charlesnestor.com

Gravitational Relationship

The above picture is a picture of the constellation Pleiades.  It is a beautiful constellation of stars.  And it's mentioned in the Bible.  The book of Job may be in the middle of the Old Testament, but most scholars believe that it was the first book of the Old Testament that was authored.  While Genesis may describe events chronologically earlier than Job, the book of Job was written first.  Scholars date the writing of the book of Job to contemporary with the Patriarchal period, so probably 1600-1900 years before Christ.

In Job 38, God has monologue with Job, where God asks Job a series of question about the founding of the universe and lays out his omnipotence and his sovereignty.  In verse 31, God gives us some information about the constellations Pleiades and Orion.  He asks Job if he has the power to bind the cluster of Pleiades or loose the belt of Orion.

I submit the following verse as a piece of evidence of the Divine inspiration of Scripture.

Job 38:31

"Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, Or loose the belt of Orion."

They have long been known to be a physically related group of stars rather than any chance alignment. The Reverend John Michell calculated in 1767 that the probability of a chance alignment of so many bright stars was only 1 in 500,000, and so correctly surmised that the Pleiades as well as Orion must be physically related. (An Inquiry into the probable Parallax, and Magnitude, of the Fixed Stars, from the Quantity of Light which they afford us, and the particular Circumstances of their Situation, Philosophical Transactions, v. 57, p. 234-264)

So all the way back before the time of Moses, Job was told by God and it was recorded that the star clusters of the Pleiades and Orion are arranged in a gravitational relationship, and this information was given some 3500 years before scientists discovered it to be true.

Is Anything Solid?

What is truth?  Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor who ordered Christ to be crucified, asked this question.  In a sense, we all have.  We have all asked, wondered and pondered the question.  And Jesus has given us an answer.  In fact, the answer to the question is Him.  It’s Jesus.  He is the truth.  The irony of Pontius Pilate’s question was this.  He asks the question, what is truth?, with truth standing right in front of him.  

Jesus in John 14:6 said, "I am the truth".  Well, what exactly was Jesus saying when he made this statement?  What exactly did He mean?  The key is in the word for truth in John 14:6.  The word here for truth is the Greek word aletheia.  It means: a) what is true in any matter under consideration 1) truly, in truth, according to truth 2) of a truth, in reality, in fact, certainly.  It carries the idea of what is ultimately real, in reality.  You can look for truth in philosophy, in science, in these places, but truth is ultimately found in the person of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the reality, the truth that you and I need to embrace.  He is ultimate reality, and we need to be standing on that solid ground of truth.  In reality, Jesus is what is ultimately really solid.  We look at things in this physical world as being the things that are solid.  These are the things that we can believe in and rely on.  When the fact of the matter is that Jesus is the only solid substance and solid reality.

Let me demonstrate this for you.

If I was standing on a rock and I asked you, is this rock solid?  If you said yes and I said no, I would be 10 to the 15 times more accurate.  If you look at an atom and the distance relationship between the protons and the electrons, you take the size of the proton and the size of the electrons and account for space you come up with a factor of 1 part in 10 to the 15 which is a very large number.  The amount of empty space in an atom.  To demonstrate, let me show you some pictures that I took.  If the proton of our atom was the tennis ball in the picture above, the electrons would be spinning around it beyond the edges of the football field, beyond the goal posts.

And so this rock that I'm standing on, most of this rock is empty.  It feels solid because of the electrical simulation between atoms that sense each others nearness.  But it’s mostly empty by a factor of 1 part in 10 to the 15.  If I say there is nothing here, I’m 10 to the 15 closer to reality.

Jesus taught there two kinds of people, the wise and the foolish.  The foolish man builds his life on that which seems to be real and solid to him.  The wise man builds his life on the rock of Christ Jesus who is in and of himself ultimate reality and truth.

The Boundaries of Our Universe

On Sunday, I taught a message from John 14:15-18, on Christ's promise to the disciples to send the Holy Spirit.  The statement comes with a conjunction from the imperative from the prior verse.  Jesus said, "If you love Me, keep my commandments."  The next word is and.  "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever."  The point is this:  in order to keep Jesus commands, Jesus knows we need help.  Why?

We live within the boundaries and confines of our Universe and our our bodies.  And unlike the "friendly confines" of Wrigley field, home of Chicago Cubs, our boundaries are not friendly to our desire to live the spiritual life we've been given by Christ.

Why do we need a Helper? (Holy Spirit)  

We live in two physical spheres of existence both of which we cannot escape and both of which are fallen.  First, we live in this physical universe, this world.  And God created the universe and the world, and it has boundaries.  People who wanted the universe to be here just naturally, hypothesized that the universe must be infinite.  And what we have discovered is that the universe is not inifinite.  The universe is expanding by what scientist call the stretch factor which is 10 to the 12.  And this is based on what’s called quark confinement where matter freezes out energy.  The point is that there is a boundary to the universe on a macro level.

Well what about the micro level?

The theory was that if you took a piece of string and cut it in half and you took that half and cut it in half, you would think that we could keep doing that for ever.  The theory of infinity is that no matter what you have left, you could always cut it in half.  It turns out, that’s not true.  When you get to 10 to the negative 35 centimeters it loses locality.  It’s suddenly everywhere at once.  It is what physicists call non-locality.  And so you have limits at the atomic level.  The whole universe is made up of indivisible units or digits.  These units are called quanta.  This is the basis of quantum physics.  These quanta or Planck units are named after German physicist Max Planck and are sometimes referred to by physicists humorously as God’s units.  The point is this: the universe has limits on a macro level and a micro level.

And then on top of that we have the limits of our physical bodies.  And so you have these boundaries, these spaces of existence and God has subjected both of them to the bondage of decay.  Romans 8:18-30 outlines this for us.  The creation and our bodies groan for the redemption from the Lord, and so the apostle Paul tells us that the Spirit helps us in our weakness.

Today we may be living our Spiritual life in Christ in a material universe and body made of flesh that have been subjected to the bondage of decay, but we have access to a Helper that is beyond our universe and yet as Jesus said, "He dwells with you and will be in you." (vs. 17 of John 14)

I Do Believe in Resurrection

I do believe in the resurrection of the dead, and so my blog at charlesnestor.com is rising from the ash heap to live once again.  It has been so long, but I'm feeling good and ready to contribute to the blogosphere in hopefully a thought provoking, positive way.  I'm not going to be as reserved as maybe I was before.  I'm going to let things fly.  And so here we go.

On that note, I'm praying for a revival in the church.  That Christians would return to their first love as Christ urged the believers at Ephesus to do in Revelation 2, and that there truly would be a fever and fervor in evangelism in these "last days".

I believe this will happen if churches everywhere will get back to the things were supposed to be doing: preaching and teaching the Word, Worshipping Him in Spirit and truth, truly sharing our lives with each other and giving, and contending for souls through evangelism and missions.

At Calvary Chapel South Orlando, I just taught a 10 week series based in Acts 2, where I asked the question after explaining that the 3,000 souls who were saved on the day of Pentecost are the 'they' in Acts 2:42 that committed themselves to apostle's teaching and and to the fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayers.

The question I'm asking everyone these days is this:  Are you the They?  At CCSO, we printed t-shirts with this question on it.  We are wanting to drive home the point.  We are the church when we decide to be the church and commit to the things that Christ wants us to.

So here goes:  Are you the 'They'? (Acts 2:42)

Bucs Training Camp

I took my boys and my niece and nephew out to the Tampa Bay Bucs Training Camp at Disney yesterday.  We had a great time.  R.T. from the church was with us.  We were able to see a lot of the players.  The kids got a few autographs and this picture with Ike Hilliard.

We saw most of the big name guys including: Barber, Brooks, Graham and even Cadillac Williams.  He was warming up doing sprints.  I am definitely ready for some football now!

Pray for Steven Curtis Chapman Family

   Last night (Wednesday), Christian Music artist, Steven Curtis Chapman's teenage son accidently ran over their daughter Maria.  Maria was the last of 3 girls the Chapman's adopted from China.  The Lord had laid on the Chapman's heart about adoption.  

Mary Jo and I attended a Marriage Conference where Steven and his wife Mary Beth shared their story of adopting the girls and promoted adoption to all of the 8,000 couples in attendance.

I've personally followed Steven Curtis' music since his very first album back in 86'.  I know one thing, he loves his kids.

Please pray for the family for strength and comfort.

By:  Charles Nestor II

My Boys: The Nestor Brothers

I am a proud dad.  Take a look at this video of my two boys performing in a Talent Show at there school, West Creek Elementary School.  Trey is 8 and he is on guitar.  Jake is 6 and he is on the drums.  This video shows them attempting to teach rock n roll to their school.  By the way, I'm band manager.

They do a rock medley including:  "Sunshine of Your Love" and "Smoke on the Water".  Hope you enjoy it!!

Easter at Calvary South Orlando

Easter at Calvary South Orlando was absolutely awesome. We had great crowds in both service, 2nd service was packed. There was so much that came together leading up to Easter with some landscaping we had done, new awnings outside and some new stuff in the Jahva Cafe.

The worship and special music were great. My message was from Matthew 18 on forgiving those who have wronged you. I finished up with talking about how everyone there needed to be forgiven.

Phillip came up after I called people to make a decision for Christ, and he sang "True Love" by Phil Wickham. It was powerful.

There was just a great Spirit there, an annointing. We had many 1st time commitments to Christ and those who recommitted their lives to Christ. Praise God!

By: Charles Nestor II

Will Obama or McCain Be in Church on Easter?

I have a question. Will either of the presidential front-runners who are both self-proclaimed "Christians" be in church on Easter Sunday morning? I just read an article on Obama's plans. Looks like he'll be flying to St. Thomas on Sunday morning. I don't know what McCain will be doing.

However, I think this is a good question. Why? Because I believe that most "committed" followers of Christ will attend an Easter celebration service this weekend. This Sunday will be my 39 Easter Sunday. I didn't miss an Easter service as a child, and I haven't missed one in my adult life.

Maybe it's just me, but I believe that if you are a committed believer that there is no other place you want to be than with the family of God on Easter weekend. I think it is telling if you can't make it to church on Easter weekend, but I guess this is just my opinion!

By: Charles Nestor II

I Did the Miami Thing!

On Wednesday night, a leader in my church (Victor Perea) and I headed down to Miami Lakes for a Seminar led by Pastor Bob Franquiz of Calvary Fellowship in Miami Lakes. Those guys are really doing some great things down there in Miami Lakes. Right now Bob is doing a great series on Love and Sex. It is called Stripped. He is teaching through the book of Song of Solomon.

I was wondering where we were going to stay. We ended up staying at Don Shula's Hotel right there in Miami Lakes. This was the hotel where the seminar was being held. Our room ended up being about 30 yards from the room where the Seminar was. It was great.

We woke up in the morning and went down to this French bakery. We got a danish and a cup of coffee and sat out at these tables right on the street. We were doing the Miami thing. The only thing that was missing was we didn't have any dominoes. We had a good time with Pastor Dan Plourde from Calvary Jupiter who joined us there on the streets of Miami Lakes.

The seminar was fantastic. It was a seminar that focused on how in the church we should treat 1st and 2nd time guests to our church. We need to realize that these guests are a gift from God. A great quote that was quoted at the Seminar was from Andy Stanley, "The church should be like a family expecting guests." We want to do everything we can to make those who are guests at our church in Orlando feel as comfortable as possible so that God can really speak to them through the teaching of His Word.

After the Seminar, I was able to chat a little with Bob Franquiz. Then from there Victor and I headed over to Miami Beach where we had a Cuban sandwhich in this great little Cuban restaurant right across the street from the Beach, there on Collins Ave. It was a great 36 hour trip to Miami. Again, the only thing that was missing were the dominoes.

By: Charles Nestor II