The call of Christ is not for the weak of heart. His call will cost you everything. Does that bother you? Does that strike you? Have you been presented with this soft-hearted gospel that speaks only of the love of God? Make no mistake that God is love. Make no mistake that God desires a relationship with His people. But remember this, it will cost you your life. Are you prepared to give up your life for Him? He bought you in His blood and He demands that you carry your cross and die to yourself in order to live in Him. He demands your committment. He demands all that you have because what you have is not yours. He demands your life because He made the payment. He bought you out of slavery and now you have a new Master. You have a new Lord.
Have you began to build, but unable to finish? Did you count the cost of following the Lord? I submit to you that if you made the decision to follow Him and now you find the road too hard to trudge then my friend I wonder if you chose Him. The following of Christ may cost you your family, your friends, your job, it may cost you everything.
He is coming and He is not coming to play games. He is not coming that we should feel good about ourselves. He is coming to conquer what is His. He is coming to judge. But you say that is mean and a loving God would never judge. You say "my jesus will cast no one out." I say to you that you do not know Jesus and you know nothing of God. Because God is love, He must judge the wicked. Do you understand that? And just so that you may know that even the best of men is wicked in the eyes of God without the righeousness of Jesus Christ. There is nothing you can do to gain favor, no goodness in you is enough because there is no goodness in you. All goodness is in Him and we must be in Him. Does this sound crazy? Does it sound absurd? It sounds that way because it is. And it is because you can never begin to think the way God thinks. We bring God down to our earthly playing field and compare Him to what we think is right, or what the government says is it. There will be no ACLU on the day of judgement. There will be no one saying to God that He is violating civil liberties. You have no liberities, you have no right before God. Our measurement is against Him and we know nothing of His holiness. If we are guilty of one, we are guilty of all and worthy to be judged into everlasting death.
But there is hope. There is mercy. There is Grace. Its in Him and Him only. In the name of Jesus Christ. "Lift up your heads oh gates and open you ancient doors that the King of Glory may come in!" The King of Glory is at the right hand of the Father and He is there because He alone is worthy, because He alone suffered the weight of your sin and the wrath that you deserved. But you must submit to Him. You must give your life to Him. You do not want to go into that day of Judgement without Him. He has allowed a way that you can surrender, but you must follow Him. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. He alone is able to carry you. No one else can.
The Bread of Life...
Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, "this is truly the prophet who has come into the world. So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone......Jesus answered them and said, "Truly, Truly I say to you, you seek Me not because you saw sign, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled."
-John 6:14-15, 26
The bread of life seems to be the accurate title for this post. For a few weeks I have been focused on this chapter of John and these 3 verse, 2 fragments of scripture seem to stand and scream to all for those who hear the gospel. This chapter is centered around the true story of the feeding of the 5000 that many us know. But what do we see when we read this chapter? Do we see the miracle and stop there or do we look deeper into what Jesus is saying and what He is telling us even now?
In short, He fed the 5000, walked on water and boarded the disciples boat, and then rebuked those who sought Him. Verses 32-58 give us the answer to the question regarding the bread, but many choose to stay back in the beginning where they are getting fed. It bothers me that we seek Jesus only in times of need. We seek Him only when we are hungry. We get our fill and turn away. He is all fulfilling. The people sought Him not because of the sign He performed, but because they got what they wanted. He was useful to them at the moment and once they were full, He was no longer needed. What they did not understand was that the sign was not about the fruit, but it was about the Man who gave the fruit. He is the bread of life.....not the bread that satisfies the physical hunger, but the bread that satisfies our spiritual hunger. He is all satisfying. If he is not then I suggest you pray and seek the answer as to why you seek Him in your life.
Do you only seek Him when you are hungry? Or are you so satisfied in Him that you will never hunger again?
-John 6:14-15, 26
The bread of life seems to be the accurate title for this post. For a few weeks I have been focused on this chapter of John and these 3 verse, 2 fragments of scripture seem to stand and scream to all for those who hear the gospel. This chapter is centered around the true story of the feeding of the 5000 that many us know. But what do we see when we read this chapter? Do we see the miracle and stop there or do we look deeper into what Jesus is saying and what He is telling us even now?
In short, He fed the 5000, walked on water and boarded the disciples boat, and then rebuked those who sought Him. Verses 32-58 give us the answer to the question regarding the bread, but many choose to stay back in the beginning where they are getting fed. It bothers me that we seek Jesus only in times of need. We seek Him only when we are hungry. We get our fill and turn away. He is all fulfilling. The people sought Him not because of the sign He performed, but because they got what they wanted. He was useful to them at the moment and once they were full, He was no longer needed. What they did not understand was that the sign was not about the fruit, but it was about the Man who gave the fruit. He is the bread of life.....not the bread that satisfies the physical hunger, but the bread that satisfies our spiritual hunger. He is all satisfying. If he is not then I suggest you pray and seek the answer as to why you seek Him in your life.
Do you only seek Him when you are hungry? Or are you so satisfied in Him that you will never hunger again?
answering His call...
For almost a year now I have wrestled a calling in my life that I have done everything in my power to fight against, to deny, to walk away from. I've found out just how miserable a person can become when they are not doing the task that God has set out before them. Don't get me wrong, I have not been depressed or walking around in gloom and doom. Its just that sleepless nights and a constant conviction can really wear a person down. It wears you down physically, mentally, and most of all spiritually. Every time I closed my Bible I would feel convicted. Each time I left youth on Wednesday night I would feel the burden. Every morning after Sunday school and worship I knew the call was being made and He was waiting for me to answer.
I finally answered that call this passed Tuesday. I shared it with my wife and chose not to tell anyone else til yesterday. God has called me into His service. I don't know what He wants me to do or where He wants me to go and that has got to be the scariest feeling in my life. But its just a feeling...its not real. Whats real is my faith in Christ. That is where our joy is found. He is our place of relief. I have faith that God will provide for me and my family...I know that He will see that our needs are met. I trust Him.
So what about your life? What is God calling you to do? It may not be full-time service like the ministry, but that doesn't mean that its not as important. Maybe its to become a Sunday School teacher or to drive the church bus. Each member of the Body of Christ are equal together in the service they do...after all we all work because of the other. So I plead with you to answer His call. I know its scary...but its only scary because we cannot understand the goodness He has in store for us and we have spent far too long putting our trust in ourselves and being disappointed, instead putting our trust in Him and being lifted up. He will not disappoint. He will not stop the good work and that He has started in you...I'm not perfect, as a matter of fact I get pretty disgusted with myself at times...but I know that He will qualify and equip me to carry out His task. So please pray for me, as I pray for you. Most all pray that no matter what, He gets all the glory through our lives...
I finally answered that call this passed Tuesday. I shared it with my wife and chose not to tell anyone else til yesterday. God has called me into His service. I don't know what He wants me to do or where He wants me to go and that has got to be the scariest feeling in my life. But its just a feeling...its not real. Whats real is my faith in Christ. That is where our joy is found. He is our place of relief. I have faith that God will provide for me and my family...I know that He will see that our needs are met. I trust Him.
So what about your life? What is God calling you to do? It may not be full-time service like the ministry, but that doesn't mean that its not as important. Maybe its to become a Sunday School teacher or to drive the church bus. Each member of the Body of Christ are equal together in the service they do...after all we all work because of the other. So I plead with you to answer His call. I know its scary...but its only scary because we cannot understand the goodness He has in store for us and we have spent far too long putting our trust in ourselves and being disappointed, instead putting our trust in Him and being lifted up. He will not disappoint. He will not stop the good work and that He has started in you...I'm not perfect, as a matter of fact I get pretty disgusted with myself at times...but I know that He will qualify and equip me to carry out His task. So please pray for me, as I pray for you. Most all pray that no matter what, He gets all the glory through our lives...
Broken...
Its been awhile since I've wrote and I've missed it. Tonight I write because I am broken. Broken because of this life, living in this world. Before you think I'm suicidal, before you think I'm not saved let me clarify my brokenness. I'm broken because of this sin thats all around me and how it tries with everything ounce of its power to take over my life. Tonight I choose to fight this sin. Fight sin with every ounce of the Power of Christ, although only an ounce his His power will cause the ground to crumble.
"we weren't made to live like most men....we were made to fight...we were made to give our lives for something that is eternal...we were called to advance a Kingdom..to fight for Him."
-Paul Washer
Putting on the whole armor of God we must fight. Why have we let so much sin in our lives. Why do we compromise our beliefs to the point of being so comfortable with the sin in our lives, sin in others lives, that we stand there and do NOTHING! Are you saved? Does this not anger you? Do you not fall to your knees and cry "My God, My God, I am so wretched!?!"
Change something, do something!!
Do you go to a church were you are comfortable with the life you are living? Get away from it! If you go to your church and you don't feel conviction in your life, then run for your life because your life is at stake. People tell me that they do not want to hear about a god who is full of wrath and conviction..they want to hear about a god of love. Are we so ignorant of scripture that in order for God to be full of love, He must also be full of wrath for that which He hates.
We are nothing without Him! Nothing! I plead with those who read this to understand that...NOTHING! Deserving of hell without Him and the reason we deserve hell is because He is so good. So good that not even the scent of evil can stand before Him and go unpunished. And without Him we are evil..
I challenge you to read on the wrath of God. And when you have had enough, read of the passion of Christ. Understand this, that all the wrath of the Old Testemant, all the wrath of Revelations multiplied by millions was poured upon Him. Poured upon Him and intended for us. I get so aggravated when christians equate the suffering of the cross to nail scarred hands and a crown of thorns...it was so much more. So much that could not be seen by those who witnessed. Isaiah tells us that is pleased God to crush Him. It pleased Him...It pleased Him for our sake.
When was the last time you were told to deny yourself, take up your cross, follow Him? How much do us Christians deny ourselves? How often do we leave that cross in our closets and walk into this world? How often do we follow our own thoughts, our own desires, and not Him?
Follow Him...not for your sake, but for His and His Kingdom. Work to enlarge it...change the brokenness that so easily besets us. Lastly, strive for something that you have never strived for...strive to die. Strive to die because the life that we are living is not ours, its His, and we owe it all to Him.
"we weren't made to live like most men....we were made to fight...we were made to give our lives for something that is eternal...we were called to advance a Kingdom..to fight for Him."
-Paul Washer
Putting on the whole armor of God we must fight. Why have we let so much sin in our lives. Why do we compromise our beliefs to the point of being so comfortable with the sin in our lives, sin in others lives, that we stand there and do NOTHING! Are you saved? Does this not anger you? Do you not fall to your knees and cry "My God, My God, I am so wretched!?!"
Change something, do something!!
Do you go to a church were you are comfortable with the life you are living? Get away from it! If you go to your church and you don't feel conviction in your life, then run for your life because your life is at stake. People tell me that they do not want to hear about a god who is full of wrath and conviction..they want to hear about a god of love. Are we so ignorant of scripture that in order for God to be full of love, He must also be full of wrath for that which He hates.
We are nothing without Him! Nothing! I plead with those who read this to understand that...NOTHING! Deserving of hell without Him and the reason we deserve hell is because He is so good. So good that not even the scent of evil can stand before Him and go unpunished. And without Him we are evil..
I challenge you to read on the wrath of God. And when you have had enough, read of the passion of Christ. Understand this, that all the wrath of the Old Testemant, all the wrath of Revelations multiplied by millions was poured upon Him. Poured upon Him and intended for us. I get so aggravated when christians equate the suffering of the cross to nail scarred hands and a crown of thorns...it was so much more. So much that could not be seen by those who witnessed. Isaiah tells us that is pleased God to crush Him. It pleased Him...It pleased Him for our sake.
When was the last time you were told to deny yourself, take up your cross, follow Him? How much do us Christians deny ourselves? How often do we leave that cross in our closets and walk into this world? How often do we follow our own thoughts, our own desires, and not Him?
Follow Him...not for your sake, but for His and His Kingdom. Work to enlarge it...change the brokenness that so easily besets us. Lastly, strive for something that you have never strived for...strive to die. Strive to die because the life that we are living is not ours, its His, and we owe it all to Him.
Wake Up!
I usually go for weeks at a time with one thought that weighs so heavy on my mind and in my prayers as lay in bed awake. Here recently it has been the cross...what it is, what it was, what it meant.. of course many of us know what it is and what it meant, but have we ever looked beyond the scripture that portrays the passions to what truly took place...some of my favorite scripture precedes those events that took place, like in John 12 when the greeks came to see Jesus. They were not just casually wanting to get a glance of him, otherwise Philip and Andrew would not have thought it important enough to tell Jesus. These greeks wanted to sit with, speak with him..this was a very important sign. A sign that it was "time"..time for the gentiles to recieve the gospel...time for that cup referred to in Matt. 26 to be consumed.
Which brings me to where I am at today....
In Matt. 26: 36-46 Jesus prays so hard that blood pours from His head over the penalty that He is about to recieve. That Cup...so often overlooked by many...even more unappreciated. The cup that contained the almighty wrath of His loving Father. As Jesus sweats blood over His prayer something very interesting is also taking place among His select disciples...they are sleeping...
Sleeping?!?! Now?!?! And in v. 45 Jesus says exactly that "sleep on now and take your rest." He is not simply telling them to sleep, He is not making a statement...He is exclaiming, "Your are sleeping now! You are resting now! Can't you see that the time has come!
I wonder how many of us are asleep...
Why can't we see that the time is now..its here..its the time for salvation. So many of us wasting our lives away sleeping in our salvation. Never telling others about the gospel, never even putting our heart into studying the gospel. Worried too much about this world and the wasteful things it has to offer...
Christ said, "take up your cross, deny yourself, and follow me"...Are we taking up our cross? Are we denying ourselves? Are we following Him? And I'll add, are we suffering? We haven't been called to the cross, to salvation, in order to live a worldy life of fancy cars, new homes, and good jobs...we have been called to suffer for His names sake. They hated Him, are they hating you? Have you been persecuted lately for your belief in Christ? Why not? Wake Up! Suffer! Or maybe our world has gotten so far into this attitude that everybody deserves the best that we have lost the definition of "suffer". Do you actually believe you deserve the best? Before or without Christ all we ever deserved was to be cursed with the dregs of that Cup (dregs: the filthiness at the bottom of wine, which would refer to the worst of God's wrath). We forget that...we forget just how depraved we were without Him. Every blessing that we have recieved is only because of the curse that was put on the shoulders of Christ when He cried out from cross. That lonely cross...the whole world had beat him, spit in His face, and left Him alone...but that wasn't so bad. What was so bad and so terrible was the moment He was seperated from His Father...the moment that your punishment, my curse was poured upon Him..the taste of the total seperation from God.
So why are we sleeping? Why are we sleeping when the harvest is ready? Wake up and quit telling yourself your a christian and tell somebody else...tell them of His suffering, tell them of His love. Sacrifice yourself before Him and follow His will...
Just simply wake up....
Which brings me to where I am at today....
In Matt. 26: 36-46 Jesus prays so hard that blood pours from His head over the penalty that He is about to recieve. That Cup...so often overlooked by many...even more unappreciated. The cup that contained the almighty wrath of His loving Father. As Jesus sweats blood over His prayer something very interesting is also taking place among His select disciples...they are sleeping...
Sleeping?!?! Now?!?! And in v. 45 Jesus says exactly that "sleep on now and take your rest." He is not simply telling them to sleep, He is not making a statement...He is exclaiming, "Your are sleeping now! You are resting now! Can't you see that the time has come!
I wonder how many of us are asleep...
Why can't we see that the time is now..its here..its the time for salvation. So many of us wasting our lives away sleeping in our salvation. Never telling others about the gospel, never even putting our heart into studying the gospel. Worried too much about this world and the wasteful things it has to offer...
Christ said, "take up your cross, deny yourself, and follow me"...Are we taking up our cross? Are we denying ourselves? Are we following Him? And I'll add, are we suffering? We haven't been called to the cross, to salvation, in order to live a worldy life of fancy cars, new homes, and good jobs...we have been called to suffer for His names sake. They hated Him, are they hating you? Have you been persecuted lately for your belief in Christ? Why not? Wake Up! Suffer! Or maybe our world has gotten so far into this attitude that everybody deserves the best that we have lost the definition of "suffer". Do you actually believe you deserve the best? Before or without Christ all we ever deserved was to be cursed with the dregs of that Cup (dregs: the filthiness at the bottom of wine, which would refer to the worst of God's wrath). We forget that...we forget just how depraved we were without Him. Every blessing that we have recieved is only because of the curse that was put on the shoulders of Christ when He cried out from cross. That lonely cross...the whole world had beat him, spit in His face, and left Him alone...but that wasn't so bad. What was so bad and so terrible was the moment He was seperated from His Father...the moment that your punishment, my curse was poured upon Him..the taste of the total seperation from God.
So why are we sleeping? Why are we sleeping when the harvest is ready? Wake up and quit telling yourself your a christian and tell somebody else...tell them of His suffering, tell them of His love. Sacrifice yourself before Him and follow His will...
Just simply wake up....
THE CROSS
I heard a man say once, "people want to understand the 2nd coming, they want to understand what the book of Revelations is all about...and on the day that Christ takes the Church, they will fully understand all of it, but we will spend eternity and never understand the Cross.."
This spoken word grabbed me like no other phrase has grabbed me in a very, very long time. "Never understand the cross"...what could that mean!?! I sat with this for hours to get a grip on what this pastor was saying, I sat with this for days and could only fully comprehend the cross for moment before it became too much to bare...and when i say fully comprehend, i mean on earthly terms, because i do not believe we can fully understand the cross on heavenly terms..
If I asked you the question, what is the meaning of the cross, what would your answer be?
Or how about this, "what happened on the cross?"
Is it possible for us to understand the almighty, soveriegn wrath of God? No, it is not. If you say that it is then i challenge you to give that answer...i don't believe you can. I know you can find scripture where it is spoken, even i can do that. I can quote scripture, find passages, repeat the word of Jesus...but that is far from understanding.
I'm tempted to write more, but God is leading to end this here....so ask yourself, "what happened on the cross?" Don't give yourself a generic answer..search for the deepest truth you can, but remember there is more...
-I am blessed because He was cursed
This spoken word grabbed me like no other phrase has grabbed me in a very, very long time. "Never understand the cross"...what could that mean!?! I sat with this for hours to get a grip on what this pastor was saying, I sat with this for days and could only fully comprehend the cross for moment before it became too much to bare...and when i say fully comprehend, i mean on earthly terms, because i do not believe we can fully understand the cross on heavenly terms..
If I asked you the question, what is the meaning of the cross, what would your answer be?
Or how about this, "what happened on the cross?"
Is it possible for us to understand the almighty, soveriegn wrath of God? No, it is not. If you say that it is then i challenge you to give that answer...i don't believe you can. I know you can find scripture where it is spoken, even i can do that. I can quote scripture, find passages, repeat the word of Jesus...but that is far from understanding.
I'm tempted to write more, but God is leading to end this here....so ask yourself, "what happened on the cross?" Don't give yourself a generic answer..search for the deepest truth you can, but remember there is more...
-I am blessed because He was cursed
God's workmanship..
I'm gonna try to make this a quick one..the notion to write always seems to hit me when I'm exhausted and it's time for bed. I wonder why that is, hmmmm??
When I woke up this morning I felt the cool air, I saw the sun...tonight I noticed the smoke from grill blowing with the wind and when the electricity went for some strange reason, I saw the moon making its way out....each of these things and so many more are part of God's awesome creation. Everday we see the sun, the moon, the sky, trees, flowers..all those wonderful things God created and yes many times we take it for granted....you think you know where this going? Do you think that I'm gonna fill up a post about the beauty of God's creation in the earth? Well, we could spend days writing and talking about all God created and how good it is, but thats not so much what this post is about. We see all those things outside of us, but we hardly ever see "us".
When was the last time you looked in the mirror and saw "God's creation"?
"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10
WE ARE HIS WORKMANSHIP...do we realize what that means? The person we see everyday was created, was made, was developed by the awesome and mighty hand of God. So why don't we see that? Why do we only see the trash in our lives that we aren't satisfied with? Why is that we don't see Jesus? That is who we are supposed to be seeing right? I mean our earthly objective is to be like Christ...so why is that the last person we see when we look in the mirror?
So take a look in the mirror....go...do it now...not in the morning, not when you get done reading..but do it now because chances are if your like me, you won't do it later. What did you see? Did you see Christ? We were made, predestined to do the work of God...be like Him in the greatest possible way and we hold ourselves back so much...does God make junk? I don't think so. Go look again...look for Jesus in you...look at all those hangups in your life and do what it takes to rid that baggage because that baggage is not from God.
God doesn't make junk, we make it. So maybe if we can with His help get rid of it, then not only will we see Jesus, but hopefully someone else will too....
When I woke up this morning I felt the cool air, I saw the sun...tonight I noticed the smoke from grill blowing with the wind and when the electricity went for some strange reason, I saw the moon making its way out....each of these things and so many more are part of God's awesome creation. Everday we see the sun, the moon, the sky, trees, flowers..all those wonderful things God created and yes many times we take it for granted....you think you know where this going? Do you think that I'm gonna fill up a post about the beauty of God's creation in the earth? Well, we could spend days writing and talking about all God created and how good it is, but thats not so much what this post is about. We see all those things outside of us, but we hardly ever see "us".
When was the last time you looked in the mirror and saw "God's creation"?
"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10
WE ARE HIS WORKMANSHIP...do we realize what that means? The person we see everyday was created, was made, was developed by the awesome and mighty hand of God. So why don't we see that? Why do we only see the trash in our lives that we aren't satisfied with? Why is that we don't see Jesus? That is who we are supposed to be seeing right? I mean our earthly objective is to be like Christ...so why is that the last person we see when we look in the mirror?
So take a look in the mirror....go...do it now...not in the morning, not when you get done reading..but do it now because chances are if your like me, you won't do it later. What did you see? Did you see Christ? We were made, predestined to do the work of God...be like Him in the greatest possible way and we hold ourselves back so much...does God make junk? I don't think so. Go look again...look for Jesus in you...look at all those hangups in your life and do what it takes to rid that baggage because that baggage is not from God.
God doesn't make junk, we make it. So maybe if we can with His help get rid of it, then not only will we see Jesus, but hopefully someone else will too....
what about my life....
Ok..so what about my life? What about the situation that I'm in, that I used to be in, or that I will be in?? Why did my life turn out this way?
Alot us ask those questions or types thereof. Sometimes we ask them in times of despair, sometimes we look at our present condition and wonder why, and some of us seem to be stuck in it everday wallowing in our pity of why did the Lord give me this life to live?????? I did some random flipping in the Bible and thats how I got to this topic..
"However, each one must live his life in the situation the Lord assigned when God called him"
-1 Corinthians 7:17
Its easy for us to let life get us down, its even easier to stay that way...but did you catch a few big words in that scripture..."must", "live", "situation", "assigned"....there really isn't any room for doubt there. We have no choice than to live in our present situation, God has assigned it to us. So maybe we should be asking, "Lord, how can I best serve you through this?" Whether its a difficult spot in a marriage, a unfavorable job, or just a depression that won't seem to leave, we should ask ourselves...How can I glorify Him? Y0u see if your a Christian then Holy Spirit lives in you...did you catch that? I said if you are a Christian then GOD is living in you. So you see when we glorify God, then we are satisfied within ourselves....we complicate this notion. We think we have to do more, we think that everything must be wonderful, but thats not true. God is glorified in the rough spot of marriage when the partnerships holds firm and removes divorce from their vocabulary...God is glorified through the dead end job when we realize that we work for Him and not someone else...God is glorified in our depressed when we serve him instead of our own self-pity. We give Him glory in these things because we stand...we don't falter even though the time is tough...we stand.
Come on, take a look at your situation...it may not be the best, but there is life everlasting thats waiting! Thats where our minds should be, not on this place, but on the eternal...on the Kingdom. If we could only get our pea-brain minds to stop looking at the junk that this life has to offer and instead begin looking at how God's Kingdom will be affected, then maybe our outlook would begin to change.
So I present this challenge to myself and to the few of you who stumble upon this...look at life, not as your own, but Gods...look at your situation, not as yours, but as a specific place God placed you for His glory...look past whats temporary and look to eternity...and ask yourself, "how can I glorify God today?"
Alot us ask those questions or types thereof. Sometimes we ask them in times of despair, sometimes we look at our present condition and wonder why, and some of us seem to be stuck in it everday wallowing in our pity of why did the Lord give me this life to live?????? I did some random flipping in the Bible and thats how I got to this topic..
"However, each one must live his life in the situation the Lord assigned when God called him"
-1 Corinthians 7:17
Its easy for us to let life get us down, its even easier to stay that way...but did you catch a few big words in that scripture..."must", "live", "situation", "assigned"....there really isn't any room for doubt there. We have no choice than to live in our present situation, God has assigned it to us. So maybe we should be asking, "Lord, how can I best serve you through this?" Whether its a difficult spot in a marriage, a unfavorable job, or just a depression that won't seem to leave, we should ask ourselves...How can I glorify Him? Y0u see if your a Christian then Holy Spirit lives in you...did you catch that? I said if you are a Christian then GOD is living in you. So you see when we glorify God, then we are satisfied within ourselves....we complicate this notion. We think we have to do more, we think that everything must be wonderful, but thats not true. God is glorified in the rough spot of marriage when the partnerships holds firm and removes divorce from their vocabulary...God is glorified through the dead end job when we realize that we work for Him and not someone else...God is glorified in our depressed when we serve him instead of our own self-pity. We give Him glory in these things because we stand...we don't falter even though the time is tough...we stand.
Come on, take a look at your situation...it may not be the best, but there is life everlasting thats waiting! Thats where our minds should be, not on this place, but on the eternal...on the Kingdom. If we could only get our pea-brain minds to stop looking at the junk that this life has to offer and instead begin looking at how God's Kingdom will be affected, then maybe our outlook would begin to change.
So I present this challenge to myself and to the few of you who stumble upon this...look at life, not as your own, but Gods...look at your situation, not as yours, but as a specific place God placed you for His glory...look past whats temporary and look to eternity...and ask yourself, "how can I glorify God today?"
The Cell Door is Open...Leave
"The governor answered and said unto them, "Which of the two will ye that I release unto you?" They said, "Barabbas!"........"Then released he Barabbas unto them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified." -Matthew 17:21, 26
"Hopelessly stranded on death row, he wasn't about to balk at a granted stay of execution. Maybe he didn't understand mercy and surely he didn't deserve it, but he wasn't about to refuse it. We might do well to realize that our plight isn't too different than that of Barabbas's. We, too, are prisoners with no chance for appeal. But why some prefer to stay in prison while the cell door has been unlocked is a mystery worth pondering." -No Wonder They Call Him Savior
I read this passage in a book I'm reading at it really smacked me in the face. We always seem to look at Barabbas as a barbaric heathen murderer who should have died that day...but really we are no different that him and his freedom represents what Jesus came to do...to die, that we may live. We are all like Barabbas..we are barbaric, we are murderers in our heart because at some point we have harbored hate...we are thieves, idolaters, adulterers, blasphemers, and list goes on....matter of fact we are pretty down-right evil, and if you don't think that then I'm gonna step out and make you mad and say that you have never took a hard look at yourself. Without Jesus we are all evil before God, there is no good in us...but lets get back to Jesus. Jesus freed Barabbas and he has freed us, so why do we stay inside the unlocked cell with the shackels of the bondage of sin?? What are we scared of..we are alive through Christ, no longer a slave to sin, but a servant to Christ!
Jesus broke the chains, so why do we still hold on to them......we are alive, so LIVE....LIVE for Him, not for your husband, wife, children, boyfriend, girlfriend...there is such joy in serving the King and much despair when we serve oursleves....Serve Him today, live for Him and let Him live through you...your not lame with sin anymore, so take pick up your mat and walk, you are healed....act like it.
"Hopelessly stranded on death row, he wasn't about to balk at a granted stay of execution. Maybe he didn't understand mercy and surely he didn't deserve it, but he wasn't about to refuse it. We might do well to realize that our plight isn't too different than that of Barabbas's. We, too, are prisoners with no chance for appeal. But why some prefer to stay in prison while the cell door has been unlocked is a mystery worth pondering." -No Wonder They Call Him Savior
I read this passage in a book I'm reading at it really smacked me in the face. We always seem to look at Barabbas as a barbaric heathen murderer who should have died that day...but really we are no different that him and his freedom represents what Jesus came to do...to die, that we may live. We are all like Barabbas..we are barbaric, we are murderers in our heart because at some point we have harbored hate...we are thieves, idolaters, adulterers, blasphemers, and list goes on....matter of fact we are pretty down-right evil, and if you don't think that then I'm gonna step out and make you mad and say that you have never took a hard look at yourself. Without Jesus we are all evil before God, there is no good in us...but lets get back to Jesus. Jesus freed Barabbas and he has freed us, so why do we stay inside the unlocked cell with the shackels of the bondage of sin?? What are we scared of..we are alive through Christ, no longer a slave to sin, but a servant to Christ!
Jesus broke the chains, so why do we still hold on to them......we are alive, so LIVE....LIVE for Him, not for your husband, wife, children, boyfriend, girlfriend...there is such joy in serving the King and much despair when we serve oursleves....Serve Him today, live for Him and let Him live through you...your not lame with sin anymore, so take pick up your mat and walk, you are healed....act like it.
The Cross
The creation...the fall...the standards set...our inability to follow...THE CROSS
This is basically the simplest and most profound timeline of man. It started with Jesus (yep, He was there, you know that right?) and it ends with Jesus...it ends with God in the flesh on a cross, a piece of wood, a splintered oak. It ends with our sin, our punishment, casted upon a fleshly man who is fully God...
Its kinda crazy that God created this whole universe for us...for Him. We screwed up...and He fixed it! He didn't cast a magic spell, He didn't just make things perfect at the snap of a finger...no God sent himself in the image of His son...fully man, fully God...and with the most powerful name that will ever be spoken in this world...Jesus the Christ. Our redeemer! The only person who was able to provide the solution was God himself...by death...by wrath...by judgement.
Picture this...Jesus on the cross...for you, for me...He's beaten, he's tore down...people are screaming insults, blaspheming His name...patronizing Him..How do you think He felt..what do you think was going through His mind? All that pain, torment, ridicule....now imagine this, the sky darkens...not many hours ago He prayed so hard that blood came from His head, yet now He screams out, "FATHER WHY HAVE YOU ABANDONED ME!" This was the moment...this was the moment when the pain of the cross really touched Him...the moment when the Father had to turn from his Son. This is the part where Jesus had to drink the cup that he was referring to in the garden...the cup of death, the cup of wrath, the cup of judgement on the spotless Lamb. Isaiah 53 says it pleased God to bruise Him...that cup of death, of judgement, of wrath was intended for me, for you...but it pleased God to put His Son, to put Himself on the cross...it pleased God to crush Jesus for us...thats how much He loves us! Thats where it all ends and it begins again....the resurrection of the crushed Son is our last chance. He broke the chains of sin! No longer are we slaves to sin, but servants to God. Isn't that Awesome!
We have done nothing to deserve this gift...we will never repay Jesus for His sacrifice...but we can live for Him today. We can follow where He leads, we can say what He wants us to say, we can do what He wants us to do...God wants us in His kingdom, after all, He did die for it..
"Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed."
-Isaiah 53:4,5
This is basically the simplest and most profound timeline of man. It started with Jesus (yep, He was there, you know that right?) and it ends with Jesus...it ends with God in the flesh on a cross, a piece of wood, a splintered oak. It ends with our sin, our punishment, casted upon a fleshly man who is fully God...
Its kinda crazy that God created this whole universe for us...for Him. We screwed up...and He fixed it! He didn't cast a magic spell, He didn't just make things perfect at the snap of a finger...no God sent himself in the image of His son...fully man, fully God...and with the most powerful name that will ever be spoken in this world...Jesus the Christ. Our redeemer! The only person who was able to provide the solution was God himself...by death...by wrath...by judgement.
Picture this...Jesus on the cross...for you, for me...He's beaten, he's tore down...people are screaming insults, blaspheming His name...patronizing Him..How do you think He felt..what do you think was going through His mind? All that pain, torment, ridicule....now imagine this, the sky darkens...not many hours ago He prayed so hard that blood came from His head, yet now He screams out, "FATHER WHY HAVE YOU ABANDONED ME!" This was the moment...this was the moment when the pain of the cross really touched Him...the moment when the Father had to turn from his Son. This is the part where Jesus had to drink the cup that he was referring to in the garden...the cup of death, the cup of wrath, the cup of judgement on the spotless Lamb. Isaiah 53 says it pleased God to bruise Him...that cup of death, of judgement, of wrath was intended for me, for you...but it pleased God to put His Son, to put Himself on the cross...it pleased God to crush Jesus for us...thats how much He loves us! Thats where it all ends and it begins again....the resurrection of the crushed Son is our last chance. He broke the chains of sin! No longer are we slaves to sin, but servants to God. Isn't that Awesome!
We have done nothing to deserve this gift...we will never repay Jesus for His sacrifice...but we can live for Him today. We can follow where He leads, we can say what He wants us to say, we can do what He wants us to do...God wants us in His kingdom, after all, He did die for it..
"Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed."
-Isaiah 53:4,5
a peculiar people...
A peculiar people....thats what the King James Version says. Websters gives the definition of peculiar as "different from the usual, different from normal. Peculiar, hugh? I think i like that word...i would pray that people call me peculiar. You see we aren't called to be like every other person in the world, we are called to be like Christ. The One the world is against, the name that raises the greatest of debates, yet the name is not even debateable. We are set aside, called to be different, strange, odd, wierd, crazy, and the list goes on...do any of these words describe you? Why not? They should.....in the eyes of the world I should be wierd, which is fine with me!
I love you God
1st Peter 2:9
"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light"
Shine the praise of Him who called you....be wierd, be crazy, do things different, and be like Jesus!
I love you God
1st Peter 2:9
"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light"
Shine the praise of Him who called you....be wierd, be crazy, do things different, and be like Jesus!
just a quick thought...
so tonight during youth group we were studying the authenticity of the Bible. My attention span lacks sometimes and since all the youth had the books it was kinda hard for me to concentrate on the reading, but a comment was made about all the people who have died for the sake of the Bible. I'm not just talking about Jesus, his disciples, Paul; I'm talking about everyone..all the guys who made sure it was passed on, everyone who died for the sake of the gospel. It kinda hit me that we take that book for granted...i mean we live in a country were we can basically do and say what we please, yet we choose to remain still, we choose to be silent. Sometimes its as if we use Jesus when we need Him and then we say "i'll take it from here." I put myself on top of that list. What are we so scared of? We all wear these great t-shirts with a christian message and in some ways i think we believe we are witnessing, that we are evangelizing...but truthfully we're not. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with christian shirts and i'll probably wear one tomorrow, but is that what "go be disciples to all nations" has come down too? A neat t-shirt...maybe I should do something more....
Oh' God please burden me to do a greater work for you! I want to please you, I want to be closer to you. Equip me with the courage and strength to face this world. Strike my soul with fire from Heaven and I pray that fire is never quenched!
Oh' God please burden me to do a greater work for you! I want to please you, I want to be closer to you. Equip me with the courage and strength to face this world. Strike my soul with fire from Heaven and I pray that fire is never quenched!
Eternity
we are only a mist, a vapor that vanishes....i think about that when i look at the vastness of God's creation and then i look at myself. just little ole me in this great big world..in this creation that is bigger than me, bigger than the world, greater than the universe. i think about God's Kingdom. How great it is..how little am i. I think of the ant or the fly and how it lives and dies very quickly. My life compared to the ant is "like" an eternity...and God's Kingdom compared to my life IS ETERNITY. it is impossible for my mind to comprehend that word. i speak about it in church, in conversation, at youth...but do i really understand eternity? there are moments when the fact i'm going to die hits me and i have to catch my breath, but then i remember another word....EVERLASTING.
A word that means "no end", it continues and nothing can stop it, the beginning is the same as the end, but there is no end. Its everlasting life....life is the keyword here. You see we will all pass from this world...we are even called pilgrims and strangers, so there is somewhere we are going. And when the brief comprehension of death hits me and i lose my breath i remember that there is everlasting life waiting for me. a life in the presence of the King, a space reserved for me in His Kingdom...i will finally be able to perfectly serve and worship God the way He intended, the way I desire...."Be holy, for I am Holy"... i weep for the moment that my life will be perfected and i will come to be totally seperate from the sins that battle each of us. I weep for everlasting life in His presence...
I heard a man say once that we will either be born twice and die once, or be born once and die twice...because the opposite of everlasting life is everlasting death. A death that will continue for eternity. Christ sacrificed His life to be the sacrifice for my wretchedness, a sacrifice for the sin that has infected my flesh....He sacrificed His life for me and for His own Kingdom...he saw my sins upon the cross, he wept at the sinful pain we inflict upon ourselves. He suffered so that I may live.
This is no fairytale story, nothing from a movie or dr. seuss book...its real, its true, He is the only explanation of my life...people hate the truth, so they hate Him, but regardless of how much a person hates the conviction He lays on thier heart, it doesn't change "the truth". And the truth is He loves you, He loves me....He loves us just as we are, but way too much to let us stay that way....so He shapes us, He molds us...He is the potter, we are the clay and many times we have to be reshaped because the clay that God is dealing with is rough, gritty, dirty, hard, and in order for us to become soft and workable we must go through some suffering...some pain...some distress...but its the hands of love that molds us, that holds us during that pain, that forms the perfect and everlasting pot that contains His spirit and holds the rewards of His sacrifice.
A word that means "no end", it continues and nothing can stop it, the beginning is the same as the end, but there is no end. Its everlasting life....life is the keyword here. You see we will all pass from this world...we are even called pilgrims and strangers, so there is somewhere we are going. And when the brief comprehension of death hits me and i lose my breath i remember that there is everlasting life waiting for me. a life in the presence of the King, a space reserved for me in His Kingdom...i will finally be able to perfectly serve and worship God the way He intended, the way I desire...."Be holy, for I am Holy"... i weep for the moment that my life will be perfected and i will come to be totally seperate from the sins that battle each of us. I weep for everlasting life in His presence...
I heard a man say once that we will either be born twice and die once, or be born once and die twice...because the opposite of everlasting life is everlasting death. A death that will continue for eternity. Christ sacrificed His life to be the sacrifice for my wretchedness, a sacrifice for the sin that has infected my flesh....He sacrificed His life for me and for His own Kingdom...he saw my sins upon the cross, he wept at the sinful pain we inflict upon ourselves. He suffered so that I may live.
This is no fairytale story, nothing from a movie or dr. seuss book...its real, its true, He is the only explanation of my life...people hate the truth, so they hate Him, but regardless of how much a person hates the conviction He lays on thier heart, it doesn't change "the truth". And the truth is He loves you, He loves me....He loves us just as we are, but way too much to let us stay that way....so He shapes us, He molds us...He is the potter, we are the clay and many times we have to be reshaped because the clay that God is dealing with is rough, gritty, dirty, hard, and in order for us to become soft and workable we must go through some suffering...some pain...some distress...but its the hands of love that molds us, that holds us during that pain, that forms the perfect and everlasting pot that contains His spirit and holds the rewards of His sacrifice.
Ughhh...
ok...so here we go, i guess...i have to think of something great to say since this is my first blog. So what would be something great? How bouts i just ask a question....would you be willing to answer?? There was time when the disciples came Jesus and Jesus asked the question, "who do the people say that I am?" After throwing out a handful of names Jesus quickly asked a different question to the disciples..."who do you say that I am?"
So who is He? This a question we are all faced with at some point in time, in some fashion or other..this is the question that life depends on..to give the wrong answer cancels out everything else we will ever do in life. But even though we are asked this question at some time in our life, Jesus wasn't just asking the people, the crowds, the jews, the lost..he was asking his disciples, his followers, those he prayed with, those he taught. So it is me that he asks this question..it is you. Our life gives the answer of who we say He is.
So what is your life saying...don't get me wrong, we all screw up, but where is our heart and what are our actions...who do we desire to serve? Our answer comes through our faith, our love, our actions...Jesus said He was the light of the world and we reflect His precious light. How great is my reflection of Jesus? Am i really doing all that I should, all that I can? I'm positive I'm not, so whats holding me back? Whats holdin you back? Are we afraid of failing? Because we won't if He is leading...Are we afraid of what they'll think? What they think doesn't matter...or are we afraid of what we will lose? Jesus gave his life while weeping for the sins that I was going to commit.....and I'm afraid to sacrifice to my time, my pride, my life for Him...doesn't quite seem fair, does it? Not fair to Jesus anyway, after all that he gave me....
"Who do you say that I am?" or better yet, Who does my life say He is? I face this question everyday...do you? Ask yourself....
So who is He? This a question we are all faced with at some point in time, in some fashion or other..this is the question that life depends on..to give the wrong answer cancels out everything else we will ever do in life. But even though we are asked this question at some time in our life, Jesus wasn't just asking the people, the crowds, the jews, the lost..he was asking his disciples, his followers, those he prayed with, those he taught. So it is me that he asks this question..it is you. Our life gives the answer of who we say He is.
So what is your life saying...don't get me wrong, we all screw up, but where is our heart and what are our actions...who do we desire to serve? Our answer comes through our faith, our love, our actions...Jesus said He was the light of the world and we reflect His precious light. How great is my reflection of Jesus? Am i really doing all that I should, all that I can? I'm positive I'm not, so whats holding me back? Whats holdin you back? Are we afraid of failing? Because we won't if He is leading...Are we afraid of what they'll think? What they think doesn't matter...or are we afraid of what we will lose? Jesus gave his life while weeping for the sins that I was going to commit.....and I'm afraid to sacrifice to my time, my pride, my life for Him...doesn't quite seem fair, does it? Not fair to Jesus anyway, after all that he gave me....
"Who do you say that I am?" or better yet, Who does my life say He is? I face this question everyday...do you? Ask yourself....
