure the dollar stays stable. But even thought they see the need (not saying how well they meet that need just that they acknowledge it) to pull together from an economic standpoint, they miss the boat socially.

The Republicans understand that we need to pull together as a country, focusing on the social aspects of community having laws of some kind to keep order in away that will benefit us all. We need obvious protections, like protecting human life (anything living that has human genetics is a human life), protecting property rights from theft of other persons, theft from government or theft from corporations, protecting truth by working against perjury and libel, protecting people’s right to work hard and get what they want, so they won’t be as tempted to covet their neighbor’s life and not as obvious protections, like protecting family as it is the center of the community, protecting marriage as it is the center of the family and should not be broken by divorce, adultery, or trying to change what it means to be married, protecting children by guiding them to stay under their parent’s house till they can make good decisions on their own. If they would add concern for making sure people have at least one day a week off to rest they would have the second half of the 10 commandments covered. But even thought they see the need (again not saying how well they meet that need just that they acknowledge it) to pull together socially they miss the boat economically.

Now don’t get me wrong, both parties want a balanced budget and both want some kind of social order, but it seems they both get too caught up in the individual, and lose focus on the community at different points. Christian Democracy if done well, would be a great answer to many problems. All that being said, I don’t think we need what we have seen in Europe and South America, but a good old-fashioned USA approach to real problems. I think the way that most of us believe, would look and sound a lot like what Christian Democracy is supposed to do.

for more about Christian democracy check out the Wikipedia article or Christian Democratic Union

latest attempt

2008-05-06T10:15:00.001-04:00

This is my latest attempt at an online recording of my thoughts, but not my first, that would be http://mwbartko.livejournal.com/. It’s been a few years and some things have changed which means that some things haven’t. I am no longer in school, in that town, in that church, in any of those jobs I had back then or with that girl (breaking up with her is why I stopped posting in that old one). Things that are the same are best summed up in the words of my current girl Lisa when I had shown her the old journal “It just sounded like your normal rantings. You were ranting a bit about money, and missing your girlfriend, and asking for prayer, recognizing that God is in control and loves you. Some things never change, eh?” God’s love and guiding have always been the defining forces in my life and by His grace they always will be.
In this blog I shall attempt to be bold In sharing my thoughts on any and every subject that I have them on. Toward that end you, my readers, my feel free to ask me to post on topics in order to get my thoughts on them. I apologize in advance for any thought or comments that are hurtful or that fall short of the high and noble task of being honorable to my God. You see the Holy Spirit in it’s infinite wisdom and grace has not yet chosen, and more than likely won’t this side of glory, to completely sanctify my mind. However I would like to grow so feel free disagree, correct, or generally yell at me through text. If you keep it at some basic level of respect I will welcome the discourse.
Hope all of you have enjoyed this intro – your bloger in Christ Jesus our Lord – Matt