March 14

March 14 is Pi Day. Long celebrated at Georgia Tech. Thanks to social media it's spread all over. Not to go all overboard on it, but here's a sampling of what's to be seen on social media.

This one is a few years old.

Sermon notes: JFBC Clay Smith

Hebrews 7: 19-20 a complicated scripture. The first covenant wasn't necessarily the best.

Ricky Bobby: "If you ain't winnin, you're losing" isn't always true. The first of anything doesn't mean it was the best.

Jesus is the high priest. An amazing passage of scripture. To help understand:

1. The hearer's situation. To help them to not backslide. Heb 10 some lost jobs, relationships, etc. They're wondering if they made a mistake.

2.  characters like Jesus and Aaron.

3. A central text based on Psalm 110.

4. The form of his argument: it's not this, therefore it's that. Proving Jesus is the high priest. Amazing relevance to me.

Two Premises:

1. Which is best: the Levitical priesthood or Jesus? Who is Melchizidach? A king in Genesis 14. Took Lot his wife and possessions. Abram tithes to someone outside the covenant. The king blessed Abram. King of righteousness. Said to be like the son of God. Jews are brought up to give within the temple system. V 4-8. Jesus said in John 8 that he was connected to Abram.

2. The Levitical priesthood is inferior. V 11-12 also a change of the law. Lots of rules, some odd. But to a Jew these laws are part of the whole temple system. Since a new priest has come (Jesus) the laws have been changed. V 15 not on the bass of a physical requirement / bloodline but by the power of Christ's resurrection. The old way was weak - only the high priest could go into the holy of holies. But now we can approach the throne ourselves. Jesus isn't still hanging on the cross. He rose from the dead. We need this bad, for Jesus to be our high priest.

A. He guarantees our salvation, that his is the better covenant. No longer need to go to the temple for salvation.

B. Jesus permanently intercedes for us. I'm n the past a good priest we liked would die or be replaced. Jesus is our advocate. Clay says he is a lousy intercessor. Jesus is the perfect intercessor, continually praying.

C. Jesus never has to be replaced. Human priests are human, not always holy.

My other friend Reid is looking for a JFBC mission trip to go on. I should do the same, but will probably excuse myself out of it. I'm slammed pretty much from August to the end of the year. Here are a few interesting trips, though I missed the boat on some already:

4/1-7 Dominican Republic High School

4/2-7 Sevierville Tenn adults construction

4/6-10 Queens families outreach

6/4-9 Memphis middle school

6/7-13 Cuba adults VBS

6/30-7/8 Spain adults outreach

7/8-12 Melbourne FL families special needs

9/1-9 Greece adults sports

9/27-10/1 Queens families outreach

10/6-9 NYC adults outreach

10-20-22 Sevierville Tenn families construction

I know people on the DR trip, and probably several others. Danny Downing will be leading the trip to Greece. Tommy will be going to Melbourne.

Monday: Small group was good. 1 John chapter three. Had to stop by Whole Foods for Ceil. Didn't get home until nine, and was in bed before ten.

Up early to lift weights. New low weight this morning. Getting close to 40 pounds lost. Can't tell it because I'm wearing mostly the same old big clothes.

Crazy morning, after several relatively calm days. Hour and a half meeting. People so focused on the details can't see forest for the trees. Not really a problem that they're spending too much time to solve. No one is listening. Plus lots of other stuff. 

TOMMY DAVIS   [SABR Bio] holds the highest career batting average among pinch-hitters. With 62 base hits in 202 career ABs as a PH, Davis hit .307. Played for SEP in 1969. From 1950 through 1997, no other player had more runs batted in in a single season. Davis had 153 RBI in 1962, the pitchers' era by most other measures. Known much more for his hitting prowess, in the three seasons prior to shattering his ankle in 1965, Davis was the best defensive left fielder in the NL (measured by putouts, assists, DPs, Fielding Percentage, Range Factor, and Total Zone Rating). Davis was an outstanding multi-sport athlete at Boys High School in Brooklyn and played alongside future NBA Hall of Famers Tom "Satch" Sanders and Lenny Wilkens.