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Ihave received not a few letters, quite a number, in fact, from folks who suggest to me subjects that I might address in this series on the Anatomy of the Church. And I have received a few, sort of a steady stream, along with some personal requests if I would address the subject of discernment. And so though I have addressed it seemingly often in the past, I know there are many of you who are new and we all need to kind of rehearse this great theme, I've chosen today to look at the subject of discernment because of its importance and because it has been requested by folks in the church.
We're doing a series on the anatomy of the church and we sort of extended Paul's metaphor that the church is the body of Christ and we saw in the church a skeleton, some basic framework, some foundational doctrine. We saw in the church internal systems which are spiritual attitudes. And now we're dealing with the muscles of the church or the functions of the church. What the church actually does when it functions. And we've talked about some of the necessary functions in the church like fellowship and preaching and teaching the Word. And today we come to this matter of discernment which is a function of the church. It is so outlined in a verse that is becoming familiar to you, I think, 1 Timothy 3:15 where the Apostle Paul describes the church with this description. "The church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth." The church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.
He could have said the church of the living God, the assembly of the redeemed. He could have said the fellowship of believers. He could have said the body of Christ. He could have said the saints that are headed to heaven. He could have said the sanctified. He could have said the justified. But he chose to say the church, the pillar and support of the truth. That is a defining definition. That is central, foundational to what the church is. A church is a pillar and support of the truth.
Why so? Because as I told you a few weeks ago, the number one problem in the world is deception. And the number one problem in the church is deception. And the only way you can deal with deception is to bring the truth to bear against it. Therefore discernment is produced by the knowledge of the truth. If someone knows the truth, they have the discernment to understand error.
Now it is important for us to remember this that Satan primarily is disguised as an angel of light. He goes around espousing what people are to accept as truth, when in fact it is not truth. Satan is a liar, John 8:44, and the father of lies. He is a deceiver by nature. And he goes about espousing lies which are exposed by the truth. Now we all know we live in a world of lies. We live in a world of lies at every level. We are lied to in the scientific world by the foundation of all contemporary science which is evolution which is a lie. We are lied to on the basis of all moral issues in our world by the lie that you can do anything you want and whatever feels good is right. We are lied to about the future, by the contemporary interest in life-after-death folks who tell us that it's all hearts and flowers and warm and fuzzies and lights at the end of tunnels and there's nothing to fear. We're lied to at every level of our life. We are lied to philosophically. We are lied to psychologically. We are lied to at all levels. Satan has espoused a world of lies on every front and the only protection you have against it is the truth and the only place the truth is upheld is the church. We alone adhere to the Word of God which is the truth.
But not only are we in a world of lies but, sad to say, the world has had a great effect on the church and the church has been infiltrated with lies. And that's always, of course, Satan's effort, he wants to destroy the church. The world is already his. It's a great place to hatch the lies. But the ultimate plan is to make those lies find their way into the church so that the church becomes confused about God's truth.
Turn, if you will, to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. This is a bit of a preview because when we get back to our series in 2 Corinthians, which we will sometime this summer when I get my study Bible done and I have the time to go back to it, we'll get back to it, and when we get back to it we'll go right back to chapter 11, but I want to give you a preview here, just to let you know I haven't forgotten what is here. The first three verses Paul, you'll remember, is writing to the Corinthians very concerned because some false teachers have come to Corinth and taught lies, taught errors, taught deception and created havoc in the church. And Paul is writing this very passionate letter to the people to call them back to him and back to the truth. He says in verse 1, "I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness, but at least you are bearing with me," a little bit of sarcasm there. He's saying you need to tolerate what to you might seem like foolishness, tolerate my passion here. Why? Verse 2, "For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy."
Paul was not saying, "Well this is a carnal thing with me, this is a personal thing with me. I don't like somebody messing up my church because it impacts negatively on my reputation. I don't like somebody else stealing my sheep. I don't like losing in that kind of a battle. It's sort of an ego fight with me." That's not what he's saying. There were people who were turning away from Paul, people who were becoming disinterested in his teaching and following false teachers. He says I'm jealous for you but it's not a carnal jealousy, it's a godly one.
The reason I am very concerned about you following other teachers and not me, the reason I'm very concerned about you believing things that I don't teach is not for some personal reason, but it's for some godly reason. And here it is, verse 2, "I have betrothed you to one husband...that is to Christ...that I might present you as a pure virgin."
In other words, when I brought you to Christ that was only the beginning. I want to bring you all the way to the time when I present you to Him as a pure virgin. I want to maintain your purity. What does he mean? Your doctrinal purity and your behavioral purity, your moral purity. And when you are led astray by false teachers, you do not remain doctrinally pure and consequently you will not remain behaviorally or morally pure either because how you live is a direct outgrowth of what you believe. I'm unwilling to turn you over to people who teach you error cause I understand it affects your purity of doctrine and your purity of life.
This is a faithful pastor talking, folks. I understand this. When people leave this church, if I am concerned about it, if I am exercised about it, it cannot be because of some carnal jealousy...I don't like to see some other pastor win them over, or some other teacher be thought to be a better teacher than myself...that is not the issue. That cannot be the issue, that is sin. But I'll tell you this, I do not rejoice in my heart when someone leaves what I know to be a place where the truth is clearly taught and clearly delineated for a place where it is not because I understand the implications of that in their life. And it is to be a godly jealousy with which we hold on to the sheep that God has given us and not easily turn them over to someone else to someone else who may not with the same precision and the same clarity and the same accuracy and the same conviction and the same strength and the same consistency and the same maturity teach them the Word of God. That's going to have tremendous implications in their life and the life of those they influence, including their families. Paul says I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy.
It grieves my heart when someone goes from Grace Church and moves somewhere else and calls back or writes back and says, "We can't find a place where the Word of God is faithfully taught." Because that's a grievous situation and you know that if people are exposed to error long enough, exposed to weak teaching long enough, it definitely has an impact. Paul is saying I cannot just turn you over to this, I am too jealous in a godly way for you.
What are you afraid of, Paul? Verse 3, "I am afraid lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity that is related to Christ." That's the point. Now listen very carefully. I am afraid you will be deceived. In the same way that Eve was deceived by the craftiness of the serpent you will be beguiled.
It's amazing how adept people are at teaching error. Amazing how clever they are. They can win massive followings, can't they? It's amazing how fast people who know the Lord know a little bit of Scripture who aren't strong in the Word can be led astray. Paul says I don't want that to happen. I espouse you to Christ with the intention of carrying you through and presenting to Christ in the end a chaste virgin, a pure virgin, pure in doctrine, pure in conduct. And my fear is that you're going to get exposed to error and that that error is going to deceive you and lead your mind astray.
Let me tell you, all Christianity precedes from the mind. It is not an emotional thing. It has emotion but the only appropriate emotional response is when the emotions are set into action by the truth that is in the mind. Bypassing the mind to get to the emotions is manipulation unacceptable. Paul says my concern is that somebody is going to get to your mind and you're going to start to believe the wrong things. When you are exposed, according to 2 Timothy chapter 2:15 to 18, when you're exposed to error, it eats like gangrene. And overexposure to error will assault the truth and begin to break it down.
We often ask ourselves how it is that men who have written books that we all applaud and enjoy and we've read can reach a place in their life where they become annihilationists which is to deny hell or they become universalists which is to say that everybody is going to go to heaven, or they've changed their view on this doctrine or that doctrine, and in most cases they have maintained their presence in an environment of critical academic theology which has systematically eaten away at the foundations of their convictions. It can happen even to the best and does because Satan is so crafty.
Go back to Genesis 3 with me and find out how it was that the serpent did deceive Eve. We'll look more at this when we get into this passage, but at least a brief look at chapter 3 of Genesis. "The serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made." That is to say when possessed by Satan. "And he said to the woman," now here's Satan and here's a good insight into how he operates, he said, "Indeed, has God said you shall not eat from any tree in the Garden? And the woman said to the serpent, From the fruit of the trees of the Garden we may eat, but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the Garden God had said you shall not eat from it or touch it lest you die." That's pretty straightforward. He says - is there any tree in this Garden that you've been told you can't eat? She says yeah, there's one. It wasn't that there was some noxious or some poisonous fruit because it was a perfect unfallen world. It was just that that tree was a test, that's all. Yeah, there's one we can't eat of, and she even adds we can't even touch it and that was probably a word from her husband fearing that she might eat it, she said don't touch it, keeping her away at a distance. We don't know exactly.
But anyway, "Then the serpent said to the woman," verse 4, "You shall surely not die for God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened and you'll be like God knowing good and evil," and what could be more noble than being like God? Certainly God would want that, wouldn't He?
This is the deception. He was not...he was not playing to some sort of innate lust that Eve had for whatever was hanging on that tree, she didn't have any innate lust. She was without sin. He wasn't playing to some potential temptation. She didn't have any internal temptation solicitation device. It wasn't that she was..."Oh, I really want to eat that thing." There was no such desire, there was no such lust at all. It was all deception. He didn't play to her lust. He didn't tempt her because there was something unique about this fruit that made it so desirable she could hardly resist it.
It was purely deception and the deception goes a little like this...You must have misunderstood God, look at this beautiful Garden God made, look at this thing, this magnificent Garden and He said you could have all of this and this is a perfect world and you must have misunderstood what He meant. I mean, surely you're not going to die. I mean, that's impossible. What dies? What's death? What's that? You must...oh, you must have misunderstood, and what could be more marvelous, what could be more noble than being like God? He knows that if you would eat of that you would be like Him.
Oh... She was totally beguiled. He wasn't playing to her desire to sin, she didn't have any desire. He was playing to the one desire she did have and that was a noble one, to be like...what?...like God. Eve must have misunderstood. I mean, He knows if you do that you're going to be like Him and what could be a greater thing....?
Isn't that what the cults always promise? They don't say, "Follow this error and go to hell." Right? They say, "Follow this error and go to God." Right? "Ascend to the heights of religion." Satan is always disguised as an angel of light. And what he's telling you is you'll be...you'll be closer to God, this is the truth, this will elevate. That's the deception. She bought it.
What do you think those false teachers said when they came to Corinth? "Eat and you'll die." No. "Follow our teaching and you'll go to hell forever." No. "Follow our teaching and you'll have more fun in life." No. They said, "Follow our teaching and you'll get closer to God." That's always Satan's lie.
You think Mormons believe that, don't you? Jehovah's Witnesses believe that. Every cult and ism and schism and spasm and yogi and whatever else on the face of the earth, they all have the same basic goal...to get to God, right? That's Satan's lie. This is the fast track to God. This is the fast track to spirituality. This is the fast track to heaven. This is the elevated knowledge. This is the real stuff. Surely you misunderstood what God said. Surely there's some confusion here. God would want you to be like Him. What's death? Whoever heard of that? You must have misunderstood.
And she bought it hook, line and sinker. Paul said the reason...the reason I don't want you following those people because that's what they'll do to you. They'll tell you there's some other way to God. There's some other path to spirituality. There's some other source of enlightenment, that the real truth is in this group or that group or their theory or this doctrine.
Any pastor who has any sense of the responsibility before God to protect his sheep, to warn, to watch, to oversee, realizes that perverse men are just waiting to rise up and wolves are just waiting to come in and tear up the sheep. So the thing you want to do to protect your people is to teach them to be discerning, right? That is a function of the church so that they're not just blown all over the place and strung out and carried away by every wind of doctrine. And I would say that the single greatest problem in the church today is its inability to do that. I don't know that there's ever been a time when the church in the evangelical church as we know it has been as utterly undiscerning as it is now and furthermore to be so disinterested in being discerning, like being discerning is bad, like discerning people are a problem, they're narrow-minded, they're critical, they're judgmental, they lack love, and so forth.
It is this very issue that causes evangelical Christianity to be fighting for its very life. In fact, I was talking to some people this last week who said that they think the word "evangelical" is gone, it's been redefined in such non-descript and imprecise terms that we can't really use it anymore. We have to come up with another term. So if you think of a good one, let me know. We can start a movement, you and me, with the right term. If there's any problem that outstrips all other problems in the church, it is this problem of a lack of discernment, the lack of spiritual discrimination because then everybody is vulnerable. And imagine living in a time when not only is the church undiscerning, but sees discernment as a threat to its life and unity. It's just amazing. Widespread ignorance, shallow understanding of Scripture, superficiality interpreting the Bible, faulty reasoning, bad decisions just bring horrendous agony to the church. How foolish can we be? I mean, the Bible is so consistent in telling us beware of ear-tickling teachers, beware of departing from the faith, beware of heresies, doctrines of demons, destructive myths, perverse teachings, commandments of men, speculations, controversial issues, old wives fables, deceitful spirits, worldly tales, false knowledge, science falsely so-called, empty philosophy, traditions of men, worldly wisdom, adulterations of the Scripture and on and on and on and on. Beware of those who come who are wolves dressed up in sheep's clothing, trying to pass themselves off as prophets. And they will get worse and worse as time comes, as we saw a few weeks ago. There is just an absolute world of chaos and confusion and deception infiltrating the church today and instead of the church raising its guard, the church lowers it and lowers it and lowers it. And just when the deception reaches massive proportions, there is a disinterest in teaching the Word of God, preaching some kind of message that's going to be relevant to people's cultural hot buttons. No one who understands the warnings of Scripture who understands anything about the character of Satan, who understands anything about his strategies, should stand by and let everybody be gullible as if everyone who claims to speak the truth does speak the truth. How foolish is that? But people do it all the time...all the time. The church is like the Pharisees of Jesus' day. In Matthew 16 He said to the Pharisees, when it's a certain kind of sky and it's a certain color, you say it's going to rain and when it's another kind of color you say it's not going to rain. And that's a pretty primitive simplistic way to tell the weather, but He says you're better at that than you are theology. That's how much discernment you've got. You can't even distinguish what's going on. Here's the King right here talking to you and you don't even know it. The ability to distinguish between the false and the true is absolutely essential in the church. And the church is the pillar and support of the truth. That's what we do. And we do that to protect God's people from error so that they can bring the truth to others.
Now all of that warms us up to go back to the most direct text, 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and we want to interact with that text a little bit in our time this morning. And it's a familiar one to us and it's certainly not difficult to interpret but it is so specific that it leaves us with nothing less than an absolute mandate. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 there are a number of straight forward injunctions for Christians that sort of sum up the Christian life. They talk about how we are to live in the church. Start in verse 12, talking about appreciating those who are over us, honoring our leaders. Verse 13, living in peace with each other. Verse 14, admonishing folks, encouraging them and all of that. Verse 15, not repaying evil for evil but seeking what is good. Verse 16, rejoicing always. Verse 17, praying without ceasing. Verse 18, giving thanks in everything for this is God's will, and so forth. Verse 19, not quenching the Spirit. Everybody agrees on those, nobody really has a problem. Everybody's sure, amen to that. We know we want to follow our leaders and honor them. We want to live in peace. We want to admonish those who need help, encourage those who are faint-hearted. We want to return good for evil. Rejoice, always pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, and we never want to quench the work of the Holy Spirit.
Then we come to verse 20, 21, and 22 and all of a sudden people start parting company.
Verse 20, "Do not despise prophetic utterances." The word "despise" means to downgrade, to belittle, to trivialize or to make light of. "Prophetic utterances" is one word in the Greek, prophetaos...prophetaos. It simply means the skill for public proclamation, preaching, proclamation of God's Word is the issue here. Don't belittle it. Don't make light of it. Don't downgrade the preaching of God's Word. According to 1 Peter if any man speaks, let him speak the oracles of God, 1 Peter 4:11. If any man speaks, let him speak the oracles of God. So when anybody speaks we can't despise that. He is speaking with a God-given gift for proclaiming the truth. So when you hear someone speak, you can't look down on that, you can't belittle or downgrade that. Preaching he's talking about, the old world preachments, sermons, proclamations. Don't belittle them, don't look down on them. But...verse 21..."But don't just be gullible, examine everything carefully." You don't want to downgrade or belittle preaching, but you do want to examine it...you do want to examine it.
And how do you examine it? Well examine is dokimazo in the Greek, it means in metallurgy to test a metal to find out if it's pure. We would call it assaying a metal, such is done with gold. Assay it, test it to see if it's pure truth. Don't just take anything that's said. Don't be beguiled by the preacher. Examine it carefully, test it. There's only one thing you can test it against and that's the Word of God, right? What did the noble Bereans do in Acts 17? They searched the Scripture to see if these things were so. Test it. It's very obvious to me that there are preachers all across the globe and all across our nation who go on collecting masses of people around them who must not test anything. I was talking with one of the leaders in the Southern Baptist movement, in fact the president of the convention, Southern Baptist Convention. He was telling me about a prominent television preacher that you perhaps have heard because he's on all the time and is not a healer type but he's a very fiery preacher. And when you listen to him, much of what he says is true to Scripture and sounds good and he preaches the gospel and all of that.
And he was saying to me...the interesting thing about this fellow whom he knows is that he has a kind of interesting theology in one area of his system.
And I said, "What's that?"
He said, "Well he's convinced that Jews don't have to come to Christ because they get into heaven through another way."
And I said, "Well how do you come up with that? That certainly wasn't Jesus' attitude toward them and that's certainly not what it says in the book of Acts that there's salvation by none other name. And certainly Zechariah 12 says that Israel is going to be saved when they look on Him whom they've pierced and mourn for Him as an only son, and then a fountain of blessing will be opened up to them and cleansing from sin. Where does that come from?"
He said, "Well I think he got it from an Israeli guide."
"Well," I said, "that...that answers that question."
And you ask yourself, you know, can we just tolerate that? Can we just happily come to the conclusion that Jews have another way of salvation? What a frightening conclusion to come to. And there are aberrations of every imaginable sort and every unimaginable sort floating around all over the place at a time when the church disdains to be discerning. I hear of them incessantly week after week in my life and I wonder who's testing these things. And when they're tested, we need to address those issues. But if you do, you're seen as judgmental. So be it. According to Ephesians Paul said to the Ephesians that they needed to make an effort to learn what was pleasing to the Lord. And I'll tell you what is most pleasing to the Lord is the truth. God hates...what?...a lie. And God hates a distortion of His Word because He's exalted His Word to the very point of His name. Any distortion of His Word is equal to blaspheming His name.
It was said of King David in 2 Samuel 14:17 he was able to discern good and evil. That is...that is to be the characterization of any faithful man of God, he must be discerning. So, Paul says to the Thessalonians and to all of us, don't despise preaching but examine it, test it against the Scripture. And then in verse 21 he says, "Hold fast to that which is good." When you determine something is true and kalos, that is inherently genuine, hold on to it, make it your own, take possession of it, wholeheartedly embrace it. But on the other hand, verse 22, when you determine that it is evil, that it is error, shun it, abstain from it. It means to hold yourself away from something, push it as far away as you can because being exposed to evil eats away at the very foundations of your convictions. Evil poisons, evil kills, evil undermines.
And listen to this. The worst form of wickedness in the world...what is it?...you say, well it's mass murder like Jeffrey Dalhmer(?), cannibalism. No. You say it's...it's homosexuality. No. You say it's infanticide, killing your children. No. The worst form of wickedness in the world is the perversion of God's truth. That's the worst because once you've perverted God's truth then you cannot anymore sit in judgment on behavior. The perversion of the truth of God is the most severe wickedness in the world. Spiritual lies are worse than anything else. False teachers, therefore, are the greatest of Satan's agents and the perpetrators of the severest crimes on the face of the earth. We're very concerned to mow down the bank robbers, and rightly so. We're very concerned to execute the multiple murderers. We're very concerned to put the thieves and crooks in jail. And we let the liars run rampant through our culture, destroying men's souls. And we even let them run loose in the church and never call them to question and measure them against the Word of God. This is a deadly disregard.
Now, that then is the intent of the text that we have to deal with this issue. Just a couple of questions in our time remaining to put us in touch with where we are. Why is there such a lack of discernment? Why is this the case? And maybe I'll try to answer a couple of these questions, that's all I'll have time for. But why is there such a lack of discernment? And the answer, first of all, is because of...I'll give you several answers...a weakening of doctrinal clarity we'll call it, a disinterest in doctrine. I mean, this is a monumental triumph for Satan and he's done it in a very deceptive way. He's created a movement, see if I can articulate this as simply, he's created a movement which seeks to know God and to come to God and ascend to God through experience and intuition, largely within the Charismatic Movement, but it goes beyond that. And there are some who would be in the Charismatic Movement of whom this would not be precisely true, but largely it's in that charismatic sort of Holy Spirit movement. This is a movement that wants to know God and like Eve wants to get close to God in ascend to God and come to God but does not want anyone testing its theology. Doesn't want to be measured against the Word of God. Doesn't want to be held to precise biblical definitions that threatens its experiential exercise.
Now this movement has swept through the church like a prairie fire and has created the tolerances that are now there. To stand against that is to be divisive and unloving, to be condemned and criticized. To take hold on firm biblical doctrine, to teach with precision is to be a hair-splitter, a heresy hunter lacking affection because the norm today is to graze sort of lazily over the surface of Scripture, come to your own conclusions and then sort of vault through your own intuitions and experiences into the presence of God. Same old promise, you can be like God and here's the path, here's how. You just float up there through your ecstasies, through your experiences. Someone comes along and wants to define those according to the Word of God, they're a threat. This is a...this is a serious, serious issue in the church because all spiritual issues must be measured against the Word of God, all of them. Not against some late revelation, some word from the Lord, some divine intervention, some message from an angel or whatever, but from the Word of God. And where you have this tolerance, where you have people who don't want to be tested, they push doctrine aside, they have created the environment of intolerance. I don't say that in any other context, certainly not in a context of unkindness but in any other context than to let you know that this is why it's happened. Because as we have been forced to embrace everybody and it's continuing and continuing where we're being forced to embrace Catholicism in evangelicalism and forced to embrace... Did you hear Billy Graham, for example, the other night in his interview with Larry King say...he asked him, "How do you feel about the Mormons?" And he said, "I feel great, I feel fine, feel wonderful about the Mormons. Let's just certainly not say anything that might make a Mormon feel they were lost." Amazing. It just gets wider and wider and wider and you cannot introduce precise doctrine into that without being the enemy of that movement. And here we are in the middle of it.
He asked him further, "What do you think about the Jews?"
"Oh great, wonderful. I spoke there, and this and that, and you know that's wonderful, that's great."
That kind of latitude, that kind of acceptance is obviously damning and frightening to me and to anyone who is committed to the Word of God. But that's the mood we live in. So I guess maybe in a sense I'm arming you because you probably have defend me a lot. You... I know some people have said to me, "You know, I spend a lot of time telling people why I would go to your church when you're such a hard-nose guy and..." But it's not that my nose is hard, you know, that's not the issue. The issue is that I have a passion for the truth and I believe that I'm accountable to God for the truth. And more than that, it's not that I'm trying to make sure I cover my own backside, it's that I have a high trust, what Paul had, was a godly jealousy for the people of God that they might go from being espoused to Christ to becoming a pure virgin at the end when they meet their bridegroom. You want to keep them in the flow of the truth. You know, it's not easy to always dig into the Scripture and so it would be a lot easier, I mean, I've got enough sort of glib in me to wing it. I mean, I did it through my academic career in all my speech classes, but this is a different thing here...this is a different thing, this is not me to you, this is God to you through me, so you've got to get it right. But this disinterest in doctrine is what has brought the church to the place that it's at right now.
And at the same time the deception is of Satan is that, you know, we're all getting closer to God in the process. That's not true. That's sad. The cry is doctrine divides, and it does, it divides truth from error and we ought to be willing to pay that price. We certainly can't roll over and let error take the day like it has. It's amazing...amazing how Satan has succeeded.
Let me just share one other thought with you and this is an important thing to say. A second reason why, and it's obvious, why discernment is fading fast in the church is because of inadequate interpretation of Scripture...a failure to interpret the Bible. We could talk about other things, a preoccupation with image, an unwillingness to be antithetical, things like that. But I think it's most important simply to say this, there's no longer a real interest in interpreting the Bible accurately. First of all, there are people, you know, who just get into these spiritual euphorias and say, "Lord, tell me what this means," you know, that kind of thing. But there just doesn't seem to be the interest in the hard work in interpreting Scripture, and it is hard work.
We've been hearing lately about some people saying, "Well the best kind of churches are cell churches where the church is in the home." Let me tell you something. I don't believe that for a minute. A home is a home and a church is a church and the two aren't the same. They are two different institutions created by God. And a home operates with the leadership of a father and the support of a mother. And a church operates under gifted, godly trained men who can accurately handle the Word of God and not every father can do that. And to think they can is to disdain God's design for the church. The church is distinct.
What you want in a church is men who can handle the Word of God, who can properly interpret the Scripture. That is the compelling issue that should occur in a church. And that takes time and training and effort. It doesn't just happen by sort of default. You just don't float around somehow come to the right conclusions. Men need to be carefully trained. That's clear to us in the Scripture I want to draw you to. Second Timothy 2:15, I commented on it and I'll close our message this morning, I commented on it earlier.
Second Timothy 2:15, actually we could start in verse 14, you'll get the picture here. Paul says to Timothy, "Remind them of these things," he's been talking about some other issues. Then he says, "Solemnly charge them in the presence of God not to wrangle about words which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers." He says...Look, don't just get together and pool your ignorance, don't just get together and hash around and think you can come up with what's right. "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who doesn't need to be ashamed, handling accurately the Word of truth." Get in there and cut it straight, the handling accurately means to cut straight, cut it straight like you were cutting a pattern to put something together. In Paul's case he made tents. To make a tent you had to cut the pieces right or the whole wouldn't come together when you stitched it. So cut the parts right or you have reason to be ashamed.
The point is that it takes diligent effort, demanding effort, as he says earlier in his epistle to Timothy, the elders who, or pastors who work hard in the Word and doctrine are worthy of double honor. It's the hardest work there is, folks, to get God's Word and get it right. It takes the cleansing of the heart and the clarity of the mind and the labor of the physical stamina as well. But he says you need to handle it accurately. And here's why. Verse 16, "Worldly empty talk leads to further ungodliness, spreads like gangrene." And then he talks about Hymenaeus and Philetus who have gone astray from the truth, who messed up the doctrine of the resurrection and they upset the faith of some. So what happens when you don't handle the Word accurately is you get just plain empty talk, you get ungodliness, you get ungodliness and empty talk spreading like gangrene, people go astray from the truth and their faith is upset.
Now the remedy for that is diligent, faithful study of the Word of God. When that doesn't exist, when people are more interested in entertainment, when the pastor is supposed to be a comedian and a story teller and not an expositor of Scripture, people are exposed to all kinds of error, all kinds of error, they go astray. And that was Paul's concern.
In 2 Corinthians 11 he was concerned that they were going to go astray, that they're going to wander off into that gangrenous kind of error that would upset their faith and lead them astray and cut them off from blessing and the joy of obedience to the truth of God. Whether failing to interpret Scripture accurately, whether being preoccupied with your image and so wanting to say to people what they want to hear, whether disdaining doctrine or being unclear in it, all of those things lead to an absence of discernment. And we have those things escalating at a rapid level. Even on the seminary level there's a disinterest in the teaching men to be expositors of Scripture, which is unthinkable to me...but it is the case today. So as I said, the worse the situation gets the less regard we have for the only remedy. When the disease gets worse and you disdain the cure, you have a severe epidemic, obviously. And that's what we have in the church. So as a church if we're going to be a true church, one of the primary functions this church has in your life and at what ever extent God allows is to provide substance of truth so that people can be discerning because we have a godly jealousy for them lest they would be deceived by Satan and led astray the way he was.
Now tonight I'm going to tell you how to be a discerning person. A few weeks from now I'm going to do a series on how to study the Bible, take you through some practical ways to actually interpret the Scripture, but tonight we'll kind of start a little bit down that path and I'll talk to you about the practical steps to becoming a discerning person, knowing how to be a Berean and search the Scriptures and see if these things are so. Let's pray.
Father, we know the promise of the Apostle John in his epistle who said that we don't need the world to teach us because we have an anointing from God, and we thank You that we not only have the Word but we have the Holy Spirit and with diligent pursuit of the Word in the power of the Holy Spirit we can know the truth. We thank You, Lord, that Your saints through the years have been faithful, there's always been a remnant, there's always been a core, there's always been a mainstream of Your people who understood Your Word. And we certainly thank You that we stand in that group and that we're a part of those who are committed to Your truth.
We pray for Your church, Lord, for this people, for the church beyond our walls that You would grant discernment and clarity of understanding that there might be a turning back from this diffidence toward doctrine, this disdain of precision and there might be a desire to be precise and accurate in the handling of the Word of God and there might be a concern to rightly divide the truth and to search it out carefully and thoughtfully so that we rightfully represent what it is that You've said. And in so doing we become strong in the Word and therefore overcome the evil one who comes to us with deception.
I thank You, Lord, for those mature saints who are not deceived because they're strong in the Word, it abides in them and they have found strength and conviction there. For the rest we pray that they would be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine, but would grow to strength to be able to understand the Word and to pass it on with accuracy, that we might all live in the blessing of the truth as we apply it in our lives for our blessing and Your glory in Christ's name. Amen.
This article is also available and sold as a booklet.
This sermon series includes the following messages:
Please contact the publisher to obtain copies of this resource.Publisher Information


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I respectfully disgaree with LSU & Alabama offences even being close.
Matt Barkley, Marquise Lee, Robert Woods... 3 all Americans and you have George Farmer and 5 star stud that can start for almost any team in the nation fighting for the 3rd receiver spot.
Btw: Y are we giving Mettenberger credit before he's even played a game. There's 2 5 star players, QB Cody Kessler, Max Witteck on USC who are just as good if not better.
i dont think so,
please dont have me bring up the time the Trojans went to AUBURN, and beat the garbage out them on both sides of the ball,
and yes AUBurn was good that year...


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Black Nikka Rich Blend". Now, we're thrilled to be able to introduce a "premium" version of Suntory's iconic "Kakubin".
The first three months of this year, Suntory's regular "Kakubin" sold 105% compared with last year, so the Suntory execs felt people were ready for something a bit… well, yes … "richer". This blend is built around ex-sherry and ex-wine cask matured Yamazaki and Hakushu and it's advertised under the slogan "手に届く贅沢" ("Te ni todoku zeitaku", which loosely translates as "luxury within reach" or "luxury you can get your hands on"). You've been working long hours. Your boss is riding you - as usual. It's late. You're tired… and on your way home, you want something a little special to say to yourself: "well done, buddy". And that's where the "Premium Kakubin" comes in. (I paraphrase but that is how Suntory is marketing this.)


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Just One Look, And Glen Waite Had To Have This Aar 'Cuda
While participating in the '04 Hot Rod Power Tour, we were tasked with combing through the entire participants' field of hopped-up iron for the coolest Mopar in attendance. Mind you, we performed this exercise at every stop on the way, and, to be honest, it was no easy task considering the volume and quality of the Chrysler products.
The first leg began in Arlington, Texas, on a hot, sunny day. The pick of the litter in Texas was easy-this car struck us like a bolt of lightning. Glen Waite and his father Barney drove this immaculate AAR 'Cuda to show the Brand X boys what real Mopar muscle is all about.
Three years ago, Glen fell in love with the car and the body style with just one look, and purchased it from a colleague at work. The previous owner had already undertaken the task of restoring the body and interior of the 'Cuda, making Glen's life a bit easier and saving his wallet from becoming lighter.
Shortly after taking delivery of the Torr Red AAR, Glen commissioned Tim Barr Racing Engines of Garland, Texas, to breathe new life into the tired small-block under the factory issued fiberglass hood. The block was punched .030-over, a Comp solid flat-tappet cam with .511-inch lift and 236/242-degrees duration at .050 was slid in place, and the "X" casting cylinder heads received a full port and polish. The pumped-up small-block exhales through a set of 131/44-inch headers that actually came with the car when purchased new from the dealership. Glen had them ceramic coated to make them last a very long time. Ben at Pro Max Carburetors of Indiana is responsible for refurbishing the three Holleys that reside on top of the OEM Edlebrock intake. The rest is pretty much the way it rolled off the assembly line, save for the Mopar Performance electronic ignition. Why mess with perfection? Since the rare E-body came equipped with a stout 727 Torqueflite, Glen added a TCI Breakaway torque converter and a B&M shift improvement kit to bolster acceleration a bit.
With a mere 65 miles on the rebuilt 340, the hardcore Glen Waite planned on breaking the small-block in on the Power Tour. Though it experienced some teething problems, including a bit of overheating in the Texas heat, an emergency roadside valve lash, and an errant sending unit wire that nearly caused Glen heart failure when his small-block suddenly lost all oil pressure, the AAR 'Cuda did pretty well, completing the 3,000-mile circus. We can't imagine a more appropriate way to break in a fresh engine, save for a trip to the drags, perhaps.
So what did we learn from Glen and Barney's example? If you can't drive it, what's the point of owning it?
Fast Facts
Glen Waite
Sachse, Texas
'70 Plymouth AAR 'Cuda
Torr Red
340 LA, 4.07-inch bore, Stock steel crankshaft, Stock 10.5:1 pistons, Comp Extreme Energy solid flat-tappet cam, 236/242-degrees duration at .050-inch lift, .511-inch lift, "X" cylinder head castings, ported and polished, Factory Six-barrel induction
727 Auto, B&M shift kit, TCI torque converter
8 3/4 with 3.55 gears
Front, 15×7 steel Ralley with BFG 235/60R15 tires; Rear, 15×7 steel Ralley with BFG 275/60R15 tires


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I've been working on a spoon library over the last few months and have found that at Demo's it seems to be a sure-fire way of drawing in the public. Mainly parents pointing out to their bairns to have a look at all the different woods. This then feeds into each kind of woods use and it's history. I've found this wee collection of spoons a great tool for making people hang about for a bit longer...so you end up having a better chat and a better chance at selling. It was inspired by a chap I saw at an event (can't remember his name) a couple of years ago. He had a wood library, small books made totally from wood with the common name on the spine and the scientific name on the cover. I didn't count but he must of had over a hundred different woods from all over the world. It was brilliant colour and grain wise and to be able to compare the weight from one kind to another was an eye-opener.
My collection is still small, I have some holly,oak,nothofagus and elm to add over the winter. I always check any info regarding toxicity and todate I've only had concerns over a bit of lonicera.


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TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made a ritual offering of a pine tree to a shrine seen as a symbol of Japan's former militarism on Sunday, a gesture likely to upset Asian victims of Japan's war-time aggression, including China and South Korea.
Abe, an outspoken nationalist, offered the tree to the Yasukuni Shrine, where 14 Japanese leaders convicted as war criminals by an Allied tribunal are honored along with other war dead. Abe did not visit the shrine.
Abe, who became prime minister for a second time after his Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) election win in December, is unlikely to visit the shrine as he seeks to rebuild relationships with China and South Korea.
Sino-Japanese relations deteriorated sharply in September after Japan bought islets in the East China Sea claimed by Beijing, sparking anti-Japanese protests across China.
Ties have been shadowed for years by what Beijing says has been Tokyo's refusal to admit to wartime atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers in the country between 1931 and 1945. Memories of brutal Japanese occupation also run deep in North and South Korea.
Two Japanese ministers and a deputy chief cabinet secretary visited the shrine this weekend, as did Abe as main opposition party leader in October.
"It is natural for a lawmaker to offer condolences for the spirits of those who gave their lives for the country," said Keiji Furuya, minister in charge of the issue of North Korea's abductions of Japanese nationals, who visited on Sunday, as did Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato.
Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications Yoshitaka Shindo visited on Saturday.
This story corrects dateline on April 21 storyReporting by Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Nick Macfie


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One line of my family has sadly lost three members within the past nine months. Stanley Prather passed away last year on July 16, 2011, at the age of 87.
He was a vibrant, generous and caring man, and he is actually shown in the "Reclaiming Kin" montage above, fourth from the left standing in the back. I love the picture of him below as a young man holding his trumpet:
Kevin Johnson (Stanley's nephew) passed away on August 6, 2011, far too soon. He was remembered by all always with a smile on his face.
At 97, our oldest family member, Theodore Prather passed away this Monday, March 5, 2012. I was fortunate to have done a lengthy video interview with Theodore about five years ago (picture on left). His mind was sharp and he shared valuable family history and many memories of our family with me. I enjoyed the many conversations we had.
Below is a photo of Theodore and his lovely wife, Theresa, on their wedding day (taken by the famed Washington D.C. Scurlock photography studio):
Fortunately, we were able to gather together for a large Prather family reunion in 2009. All three were proud family men who left legacies of love and joy to their communities, wives, children, and siblings, and all are deeply missed. They have crossed over to the Ancestor world, and I honor their memories and thank God for their presence here on Earth.


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Story highlights
- More than half new jobs created for the month of September were part-time jobs
- Many Americans are working several part-time jobs to support themselves
- Part-time employees usually do not receive benefits or insurance
- Some people have turned the loss of full-time employment into a career opportunity
Michelle Asci dreamed of capturing life through her camera lens. Asci had her sights set on being a photographer as she graduated with a bachelor of fine arts degree from Georgia State University in December.
But the 23-year-old is not working as a photographer. She's at a concession stand, selling popcorn or ushering people into their respective theaters before the midnight screening. Asci's been working part-time at the same Atlanta movie theater since 2005.
"It's going on to be eight years of this," she said. But working part-time at a movie theater was not what she saw herself doing with her degree, and she is not alone.
Last month's surprising drop in U.S. unemployment rates from 8.2% to 7.8% gave many hopes that the economy is improving, and the lower rates even beat the expectations of some economists. But a breakdown of the latest jobs report shows that more than half of the jobs added this month are part-time.
This leaves people like Asci wondering: Is the new American job part-time?
From law dreams to data-entry
Every day, Dolores Casillas holds her breath as she walks into the Chicago bank where she works part-time doing data entry. It's a temporary position, and she's heard her boss say time and time again that there might not be a job for her one of these days.
"There was someone at my job who was working for only three weeks, and she came in one day and didn't have a job. It's nerve-wracking," she said.
The insecurity of her part-time job is one reason behind the mounting stress facing the 27-year-old, who graduated from Northeastern Illinois University in 2010 with a degree in political science. Casillas, like many adults her age, has student loans along with a laundry list of other bills she needs to pay.
She lives with her mom to offset her expenses and started working as a film and television extra on the side to supplement the part-time pay she makes at the bank. This month, she is going to be an extra on a Chicago-based television show, acting as a housekeeper.
It's quite a departure from her dreams of becoming a lawyer. But she says those dreams are not realistic anymore when she thinks about the average cost of higher education.
"Law school's like, what, $75,000? I can't afford that. I tried looking for a paralegal job, but I couldn't find anything," she said.
"I feel like we are the confused generation," Casillas said. "My mom was 24 when she got her own house and had my sister. Both my parents had jobs then, here in America. When I think about that, I think to myself, 'Wow, I don't have any of that.' "
It frustrates Casillas to compare herself with her mother, who for the past 26 years has worked at a Chicago factory to support their family. "I thought I would get a better job than her because I have a degree. I never thought I would make less than my mom," she said.
Still, she is grateful about her situation when she thinks about friends who are unemployed.
She's persistent in applying for jobs and is willing to work random part-time jobs to help pay off her bills and loans. "If you want to keep yourself from being homeless, don't be picky with jobs," she advised.
From corporate suit to story reader
When Cynthia Foust saw the "hatchet man" at her corporate job at a North Carolina mobile company one morning in 2008, she knew that someone was getting the ax. Little did she know that it would fall on her and her entire quality service department.
She was shocked and mainly hurt to see her co-workers break down in tears when they got the news of their termination. Unlike them, she was financially stable even with the loss of her job, relying on her husband with a full-time job and the money she'd saved when she was working.
But after using up her severance package, she decided she needed to do more. So when she came across an ad in her local paper for a job as a story reader, she considered the idea.
"I thought it was really interesting," she said. "I have a son, and when I read to him, I would do the voices and make each character sound different and use an inflection in my voice, so I thought to myself, 'I can do this.' "
Now, she works part-time reading to young children who attend at-risk schools and other learning programs. Foust spends her mornings using creative methods to tell stories to children. "We are trying to teach kids to love reading and love books," she said.
Foust says she finds deeper fulfillment now with her part-time job as a story reader, but she remains realistic about its ability to sustain her financially. "This job would not be enough support my family solely," she said.
Losing her corporate job helped her realize she wanted to spend her time differently. "I am happy in the way my life is going right now. My son is in grad school, and my husband's job is pretty secure," she said.
But she knows that if she did not have her savings and her husband's income to fall back on, she would have problems. "The quality of my life improved because I have more time for my family. But the drawbacks to a part-time job are no benefits and no insurance," she said.
Radio station worker turns entrepreneur
With more than 30 years of radio experience, Steve Hamilton could do practically every job in his Colorado building. Despite his years of experience, his varying skills sets and his degrees in mass media and broadcast meteorology, he lost his job.
"I was disappointed at losing the 'big money,' " he said. "But I was also excited about the new prospects of starting my own station and not having to answer to anyone but myself."
He took his job loss as an opportunity and decided to create his own Internet radio station, KHigh Radio, tapping into the smooth jazz genre that he knew had a long tradition in the Denver market.
KHigh Radio is just one of three part-time jobs he works, and he admits he was making a lot more when he was working full-time with a radio station.
"I see great possibilities with Internet radio and an opportunity to make even more than my previous full-time job," he said. "It will just take several more years to achieve it."
He does think the economy was a factor in losing his full-time job, and he says he did not expect to see himself working three part-time jobs at the age of 50. "I thought I'd be full-time in radio due to my large skill set. However, I learned that economics rules," he said.
From photography student to movie theater worker
Asci, the part-time movie theater employee, knows that the economy is directly affecting her employment situation.
"The majority of my friends are in the same boat as me," she said, explaining that many of them work part-time jobs as babysitters and restaurant workers.
But she continues to apply for jobs every day. "I feel like, if I stop looking, I wouldn't be as happy, because I will just be settling for something I don't want," she said.
Her new husband, who worked part-time for several months at a furniture store, finally got offered two full-time jobs. She says that definitely gives her hope, and she has not given up on the idea of heading back to school to continue studying art and photography.
"Overall, I'm happy," she said. "I'm a positive person, and if I'm at a movie theater for another year, I'll survive."


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The blogosphere is buzzing with lots of vitriol for Martin Lindstrom's piece on the 'neuroscience' of loving your iPhone. To be sure, there's plenty to spew about, and many of my colleagues in neuroscience, neurotechnology and neuroethics have brought the issues to the fore: inapt misrepresentation of neuroscience, miscommunication of neuroscientific theory and findings, fallacious thinking both as regards the ways that neuroimaging can and should be used (e.g. the fallacy of false cause/post hoc ergo propter hoc – attributing the antecedents to the consequential), and the conceptualization of structure-function relations in the brain (what Bennett and Hacker have called the mereological fallacy of attributing the function of the whole solely to one of the constituent parts), and last, but certainly not least, plain misuse of terms and constructs (e.g. "synesthesia").
Spare the Tune When Shooting the Piano Player


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Indonesia is great, varied and awe inspiring - unique treasures where beauty of nature is matchless, culture is rich and diverse, and pelasure that offers entertainment, cuisine and relaxation are endless. BOROBUDUR is one of the greatest monuments, built in 750 AD; 300 years BEFORE Cambodia's Angkor Wat, 400 years BEFORE work had begun on the great European cathedrals.
Welcome to Extraordinary Information & Packages with our vision to develop better human relationship, enhancing quality of live of local people and care of the environment. We present new spirit of travel organization in exclusive itinerary, professional handling and touch of personality. We bid you Welcome to Beautiful Indonesia.
Saraswati Borobudur
Make you more than just stay, just hundred meters to the temple.
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Located in the area Borobudur surrounded by lush tropical garden
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Berg View
Berg View combines Nature with modern style, a volcano view.
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Amanjiwo opened in 1997, clear view to Borobudur
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Pondok Tingal
A real Javanese place to stay, close to Borobudur.
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Ning Tidar
Offers special experience to fell the touch of javanese
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Atas nama pribadi, keluarga dan istri tercinta, mohon pamit kepada masyarakat Borobudur, kepada jajaran Dinas Pariwisata dan Kebudayaan, khususnya kepada Yth. Bapak Drs. H. Wibowo Setyo Utomo, MSi. Atas kesempatan yang telah diberikan kepada kami untuk mengabdi. Juga kepada Yth. Bapak Bupati yang sangat kami cintai. Dua tahun sudah kami berjuang untuk pariwisata Borobudur. Akhirnya kami harus pamit sebelum masa tugas kami berakhir. (Wiedy, Trie Wahyu & Anis).
Ir. Singgih Sanyoto, who just appointed his second turn to be the Regent of Magelang in last democratic regent election, visit SMP Ma'arif in March 3, 2009 to launching some projects promoted by thelocal government. The SMP is just hundred meters to the South of magnificent monument, Candi Borobudur. He choose this SMP, might be due to simple institution that should be paid attention to develop.
"As I travel around the world over the next years, I will be saying to people: if you want to know whether Islam, democracy, modernity and women's rights can co-exist, go to Indonesia," said Hillary Chinton, the secretary of states.


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BOSTON - The defense team representing the Boston Marathon bombing suspect got a major boost Monday with the addition of Judy Clarke, a San Diego lawyer who has managed to get life sentences instead of the death penalty for several high-profile clients, including the Unabomber and the gunman in the rampage that injured former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
Clarke's appointment was approved Monday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Marianne Bowler.
Bowler denied, at least for now, a request from Miriam Conrad, the public defender of 19-year-old suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, to appoint a second death penalty lawyer - David Bruck, a professor at Washington and Lee University School of Law.
Tsarnaev has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction during the April 15 marathon. Three people were killed and more than 260 injured when two bombs exploded near the finish line.
The suspect's lawyers could renew their motion to appoint another death penalty expert if he is indicted, the judge said.
Clarke's clients have included the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski; Susan Smith, who drowned her two children; Atlanta Olympics bomber Eric Rudolph; and most recently Tucson, Ariz., shooter Jared Loughner. All received life sentences instead of the death penalty.
Clarke has rarely spoken publicly about her work and did not return a call seeking comment Monday. However, at a speech Friday at a legal conference in Los Angeles, she talked about how she had been "sucked into the black hole, the vortex" of death penalty cases 18 years ago when she represented Smith.
"I got a dose of understanding human behavior, and I learned what the death penalty does to us," she said. "I don't think it's a secret that I oppose the death penalty."
Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz said the decision to put Clarke on the defense team shows "they are going to litigate hard against the death penalty."
"They are not going to put on a jihadi defense," he said. "The client wants to live and he wants to avoid the death penalty. They are not going to say, 'I want to die, I want to join my brother.' "
Bruck has directed Washington and Lee's death penalty defense clinic, the Virginia Capital Case Clearinghouse, since 2004.


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NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Lipscomb women's tennis team fell 6-1 to Florida Gulf Coast University on Saturday afternoon at Huston–Marsh Griffith Tennis Center.
Lipscomb dropped 2-4 in the Atlantic Sun Conference.
The Lady Bisons started off very strong in doubles and won all three matches, taking away the doubles point and leading 1-0 from the beginning.
However, Lipscomb failed to record any victories in singles against FGCU.
Left-hander Deahna Welcher at No. 1 played very consistently but could not resist opponent Sarah Means's aggressive shots and lost in straight sets 6-1, 6-1.
Lorena Djuknic at No. 5 played with great variation and won some great points but lost in a close straight set fight against Elizabeth Means.
Melissa Kromer at No. 2 served strongly throughout the match. Kromer took some great points against Breana Stampfli but could not resist the consistent play by the opponent and ended up losing 6-1, 6-2.
Laura Kent at No. 3, Sierra Troxel at No. 6 and Jenny Borck at No. 3 lost their respective matches in straight sets.
The Lady Bisons have two more matches before the A-Sun Championship starts on April 18.
They will make a road trip to Kentucky to play Northern Kentucky University on April 9.
Lipscomb vs. FGCU
Women 's singles
1. Sarah Means (FGCU) def. Deahna Welcher (Lip) 6-1, 6-1
2. Breana Stampfli (FGCU) def. Mellisa Kromer (Lip) 6-1, 6-2
3. Johanna Sterkel (FGCU) def. Laura Kent (Lip) 6-3,6-2
4. Candela Munoz Giron (FGCU) def. Jenny Borck (Lip) 6-2, 6-2
5. Elizabeth Means (FGCU) def. Lorena Djuknic (Lip) 6-4, 6-4
6. Bettina Botha (FGCU) def. Sierra Troxel (Lip) 6-1, 6-2
1. Borck/Welcher (Lip) def. E. Means / S.Means (FGCU) 8-4
2. Kromer/ Kent (Lip) def. Botha/ Sterkel FGCU) 8-2
3. Djuknic/ Troxel (Lip) def. Mandic/ Munoz Giron (FGCU) 8-4


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Glenn Eireann House
Glenn-Eireann House B&B is a new establishment furnished to the highest standards. Situated on the main A2 route of the 9 Glens of Antrim looking over a spectacular view of Creagh Woods, Glendun and Cushendun Bay. The Queen Of the Glens Glenarife with its beautiful walks, Waterfalls and scenery are all minutes drive from here, as is the Torr Head Scenic Drive a must for its views of Scotland, or for the more ambitious of Cyclists this one will test the best of you.The Local Village is preserved by the National Trust,with its picturesque harbour and sandy beach,and village square which replicates Cornish style village. Enjoy a family atmosphere and choose from one of our breakfast menus. We have clean, warm and comfortable rooms, tea & coffee stations and TV in rooms. We also offer quiet reading areas, private parking and gardens. Free internet is available. This area is very popular with walkers,and cyclists and as we also have a self catering unit which caters for disabled persons as well.Visit http://glendunselfcateringcushendun.co.uk/ for large groups,weather it be walkers,cyclists,wedding parties or just large groups contact us for details. Dry room available. We are close to the Giants Causeway,Bushmills Distillery,Carrick-a-Rede rope Bridge,Dunluce Castle are all a short drive away. You can be sure of a quiet,peaceful and relaxing stay at Glenn Eireann House.
- Connessione Internet WiFi gratuita
- Lounge
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Researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) have come up with a new design for lithium-ion batteries that can hold more energy and recharge within a mere 10 minutes.
A team led by Chongwu Zhou, professor at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, replaced the graphite anodes that are typically used in the batteries with porous silicon nanoparticles to come up with the new design, which can be used in a range of applications, from mobile devices to hybrid cars.
Zhou said, in a press release, that the research "opens the door for the design of the next-generation lithium-ion batteries." He worked with a team of graduate students as well as researcher Yunhao Lu at the Zhejiang University in China on the invention. The batteries could be available in two to three years, according to Zhou. USC's Viterbi School funded the research.
The work is certainly not the first time researchers have tried to use silicon in anodes -- the place where the current flows into a battery -- because it's inexpensive and has a high potential capacity. However, previous designs could not stand up to the charging and discharging cycles in which the anodes swell and shrink repeatedly. The small plates of silicon that were part of earlier silicon anode designs broke down after repeated use, researchers said.
The trick of the design Zhou's team came up with are porous silicon nanowires that are less than 100 nanometers in diameter and a few microns long. Small pores on the wires allow silicon to expand and contract without breaking, researchers said. They also increase the surface area of the anode, which enables lithium ions to stream in and out of the battery more quickly.
All of this results in a stronger battery in a less expensive design, researchers said. However, there were a couple of drawbacks to the design. One is that the nanowires are difficult to manufacture in large quantities. To get around this problem, researchers took small silicon spheres, which are commercially available, and gave them the same pores as the nanowires.
Another weakness in the design is that the battery's lifespan isn't as long as traditional graphite-based design -- 200 recharge cycles for the silicon nanoparticle batteries versus 500 for traditional batteries. The team will continue to research ways to change the nanoparticle element of the battery to improve this metric, Zhou said: "The easy method we use may generate real impact on battery applications in the near future."
In future research, the team also will seek a new cathode material with a high capacity to use together with the porous silicon nanowires and/or porous silicon nanoparticles to completely overhaul the battery design, researchers said.
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