During the past few months, I have referred to my faith on many occasions. I have told my story to you guys many times and for the most part been brutally honest. I am someone who has lived a sinners life. i have done things that I am not proud of. I will not go into them on here because I feel that is giving satan his glory and I will not do that ever again. When Katie died last July I made a promise to her and my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ that I would shout to the top of my lungs the wonders and greatness of our God. Make no mistake about it, God didn't make Katie die. Her death was caused by none other than Satan himself.
God had the intention of letting us live forever in paradise from the very beginning. He created the Garden of Eden for that very purpose. all we had to do was obey, and worship him and the paradise of Eden would be our reward. Satan crept in and tempted Eve with the very thing that God had told them not to do. It is because of that sin that we have to face physical death at all. Sin seperates us from God and keeps us from the rewards that God created for us. The way back to God and his glory is by accepting his Son Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour and having our sins washed clean.
I am sure that many of you are saved. I am also sure that some are not and I am going to do all I can to help you re-think your position. Their are three types of unbelievers in the world. First being the atheist or someone that simply believes that their is no god and we all came from evolution. The second being the untruthful agnostic that doesnt have proof that there is a God and certainly doesnt want to know. He wants to live his life in his own reckless way. The third person is the real agnostic. He hasnt ever seen any real proof that there really is a God that gave his only Son to die on the Cross for our sins. He doesnt believe the Bible is the Word of God because he hasn't seen proof. If this third person is you please keep reading the restr of this Blog with an open mind.
The new testament talks about Jesus. It tells that he was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, talked with Angels, Healed the sick, walked on water, raised the dead, died a physical death on the Cross, and three days later rose from the dead and went to heaven to be with our Heavenly Father. He defeated the very death that Satan brought upon us in the Garden of eden so many years before. I know that some of this can actually be hard to prove because you cant see the actual evidence of it. You also can't see the wind but you can see the effects of it. If you are one of the true agnostics, please read the book of John. Look into the secular history books and compare what they say and compare them to the Book of John and I believe it will really open your eyes.
Mike "Buckett" Burkett
P.S. Due to the important nature of this Blog, I ask David Jett to proof it and make sure that I stayed scriptural. As always he enlightened me to some biblical things that I didn't think of. Below is his reply to me:
1. God is in charge! No matter what anyone thinks, God is seated on His throne as God over all the universe. You are right in saying that God didn't make Katie die. Because we live in a fallen world caused by sin, death still reigns (i.e. people still die - see 1 corinthians 15:26).
2. God redeems! In Genesis 3:15, God told the serpent (Satan) that rather than leave man in his fallen state, God was going to redeem (i.e. purchase us back/pay for man's sin) mankind. God told Adam that in the day he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he would die (literally the Hebrew says, "in dying you will die). Eve was deceived and ate from the tree then turned to Adam and he too ate. Their temptation was to become their own gods - rulers of their own life with no need to answer to anyone. In taking that bite, separation occurred between God and mankind. Similar to a dropped cell phone call, Adam was at one time able to talk openly and freely with God, but in choosing to be his own god, the "signal" was dropped.
Rather than leave us in this state of eternal separation, God chose to redeem us back. While Adam and Eve thought they could be their own gods, in reality, they placed themselves under the sin of Satan - under his rule. The only possible way for man to be bought back was by God paying for that sin in the garden of Eden. This He did by becoming a man (Jesus), living without a sin nature. (The sin nature is passed down through the seed of Adam. That is why the virgin birth is so important. Jesus was conceived, not through Adam's seed, but by the Holy Spirit.)
Jesus lived a sinless life, then, on the cross, literally became sin, to redeem - buy back mankind. When Jesus said, "It is finished" on the cross, He used an Aramaic word, "tetelestai," which means, "paid in full." So, on the cross, Jesus paid the penalty for sin by being the second Adam that did not secumb to sin. As a result, everyone who comes under the second Adam (Jesus) is redeemed! (See Isaiah 53:6)
3. God restores! Not only did God purchase us back through Jesus on the cross, He also restored us to our rightful position as sons of God through the resurrection of Jesus! In the resurrection, Jesus became victorious over the grave and offers that victory to everyone who gives their life to Him. (See John 3:16 along with hundreds of other verses)
Positionally, a believer has been bought back by God and then restored to his position. That is why every believer is called a saint in Scripture. Practically, God is daily restoring us into the image of Christ. This happens when we say, "No" to the sinful nature which still resides in us, and we say "Yes" to the Holy Spirit who also resides in us.
Our restoration will one day be complete when Jesus returns and we are given our new bodies. A day is coming when there will be a new heaven and new earth and we will no longer be living in these bodies of decay caused by sin, but will have new glorified bodies! In that day, with sin no longer here, we will live forever with our God, our King, our Lord!
Katie, because she gave her life to Jesus, was redeemed by His death on the cross. Even though she died physically, and is separated from you physically, she is ALIVE and living in paradise with Jesus! When God restores all things (i.e. new heavens and new earth) Katie, you, Shelly, ... all who have given their life to Jesus will be dwelling together on the new earth in fully restored bodies that never decay!
I Know this is long and somewhat boring, but maybe it helps a little. Could have gone on, but this is probably enough for now!
Blessings!
David
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
Yea
A journey that began back in July has finally ended, or at least began a new chapter. As many of you know, we found out that Shelley was pregnant on Tuesday July 15th. We Lost Katie on our way to vacation the next Sunday. We experienced a great joy at the beginning of the week and a sadness that I cant begin to explain five days later. That goes to show us that we are on God's time and he is not necessarily on ours.
I wept when she finally arrived because all of our family really needed something to be happy about. While this does nothing to lesson the pain of losing my Buggs, it re-enforces the fact that I must go on. I have to continue being a Godly Dad, husband, son, friend etc. Katie would not only want that, she would expect it.
So, without further ado, here is the introduction of Eden Jamison Burkett. She was born Thursday night at 8:24 p.m. She weighed 9lbs and 6ozs. She has a head full of black curly hair that we fully expect to change, I would like to thank all of you that called, came by and prayed for us. Please continue to do so because Lord only knows, We are going to need it.
Mike "Buckett"Burkett
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Gods Purpose for us
On occasion I am blessed to receive something from a friend that really hits home. This is one of those times. I received this Sunday afternoon after the snow had left and wanted to share it with you guys.
This is a great interview with Rick Warren. He wrote the Purpose Driven Life.You will enjoy the new insights that Rick Warren has, with his wife now having cancer and him having 'wealth' from the book sales of the 'Purpose Driven Life'. This is an absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren, 'Purpose Driven Life ' author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California.
In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said: "People ask me, What is the purpose of life? I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense. Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort; God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness. This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life.
No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. No matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for. You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems: If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, which is my problem, my issues, my pain.' But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her- It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.
You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease..so I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72. Here are the initiatives God led me to do:
First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit.. We made no major purchases.
Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church. Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation.Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)? When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do.
That's why we're called human beings, not human doings. Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.Painful moments, TRUST GOD.Every moment, THANK GOD.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. I will have a Guest blogger in the next couple of days. Some of you may have heard of him, Pastor Steve Gaines Bellevue Baptist Church.
This is a great interview with Rick Warren. He wrote the Purpose Driven Life.You will enjoy the new insights that Rick Warren has, with his wife now having cancer and him having 'wealth' from the book sales of the 'Purpose Driven Life'. This is an absolutely incredible short interview with Rick Warren, 'Purpose Driven Life ' author and pastor of Saddleback Church in California.
In the interview by Paul Bradshaw with Rick Warren, Rick said: "People ask me, What is the purpose of life? I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were not made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body-- but not the end of me. I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. This is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal. God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. We were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense. Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort; God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy. We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness. This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer. I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. I don't believe that anymore. Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life.
No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. No matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good you can thank God for. You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems: If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, which is my problem, my issues, my pain.' But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her- It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.
You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. For instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy. It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. I don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease..so I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. He gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do, II Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72. Here are the initiatives God led me to do:
First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit.. We made no major purchases.
Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church. Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation.Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)? When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better. God didn't put me on earth just to fulfill a to-do list. He's more interested in what I am than what I do.
That's why we're called human beings, not human doings. Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.Painful moments, TRUST GOD.Every moment, THANK GOD.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. I will have a Guest blogger in the next couple of days. Some of you may have heard of him, Pastor Steve Gaines Bellevue Baptist Church.
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