Enough with the ambiguity.

Social Justice, Theology and the Hypocrisy of Both

2011-11-20T20:24:00.001-08:00

I've noticed a growing trend in church folks and I'm a bit disturbed by it. The trend is this: You either care for those in need or you care about theology. It's strange how these truths seem to be opposed to each other, but I rarely find people who have both.

The problem, however, is with theology. Those who are fed up with theology are fed up, it seems, because they have previously experienced bad theology. This theology focuses on all sorts of arguments, which are important, but isn't lived out. In other words, they've seen a lot of folks who care a lot about what God is like and what God wants from us, but they don't act on what they learn through the study of theology.

This has caused some, who believe rightly that God cares about widows and orphans, to leave the world of theology. They say, "Forget that. I'm going to go love people."

I'm here to argue, however, that both are wrong.

On the one hand, love without theology isn't really love. If you want to love others as Christ loves them, you must come to an understanding of how Christ loved others. This is not always unconditional acceptance, as the social justice movement would have us believe. Christ did not accept the rich young ruler "the way that he was". Christ said, "If you want eternal life, here's what you need to do..." He required a change of heart. We read that the man went away sad, because he had great wealth and did not want to give it up. Jesus let this man go away sad, because he was not willing to turn from his sins.

Is this the type of "love" that the social justice movement is talking about? Christ turned people away because their hearts were elsewhere. That's tough love. Who knows if the rich young ruler ever came to his sense or not. But Christ knew that to accept a man whose heart was full of greed was to accept a man who was not truly prepared to follow Christ. Perhaps he came around. Let's hope so. But it seems as though the "let's love others" folks are more willing to compromise on God's definition of good and evil than to love people in a tough way. This is not acceptable and leads to a lot of community that is full of people who are not recognizably Christian.

On the other hand, theology without love is bad theology. Christ did meet people's needs. He did show compassion on those in need. Proper theology commands this type of mindset. If we are simply saying, "God loves you.", but we're not showing people that God loves them, we are not living out our beliefs. This also leads to churches full of people who are not recognizably Christian. We must act on our understanding of God's love in order to truly follow in the footsteps of Christ.

The point that I'm trying to make here is that we should love others. However, we should do so in the right way. Sometimes loving others requires that we point out sin in their lives. This is hard, but it is loving. Sometimes loving others means telling them that without Christ they have no hope.

This seems to be a point of tension in the social justice movement. The old saying, "Witness and when necessary use words." has been exaggerated. I prefer the critique version: Witness and use words, because it will be necessary.

On the other hand, those who desire to know Christ better through the study of the Word must learn to love. Telling others to follow Christ, but not showing them that they are loved by those who love Christ is wrong.

To the social justice folks, study the Word, learn about your God and love others accordingly. To the theological folks, show others what you know to be true about your God by acting in love according to these truths.

Reading Scripture Into Your Theology

2011-10-09T20:53:00.000-07:00

How do you like it when people take your words and twist them into a completely different meaning than you intended? Most (sane) people hate this. This happens in everyday conversation, and especially in politics. People love to interpret others' statements based on their own biases and emotions. This is also intensely true when discussing the Bible.

While we live in a day when people focus on personal interpretation rather than intended meaning, we must be careful not to make this mistake when studying Scripture. This has been the cause of a great deal of theological issues. I have fallen pray to it myself at times. Sometimes when reading the Bible, we come across things that are uncomfortable. For example, the fact that God told the Israelites of the Old Testament to wipe out different people groups makes us uncomfortable sometimes. However, since it happened, we shouldn't try to rationalize it away or say that God was just being symbolic, but instead should seek understanding as to why God would command them to do such a thing. Still, most people reject these facts or ignore them, because they don't understand a God who is wrathful against those who reject Him. While understanding such a thing may require a great deal of prayer and wisdom seeking, we must not simply reject or ignore such passages of Scripture. We must press on to understanding.

Instead of reading our Bibles through the lens of our own biases and emotions, we should read our Bibles asking the question, "What did the Author/authors mean when they wrote this?" As we ask these questions, we must pray for understanding from God and seek wisdom from others who have been faithful to the Word of God and its authority. We must seek to understand God through the lens of Scripture- not through the lens of comfort and emotion.

Real Talk

2011-01-27T21:08:00.000-08:00

Is the Bible actually the Word of God?

The way that some of us abuse it makes me wonder if we really believe that it is the Word of God. I can think of so many times that I have simply read the Bible for the sole purpose of checking it off of my list for the day.

However, I was challenged as I was reading Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology the other day. I realized that I was treating the Word of God as if it was less than God's actual words. Grudem pointed out that we should treat the Word of God in the same way that we would treat the voice of God booming from Heaven. If we treat it as anything less, we are not treating it with the respect that it deserves.

This has completely changed the way that I view the Bible. I was reminded that when I pick up the Bible, I am holding the words that God intended for me to hear. It is so much more than an historical document. It is HIS WORD.

So next time you pick up your Bible, take a minute before hand. Remember that it is God's Word that you are reading. Ask Him to speak to you. And decide before you read it that you are going to treat it with humility and respect. When we approach the Word in this way, we will be willing to hear what it is that He is actually saying to us. And we will be willing to accept the call that He is playing on our lives. The Bible is living and active. When we treat it in a holy manner, it is free to live and act in and on our lives. May we be transformed by the Word of God.

Mistaken Salvation

2011-01-10T15:34:00.000-08:00

I've been blown away recently by the implications of Scripture concerning fruit producing Christians.

I've always heard and believed that if someone prayed "the prayer" and really meant it, they were saved even if they never lived it afterwards. But is it possible to really mean it and still live like the lost afterwards?

Of course, sanctification is a process, but what about those people who seemingly have no desire to be sanctified. I'm talking about those people that are going to go on doing what they do, sinful or not, regardless of what God's Word or anyone else says?

It's hard for me to believe that those people are true believers. Now, I don't say that pridefully, but out of concern. Everyone who is filled with the Spirit of our Risen Lord should feel conviction, at some point or another, to turn from things in their lives. As they turn, they enter into the process of sanctification. But those who never turn and never have a desire to turn seem to be lost, according to Scripture.

I've come across a few verse recently that have confirmed this truth in my mind. Jesus said in Matthew 24:13, "But the one who endures to the end will be saved." Colossians 1:21-23 also speaks to this saying, "And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister."

These two passages (and I know there are plenty more like them) really drove this home for me. And they really pointed me back to the parable of the seeds. To some the Gospel has been preached and while they had some sort of emotional response, whether it be fear, comfort, etc., they did not actually believe it with their hearts, with all of their being. They have simply had an encounter with the Gospel. While this emotional attachment may last for some time, sooner or later the troubles of this life or riches or personal pleasure come and snatch it from in front of them. Their emotional attachment caused them to lean towards actions that are typical of true believers, but they were not actions based out of a changed heart.

This explains easily how it is that so many people fall away. The truth is that they were never actually saved. True believers produce fruit and true believers persevere until the end. May we be those types of believers that produce godly fruit, because our hearts are truly being transformed by Christ and may we seek Him until the end of our days.

What's Your Framework?

2010-11-18T09:03:00.000-08:00

Theology is like the framework of a house. You set the framework up and then you build the house around it. If you build a framework that is wacked out and then build the house up around it, you're house will also be wacked out. More simply put, the shape of your theology determines the way you live your life. If you have good theology, you will live a life dedicated to Christ and your actions will generally demonstrate that you realize your dependence upon Him. If you have bad theology, your life may be a bit wacked out.

I've noticed a trend, though. Most people build their life without a theological framework. They know the broad ideas about God, but if you ask them to back it up, they can't do it. The minute you ask the dreaded question (Why?), they do a few things. They freak out, they stutter (because they don't know what to say) and then they either a)get angry or b)act like they are right anyway and like they don't care what you think even though they don't know why they think what they think.

But theology is important whether people want it to be or not.

Our beliefs do dictate how we live. Back before we figured out that the world was round, people were scared to death that if they traveled too far they would fall off of the side of the earth. However, now that we understand the earth's roundness, we travel all around it. It just makes sense.

And it just makes sense that if we don't understand the theological idea of faith producing good works, we will see good works as something that we do on our own, rather than something that is produced inside of us as we nurture our relationship with Christ. The first option is called legalism. The second- transformation.

If we don't understand that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God which is living and active, we will take the parts that we don't like and try to twist them into something that we do like. But the Bible is the Bible and it can speak for itself (Though some research will help us understand it, many search for loop holes into which they can insert their position.). It doesn't need our help.

Basically, if your theology is bad, you will live a life that is less than what God desires for you. You may also end up making some icky decisions that lead to even ickier consequences. So study The Word and learn from those who have already done so. When you come across a truth that is inconvenient to you, don't try to justify your way, but understand that God has a purpose for the way He does things. This is the only way to transformation.

Learning to avoid being the person who "lived and learned".

2010-11-16T21:42:00.000-08:00

We live in a society that simply will not stand for any sort of absolute. For whatever reason, our society yearns for ambiguity. If you state that anything is absolutely true, people go crazy.

Still, society has had its way with us. People say that we must be "open-minded" as if it is a Biblical truth. People say that "what comes around, goes around". Is this not the absolute definition of "karma"? Is this Scriptural? No. We have also placed scientists on a pedestal next to God. As a matter of fact, many Christians feel as though we must accommodate scientists. We have to somehow find a way to fit what they believe to be true into what God says is true. Are they not finite human beings just like you and I? Is God not greater than their small minds can conceive? Is God truly subject to their incomplete findings? I think not.

However, I have seen way too many people falling prey to this idea lately: "Have no regrets. Live and learn. It's the only way to discover who you really are."

I am blown away by this mentality. First of all, I do agree that we all make mistakes. And I do agree that most of us learn from our mistakes. However, the idea that we should just float through life making mistakes and learning from them constantly is an insane proposition. I propose that as Christians we should pursue wisdom as we go along, avoiding as many mistakes as possible. These "floaters" are content with making stupid decisions forever. As Christians, we should acknowledge that Scripture is sufficient for addressing every issue that we experience. It holds the wisdom necessary for making good decisions.

Here's the issue: these are folks who refuse to live according to truth. The idea here is that we can't know anything about making right decisions beforehand and therefore, we have to make all of the stupid decisions, only to figure out afterwards what the right decisions were. Not tracking this thought process?

Example: God says not to steal. This is clear throughout Scripture. However, Mr. Floater does not know this. Therefore, one day he decides to steal. He ends up in jail. Mr. Floater now realizes, because he has "lived and learned", that it's not good to steal. (Or it may take him several stays in jail to understand this/he may never understand.)

This is the way people think. Enter into stupid relationships. Get your heart broken. You live and you learn. Or...you could be cautious beforehand about the relationships that you enter into. You could check the person out for a long time before you enter into the relationship, find out what others are saying about him/her, find out what they are passionate about, their history, their standing before God, etc. Once you know that they are a passionate pursuer of Christ Jesus who is not going to go out of their way to use you, abuse you and break your heart, you could then enter into a relationship with them.

See the pattern? Mr. Floater makes dumb decisions and bad things happen to him. Mr. Cautious and Considerate makes good decisions. In the end it is true that Mr. Cautious and Considerate could experience some hurt even after being cautious and considerate, but the chances are a lot slimmer and it makes a lot more sense than ending up like Mr. Floater who reaps the consequences of ignorance continually.

So, who came up with the idea of "You live and you learn"? Answer: the guy who made all of the mistakes.

The Benefits of Obedience- Freedom and God's Glory

2010-10-19T20:17:00.000-07:00

"What if life ain't s'posed to be gravy, full of hurt, pain, death, rape, murder and craziness." -Lecrae Moore

I've been thinking lately about this idea that life really is craziness without Christ. It's a whole lot of drama and very little organization. While drama happens and sometimes you get pulled into it, a lot of people suffer a lot of drama, because they bring it upon themselves. Christ, however, is the anti-drama. And that is a very good thing. As a matter of fact, we often look at the Ten Commandments or other Scriptural instructions and think, "I don't like that rule." The problem with this idea is that these aren't just "rules". They are also a way to freedom. As a matter of fact, the "rules" will often free you from the craziness in your life. For example, if men would step up and honor God's law of not committing adultery, they would free themselves a) to love their wives/girlfriends in a more perfect way and b) from a lot of the issues in their personal lives. Can you imagine how much drama from which one's life could be freed? The truth of the matter is that we cause a lot of the trouble that we experience in our lives. That is why Christ gave us these foundational principles by which to live. It is obvious that if the whole world was to honor God and his law, we would live in a much better place. I'm not naive enough to expect everyone to suddenly turn and see the light as did the apostle Paul, but think about how much organization and freedom from insanity it could bring into the lives of Christians if they actually honored God's Word as a truth that has the power to free them to worship a great God even more. God's Word isn't about keeping us from good things. It's about freeing us to live for His Glory and for the good of others. When we refuse to obey it, we are unable to do either.

Not Another Feel Good Blog

2010-08-15T23:19:00.000-07:00

I'm currently reading "Living the Cross Centered Life" by C.J. Mahaney and if you've never read it, it's a must read. Tonight I was reminded of an inconvenient truth. The Cross of Christ would have been unnecessary if it wasn't for me (and every person who has ever lived). It's convenient to think that Christ died on the cross for our sins. But it's less convenient to think that Christ died on the cross BECAUSE of our sins. Our wickedness required His righteousness. He had to die on the cross, because our hearts are wicked. Let that sink in. I've had to let it sink in. My. Heart. Is. Wicked. Even if you think that you aren't as bad as the worst, your heart is wicked. The reason that we find ourselves messing up every day is because of our wickedness. There's nothing that we can do to control it either. Isn't that the worst news ever? At my very core I am evil. I am evil at my very core. It feels terrible to say that. But it also feels good to say that. When we acknowledge this truth, it makes Christ's death real for us. We realize that at our core we are so wicked that even at our best, we, on our own, are filthy rags. That is sick. We are so sick. Is it any wonder with all of this wicked, sickness that men do the things they do? Is it any wonder that men would kill one another, use one another, steal from one another, etc.? It isn't to me. We are messed up and when we realized how messed up we are, we understand how perfect Christ was. If we don't realize how messed up we are, we have misunderstood the Gospel. Christ had to die for our sins. It's my fault. It's your fault. And the worst part of it all is that even when Christ says, "Don't do this, because in my eyes it's sin.", we find a way to say, "Well, that's not fair.". We reinterpret the truth in order to make it convenient for ourselves. How ridiculous. The fact of the matter is that the only convenient truth in the world is that we are sick, wicked, evil people for whom the Holy Christ died.

(By the way, I did intentionally focus in on our evilness. It's the truth and far too often instead of focusing on the truth of the Gospel, the truth of our evilness, people just want to tell us how to have our "Best Life Now". Our best life now is only found in realizing our depravity and accepting the free gift of Christ. Then, once we have fully understood and accepted, our best life will come by honoring Him in our hearts and minds which will be shown through our actions. Your best life has nothing to do with money and happiness. It is all about sanctification and progressive righteousness. May we not forget this messed up fallen nature to which we are so often held captive.)

The Truth about Love and Sacrifice

2010-08-11T19:35:00.000-07:00

I've always held to the idea that love and sacrifice are inseparable. I'm not going to lie. I got the idea from Erwin Mcmanus' The Barbarian Way. And it's hard to deny. "Greater love has no one than this- that he would lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13 When I first read about the idea in TBW, it just made sense. We've never experienced truer love than that of Christ's life on a Cross. And we've never experienced greater sacrifice than Christ's life on a Cross either. Love=sacrifice. But I actually had a student bring it home for me today in class. The subject of "love" came up and I mentioned the idea of sacrifice being the definition of love and one of my students said, "Yeah. I love my Jordan's and I sacrifice a lot for them." I guess the idea that I was hit with is that not only does love equal sacrifice, but also that we can tell what we love by what we sacrifice for. Yeah, seems simple. I hadn't thought about it with the backwards spin on it like that. So the question that must arise for us is if we say we love Christ, are we sacrificing for Him? And if so, how much? He wants it all and if we don't give it all to Him, we are falling short of that which He called us to when He died on the Cross for us. I can't say that I'm perfect or that I feel like I'm giving enough of myself to Him. However, this little encounter was a good reminder for me. May we not sacrifice for things that fade away, but only for that which will last forever.

Sin is totally not cool.

2010-05-17T21:23:00.000-07:00

This sin thing that we speak of from time to time has been completely blurred by a world of "acceptance" and "tolerance". I mean, what is sin anyway? And how much sin is too much sin? The word "sin" is probably the most shied away from word in our culture today. Christians don't even like the word. They speak of "good things" and "bad things". And what about our friends? Are we wrong to talk about their sins or our sins? But I would rather focus on the first question for a moment. What is sin? Well, look in your Bible. You'll find lists of sins. And some you may not like, because they may apply to you. <---This has been my experience.

If you believe what Jesus had to say about sin, you'll really hate the word. You may even think that for Jesus/the Bible to say that somethings are sins is just wrong. You may be truly offended. I mean, could Revelation 21:8 really mean what it says? You may wonder how God chose a list of sins. Why this sin or why that sin? You may wonder, "Why did murder have to be a sin, because I'm telling you...there is this one guy..." or "What about adultery? I mean, it's really no big deal..." The fact of the matter is, it's all a big deal. It doesn't matter if it's a physical act of anger or lust or a thought of the same type. It'll condemn me and you to a life of hell, right? Isn't that what the Bible says? (In case you don't know, the answer is "yes") God, the righteous and justified Creator of the universe decided what was right and what was wrong. See, He had/has a design. And it's a pretty awesome design that leads to incredible satisfaction in Him. But, when we violate His design, it's called sin.

I know, right? It stinks. Sin is totally not cool. The worse part about it is, there are consequences for our sins in both the present life and the afterlife. And even though when I sin, I still have to suffer some earthly consequences, I definitely don't want to suffer the hellish (literally) consequences of separation from God (on earth or in heaven). I'm afraid that a lot of people are missing it though. According to the Barna Group, 83% of all adults label themselves as Christians. You know and I know that 83% of adults in the United States of America do not have a real relationship with Jesus Christ. If they did, you would turn on "MTV" and find something grossly different. If 83% of adults were living in relationship with Jesus Christ, divorce rates would be a lot different in the United States. If 83% of adults loved Jesus with their lives, strip clubs would be struggling, more children would have loving parents, churches would not be closing their doors, the IMB would have to turn applicants away and abortion and feminism would be thoughts of the past.

Maybe the problem is that we don't call sin, sin. Maybe the problem is that we don't believe Jesus? Maybe the problem is that the path that leads to eternal life really is narrow and a lot of people that think they are on it, aren't. (You'll have to forgive me. I'm pretty sure that I say the same thing on my blog over and over again.) I mean, He said, "Whoever comes after me must take up his cross and follow me." Death. We. Must. Die. Russ Waites' selfish, stupid, proud, sinful nature must die. And it has to happen now. He didn't say, "He must take up his cross at some point before he dies." He didn't say, "Eh...no rush." He looked His disciples in the eyes, drew a line in the sand (probably only figuratively) and said "Get with it or get out."

I mean, seriously. How long will we ignore the fact that we are either with Him wholeheartedly or against him wholeheartedly? We cannot serve two masters. I will either live a life of satisfaction in Christ on this earth, living out HIS will for my life, which will be followed by a life of satisfaction in Christ in Heaven. Or I will live a life of satisfaction of my own kind, disobeying His rules on earth which will lead to a life of Hell here and in the afterlife. Yeah, it's true. If you read the Bible, you may find out that you are a sinner. I do. You may be indicted by the very Word of God. I am constantly. But you may find that Jesus died for your sins so that you could find a life worth living in Him. You may find that it was worth it to admit that you were wrong. You may turn and ask for Him to forgive your sins and be your Life. And you may fight the good fight against the sinful nature within you. And if you do, it'll be worth it. It is for me. This is the Gospel.

But if I mean what I say, my ways must change. See, you may already know everything that I just said. But do you believe it? Does your life reflect it? Will you change your ways in order to follow Him or just look yourself in the mirror and leave your hair all a-mess? Will you commit yourself to a lifestyle in which He has the ability to change your heart in order to effect your actions or will you say "That was a good entry" and keep on with it? His word dictates how we are to live and if we don't like that, I guess we can take it up with him. But He always wins. He's calling us to die to our sinful nature and live in the goodness of His life. Go hard or go home.

Sola Scriptura. Soli Deo Gloria.

Spiritual Bums (not like your backside)

2010-05-02T18:49:00.000-07:00

I'm tired of it. The complacency. Whose complacency you might ask? Mine. Yeah. I'm not complacent all of the time, but I am sometimes. And I hate it. I'm also tired of the complacency of many church-goers in general. I don't mean to say that I'm frustrated with them. I mean to say that I'm frustrated with us. I heard Pastor Bryan Loritts speak last weekend on prayer. He mentioned the fact that we have unprecedented access to God. The Israelites didn't have the kind of access that we have. They had to go to a temple. They had to talk to the Old Testament priests. We are able to talk to God about anything we want to anytime, anywhere (Don't get too excited Southern Miss fans). Yet, even with this type of access to the creator of the entire universe, we don't seem to make the effort. Insanity? I think so. When he said that, I said to myself, "Guilty!" And what's up with that? Kennon Vaugn preached this morning at church. He mentioned that the state of the Church in the United States of America is the same as during Constantine's time when he made Christianity the state religion. Out of 100 people, 80 would claim to be Christians, but about 5 (if that many) are actually following Jesus. Our religious freedom has made us complacent, selfish, lazy, etc. And somehow the importance of it all has all slipped from our minds. We've decided that we can love ourselves more than Jesus and still be safe from the fires of Hell. We've decided that we can love our cars, our technology, our friends, our money, our homes, our jobs, our 401k's (as if I know what the really is), our education, our everything more than Jesus and still say that we are His followers. I've got bad news though. That's not what Jesus said and if that's not what Jesus said then we can't believe it and still call ourselves His followers. It's time for us to realize our sin problem and press on to becoming more like Jesus in our hearts. Our superficial actions will not suffice. Our motives have to be right in order for our actions to be right. It's time for us to love Jesus with our hearts, and subsequently our lives. If we are only showing up at church to mark another one of the list, we are missing it. If we are only giving our money for a tax return, we are missing it. If we are only about social justice, because it's a popular thing to be about right now, we are missing it. We've GOT to be about the GOSPEL. One website reports that there were about 6620 deaths in the United States each day in the year 2001. I was in a large, group setting last month and I looked around the area and wondered, "How many people in this place would go to Heaven if they died today?" But more so, I wondered, "How many of these people are living in a satisfying relationship with Jesus Christ?" I reasoned that there were probably very few. And that's when it hit me that we have got to be praying, maturing followers of Jesus Christ. I'm not saying people need to go to church more or need to give more money or need to listen to KLOVE more. I'm saying that if we want our friends to live a life of maturity and satisfaction and salvation that subsequently leads to a life of satisfaction and perfection in the Kingdom of Heaven, then we ourselves need to live lives of satisfaction. We will not be satisfied until we sink our teeth into all that Jesus is (Please don't try to bite your Bible). We will not be satisfied and desire to see our friends satisfied until we realize that we are sinners who have been saved from a life of absolute death and purposelessness. It is time for those who claim the name of Christ to get on their knees, get in the Word and pray for forgiveness from our selfishness. It is time that we pray that God would bring salvation to our fellow citizens and human beings regardless of all barriers. Yes, it's even time that we pray lovingly for the leaders of our country, regardless of party affiliation. It's time that we start lovingly providing for those in need. It's time that we take the Gospel to the world in every aspect of our lives. Because even as the Rich Young Ruler of the Bible found out, it's not even okay to hold one area of our lives back from Christ. May we give every aspect of ourselves to Him so that He can use us to bring a worldwide movement of salvation to the nations. It's time for us to repent for real. True repentance is not asking forgiveness every time that you commit the same sin. True repentance is asking forgiveness and battling against that sin with the power of Jesus until you overcome it. It's time for us to read the Word and allow it to dissect our hearts, removing the evil and replacing it with the Holy. It's time to spend time before Him before we do anything else. It's time to seek His glory in every single aspect of our lives, even down to our motives and thoughts. It's time to act like the body of Christ. And it's time to pray for salvation to rain down on our world. How many people have to perish before we choose to do so. REPENT! READ! PRAY! ACT! NOW!

The Gospel

2010-04-26T19:50:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking lately about the Gospel. It's a good thing to think about really. And I've been realizing that lots of people don't understand it. I talk to people all the time who think that being a Christian is majorly about going to church. Christians should definitely take an active role in the Body of Christ, but going to church is not the main point of the Bible. The main point of the Bible is salvation. If we miss this, we miss everything. Yet, there is a lot of preaching and living going on in the world that does not involve the Gospel. For example, what does tithing in order to receive a blessing have to do with Jesus dying on the Cross in order to forgive us of our sins that we may live in intimate relationship with Him until the day we die? My answer: nothing. But the Gospel is so much bigger than anything that we can imagine and it is not meant only for the unbelieving heart. It is for both the unbelieving heart and the believing heart. For the unbelieving heart, it leads to salvation. For the believing heart, it is the very essence of who we are and it should dominate every aspect of our lives. The purpose of our lives is not to be Christians who live the same as the world, who sin the same as the pagans and who die leaving absolutely no legacy for future believers. The Gospel (the one described about seven sentences above in the longest sentence ever) should change every aspect of our lives. Once we accept the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ into our hearts, the Gospel should infiltrate our relationships. Our relationships are no longer about having fun with friends, though this is one of the benefits of relationships, but it is about bestowing the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ upon one another. Our relationships are about being open and honest with one another in order that we could be freed from our sins. Our money is not just for our fun and games. While we do get to spend some of it on things that we enjoy, our money should be about advancing the Gospel. Our jobs are not just for the sake of making money, but they are about loving people (even when it's hard) in order to advance the Gospel. You see, the Gospel is all about freedom. It's all about God's glory in our lives when we are free to love and enjoy Him. Every aspect of our lives should be dominated by this freedom and every opportunity that we have should be used in hopes that we could bring others into this freedom that we are so blessed to experience. The Gospel is Life. If we are not living the Gospel, we are not living. Shalom.

Empty.

2010-03-30T21:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning, Pastor Bryan Loritts taught on emptiness. He didn't talk about the emptiness of man so much as the emptiness of things. I am more aware every day that we live in a culture that is saturated in emptiness. This saturation comes to us masquerading as money, possessions, people, etc. And it's ridiculously obvious, as well, when you see someone who is living this type of life. All they want is that new car, that new smartphone or some lump some of cash, which they honestly believe will make them happy. Sadly though, it never is enough. It is for this reason that the families in the United States are falling apart, more every day. That person who someone believe would finally satisfy them isn't who they pretended to be during the premarital relationship. That certain dollar amount that would seem to satisfy, unfortunately isn't enough. These things are clearly what the Bible would refer to as idols, even though they are not wooden, carved figures. However, they are just as real and just as deadly. Can you imagine growing up worshipping a piece of wood, just to one day find out that it wasn't really a god or even a representation of a god? It would probably be a hard pill to swallow, yet people experience it everyday. They bow down to some person or thing in their life and when they find out it's not enough, it seems as though the world is crashing down on them.

I've always found it interesting though that everything that a person can create with his hands will ultimately break. And every person that is born will eventually die. Nothing that we see around us will last. So why do we put our trust in it? My car will be paid off within a month. Unfortunately that will break too. (And probably sooner than I would like, lol) It reminds me of a quote by the great Clives Staples (C.S.) Lewis: "If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probably explanation is that I was made for another world." We are looking for this satisfaction, but no one has found it yet in this world, except for those who seek to fill this satisfaction with that which is not of this world. But it is of the God that created this entire universe. True satisfaction comes only through Christ's forgiveness and acceptance. If you seek after satisfaction through people or objects, you might as well be praying to a stick. Soli Deo Gloria.

(Hello to all of my new readers, lol.)

Mercy.

2009-12-09T17:31:00.000-08:00

Daily I am burdened for those of whom Paul speaks when he says, "You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace." (Gal. 5:4) These are the ones who attend church weekly, because they have been told that it is right to do so. These are the ones who believe that it is okay to act promiscuously or in other ways contrary to Scripture provided that they ask for forgiveness later. It is these who believe that Jesus exists to forgive our sins so that we can partake of any desire which our hearts may long after without fear of guilt. I wonder to myself, "How long will the Church stand for this?" We have taken the religion which bears Christ's name and turned it into a works based gathering. And what's worse is that we encourage it regularly. The solution for people who are "bad" is not going to church. There are plenty of "bad people" in church already, because we are all "bad" (Romans 1). The solution for "bad people" is to be emptied of their sinfulness and filled with goodness. It isn't just that we are freed from the punishment of our sins. We are actually filled with goodness. When the Spirit dwells in us and as we live by that Spirit, our actions are good. Of course, we know this from our days in Sunday School: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." (Gal. 5:22-23) The question is, "Are we feeding the Spirit within us?" Are we paying attention to the Spirit of God in our lives? If we are not exhibiting these fruits, then the answer would have to be "no". I have ashamedly have times in my life when the answer is no. Yet this fruit is the evidence in our lives that the Spirit dwells in us. No one is perfect, but these things should be dominant in our lives if we are feeding this Spirit within us through Scripture reading, prayer and community with faithful believers (Church). Furthermore, what are we doing about those who are clearly confused about salvation and faith as those mentioned above by Paul? I believe that we MUST become people faithful to praying for those lost. I am not talking about prayers such as "Dear God, please save so and so and so and so and so and so." I'm talking about on our knees, begging for God's grace and mercy to be made known to those who have become tangled in religious Christianity versus Spiritual Christianity prayer. It is not enough to live inside our little bubbles anymore. We've got to beg for God to change those around us who are lost in religion. It must start with our hearts though. If we are not acknowledging our own deeply rooted sinful natures and desires, we cannot intercede on behalf of the sinfulness of others. We must be broken for our own sinfulness before we can truly be broken for the sinfulness of others. When we realize our sinfulness and the infinite mercy which has been shown to us in light of our sinfulness, we can then truly show mercy to our fellow Christ-followers. Let us remember the depth of our sinfulness, the depth of His forgiveness and pray that He would pour mercy on the spiritually blind. May I be humble and remember that without Him I too am spiritually blind.

Holiness, Reverence and Redemption

2009-10-30T06:06:00.000-07:00

I have been loving some Leviticus lately. That probably seems like a pretty odd statement, but in my Old Testament class I have learned to read the Bible Christologically and it has completely changed my outlook on the Bible and God. I feel like I can read the Bible, Old and New Testament and actually learn from either one. (Christologically refers to the idea that the whole Bible is centered on Christ, that even the Old Testament is preparing the people of God for the coming of Christ and that Christ is God's ultimate revelation. All of the Scriptures are satisfied and made whole in Christ.) So anyway, I've been reading Leviticus and I am amazed by the holiness that God desires from us. For sixteen chapters God has been laying a standard of holiness that He desires from each and every Israelite. If they don't meet the standard there is a waiting period and often sacrifices that are required of them before they can enter the Temple. I think this is incredible, especially considering we are now "the Temple of God". This means that God holds us to a really high standard of holiness. Holiness is not just something that a preacher is held to and it isn't an act either. It is living in reverence before God, keeping our souls pure and undefiled. It is that striving to be perfectly pure. This is why the Bible spends all of Leviticus teaching us about what makes us unclean. It even tells us that we are made unclean by touching others who are unclean in certain situations. The interesting thing is that in Leviticus, before Christ, there was already redemption set into place. They could wait a period of days and then make a sacrifice which would make them ceremonially clean again. This points directly to Christ in our situation. It is a bit of foreshadowing, if you will. We are to keep ourselves from being undefiled, but if we do mess up, there is redemption in Christ. We should always first strive for perfection, though. Anyway, just wanted to share my thoughts. Have a great weekend.

Russ

Becoming an aroma

2009-10-24T08:19:00.000-07:00

¹⁴But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. ¹⁵For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. ¹⁶To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? II Corinthians 2:14-16

This passage came to my mind the other day as I was reading Leviticus. If you open to Leviticus and begin reading, the first few chapters begin to speak of the different types of sacrifices that can be made to God for different reasons. These sacrifices include: the burnt offering, the grain offering, the fellowship offering, the sin offering and the guilt offering. As I begin to think about these different offerings, I was confused as to why there were so many different offerings and what their different purposes were. I opened up my John MacArthur Bible commentary to find an explanation of the sacrifices. The burnt offering existed to atone for sin in general, but also to signify complete dedication and consecration to God. The grain offering was given in order to show one's thankfulness to God. The fellowship offering (also called the peace offering) existed for the expression of gratitude for unexpected blessings or deliverance, blessings or deliverance that came from a vow made between the people and their God or simply to say thank you to God without any specific blessing or deliverance. Then finally there were the sin offerings and the guilt offerings which were offered in different cases of sin.

The interesting thing in the text is that following the Burnt, Grain and Fellowship offerings, the Scripture uses this phrase: "an aroma pleasing to the Lord". After the sin and guilt offerings it simply states that these would make atonement for sins.

I started thinking about how these Burnt, Grain and Fellowship offerings were offerings made out of the desire of the people simply to sacrifice what they had to the God that they loved. These sacrifices showed true commitment to God, because they didn't cover sins (The Burnt offering did, but not in the way that sin and guilt offerings did, for the purpose of sin and guilt offerings were to make atonement in situations where you had specifically messed up. The Burnt offering covered sin in general, but also showed dedication and consecration to God.) They were simply sacrifices to Jehovah in order to say "Thank you" or "I am dedicated to You alone" or "Let me be consecrated unto You".

Now, the tie-in is that if we want to be an aroma pleasing to the Lord, then we must lay our lives on the altar in dedication and consecration and thankfulness to Him. It is clear that Christ has stepped in as a substitute who will atone for our sins if we simply trust in Him. The sin and guilt sacrifices cannot be made by us any longer. They have already been made by Christ. Therefore, the only sacrifices we can still make are those of thanksgiving and those of dedication and consecration. Of course, burnt offerings, grain offerings and fellowship offerings by way of animal and grain sacrifices were part of the Old Covenant (fortunately for us). Within the New Covenant, we show our love and gratitude by laying down our lives (figuratively, lol) on the altar to be burnt up by our God, "for our God is a consuming fire." Hebrews 12:29

We must lay our lives down on the altar so that God may consume us and use us for His glory. When we live our lives as a sacrifice of thankfulness and when we consecrate our lives unto God, His glory is made known through our actions and the way we love Him and others. This is how our lives become true offerings unto Him, an aroma that is pleasing to the Lord.

The Time For Maturity is NOW

2009-10-21T18:10:00.000-07:00

Voddie Baucham said something this weekend that convicted me to my very core. He said that the Church is the only place in the world where mediocrity is accepted. If you aren't mediocre in the Church people start telling you that you are supposed to be a preacher or a minister. The reason for this is that they realize when someone is more than mediocre and if the only way that mediocrity can remain as their standard is if they can point to that person and say, "Yeah, he isn't mediocre, but it's okay, because he's a minister." He went on to point out that if a brick layer of thirty years experience came to build your house and admitted to you that he didn't really know what he was doing, but that he was going to do the best that he could and hopefully your house wouldn't fall apart, he would be fired. We would expect a brick layer with that much experience to be an expert. In the Church there are Christians who have been there forever, but they couldn't even tell you who Habakkuk is. I must confess that I have been a Christian for about 12 years and I couldn't tell you who Habakkuk is either. I have decided that for myself this is no longer acceptable. In the real world, when someone has been doing their job for 10 years they are described as a master of that trade. I have been following Jesus for 12 years and I am far from a master in any area of the Christian life. This is unacceptable and maturity is necessary. The time is now.

Aloha

2009-10-08T19:57:00.001-07:00

So, I just wanted to drop in and let everybody know that I'm still alive. I just haven't been able to post lately. Since I started taking seminary classes, my life has not been my own, lol. I'm taking Christian Ethics and Old Testament I right now and they are awesome. But they are time consuming to say the least. I just got done with a very busy month and I've been hoping to get posting again. So maybe I'll have the chance now. Anyway, just wanted to climb out from under my books and say aloha. More to come soon. Shalom.

Russ

Spurring One Another On Towards Godliness

2009-06-30T19:00:00.001-07:00

I was talking to some friends last night about the subject of "weeding people out" and this is something I felt very strongly about for some time. I thought it was always the right thing to do. I thought that those who didn't feel like growing in Christ should be run off. This has changed for me though. I think that Church discipline and the weeding out of some has its place, but I don't think that it is an exact science. The saying goes that you are only as strong as your weakest link. That doesn't mean that whenever a link is weak you get rid of it though, because then your chain doesn't reach the distance that you need it to in order to get the job done. In regards to the Church you can't replace "the link" with another "link" because every person is unique and has a special gift that should be used to glorify the Father. So maybe the weak link just needs to be strengthened. In real life, we could strengthen a link in a chain by soldering extra material onto the link. In Spiritual terms, maybe we haven't poured into our weak links? Maybe we haven't made them feel like we care or opened up enough with them that they would see Christ in us and regain the desire to grow in Him. Now, I believe that the truth should be preached and that Church discipline should be used very wisely, but I don't think that we should just try to run everyone off who isn't as "mature" as we might think we are. I mean, how are we to set a standard anyway? I'm pretty sure that if you sat me down next to Ravi Zacharias and said "Does Russ meet that standard?", I would be gone. Ravi Zacharias is a theological genius and a true man of God. I am young. I don't know even half as much as I like to think I do and I would say that this is true of 99% of people. I have a long way to go. Can we say that every person that isn't perfectly holy should go? No, because we would all be out. The Church is for strengthening the weak. We are to build one another up. There are some that don't have much desire to grow or maybe they are stagnant, but some of these would grow if encouraged and truly loved. These need to be built up in the Lord and if we can build them up and spur them on towards Godliness, we should. I think the danger is, however, that we only see things our way and think that just because people aren't growing in the way that we think that should or aren't responding to the way we are doing things, that there is something wrong with them. We should be diverse in our approaches to reach these. We should interact with them. We should encourage people and love them, just because Jesus wants us to love them. Is there a place for Church discipline? Absolutely. Should we preach the truth at the risk of some leaving because they don't like what they hear? Absolutely. Should we try to weed out everyone that isn't exactly where we want them? In my opinion, no. I guess what I'm trying to say is that there is a middle ground where believers, both weak and strong, can hang out just for the purpose of having fun and loving one another. This is how bonds are formed that lead to spiritual growth in both the weak and the strong. I understand the the truth is put in place to naturally weed out those who need to be weeded out as well as build up those who are in the Lord and Church discipline is in place to remove those who claim to be believers yet live like the lost, but what about new or weak believers? Who will invest in those if we run them all off? What do you think? Should we just run them off or consider that maybe their growth isn't only based on their lack of zeal for the Lord, but also on our lack of desire to try different things to move them towards a zealous walk in the Lord? Thoughts please.

Additional thought: In Corinthians Paul refers to the Corinthians as those called to be holy and as Saints. The Church in Corinth was out of control, but Paul saw it as his purpose to build these Saints who were stuck in sin into followers of Jesus. I believe that this illustrates my thought process more clearly. In 1 Corinthians 3 Paul says this to his family in Christ, Dear brothers and sisters, "When I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in the Christian life. I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready, for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. " I think the important lesson is that he wasn't saying "You aren't ready so I'm going to weed you out of the body." He saw it as his mission to press them on to Godliness even though they were caught up in sinfulness. Jesus came for the sick, not for the healthy. Okay. Please post your thoughts.

2009-05-10T20:20:00.000-07:00

That Guy

Andy Gullahorn

He scoped out the market.

All the women and the kids

with so many distractions

nobody noticed him.

Nobody noticed him.

He had a jacket a size too big

a skullcap on his head

and a couple of homemade bombs.

He duct taped them to his chest.

He taped them to his chest.

God loves that guy.

He followed his heart

to a co-worker's bed.

He could've salvaged his marriage

with kids, but he chose to leave instead.

He chose to leave.

He thought it was love,

but it was just a mirage.

So he sits in his idling car

parked in a closed garage.

Inside a closed garage.

God loves that guy.

Me on the other hand

I can write somebody off

like a last check for a student loan.

I can love when it's convenient,

but it's not always convenient.

It's not always the easy road.

I want to look past the outside

to the well meaning heart

to the good they forgot that they had.

Teach me to love.

Teach me to love like that.

He messed up again.

Wanted to disappear,

but he can't cause he's easy to find.

I see him in the mirror.

God loves that guy.

Teach me to love.

Teach me to love like that.

Just a reminder of how much I have to learn about loving others and how much God loves me. It's a great song. You should check it out. Have a good'en.

Imitation Gospel

2009-04-30T18:05:00.000-07:00

I'm amazed at how secularized our society has become. And it's not just that everyone has stopped believing in God. Many people still claim to believe in God. But it's the mere fact that people think that they can continue living the same way as they always have and still believe in God and be saved. My students say to me, "It's okay to get drunk as long as you ask forgiveness." What?! I don't recall Scripture allowing for this type of attitude. I do remember it responding directly against it, though. It is incredibly crafty, however, the way that Satan can take the Gospel and twist it and do just as much damage. He doesn't have to get rid of the Gospel. It's fine that we know what the Bible says. His goal is simply to pervert the word of God and the Cross. He is able to take the Cross and make is mean that we can simply live however we want to with no regard for God's word. Incredible. A man dies on a Cross. We are saved because a man died on a Cross. And Satan says that the Cross happened so that we could be forgiven and continue to follow Satan. To make things worse, not only do the youth of our society buy into the lies, but so do the parents that raised them to go to church on Sunday morning and Wednesday night.

This points me back to the idea found in Romans 12:1-2. We must truly live a life that is not conformed to the ways of this world. If we are truly following Christ in the freedom that we gained on the Cross and we are living freely away from sin, we can truly show the lost the difference between the true Gospel and imitation Gospel. May we be the followers who refuse to live in the ways of the world that the world would learn to live in God's grace and by the ways of Him.

I'm officially a podcast patron

2009-04-20T18:23:00.000-07:00

My friend Derek was talking this weekend about how he likes to podcast lots of Christian speakers. I was encouraged to do so as well and it's been a pretty huge encouragement to me these past couple of days. I've started podcasting Andy Stanley from North Point Community Church in Atlanta, Georgia and this guy is pretty awesome. His preaching keeps my attention in a rare way. He is interesting as well as a bit humorous and his preaching provokes a lot of thought and learning in my mind. He is currently preaching a sermon series called "Defining Moments" and I was really challenged today as I listened to the 3rd sermon of the 9 part series.

The sermon that I listened to today was entitled "Conflict of Interest" and was centered on the story of the rich young ruler. He left the listener with one main question to ponder- "What is owning me?" Mainly he was referring to what earthly possessions are controlling me, but I couldn't help but think of not only material goods, but also what life situations are owning me? Is my job owning me? Are my interests and activities controlling me? What owns me?

Well, as I've reflected I could probably give you a list of things that own me, things that I surrender to daily, but I was definitely encouraged to evaluate these situations and evaluate what it is about them that allows them to control me. I just wanted to encourage you to take a look at your own heart and the things that own you on a daily basis. What can we do in order to be more and more free to follow Christ fully?

I would also encourage you to take advantage of the technology that we have available at our fingertips. We have more tools for growing in Christ than any other generation has ever had. Check out some podcasts if you get a chance. I think you would be encouraged.

Have a good one.

A Letter from a Birmingham Jail

2009-04-19T21:53:00.000-07:00

A friend has been encouraging me to read "A Letter from a Birmingham Jail" lately and even handed me a hard copy the other day. I read it today in its entirety at High Point Coffee and I was definitely encouraged. Maybe you read my post a couple of times back when I talked about how I struggle to love the Church, but how I must learn to love the Church in spite of its flaws and in spite of my feelings about all of the Church related issues that exist today. As I read this letter that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote so long ago during a very difficult times, I was challenged to love the Church once again. Dr. King writes that he has been disappointed with the church, because white church members were basically relaxing while all of the discrimination against blacks was going on, but even in his frustrations he still proclaims his love for the Church. He says in spite of this injustice that Christians should have been standing up for He still loves the body of Christ and he still has hope. That is incredible love.

If you've never read this letter, I would encourage it. It's actually the first speech or writing of Dr. King's that I have read, but it was definitely challenging and encouraging. At times I definitely felt like I was reading a writing of Paul's.

Anyway, just thought I would stop in and update quickly. Have a happy Monday.

Praise Him with the lyre and harp and organ and guitar rifts

2009-04-15T20:55:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been about two weeks since my last post and a lot is going on right now. I finished up my teacher certification course a couple of weeks ago. I filed my taxes. And I'm not applying for seminary at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. I'm going to do some online classes for a while just to get started. I'm a little tired of waiting and the door finally opened, haha. I feel like I've just been standing outside begging for the door to open. Anyway, exciting times. I'm ready to get on with what I really have wanted to do with my life.

But something has been on my mind lately and that is the big debate over traditional vs. contemporary services. In the past I've had people apologize to me, because I didn't grow up in a Church that sang hymns regularly. I've also been a member of the anti-traditional music movement. But I feel like both sides of the argument have missed a key piece of information: God desires for us to make a joyful noise unto Him. I've heard the different arguments about how hymns are more rich in truth and theology and such or that praise songs are shallow and express fully the goodness and character of God. On the other hand, some say hymns are boring and praise songs are more relevant to current society. Honestly, I feel like some of these arguments are true and some of them are silly.

I feel like some people will say that a worship leader like Chris Tomlin is shallow when you compare his music to hymns. I am honestly a huge fan of Chris Tomlin and if you compare the hymn "How Great Thou Art" with Tomlin's "Indescribable", I'm pretty sure we find the same exact meaning and passion for God in these two songs. Religious radio wore "Indescribable" slam out- fair enough. But I don't think that is a good reason to count a Chris Tomlin out.

What I'm really trying to get at is the fact that we cannot say "This is the way worship music is supposed to be done." As a friend of mine would say "God is dynamic". Indeed He is and worship to God is about making a joyful noise to the Lord and lifting up His name and His truth. I think we should all look deeply into this and base our opinions of what is "good" and "bad" worship music on whether or not the music is leading someone to joyfully exalt the name of Jesus. If it is, it is good. If not, maybe it's not what's good for a certain body of believers. We cannot be divided by petty preferences. We are here to exalt His name and whether we are using the lyre and harp, the organ or the guitar, it's all about what's best for leading us into worship. May we realize that worship is less about music style and more about heart condition.

The Church

2009-04-01T18:20:00.000-07:00

I've been convicted lately. I have been a skeptic of the church for a long time. When I say "the church", I'm mainly referring to the North American church. The gospel of wealth, the politics, the selfishness- It has all frustrated me for a long time. I'm not saying that I'm perfect or anything. I sin and struggle with selfishness and such. I just have always struggled with the fact that the church on the inside looks a lot like the world on the outside. I just never have understood what the deal was with that. I've always wanted the church to be all things to all people. Churches frustrate me when they don't reach out to the needy or when they don't go after the lost (and I'm not talking about simply bringing them to church. I'm talking about loving them for real.) But I recently came across a Lecrae song that really convicted me and encouraged me to view the church differently. I feel like it's written directly to me, lol, because I have been so skeptical for so long. But it's really encouraged me to love the church and be patient with God's people, because they are his people and he loves them dearly. So with no further adieux, here are the lyrics.

The Bride

Lecrae

Hook:
Yeah she may look gritty
When her man come back she gone look so pretty - She the Church
You might see her acting crazy, be patient with her tho cause she still God's baby - She the Church
Before you dis her get to know her, Jesus got a thing fo her and He died just to show her - She the Church
She ain't bricks and buildings
She all of God's people Men women and children - We the church

Verse 1:
She's a building of beings being constructed
Christ is the cornerstone, foundation build on another and you's a goner holmes
She' built on em, supported by him, conformed to him, now she's a body of bodies who transform through him/ A temple that breathes we are the halls,
we are the floor board or more we are the walls
Manifold wisdom of God no longer a mystery
The church pinnacle of our salvific history
One flesh union homie
The Tri-union is glorified through our corporatized communion
Still the present reality is she was born a casualty though she's made alive
She's still affected by depravity
Once lived in sin and enslaved by her lust and
folks catch her slippin and they turn away disgusted
She's a work in progress Christ is the head of her
And He wash her clean with the words that he done said to her
She's already pretty but she's really not dressed and sometimes she look silly but she's far from a mess
Yes, please so don't be dissin cause Jesus done paid grip an
And if you didn't then should caller her Misses. I'm talking bout the church

Verse 2:
Her name is ecclesia meaning the assembly
Bows to the Trinity No other Divinity
A body family and community she is all one/ but on earth you see her in congregational small ones/ a microcosm or a small scale example/ but it is the church even though its just a sample/ Invisible spiritual/ physical visible/ not a brick temple never that simple/ this a not a building/ she is not bricks/ she's a world changer but ain't bout getting rich/ perpetrating fakes cause a lot of folks to hate/ plus her hands get dirty and her feet get scraped/ and sometimes her body parts start acting outta place/ legs tryna be arms/ arms thinking they the face/ but she'll never be replaced with a one man band or a small Taliban with no body in command

Verse 3:
Some don't get it so they hate/ they say she's on a paper chase they say she's really fake/
So they go start a ministry so they can do the work/ but they don't understand how Jesus feel about His church/ and yeah they make disciples/ they got plenty conversions/ they take care of the widows and the orphans they be workin/ But none of them are churchin/ no church structure/ no elders and no discipline/ they have no conductor/ and they so they don't submit/ but quite a few of them baptize/ people how I pray that you'd look at this thing from God's eyes/ take responsibility inside the whole council not just the area where you might have a mouthful/ who should folks submit to/ who will conduct the discipline/ if excommunicated what body will they be missing then/ look at Ephesians 4 where Paul gets practical/ 1st timothy and Titus if you thinking I'm irrational/

Should I stay or should I go?

2009-03-23T19:08:00.000-07:00

I've been hanging out on campus today and found encouragement in an unlikely place. I was hanging out in the Grove reading Scripture and trying to find focus when the wind became a little too cool and forced me into the student union. I've been struggling to focus lately and really needed to take some time to get my focus back. When I came inside I was sitting reading and things just kept getting louder and louder. Finally I decided that I was going to leave, because it just wasn't going to happen. There was no way that I was going to focus under these conditions. As I picked my things up to leave, I heard prayer. The people who were causing the most noise in the whole room were praying. As I walked by I heard them reciting promises of God. It was so encouraged that I am now sitting near them listening to their Bible study. One girl just said that she is promised that if she remains in God, He will do a good work in her. I really needed to hear that and be reminded of His goodness. If I truly seek to be found in Him, I will be found in Him and He will do a good work in me.

I'm just coming off of Spring Break and I am being reminded that it's so easy to slack off when things are easy. When things are tough and I need focus, I go at it with all that I have, but whenever I have it easy, I just kind of let my guard down. I have got to remember this during the easy times. I have got to hold on to Him with all of my strength at all times. When I remain in Him, He will do a good work in me. And He will not let me go. It's His promise. I've just got to hold up my end of the bargain now. Hope this makes sense and that all is well with you. Goo'day.

The Joys of Multiple Personality Disorder

2009-03-13T18:59:00.000-07:00

I want to really understand His love. I've been reading about the unconditional love that He has for us. He loves me just the way I am at this exact moment, sitting here in this little coffee shop. I don't have to change for Him to love me. I don't have to change a thing for Him to love me. I should change things as I discover the need for their change, but even if I didn't, He still loves me. (I will because I want to love Him and know Him better, but you get the picture.) Anyway, I just realized that this isn't a principle that I live by anymore. I know this is true, because of the way that I live around different people. I am transformed a number of times each day as I come into contact with different groups of people. If I accepted His love, I would be comfortable with myself at all times. I don't though. I judge myself based on the opinions of others. I want to only accept His opinion of me so that my life will be consistent. I hate changing who I am just so that somebody would love me. If I cling to His love for me, this shouldn't be an issue, right?

Common Ground

2009-03-11T21:26:00.000-07:00

I haven't written in a while. Honestly, I just didn't have anything to say. I do tonight though. I was just reading a book that my roommate "let" me borrow, lol. Actually, I just took it off the shelf one day and am finally getting around to reading it. (Thanks Mateo) The book is The Wisdom of Tenderness by Brennan Manning. I'm a huge fan of Brennan Manning's. I believe that he is one of the only people out there preaching true grace. I am always taken back by the requirements that are put on people when they go to join any Christian "church". You either have to take certain classes or perform certain rituals. There is always something involved that just makes you wonder "Would Jesus really say 'If you don't...', you can't be a part of my Body."

So what I'm getting at is the idea of sin and grace. One of the obvious points that must be understood in order to understand grace is that we are sinners. I know, right? So painfully obvious a statement, but you wouldn't think so by looking around at people. Sometimes I feel like I'm nearly flying solo when it comes to understanding my sin problem (and I don't say that pridefully either, lol, though that would make for great irony and possibly increase the brilliance of my blog). But really I say it in a place of struggle. It's hard for me, because I feel like when I talk about my struggles with people, their response is not sympathy because they struggle as well, but instead they respond with advice- "Yeah, that's tough. (Insert given opinion as to what I should do.)" It really hurts me, because I feel like I can't connect with them. I just won't to ask people at times why they aren't being real with me. At times I feel like I'm the only sinner and everyone else has gotten it right already. I know it isn't true, but that's how people seem to live. Don't people ever struggle? Don't people ever give in? Is everyone else living in perfection? I feel like it and honestly it makes me feel disconnected from a lot of people. I can seriously say that since I've been in Oxford I may have had a few conversations with other Christians that were real and in which I felt connected. It's a painful place to be. I want to know people and who they truly are. I don't just want to know people and their goofiness. I want to be connected. I want to know that other people struggle with things in life like I struggle with things in life. There is no reason to be ashamed when we realize that we are all sinful and forgiven. I just feel like that is what the Body of Christ should be like. I feel like it should be us, sharing our struggles, in hopes that we would be freed from our sins. I feel like I'm missing out on this experience though. Anybody else feelin' me?

Fire and Faith

2009-02-21T17:49:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting at High Point Coffee in Oxford and I just downloaded a Kristian Stanfill EP on iTunes. It's not his newest one, but it's pretty good. Anyway, I was just listening and I happened to glance over towards the fire that they have doing in here and my thoughts were "I wonder if my life was really burnt up like gold in fire, how much would be left?" Honestly, I don't really know, but I know that I want my life to be made up of things that will last. If something is a part of my life that wouldn't last, I need to change it. If there is a part of my life that isn't full of Him, it isn't worth having around. When I go, I want to be one who can take everything that I am with me. What I mean to say is that I want my life to be focused on and saturated with the things that will last past this life time. I want to be truly consumed by His goodness.

I have been challenged so much this week by an example of this that I saw this past weekend. I love to feel the move of Christ in my life. I love to feel challenged to move forward towards Him more and more. I haven't felt that much of this in my life recently, which is definitely my fault. I haven't been committed like I should be. Fortunately that is changing.

Last Friday night I was blessed and challenged in huge ways during a time of mourning with a friend over the loss of a loved one. I don't know that I have ever seen faith in anyone in my life like I have seen in this little woman. She has faced several really huge challenges in her life, but she has never wavered in her commitment to Christ during these times. She has followed Him so faithfully during tough, tough circumstances that I can't imagine. As I sat across from her last Friday and during all of this week, I have been thinking about her and all that she has been through. She has had tremendous faith. And has been an incredible example of faith for myself and others. I hope that when hard times come my way, that I would be able to respond with such godliness. I believe that she lives a life that is truly content in her Savior and a life that truly demonstrates the words "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." We must have faith that in these times He is at work, He will satisfy and He is truly our all.

2009-02-18T18:18:00.000-08:00

This song is the antonym of me.

This song is a sincere prayer for myself.

I need to be changed by Him so badly.

This song is what life is all about.

I want my life to matter.

Hearts of Servants

Shane and Shane

Jesus You are.

Jesus You were.

Jesus You will always be

a perfect servant to us,

a perfect servant to death,

even death on a cross.

Give us a picture of Your face.

Show us the measure of Your grace.

Reveal the love of the Father.

Put within us tenderness.

Release from us all selfishness

that we'll consider them better.

We are Yours.

Give us hearts of servants.

Wrong way

2009-02-08T22:40:00.000-08:00

It's so hard to watch Christian brothers and sisters fall away from Christ. I've seen it happen many times. Of course, I have my sins that I battle with every day, so I'm not saying that I'm any better. I have even fallen into sins in the past and stayed a while. Fortunately during those times Christ rescued me and freed me from those chains. But the hardest is when a friend turns and sprints as quickly as possible in the other direction. It's like they are drifting a little, but then they just turn and follow the current instead of fighting the upstream battle. I've seen it happen many times. It's been incredible to watch Christ rescue some of His from their inevitable destruction. But at times I just don't know what to do. Some times I feel compelled reach out and try to pull some back. Sometimes I don't know what I should do. I hate feeling compelled to reach out though. It's always such a risk. Will this person hate me for being concerned for them, because they don't see anything wrong with what they are doing? Will they love me, because they knew what they were doing was wrong, but just needed someone to reach out to them? Will they be indifferent and tell me that they are doing well and act like nothing is wrong and we are still cool? It's a big risk and you never know what the outcome will be. Anyway, I just pray that my friends will return to Christ and see that He truly is satisfaction and that if we give ourselves to Satan just a little, he'll take as much as he wants. I've just got to remember that prayer works and that He is a faithful and powerful God. Anyway, just thought I would throw that out there. Hope your weekend was great.

Entering the controversy...

2009-02-07T10:47:00.000-08:00

I can't help but comment on the issue of abortion. I don't like to be involved in controversy, but abortion is an issue I can't shake. I read this week of a failed abortion in which the doctor didn't show up to perform the abortion. The girl ended up going into labor after being injected with all sorts of drugs. She delivered the baby and a man (not the doctor) clipped the cord and put the baby in a biohazard bag and threw it away. The baby was born alive and they threw it away. Now this just gives me a sick feeling in my stomach, but then I thought, what's the difference? The country is shocked by this story, but what's the difference between killing this baby who was breathing and could have survived outside of the womb and killing the baby inside the womb? It's all the same. The baby is living and active whether inside or outside the womb. So why are people suddenly so concerned when the baby is killed outside of the womb when they aren't concerned over a baby being killed inside the womb? This is so contradictory and bothersome and heartbreaking. Let the United States wake up from this insanity.

One more thing before I go. Just something to think about.

Why is it that when we cut our body and slit our wrists and do all sorts of harmful things, people call it insanity and put you in a padded room, but when we kill parts of our bodies on the inside it's called abortion and right to privacy? Seems a little contradictory to me. How bout you?

Let Thy Kingdom Come

2009-01-24T10:13:00.000-08:00

So I was listening to a couple of songs this morning, one by Jon Foreman called "Your Love Is Strong" and one by Matt Christenot called "This Generation (Jesus Come)". In both of these songs there is mention of the Kingdom of God coming and I began to think about what that means. And I wonder if we ever take that personally. I know that I don't usually take it very seriously and I haven't ever really thought about it that much, because I figured I knew all of its implications. However, it occurred to me just a few minutes ago that I really need to start praying that prayer. And I don't need to just pray that His Kingdom would come in means of salvation of the world, but that it would come in my heart. So many times I don't allow His Kingdom to rule in my heart. I do it my own way. I follow my own heart. His Kingdom and His Lordship should rule my heart and all that I do should be governed by that. If I don't allow His Kingdom to first come in my heart, how in the world do I expect it to come to those around me? We are here to be used by Him to reach others for Him and we must be consecrated fully unto Him that He may use us to truly bring His Kingdom. Can you imagine what would happen if the members of the body truly began to allow Him to bring His Kingdom into their lives? My guess is that His Kingdom would come throughout the earth. What a thought.

P.S. I definitely suggest looking into the music above. Especially the songs mentioned.

Happy Saturday.

He is ALL that I need.

2009-01-23T19:07:00.000-08:00

I just re-realized that God is all that I need. So often I allow so many other things to deceive me into thinking that I need them, but I don't. I just need Jesus and His forgiveness. It's that simple and that's really all I had to say.

Happy Friday.

I hate being a pillar of salt.

2009-01-12T17:23:00.000-08:00

Sin is so despicable. God hates it. He hates it so much. The thing that is a struggle for me though is making myself hate it. I do hate it. I really do. I just seem to forget that sometimes and find out after I mess up again that I really do still hate it, lol. I feel so elementary when I think about my sin struggles. By the age of 24, you basically come to know which sins you REALLY struggle with and which ones you tend to struggle with if you get a little lax. The truth is though that God hates all sin, "big and small" (if there's such a thing). He hates our sins. Whether it's a struggle with self esteem issues or alcohol or idolatry or any of the other specific sins listed in the Bible. And far too often we don't evaluate ourselves fairly. We don't take the time to recognize all of our sins. We must though and we must confront them because Christ desires absolute purity from us. He is serious, too. I read the story a little while ago of Sodom and Gomorra. Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt because she looked back at her old way of life. Far too often I am running towards God just as she was and I turn around and kind of peek over my shoulder at my old ways. And in a way, at that moment I feel about like she did. She suddenly became useless to God, because she looked back at her old ways as she ran towards Him. We should take this example with us daily. As we run towards God, will we look into His eyes and heart or will we turn back and lose sight of where He is taking us. Our lives are way too short and way too full of opportunity to be acting like a pillar of salt. We should be running desperately into the arms of Christ, longing for all that He has planned for us, unafraid of missing out on the misery that lies at the root of momentary satisfaction.

Happy Monday and Happy New Year since I forgot to say so before.

Christmas + Easter = The full story

2008-12-28T20:17:00.000-08:00

I was convicted this Christmas of how often we seem to separate the Christmas story and the Easter story. People (myself included) seem to divide them into two different stories. They aren't though and they are actually both part of the same story. We seem to think that the little baby that was born in Bethlehem wasn't the same man who died on a cross a few pages later. It is for this reason that I took time this Christmas to actually focus on the Easter story. It made for a much more powerful Christmas experience in which I focused on the fact that Jesus was in fact both the baby and the crucified.

Something else that I am currently realizing is how often many Christians (myself included) tend to treat the sacrifice of Jesus as if it was nothing. Jesus died so that we would no longer be held guilty of our sins. He died so that we would always be able to accept His forgiveness of our sins throughout this journey called life. If we are holding onto guilt or pride in refusal of His forgiveness, we are not only idolizing that guilt, sin or pride, but we are saying no to the very thing that He gave His very life to offer us: forgiveness. I would encourage you today, as well as myself, to accept this great gift with arms wide open. Jesus is glorified in us as we accept His forgiveness and press on towards the perfection for which He has called us. This is what Christmas is all about. This is the only gift that we can receive that will truly last.

Happy Sabbath.

Feliz Navidad

2008-12-25T19:16:00.000-08:00

So, I don't know if people really read this thing or not, but I just wanted to say Merry Christmas to you if you do. I hope your Christmas day is wonderful and that you get plenty to eat. May we remember why Jesus came to earth.

Grace Grace Grace Grace Grace Grace Grace

2008-12-21T17:20:00.000-08:00

I just watched the most incredible sermon that I've ever heard. It wasn't incredible because the speaker was great (even though he is) and it wasn't incredible because it had all of the elements of a great talk. It was great because it was simply the truth about what it means to be forgiven. Forgiveness is forgiveness. It's not complicated and difficult. It's not some strange seance. It's accepting the forgiveness that Christ died to give you. And as I watched "Fruitcake & Ice Cream" by Louie Giglio and as he told the story about a young girl who went from lost as lost can be to saved to in Heaven with Jesus, I realized that the friend of her's who led her to Christ did something incredible. She loved her.

Isn't it weird how we as the body of Christ treat others who don't have a relationship with Christ with such contempt. We hate those who don't know him. We judge them. We protest them and their desires. We boycott them. How bizarre? How do we expect those who don't know Grace to know Grace when we haven't shown them Grace? We as believers have experienced Grace, but they haven't. A lot of times those in the Christian world and the Church are so anti-sinners. We hate on the things they do. We don't accept them. I'm not saying we should accept their way of life, but we shouldn't judge them. We should offer them Grace and sympathize with their lostness and their tragedies and just love them how they are. Loving those who are lost and showing them Grace instead of looking down on them and hating them is the way to loving them. May we learn to show Grace to one another as followers of Christ and may we take this Grace to the lost that we have contact with each day.

I definitely recommend checking out the Passion Talk Series. They will blow your mind and challenge your heart. The widget is above, but you can pick them up at the 268store.com or at your local Christian bookstore, but whatever you do, just pick them up, lol.

Ah! Not the deep end!

2008-12-20T18:45:00.000-08:00

On the coat-tail of my last post, I would like to share what are probably my favorite song lyrics ever. They are very simple, but very powerful if we stop to think about them. They come from Chris Tomlin's "Indescribable" and simply say "You see the depths of our hearts and you love us the same. You are amazing, God." To me that is just incredible. When I think about what must dwell down in the depths of my heart, it just blows my mind how much He loves us. It reminds me of when I was a kid.

I was never a good swimmer and honestly I'm not a great one now. I mean, I can move around and float and all, but if you asked me to swim from one end of a swimming pool to the other, I would struggle to make it. Anyway, when I was a kid I remember that I was at swimming lessons and the lady that taught me was so cruel. I was scared to go under so you know what she did? She took me out into the water and said "1...2....3" and then she straight up dunked me under the water. I'm serious. I'm still upset about that, lol.

Anyway, I was naturally scared of water and I would get into the kiddy pool a lot, but I was just scared to get near the deep end. It was a big step for me to move out into the shallow end, because I was afraid I would get swept out into the deep end or somethin'. Anyway, this reminds me of my heart in that if people could get into the shallow end, there would be plenty of reasons there for them not to love me...but the deep end is a whole 'nother story. If they got into the deep end of my heart, they would probably run away and never talk to me again. And I think this is true of all of us when we consider our deepest struggles. We are dirty in our very basic sinful nature (the shallow end), but the depths of our heart (the deep end) is somethin' way past dirty. I mean, we all have our times when we do a really good or really bad job of being like Christ. But even in our good times, we are sinful enough that if He turned His back on us, He would have every right to do so. But for Him to see the deepest, darkest parts of who we are and continue to love us- that is something incredible and we should not take it for granted. He sees the depths of our hearts and truly loves us the same. If I feel like I'm taking Him for granted that is enough to turn my heart back to Him. He sees everything we do and continues to pour His incredible love on us and I will spend my life in appreciation of this.

Let me be reconciled to my God.

2008-12-19T19:27:00.000-08:00

One thing that I'm learning as I am growing in my personal prayer life is that prayer time with Jesus isn't always a "warm, fuzzy feeling" as some would call it. There are times when I kneel to pray and I don't suddenly feel like the world is perfect and all that it was meant to be. There are times when I do feel completely satisfied in Him when I kneel in prayer, but then there are times when I can tell that something is off. Sometimes when I kneel in prayer the thing that I take away from it is the revelation of personal sins that I must do away with, because they are keeping me from the ultimate intimacy with Him that I so desperately need and desire. These times, however, are just as beautiful as all the other times when I pray. These are times when I am able to literally experience sanctification and reconciliation in Christ. These are incredible times when I realize that I am not all that I am meant to be, but that He is making me more pure and dependent upon Him. Reconciliation with Christ is an incredible experience and I am learning to appreciate it just as much as I appreciate times of tremendous growth, but the key is consistency. I must be in a habit of following Him with all of my heart and on a daily basis. I don't want to miss out on a bit of what He is doing in my life.

Away with half-heartedness.

2008-12-14T21:16:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's true. Two posts in one day. I am a maniac.

As I said a couple of posts ago, I can't quit reading Ephesians lately. I read the 4th and 5th chapters typically on a daily basis. As I read a few moments ago, I was challenged by Paul's call for us to live completely differently than we lived before we were followers of Jesus. I wonder, if we take a good look at our lives what exactly we would find that is not different than the way the world around us is living. This call is a serious one. It's not your typical Southern Baptist "I found Jesus and now I'm going to heaven." (No offense to anyone SBC, because I have grown up in the SBC churches and still attend one.) But it is a call to more than just "accepting Jesus". It is a call to turn completely from your sins. People talk about that a lot, but it doesn't happen much. I think most of us would say that there are still things in our lives are look a lot like the world. I would say from time to time I open my life up and allow things to creep (and at times just walk) into my life that are not the things of God. They stick around for a while and then I wake up and say "Wow. That shouldn't be there and I didn't even realize it was." or "Why did I allow this to enter my life so blatantly?" We get a little lax from time to time regarding to our spiritual purity. But still the call is for us to come and follow Jesus and be holy as he is holy. So we must search within ourselves and acknowledge the things that must change. Would people look at my life and want to follow Jesus because of it? Unfortunately on a normal day the answer would often be no. I am praying that I would realize these empty ways that I have interjected into my life and turn from them completely and find all of my satisfaction in Him.

It doesn't get much better than this...

2008-12-14T15:56:00.000-08:00

Is there anything better than sitting with a fellow believer on a gloomy day (or any day at all really) and talking about the wonderful things that God is doing in each other's lives? I think not. It does away with the gloominess of it all and unites the Spirit of each believer. This unity is what being the church is all about. It's a beautiful picture of what Christ intended.

Happy Sabbath.

One.

2008-12-11T19:05:00.000-08:00

I can't quit reading Ephesians 4 and 5. These two chapters have so much to say about how we are to live as Christians in an unbelieving world and the common theme that runs through is that we have this supernatural power within us that sets us apart from the world. It's so cool to see the ways that the love and power of Christ in our lives is to set us apart from the world. I love these verses: "We are all one body, we have the same Spirit, and we have all been called to the same glorious future. There is only one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and there is only one God and Father, who is over us all and in us all and living through us all." This really just blows my mind. Isn't this such an incredible vision of the unity that exists in us all? If you are reading this post right now and you are a follower of Christ that means that me and you have the same Spirit. The same Christ is dwelling within the two of us and that is a powerful connection. The same God and Father is in us and working in both of us to do His will. The question that I have though for all of us is are we taking advantage of this? I feel like "fellowship" and "community" are the catch phrases lately. We hear about them all the time how we need each other and all of these things. I love the idea, but the actualization of it is kind of hard to me. I think this is because often times I hear it, but then I don't see it portrayed in actions by members of the Church. It's really kind of a difficult thing to deal with. If we need each other we should act like it and if we don't we shouldn't. I mean, I'm not trying to down anyone at all. I'm just saying that this Spirit is within us and it should keep us so close to one another, but so often the people who have this Spirit dwelling within us don't want anything to do with each other because of petty differences. But if we could learn to look past the end of our noses and see each other and what a benefit we could be to one another, we could truly make a difference in this world. And I believe that this is the biggest problem in our world today- those called by Christ living lives of selfishness and denying their need for one another. I need you and you need me so let's learn to be an encouragement to one another, whether we have much in common or not. May I learn to live closely with those who contain the same Spirit as I.

Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places...

2008-12-01T20:17:00.000-08:00

We are so quick to forget the power of Christ sometimes that we forget what it means to truly pray. For some time now I believe that I have lost sight of what it means to beg for the souls of the lost. I see it everyday. People need Jesus. They are trying to fill that need for Christ will all sorts of emptiness. It never fills the void and so they always end up digging deeper into whatever poison they have chosen for themselves and so simple things like alcohol become alcoholism. Anger becomes abuse or murder. Loneliness inevitably leads to sinful relationships or depression. People are searching for satisfaction in whatever they can get their hands on and I have forgotten the need to beg that Christ would save them. Prayer is real. It's not some sort of seance or ritual that we just do because that's what our religion does. Prayer is real and true communication with Christ and it's not just for the purpose of getting what we want out of life. It's for the purpose of Christ hearing our cries for others. It's for the purpose of Christ changing our hearts so that we would know Him more in order that we could impact others for the glory of His name, and it's for the furthering of His Kingdom. The truth is that we so often let prayer become about us. It is about us in a way, but when all of the fog is cleaned from the window prayer is about us seeing Christ more clearly, it's about His glory and it's about us being changed for His glory. Everything exists for His glory, and we exist to do the will of Him. May we commit ourselves to praying for those around us who are so lost and to act accordingly when called to do so. May we be found faithful to pray for those who so desperately need to know our Savior.

Prayer is our most intimate connection to Christ because it is our way of communication with Him. It's not only about us talking to Him, but it's about Him talking to us. Prayer is just as much about sitting quietly and waiting for Him to move in our hearts as it is about us making our requests. It is our time to draw near to Him as He draws us closer to His heart and His desire for our lives. There is a causation that I have found to be true in my life: Our prayer life determines the strength of our relationship with Christ. It's a fact. If our prayer lives revolve around only our requests for ourselves, our lives will revolve around only our wants and desires. If our prayer lives include our consistent prayers for others, our lives will revolve around others. If our prayer lives are stagnant, our relationship with Christ will be stagnant. We can probably all see this to be true in our own lives. May we commit to be people of prayer. May we lift ourselves and those around us up to the throne of Christ. May we be found only in Him.

Before I go, let me once again plug the myspace music page for my friend Derek Carson. This is good stuff and you should definitely check it out.

Happy December.

Oblivion.

2008-11-29T13:16:00.000-08:00

Well, it's no secret that this world is going a little crazy. The recent terrorist engagement in India is a clear sign of this. But the story that has most caught my attention recently happened yesterday morning at Wal-Mart of all places. People were in such a hurry to buy sale items that they trampled and killed a Wal-Mart employee. Has our country's obsession with instant gratification ever been so clear as in this moment? Not only that, but how far have we fallen from an understanding of what the holiday season is actually about. And all of this happens with little more than a sarcastic look of disbelief from the general public. Will we ever learn? I mean, the situation in India has been so overlooked that you would think from the response of the general American public that nothing had really happened. These happenings are significantly important and ridiculously saddening. When will we turn from our sins and pray that God would heal our land and our world? I am aware that these happenings are only exactly what the Bible predicted would happen, but there must be a godly response, a broken heart for the things that are happening in our world today. May we realize the weight of all of these things and turn to our God in search of refuge and help during these times. May we pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ that we would rise to the occasion of loving others and may we pray for our lost fellow humans that salvation would come to this country and this world. It's our only hope. No politician or army can fix these problems. It is only Our God who can move in the hearts of the lost and saved alike. Let's pray.

Vulnerable

2008-11-25T15:03:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in a while and today I'm just having trouble putting my words in text. But I would like to say that if you like good acoustic music, you should check out this friend of mine. He is definitely talented. He gave me a copy of the cd that has the songs on the forementioned website. I haven't stopped listening to it and in about a week and a half. Good stuff.

Anyway, what I really wanted to talk about I'm having a bit of difficulty explaining. Here's my best shot though. Basically, it seems to me that Christians of the day are depending on emotions way too much. People feel led to do certain things and to not do certain things based on emotion. People respond to life's hard times with emotion and there's nothing wrong with that, but the problem comes when they depend on the emotions instead of on Christ. Christ even showed emotion in the hard times, but He also trusted His father in Heave to get Him through those hard times. We must trust Christ in all situations even the good and the bad. The second part of all of this is that we must be real. We must trust Christ, but He gave us our brothers and sisters for a reason. If we can't be real in showing our emotions of happiness as well as sadness with our brothers and sisters, I would suggest that we may not be trusting in Christ as we should. That's why we are called the body of Christ. We are supposed to be there to celebrate the good times together as well as to support each other in the hard times. When we just keep to ourselves we are unable to act in one accord. How can I help you if I don't know what you're going through? Some people tend to talk about the hard times or the good times in a very ambiguous way such that people know they have hard times or good times, but never know when or what they consist of and there is no way to pray for a person who is this closed off to others. We should have no fear of being honest and open with each other. This requires though that we spend time together and get to know one another. This life as brothers and sisters in Christ is not easy and it may require that we are more vulnerable than we feel comfortable being, but it is why we were put here together and we must support one another in this journey. Trust in Christ, be real and take a chance.

I hope this made a little sense.

Living For Today

2008-11-13T18:16:00.000-08:00

I am noticing daily that it is hard for people to be happy where they are in life. In my personal life I'm always living for the weekend or the next holiday, because I can't wait to have some time away from work. I mean can any of the other education folks out there give an amen to the fact that Thanksgiving break is almost here? I know I can. I'm worn out and my immunity system could use some recharging. But honestly, at times it just gets hard to be happy where I am now. I was thinking about this recently as I was listening to a Sara Groves song driving to work. There are many female musicians that I enjoy listening to, but Sara Groves has got it right. And I was listening to a song of hers that she wrote about the relentlessness of hope...okay, I'll say it...the audacity of hope. The song is about her experiences in other countries where slavery, both sexual and labor related, are rampant. It's a great song about people who are willing to go the distance to see these people removed from their slavery as well as the lengths that these people will actually go to in order to be removed from their slavery. There a couple of different lines that really hit me on this particular day while I was driving to work. Here are the main ones:

In the man there's a vision.

In the vision there's a road.

It's the road to his freedom.

In the man is a plan.

In the plan is his future.

And the future's for his child and he won't slow down.

So, the story behind the first lines is pretty clear, but the story behind the second set of lines is pretty incredible. So, according to a good friend who heard the story live, there was a man who had been enslaved in a foreign country along with his children. One day walking down the road he encountered someone from a group that was dedicated to freeing those enslaved. The person he encountered told him that his children could be freed, but that it could possibly cost him his life. The man agreed on the basis that he was willing to do anything that he could to earn the freedom of his children. Now, that is not only powerful from a human perspective, but even more so when you consider the Biblical parallels.

Now, as I was driving down the road listening to these words honestly I began to cry. I began to cry because I began to realize that there are people in the world at this very moment who are enslaved, beaten, raped, sold for sex at the price of pennies (literally), etc. Some people are even forced to work for pennies and at times for nothing in order to produce products that are sold in the United States. I could not even imagine how ridiculous I felt in that moment. How in the world can I not stop and thank Jesus for things like getting to go to work or getting to endure hard times when this is the state of the world that we live in. We are so blessed to go to class or work, to get up early when we don't really feel like it, because so many people around the world don't have any of the freedoms that we have. We should be so thankful for our circumstances, because they will never be as bad as those living under these circumstances.

I'm not trying to hate on anybody or guilt anybody at all. I know that this life is rough. All I'm saying is that there is joy in the hard times because we have been given so much. May we always remember the life and freedom that we have been blessed with and may we beg for the freedom of these around the world. And may we remember that to those whom much is given, much is required. We're so blessed. Goo'day.

Rest...Sigh....

2008-11-11T20:41:00.000-08:00

This world is wearing me out. More and more day by day I am beginning to realize that while there are some times in life that may seem better than others, life on earth really isn't all that much to be desired. A few minutes ago as I finished reading my Bible, I laid my head down for just a moment and woke up like 15 minutes later. This life is so tired. I'm so tired of it all. I really don't know how people do it. I can't imagine raising kids like this. I can hardly take care of myself, lol. Anyway, all of this busyness just magnifies for me how incredibly good heaven is going to be for those of us who follow Christ. Can you imagine a place where you are never tired? When we get to heaven, we will be completely satisfied in every way. I can't wait for that. As I realize these things, I also begin to realize that it is in the times when I slow down and am quiet and simply admire God's creation that I truly begin to feel at peace. Maybe that's because in a small way I am able to leave this world for a few moments and experience a little taste of what heaven will be like. This world is so busy and it's for that reason that I believe that it's so important to get away to the quiet and simply admire what God has created. Take some time to just take in the quiet. Sometimes I simply go to the Grove to sit and think. I don't take music or anything like that-only a journal, my Bible, myself and maybe a book. It's amazing how many things you learn about Christ in those times. As I spend this time in quiet meditation I have begun to realize that every single thing in all of creation truly is telling the story of His redemption of our souls. I'll tell you about that one later though...

Get some rest. Some real rest.

Stay on The Tree.

2008-11-08T16:43:00.000-08:00

Fall time in the Grove.

Fall is an incredible time and daily I am reminded of how in every single way creation is explaining the God of our creation. There isn't a single way that I can think of that this world isn't telling of God's glory and salvation. From the inability of humans to create anything that will last to the incredible strength of the sun, this earth is revealing that God is good and we are sinful and in need of Him. As I'm sitting in the Grove, I'm surrounded by leaves on the ground as well as leaves falling from the trees and I can't help but think of my shortcomings compared to the glory and perfection found in Christ. I am utterly sinful. I see myself as one the leaves falling from the huge and well founded oak trees. I am found in Christ. My identity is found only in Him. I still knowingly and blown from time to time from my only source of life. I am blown away so easily from Him and I float so effortlessly down to the ground in whichever direction the wind desires to take me. Still He picks me up and places me back on the branch and allows me to continue growing. Unfortunately too many leaves fall to the ground and never find their way back to the tree. They are left on the ground only to exist until they are gone. I pray that we would be found only in Christ. May we remain on the branch as we walk through life from day to day. May we only exist in Him and resist the gravity of this world pulling on us daily to return to the ground, convincing us daily that there is life down below the tree. May we realize that all life is found in Christ and without Him we are just another autumn leaf.

I must add, however, that I still find fall to be the most beautiful time of the year. :)

A prayer for the both of us.

2008-11-03T17:54:00.000-08:00

Lifehouse and Poor Rich Folk played over and over again in my head this morning. I decided to turn some on as I drove to work and I know it sounds cliche, but something jumped out at me from the Lifehouse song "Hanging By A Moment". Yes, I know it was overplayed about 7 years ago, but still a good song in my opinion. As I sang along, the song arrived at the bridge and it's funny, but these words hit me in a way that they never had before.

There's nothing else to lose.

There's nothing else to find.

There's nothing in the world

that can change my mind.

There is nothing else.

As I sang those words, I realized that these words aren't always true in my life and that's just the honest truth. Do you ever feel like you are searching for that "something else"? I think we all have those days when we know we should be satisfied in Christ, but we are still searching for something beyond that as if to say "Yeah. Jesus is all I need, but isn't there something else?". If you've never experienced that, surely you've experienced this one. You're having one of those "Eh..." days. Something might have gone wrong between a friend and yourself and you can't seem to let go of the situation. Or maybe you are searching for satisfaction in someone that you know you shouldn't (i.e. anyone who isn't Jesus). Or maybe it's even just a material possession. You know you need to let go, but you just can't bring yourself to that point. The big picture is right in the lyrics. And I have to ask myself the question "Is there anything in the world that can lead me to believe that I need something besides Christ or even in addition to Christ?" And sometimes the answer is yes. Satan knows just how to tweak circumstances to make us believe that Christ isn't all that we need. And sometimes we give in to this temptation. I pray though that I as well as you would be able to say that there is nothing in the world that you still need to find in order to be satisfied. I pray that we would be able to say that we have given everything up for the pearl of great price. I pray that we would be able to say that there is nothing in the world that can change our minds, because we have decided whole heartedly that we have all we could ever need or want in Christ. May we find our worth in Him. As Dr. Luke once said "For in Him we live and move and exist." There is nothing else.

Goo'day!

Peace, Non-negotiables and a Waiting Room

2008-11-02T11:20:00.000-08:00

Peace.

So many people want it and so many people have different ideas about how to bring about peace. My question though, to those who consider themselves to be followers of Christ, is "Do you really think there will ever be peace? Do you really think that war will bring about peace? Do you really think that being peaceful will bring about peace? Has either one worked thus far?" The point is, we have tried both war and peace. Ghandi led a large group of Asian-Indians in a march for peace. A peaceful demonstration has still yet to bring peace to India. The United States of America has often times waged war against terrorists. We waged war against Vietnam and countless others. Is the United States now living in peace? I don't think so. And what about peace within our country? Is there peace here? No. We are verbally at war with one another. Candidates fight with each other like kindergardeners and these same candidates are going to bring peace to our country? How does that logically make any sense? The point that I am trying to make is that there, according to Scripture, will never be peace until Christ returns and wipes the planet clean. We who believe in Christ will be taken into the epitome of peacefulness and rest. Those who don't believe in and accept Christ will be taken into the epitome of fear, pain and restlessness. And I'm not trying to use fear tactics at all. I'm just trying to say that no peace will come until that day and we should not expect for a single man to take the presidency and create what only Christ can create. That's madness. So put your trust in Christ; vote, but don't trust in the election or the elected officials. Christ is the only one that we can place our trust in.

Non-negotiable.

I just got done reading Ron Block's blog on The Rabbit Room website. I love reading his blog, because I feel like he thinks like me- here's the truth, like it or not. Ron was talking about non-negotiables and how there are some things that just cannot face negotiation. The Bible lays out the exact truth and we can't argue about it or rationalize our actions. We must align ourselves with these simple truths to the dot. We cannot take some and ignore others. We cannot let these truths become fuzzy in our lives. I was really encouraged to re-examine truth in my life and whether or not I had negotiated any truths from Scripture. We must live according to God's commandments and truths. This non-negotiable requires that all of the truths of Scripture become non-negotiable in our lives. I would definitely encourage you to take a look at Ron's blog as well as the rest of the blogs on The Rabbit Room website.

Waiting Room.

Sometimes I feel like my life is contained in a waiting room. Each task, person or project is placed in a waiting room and they are simply waiting to receive my attention. Lately, I feel like Christ has been in my waiting room and He has been waiting and waiting and I've been putting Him off until the end of the day and giving Him my leftovers. He must be the first thing to receive attention in my life each day and if that is not happening, I am not living my life in an acceptable manner. He is all that I have and I must give Him top priority in my life. It's time for a change for me. Other things must take the back burner to Him from now on and this is a non-negotiable.

Happy Sabbath. Happy resting.

Hot Chai Tea, 12 oz. and a white macadamia nut cookie.

2008-11-01T17:36:00.000-07:00

I found truth in an unlikely place today...the side of my coffee cup. It is as follows...

Be a role model-let your actions reflect what you profess. Honesty in imperative. Money, accomplishments, and status- all such things do not measure up to being believed and respected by those close to you. Behaving contrary to your beliefs in the service of others who have different fundamental values doesn't serve either you or them very well. Smiling is the best medicine for mankind day in in and day out. Everybody wins. Dr. Ellis. Coffee.

How true. I don't know who Dr. Ellis is, but way to go doc. Additionally, I know that the best medicine for mankind is not smiling, but Jesus Christ, yet smiling is still one way of conveying our Jesus to people in need of Him as well as to our fellow brothers and sisters. But I found that little thought to be encouraging and thought provoking and I hope that it is for you as well. Happy Saturday and Happy November.

P.S. I'm really starting to feel the Christmas mood swell up inside myself. Every place I go now is playing piano-y, Sinatra-ish music and I'm loving it.

Change we can believe in.

2008-10-24T17:38:00.000-07:00

Evenin' to ya. I was just browsing around, as is my afternoon tradition after I arrive from work, when I came across a link to watch Bill Clinton's rally. The rally was being held in Arkansas in support of Barack Obama, which doesn't make too much sense to me, because of the fact that the spread in Arkansas is somewhere between 9 and 15 pts in favor of John McCain. You'd think he would be hitting up Pennsylvania or some other swing state. Anyway, I decided to click on the link and take a gander and when I did Clinton had yet to take the stage. Yet, there was this man there telling the people all sorts of things and making all sorts of partisan comments and at one point after he said something in regards to "Change We Can Believe In", the people began to chant "Yes, We Can! Yes, We Can!" Now maybe it's just me, but it just leaves me going "What are you talking about?" And the question from myself to both candidates and parties and both groups of constituents is "What change are ya'll talking about?" Apparently Sarah Palin is going to come in and change D.C. and this country because she is a "home town girl" or something. And John McCain is going to change everything by...um...Let me get back to you on that one. The point is simple. Neither John McCain or Barack Obama is going to change anything. They are going to follow the same exact paths that both of their parties have been following for the last, well, some odd number of years. They don't want to change anything. They just want power. And what are they going to change even if they did want change? Can they lower teen pregnancies? murders? theft? hate? If you are a Christian, my question to you is "What do you really think these men are going to change?" And what do you believe in? And do your beliefs have some sort of scriptural backing or are they simply based on what you like? You see, we can rationalize things away all we want, but they keep coming back. When is the last time someone said to a "Christian" president, "What scriptural reference can you give to show me why I should support abortion?" What do you think they would say? "Why do you think God's Word encourages gay marriage?" Presidential response: Uh...whu...huh? (Note: I'm talking about asking the president what their scriptural reasoning is, not yelling and protesting because we think it's wrong. People say all the time "Abortion ir murder" "Protect the unborn", but I'm talking about actually saying to a "Christian" president "What is your basis for this coming from a Biblical standpoint.) The fact of the matter is, people rationalize things that have no Scriptural basis (ex: Privacy laws protect women's abortion rights. What does that mean anyway? If that's true, shouldn't privacy rights allow murder as long as it's done in privacy?) If a president claims to be a Follower of Jesus Christ, there should be Biblical reasons for their stances on all issues. But until a president is elected that lives out the words of Christ, I don't have any reason to believe in any sort of "change" that they offer. I will vote for anyone who will stand up to the killing of innocent, unborn children, but as far as seeing a change in the landscape of our country, we can only truly expect change to come when we humble ourselves, confess our sins and turn back to the God. You see, change we can believe in lies only in our God and in our hearts and will only come as we humble ourselves, quit expecting others to make it happen and pray that He would come and change us and our nation. Am I saying not to vote? Of course not. But as you cast your vote, more importantly, pray that God would change our hearts as believers, that He would save the hearts of our lost, fellow United States citizens and that He would turn our country to the worship of His holy name. If we are faithful, He will do this and that is change we can believe in!

I want to be one of them.

2008-10-22T17:36:00.001-07:00

I was introduced by a very close friend of mine a couple of years ago to a singer named Sara Groves. She is a Christian musician, but contrary to many Christian singers, her music is not typical. It's not the same old, ankle-deep Christian themes that have monopolized Christian music for the past few years. Don't get me wrong. There is some good Christian music out there. People like my roommate tend to put out some pretty thought provoking, encouraging Christian music. But there is some Christian music out there that doesn't even approach the depths of the goodness of God. I'm not saying this to hate on that music at all. I'm just saying that Christian music has become as much about what's popular as secular music is. This leads to little depth and lots concern with pleasing the listener instead of teaching new truths about Christ and pushing others into a deeper relationship with Him. Anyway, the point was really to say that I downloaded this Sara Groves song the other night and I thought there was some pretty cool truth in what Sara said. We would probably all recognize the song "When the Saints Go Marching In". You know the old tune..."When the saints go marching in, I want to be in that number." Well, she has taken those words and tweaked them a bit. Her version of the song goes like this: "When the Saints go marching in, I want to be one of them." I really thought that pegged what we are called to be as followers of Christ. We are called to strive for perfection in Christ. Many have traditionally propped up these old-school, Biblical saints as others that we would watch as spectators as they marched in on that day when Christ returns for His children. I really like this new idea though, because the current state of the Church isn't to strive for saint-dom. But instead, they would rather watch others do the good deeds. Not only this, but Biblically we are called to be saints. By definition, a saint is "someone of great holiness" and this is exactly what Christ calls us to, when in I Peter we read "Be holy because I am holy". Therefore, since we are called to this holiness, let us press on toward the goal for which we have been called by Christ Jesus, because I know that when the saints go marching in, I want to be one of them. Good day!

And the end result is not pretty.

2008-10-17T23:51:00.000-07:00

Sin rises up in us like a good case of indigestion. We should know it's coming, but we forget every time and we're left in misery. It's amazing, this sin- how it that it always knows exactly where to hit at exactly the right time. I know that it's possible to overcome, but it's so tiring to constantly fight our sins off, isn't it? I'm not making excuses at all. All I'm saying is that I've got to learn to depend on Christ at all times. Sometimes for just a moment I'll fall victim to my sinful nature and the end result is not pretty. We tend to think that our sins only hurt and effect us, but that's never the case. If we are sinning, we are not only hurting ourselves, but we are also hurting those around us, because we cannot effectively minister them in our sinfulness. This is really unacceptable. We must fight off our sins completely and learn to live a life of holiness, because we truly are the only flickers of light burning in this cold, dark and dirty world. If we can't learn to live in holiness, we can't truly learn to love others. This leaves us spiritually paralyzed, because our true purpose in this life is to love God and to love others. If we are sinning, we are unable to meet either of our life purposes. And what is there past that?

I used to hate speed limits, but now I love them.

2008-10-15T18:22:00.000-07:00

It's pretty incredible how quickly life can get crazy and complicated. I've noticed since I started my new job that my life has been pretty fast paced and, at times, non-stop. I'm learning, though, that it is so necessary for me to take advantage of the quiet times. I've noticed that my life has become so busy that even when things aren't busy I almost have to make them busy, because I'm so used to it. Yesterday when I was driving from Hattiesburg to Oxford, I listened to four hours of talk radio. I realized when I finally arrived that my mind was overloaded. I put too much in and didn't allow for enough to be processed. But being still and quiet is so important in this busy, fast-paced country. People over load their lives with too much stuff constantly and never take the time to be still and quiet. Have you ever been driving like 75 mph on the highway (or maybe faster for some of you?) and suddenly just though, "Man, I've got to slow down". And it's really got nothing to do with the fact that you are driving over the speed limit. It's just that we go to school or work all day and then we get home and have other things we have to do. We just go and go and go until we are completely worn out and until our minds are completely exhausted. I used to hate speed limits, but now I love them. I've started driving under the speed limit, not only because it saves gas $$$, but because it gives me time to process. I've learned though that these times are so powerful, because as I sit in silence and think, I am able to process the events of the day. And as I process the events of the day, my mind slows down incredibly and it is only then that I am able to most efficiently focus on Christ. I truly believe that busyness is the tool that Satan is most actively using in this country to maintain mediocrity in the lives of Christians. If many Christians would just slow down and enjoy the quiet moments, we would find ourselves more focused on Christ and more peaceful in the everyday chaos of this world. Resting in Christ is truly a necessity for the Christian who is desperately longing for satisfaction in our Savior.

Out of my hands.

2008-10-06T15:30:00.001-07:00

Well, the election is here and the only good piece of news that I can find is that it's out of my hands. It's interesting that so many people tend to view that as such a bad thing. Everybody is so scared. So many rumors fly about John McCain and Barack Obama. Have you heard? Apparently John McCain will die within a year if elected and Barack Obama is going to bomb the U.S. of A. It's quite interesting. Even more interesting than that is that the U.S. is now a socialist country. At least that's what the Libertarians are telling us these days. But doesn't anybody realize that it's out of our hands? I've been told that it's my duty to vote and all, so I guess I'm gonna, but really, it's out of our hands. Whoever wins, wins. God is the only one who has any control over all of this. In my opinion the only chance we have at impacting the future of our country is to pray that God would remove us from our sin, work to remove ourselves from our sins and try to live out the gospel in front of those we come into contact with each day. I mean, I may be a little off, but I kind of figure that all of that is a lot more powerful than McCain or Obama, but I could just be a little naive...I've been thought to be in the past.

In the long run.

2008-10-05T20:35:00.000-07:00

People are very creative at justifying their actions. This has born a lot of ambiguity as to what is and what isn't right. As far as our actions as Christians go, there is a way to tell whether or not something is right. It isn't just about being free in Christ. It's about making an impact for Him and the only way in which to do this is self examination. If our actions aren't benefitting His kingdom, ourselves or others then they probably aren't glorifying Him. And I mean, are they really and truly beneficial? We can create ways to make them sound beneficial, but I think if we really seek we will either find that we are covering up our selfishness by creating a fog and calling it beneficial or we are simply and truthfully working for His glory. He knows if we are going for His glory or our own, so we might as well quit trying to hide and get to work on things that will really matter in the end. Shalom for now.

Both because and despite.

2008-10-04T11:44:00.001-07:00

I'm sitting in my favorite coffee shop in Oxford and noticed a phrase painted on the wall. I've always noticed it, but today I noticed it a little differently. It says "You don't love because~you love despite." I always liked that saying until today. Isn't it true that we love both because of and despite of? If we only love despite of who a person is, nobody would really love or fall in love. We love both because of who the person is and despite their flaws. We could all love only despite who a person is, but who would want to do that?