Hello readers. Welcome to my heart. Let's begin.
If you all haven't noticed yet, I like to probe. I like to press and wonder. So, let me just probe and provoke a little bit.
I'm learning that I'm on this quest, a journey with Jesus and I've reached a new patch of ground without any footprints to follow anymore. And I'm exhausted with always have to trailblaze my own path, but I forget the main point of the journey is that it's with Jesus. Is that not enough? Lol, that's the point of this blog.
What is my true goal? To enjoy the journey or to reach the destination? I've been reading the book of Ecclesiastes and...let's just say King Solomon can sound a little nutty. He almost sounds suicidal, with his exclamations and slippery slope fallacies showing up consistently throughout the book. I even had a discussion with a friend of mine and she agreed that the book sounds like a serious joke. But let us not forget that 2 Timothy 3:16 says that all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting
and training in righteousness. So even though King Solomon, the writer of Ecclesiastes sounds a little bit cuckoo, the scripture is God-breathed and is useful for us.
With that being understood, I feel like underneath the surface of King Solomon's words, his deep frustration is in the realization that nothing in this world is worth the fuss we make about it. I've carried on countless conversations with people about their lives and watched people beat themselves up trying to figure out the unknown. But let me speak from my own heart. I've noticed how I can be so up and down and beat myself up about the unknown. I can be on such a great spiritual high, nothing can touch me, Jesus is awesome and King, Lord of all, crying in worship, blogging, and then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I'm back with the worrying about my future and my future wife and bills and money and school and whatever. And this thought hit me,
Why?
Why does my faith fluctuate? Why does our commitment to Jesus fluctuate? Hey, we are happy to be on His team when things are going well with us, but when it gets a little challenging, we're quick to run back to our old ways of worrying and wrestling within ourselves.
I was listening to my coworker talk about her misery here in Auburn and how she wants to move to a big city and have her life start and this negative thought came into my brain, "You'll be just as miserable there as you are here."
But is it not true? Nothing really brings us joy like we expect it to. I've watched people in my family want so badly new furniture for their homes, or the new iPad, or new cars, and you can see the hope and excitement in their faces and then when they get it, they're so excited and thrilled about life and have a great purpose and perspective on life, and then a few weeks later, not even a long time, but a few weeks later, they're back realizing the same struggles exist even with the new furniture or when whatever they hoped in proved that it was just a pacifier. This truth hit me the other day. I'm so hoping in a new season of my life and things will be better, but is that really true? Because just like I have worries now, like right now, I couldn't see these worries last year. So every season of your life has worries and discomforts, so maybe we should stop looking for seasons to make us better, or pacifiers to soften the hunger.
Pacifiers. These are the temporary things we find and seek to satisfy our real issues. A pacifier is given to a child to make him or her think he or she is actually eating or it's used to ease and comfort his or her crying-----truth is reader, we are all hungry for something! We're all crying out about something!
Aren't we?
Are you not hungry for something? You want your life to change so bad its killing you isn't it? It's driving you insane, you're crying out desperately, Please Jesus, where's my husband? Where's my wife? Why am I so broke? Why God why!? And, here is what cracks me up about us, is that we have no idea how to change it.
I've had countless conversations with people, and you can even give them like a slide show presentation of what to do next and they still won't do it. The truth of the matter for pastors is that so many of the people listening to him will not heed his words. I've seen time and time again every semester, Pastor Chris, (my pastor at Church of the Highlands) tries to emphasize small groups as of great importance just so people can leave the church that day and never even think twice about the message--or joining the Dream Team only for people just to ignore the truth of the call of getting plugged into the local church.
What is this all about? I wonder have we gotten so used to the pacifier and the benefits of sucking on it that we've forgotten how starved we really are.
There's something all of us are missing. I think this quote from C.S. Lewis sums it up.
“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” --C.S. Lewis.
Stop being content with the pacifiers. Let's eat from the fullness of God.
To be continued.......
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Carry Your Name
But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. Acts 9:15
Hello readers. Welcome to my heart. Let's begin.
First of all, this story cracks me up. God has always been interesting in who He chooses to use. Like in this story in Acts, God chose a murderer of people proclaiming His name to proclaim His name. Hahaha. That would be a person known to be killing Americans is now the president of the United States. But, that's not the focal of this blog. Here's my thought for this blog.
How would our lives change if we walked around wearing a T-Shirt that said, "I am a follower of Jesus Christ"?
What kind of convictions would we carry around with us if we wore a shirt like that? Where would we go? How would we talk? How would we react? What would we say?
During 21 Days of Prayer at my church, I've had a lot of different issues to sort through and pray about. The most recent and a continual prayer has been me asking the Lord to help me with sharing my faith more. So one morning, I was praying about this specific topic and the church was playing Christy Nockles "Carry Your Name", and I felt the Holy Spirit speak to me and say, "Son, just carry My name". And this rushing illustration exploded in my mind.
Son, carry My name. Since your sins are hidden in Me, (Colossians 3:3) let your identity be Me. Wear Me on your chest, in public and in private. Around your friends and strangers. Believers and non-believers. BE ME. REFLECT ME. You have died to yourself, (Galatians 2:20) so don't carry your identity, carry Mine.
I had this thought. I've consistently heard from a lot of Christians that they're idea of evangelism is better when a relationship is formed first. Now, there is truth to this, but it's not the only way to evangelize. It cannot be the only way we evangelize. And I'm slowly beginning to notice that this relationship thing can be a justified sellout response. Here's why I feel that way.
I think we take pride in our own ability to love someone. We can love a stranger and share the love of myself, but refrain from sharing the love of Christ?
Who are you?
Are you not just a wicked sinner with an inherited rebellious sinful nature that always and consistently pulls you back towards your own selfish motives and agenda? With your corrupted heart and sinful ways and desires, you can love someone? Is your love not conditional? This stranger hasn't offended you yet, so yeah, it's easy to love a stranger. It's easy to love a homeless person, because a part of you knows that they will be grateful for your kind gesture. But what if they're not? Where is your love then? Will it still be there?
I don't doubt that you can love someone on your own ability, I'm just saying that your love is no where compared to God's love. Because most of the time your love is very conditionally. Let that one person pull out in front of you on the highway, where is that "love for people?"
All I'm asking mainly is do we actually carry Jesus's name everywhere with us? Would it be a little bit more convicting if you had a shirt that confessed for you who you were? There was no way to hide your faith, could you carry Jesus's name? And I'm not saying run around and throw Jesus in people's faces, because scriptures point to the us loving our neighbors as ourselves.
So, my thoughts, and I haven't fully figured this thing out yet, is that we must figure out this balance of loving people with the love God gave us. And recognizing that it's God given gift to us, so us hiding it could possibly be us holding back something God wants to do in the persons life---because again our love is very conditionally.
This is the only way a husband is able to love his wife like Christ loves the church, (Ephesians 5:25). He is unable to do it on his own strength, so he will have to rely on Christ to love his wife through him. So I believe if we tapped into this recognition or dependency on God to love for us, we could do it how He is calling for us to.
So, let's carry Jesus's name, not ours. Let's love how Christ loves, by letting Him love through us. Let's reflect Him, present Him to others, not ourselves.
Hello readers. Welcome to my heart. Let's begin.
First of all, this story cracks me up. God has always been interesting in who He chooses to use. Like in this story in Acts, God chose a murderer of people proclaiming His name to proclaim His name. Hahaha. That would be a person known to be killing Americans is now the president of the United States. But, that's not the focal of this blog. Here's my thought for this blog.
How would our lives change if we walked around wearing a T-Shirt that said, "I am a follower of Jesus Christ"?
What kind of convictions would we carry around with us if we wore a shirt like that? Where would we go? How would we talk? How would we react? What would we say?
During 21 Days of Prayer at my church, I've had a lot of different issues to sort through and pray about. The most recent and a continual prayer has been me asking the Lord to help me with sharing my faith more. So one morning, I was praying about this specific topic and the church was playing Christy Nockles "Carry Your Name", and I felt the Holy Spirit speak to me and say, "Son, just carry My name". And this rushing illustration exploded in my mind.
Son, carry My name. Since your sins are hidden in Me, (Colossians 3:3) let your identity be Me. Wear Me on your chest, in public and in private. Around your friends and strangers. Believers and non-believers. BE ME. REFLECT ME. You have died to yourself, (Galatians 2:20) so don't carry your identity, carry Mine.
I had this thought. I've consistently heard from a lot of Christians that they're idea of evangelism is better when a relationship is formed first. Now, there is truth to this, but it's not the only way to evangelize. It cannot be the only way we evangelize. And I'm slowly beginning to notice that this relationship thing can be a justified sellout response. Here's why I feel that way.
I think we take pride in our own ability to love someone. We can love a stranger and share the love of myself, but refrain from sharing the love of Christ?
Who are you?
Are you not just a wicked sinner with an inherited rebellious sinful nature that always and consistently pulls you back towards your own selfish motives and agenda? With your corrupted heart and sinful ways and desires, you can love someone? Is your love not conditional? This stranger hasn't offended you yet, so yeah, it's easy to love a stranger. It's easy to love a homeless person, because a part of you knows that they will be grateful for your kind gesture. But what if they're not? Where is your love then? Will it still be there?
I don't doubt that you can love someone on your own ability, I'm just saying that your love is no where compared to God's love. Because most of the time your love is very conditionally. Let that one person pull out in front of you on the highway, where is that "love for people?"
All I'm asking mainly is do we actually carry Jesus's name everywhere with us? Would it be a little bit more convicting if you had a shirt that confessed for you who you were? There was no way to hide your faith, could you carry Jesus's name? And I'm not saying run around and throw Jesus in people's faces, because scriptures point to the us loving our neighbors as ourselves.
So, my thoughts, and I haven't fully figured this thing out yet, is that we must figure out this balance of loving people with the love God gave us. And recognizing that it's God given gift to us, so us hiding it could possibly be us holding back something God wants to do in the persons life---because again our love is very conditionally.
This is the only way a husband is able to love his wife like Christ loves the church, (Ephesians 5:25). He is unable to do it on his own strength, so he will have to rely on Christ to love his wife through him. So I believe if we tapped into this recognition or dependency on God to love for us, we could do it how He is calling for us to.
So, let's carry Jesus's name, not ours. Let's love how Christ loves, by letting Him love through us. Let's reflect Him, present Him to others, not ourselves.
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Just Be A Man
Hello readers. Welcome to my heart. Let's begin.
Male insecurity---DUM dum dummm-- I will say is possibly one of the deadliest issues men have to deal with. This problem is consistently seen throughout all the motives of men. If you've read my Male Dilemma blog, I've somewhat touched on this subject. But this blog will be from a different angle.
God's been dealing with my heart lately on the question, What am I really after? In my pursuit in growing as a leader at my church and as a man, I've been asking myself what am I really after? To answer this, I've had to really weigh my heart to be sure I am pursuing godliness and holiness for the sake of possessing it, and not for the sake of popularity and influence in the church. This is why, I believe that the new age pastor has become the new star quarterback in high school. Let me explain.
So, since I've been in the "ministry world", I've noticed this common pursuit of people wanting to be pastors, or they're wanting to be the main guy speaking on stage or have this great influence, but my question is starting to be this, "Do people really know what they're asking for?"
What I fear is happening is that the pastor is becoming a coveted position in the church. Men are seeing these guys with great popularity and influence, and they want it. It's a "honorable" pursuit, because instead of wanting to be the star football player, we want to be a pastor and change the world--so we say. But deep down we're only looking for our own glory----all because of a male insecurities.
Here's the dilemma. Men are still looking for their worth in their popularity and influence rather than in their Creator. My worth should not be attached to my role at Church of the Highlands, but instead to the fact that I am a son of the living God. Honestly.... to that alone. And it burdens me when I see men finding their worth in their jobs, in their talents, in their roles on their football teams---- because all of those things are fleeting. We shouldn't be finding our identities in fleeting things. Do we ever build things on quick sand? Or do we prefer to build on solid rock? Can I sum this thing up?
A lot of men look at guys like John MacArthur, or John Piper, Mark Driscoll, Matt Chandler, Chris Hodges, Steven Furtick, or whoever we idolize in the Christian world, and we want to be like them. But I guarantee you that many of them will not want to do what it's taking to be guys like them. Like no one is willing to study how these guys study. Timeless hours of devotion and dedication to the scriptures. I can sum up this entire blog in this one phrase,
Don't try to be like men of God, BE men of God. Men, let's stop coveting leaders and be leaders. You don't have to have the influence of these men to feel important. Know that you're a a son of a Holy God. If you don't understand the weight of that, I beg you to begin to read your word and I pray that the Holy Spirit begins to reveal to you what your Father is saying to you.
As a leader in my church, I'll admit it feels good to be considered that. It can easily stroke my ego from time to time. But when the behind the scenes reality hits me, the men that are in it for the right reasons are discovered. When the purifying fire begins to burn away those strokes of the ego----in times like when I'm stressed out when 20 extra people shows up for Motion Night unannounced, or the times when I have to go into battle for the students, or the times when I have to address an angry parent, or the times when I have to make an announcement that is bound to cause hysteria------when all the glory falls away, does the man stand? I promise you, in those moments, my ego is not being stroked.
Guys. Please hear me. Let's be willing to do what it takes to be these leaders. I'm not doubting your calling to be a pastor or whatever. All I'm saying is be in it for the right reasons. Let's become these men of influence. It's a great thing to want the influence, but BE the man of God in the influence. It's a great thing to want the popularity, but know that once you get it, your walk is no longer just about you, it's about whoever you've impressed with your words of encouragement or the message you've preached. When you walk up on that stage that you so desperately want to be on, know that the people listening to you is counting on you to be real about what you're saying.
Before I spoke at our college ministry this past spring, my good friend Jonathan said this statement to me. "You do know that once you get up on that stage, you have the influence of 600+ people. It's no longer just the 25 students you've been pouring into, but now, it changes. And it changes immediately."
And what was shocking about that statement was that I hadn't even thought about it. I was so excited to preach that I didn't think of what happens in the hearts of everyone listening in the audience.
So, men, what I'm saying. If you want the popularity, BE ready for the influence. I remember hearing a rapper being blamed of being a reasons in the decay of the urban culture, and his response was, "I didn't start rapping to become anybody's role model." Well sir, you settled for the half truth of wanting to be that glorified rapper. You wanted the glory of being a rapper, but you didn't want the responsibility of the influence. Men, don't want the glory of wanting to be like a man of God and don't want the responsibility of the influence. LET'S BE MEN OF GOD, and take responsibility of the influence and change the world.
Just BE a man.
Oh, and a side note. Men, you were divinely given great influence by the design order set in place by God. So...might as well take the responsibility.
So yeah, this isn't even optional.
Male insecurity---DUM dum dummm-- I will say is possibly one of the deadliest issues men have to deal with. This problem is consistently seen throughout all the motives of men. If you've read my Male Dilemma blog, I've somewhat touched on this subject. But this blog will be from a different angle.
God's been dealing with my heart lately on the question, What am I really after? In my pursuit in growing as a leader at my church and as a man, I've been asking myself what am I really after? To answer this, I've had to really weigh my heart to be sure I am pursuing godliness and holiness for the sake of possessing it, and not for the sake of popularity and influence in the church. This is why, I believe that the new age pastor has become the new star quarterback in high school. Let me explain.
So, since I've been in the "ministry world", I've noticed this common pursuit of people wanting to be pastors, or they're wanting to be the main guy speaking on stage or have this great influence, but my question is starting to be this, "Do people really know what they're asking for?"
What I fear is happening is that the pastor is becoming a coveted position in the church. Men are seeing these guys with great popularity and influence, and they want it. It's a "honorable" pursuit, because instead of wanting to be the star football player, we want to be a pastor and change the world--so we say. But deep down we're only looking for our own glory----all because of a male insecurities.
Here's the dilemma. Men are still looking for their worth in their popularity and influence rather than in their Creator. My worth should not be attached to my role at Church of the Highlands, but instead to the fact that I am a son of the living God. Honestly.... to that alone. And it burdens me when I see men finding their worth in their jobs, in their talents, in their roles on their football teams---- because all of those things are fleeting. We shouldn't be finding our identities in fleeting things. Do we ever build things on quick sand? Or do we prefer to build on solid rock? Can I sum this thing up?
A lot of men look at guys like John MacArthur, or John Piper, Mark Driscoll, Matt Chandler, Chris Hodges, Steven Furtick, or whoever we idolize in the Christian world, and we want to be like them. But I guarantee you that many of them will not want to do what it's taking to be guys like them. Like no one is willing to study how these guys study. Timeless hours of devotion and dedication to the scriptures. I can sum up this entire blog in this one phrase,
Don't try to be like men of God, BE men of God. Men, let's stop coveting leaders and be leaders. You don't have to have the influence of these men to feel important. Know that you're a a son of a Holy God. If you don't understand the weight of that, I beg you to begin to read your word and I pray that the Holy Spirit begins to reveal to you what your Father is saying to you.
As a leader in my church, I'll admit it feels good to be considered that. It can easily stroke my ego from time to time. But when the behind the scenes reality hits me, the men that are in it for the right reasons are discovered. When the purifying fire begins to burn away those strokes of the ego----in times like when I'm stressed out when 20 extra people shows up for Motion Night unannounced, or the times when I have to go into battle for the students, or the times when I have to address an angry parent, or the times when I have to make an announcement that is bound to cause hysteria------when all the glory falls away, does the man stand? I promise you, in those moments, my ego is not being stroked.
Guys. Please hear me. Let's be willing to do what it takes to be these leaders. I'm not doubting your calling to be a pastor or whatever. All I'm saying is be in it for the right reasons. Let's become these men of influence. It's a great thing to want the influence, but BE the man of God in the influence. It's a great thing to want the popularity, but know that once you get it, your walk is no longer just about you, it's about whoever you've impressed with your words of encouragement or the message you've preached. When you walk up on that stage that you so desperately want to be on, know that the people listening to you is counting on you to be real about what you're saying.
Before I spoke at our college ministry this past spring, my good friend Jonathan said this statement to me. "You do know that once you get up on that stage, you have the influence of 600+ people. It's no longer just the 25 students you've been pouring into, but now, it changes. And it changes immediately."
And what was shocking about that statement was that I hadn't even thought about it. I was so excited to preach that I didn't think of what happens in the hearts of everyone listening in the audience.
So, men, what I'm saying. If you want the popularity, BE ready for the influence. I remember hearing a rapper being blamed of being a reasons in the decay of the urban culture, and his response was, "I didn't start rapping to become anybody's role model." Well sir, you settled for the half truth of wanting to be that glorified rapper. You wanted the glory of being a rapper, but you didn't want the responsibility of the influence. Men, don't want the glory of wanting to be like a man of God and don't want the responsibility of the influence. LET'S BE MEN OF GOD, and take responsibility of the influence and change the world.
Just BE a man.
Oh, and a side note. Men, you were divinely given great influence by the design order set in place by God. So...might as well take the responsibility.
So yeah, this isn't even optional.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Why Women Say No To Modesty?
Hello readers. Welcome to my heart. Let's begin.
Haha. I love having this talk with women. It's so controversial. So edgy. So.....entertaining to watch them deny truth---almost as if I were the one that was asking women to dress modestly.
This is why I laugh.
Getting mad at the messenger has never changed the standard. But however, ladies, don't fret. This blog isn't really about me explaining why I think you all say no to modesty----but I do know why you do. Want to know how I know? Because I'm human. And because I'm a man with a sinful heart who desires his comfort and his own way over God's. So ladies, I'll be explaining that. I'll leave you to compare afterwards.
So, as men, God is calling us to do a lot of things that culturally are not asked of men. Culture laughs at incompetent men on TV sitcoms. The lack of fathers being present to raise their families is not a dominating sight anymore. It's easy for a man to demand a divorce from his wife. It's become so easy for us to satisfy ourselves sexually. A cultural definition of success is found in how much we've accumulated, not in our ability to lead. Our worth is being found in our jobs, not in the identity of being sons of God. The world worships men of greatness, which is being defined by how high you can jump or how fast you run or how well you can catch a football or what kind of car you drive, how much money you have-----------cultural greatness.
So, culturally, and the majority of men around us are finding their values and planting their lives and pursuits in these areas and God is asking us to go against the grain? God is asking us to be different from all the other?
So God, you mean to tell me that even though our culture laughs and mocks and dishonors authority, you want us to lead in our families and in our churches? So God, you mean to tell me that men all over the world are seen as jokes for being a father, but you want me to actually love and care for my children? To provide more than financially but also spiritually and emotionally? So God, you mean to tell me that even though my wife is driving me crazy, you want me to love her how you loved the church? To love and serve her? To forgive and die for her? Even though I know other guys who easily got out of their marriages and are extremely happy? You mean to tell me that you'd rather me flee sexual immorality, even though pornography and brothels and hookers are right in front of me, and so easily accessible, and can easily satisfy my sexual "needs". Even though I know tons of guys doing it? So God, you mean to tell me that I should pursue biblical manhood, even though it is not praised at all in our culture? A football player can walk into our church and he's awed and amazed at, and what I’m trying to do is not even praised and mentioned? And you want me to pursue that? You want me to pursue being faithful to your Word and ignore the words of the culture? God, are you not seeing that all of your standards are against what the world is telling me I should be?
And God says, “Yes My Son. Be holy, because I am holy”. 1 Peter 1:16
Let me say this, I am not writing this blog to plead with women to focus on modesty because we can't control ourselves. The truth of the matter is, women can walk around naked and God will still hold us to the standard of honoring them and this one, “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matt. 5:28". But what I am more so doing is calling for the hearts of women to repent and turn to God's standard of modesty. There's beauty attached to modesty. Again, not on a worldly standard, but of a godly standard. And I'll even admit this, it's taken me a few years to have God open my eyes to the beauty of His standard for women. Just like many of us, I was trained and programmed that beauty was a tight body and a pretty face. Up until I gained a few friends who have a beautiful attention to modesty, and it took me interacting with them and seeing this amazing glow that comes from them when God first let me see it. Up until that time, a woman dressed in tight pants and a low cut shirt was still attractive, and now, a woman with a sweet attention to modesty, I honor and praise as much as I can. Because what I see from a woman with this focus, she's speaking loudly to me this phrase,
"Brother, be holy, for your Father is holy."
Thanks for your encouragement friends.
I feel the need to say this. Don’t run out and be legalistic about this. Always remember this, disobedience to God exposes heart issues. He’s desiring your heart for Him more than your obedience.
Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. John 14:23
So, why do women say no to modesty?
Haha. I love having this talk with women. It's so controversial. So edgy. So.....entertaining to watch them deny truth---almost as if I were the one that was asking women to dress modestly.
This is why I laugh.
Getting mad at the messenger has never changed the standard. But however, ladies, don't fret. This blog isn't really about me explaining why I think you all say no to modesty----but I do know why you do. Want to know how I know? Because I'm human. And because I'm a man with a sinful heart who desires his comfort and his own way over God's. So ladies, I'll be explaining that. I'll leave you to compare afterwards.
So, as men, God is calling us to do a lot of things that culturally are not asked of men. Culture laughs at incompetent men on TV sitcoms. The lack of fathers being present to raise their families is not a dominating sight anymore. It's easy for a man to demand a divorce from his wife. It's become so easy for us to satisfy ourselves sexually. A cultural definition of success is found in how much we've accumulated, not in our ability to lead. Our worth is being found in our jobs, not in the identity of being sons of God. The world worships men of greatness, which is being defined by how high you can jump or how fast you run or how well you can catch a football or what kind of car you drive, how much money you have-----------cultural greatness.
So, culturally, and the majority of men around us are finding their values and planting their lives and pursuits in these areas and God is asking us to go against the grain? God is asking us to be different from all the other?
So God, you mean to tell me that even though our culture laughs and mocks and dishonors authority, you want us to lead in our families and in our churches? So God, you mean to tell me that men all over the world are seen as jokes for being a father, but you want me to actually love and care for my children? To provide more than financially but also spiritually and emotionally? So God, you mean to tell me that even though my wife is driving me crazy, you want me to love her how you loved the church? To love and serve her? To forgive and die for her? Even though I know other guys who easily got out of their marriages and are extremely happy? You mean to tell me that you'd rather me flee sexual immorality, even though pornography and brothels and hookers are right in front of me, and so easily accessible, and can easily satisfy my sexual "needs". Even though I know tons of guys doing it? So God, you mean to tell me that I should pursue biblical manhood, even though it is not praised at all in our culture? A football player can walk into our church and he's awed and amazed at, and what I’m trying to do is not even praised and mentioned? And you want me to pursue that? You want me to pursue being faithful to your Word and ignore the words of the culture? God, are you not seeing that all of your standards are against what the world is telling me I should be?
And God says, “Yes My Son. Be holy, because I am holy”. 1 Peter 1:16
Let me say this, I am not writing this blog to plead with women to focus on modesty because we can't control ourselves. The truth of the matter is, women can walk around naked and God will still hold us to the standard of honoring them and this one, “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matt. 5:28". But what I am more so doing is calling for the hearts of women to repent and turn to God's standard of modesty. There's beauty attached to modesty. Again, not on a worldly standard, but of a godly standard. And I'll even admit this, it's taken me a few years to have God open my eyes to the beauty of His standard for women. Just like many of us, I was trained and programmed that beauty was a tight body and a pretty face. Up until I gained a few friends who have a beautiful attention to modesty, and it took me interacting with them and seeing this amazing glow that comes from them when God first let me see it. Up until that time, a woman dressed in tight pants and a low cut shirt was still attractive, and now, a woman with a sweet attention to modesty, I honor and praise as much as I can. Because what I see from a woman with this focus, she's speaking loudly to me this phrase,
"Brother, be holy, for your Father is holy."
Thanks for your encouragement friends.
I feel the need to say this. Don’t run out and be legalistic about this. Always remember this, disobedience to God exposes heart issues. He’s desiring your heart for Him more than your obedience.
Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. John 14:23
So, why do women say no to modesty?
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
There's Still Jesus
Hello readers. Welcome to my heart. Let's begin.
Since becoming a campus youth leader and being concerned about the youth at our church as a whole, I've quickly learned something----- there's no way I can be everything for everybody.
I've heard pastors and listened to sermons and heard people who have critically bashed church leaders of large congregations, claiming that they're unable to properly and effectively pastor everyone in their big church. And now, with the vantage point I have now, I pretty much chuckle at the criticism because sadly, I've found it hard to pastor a little over just 30 students. For example, I could have to address a text from a student asking about the balance of living in freedom and willingly and fearfully submitting to God, a student opening up about parental issues, a student dealing with depression, a student dealing with boy problems, a student dealing with family problems, also while being responsible to communicate vision to new leaders, continue to serve current leaders, dream up new vision, implement new changes, prepare material, respond to emails, meet parents, problem resolutions, work full time, my own devotional, my own family problems, my own relational baggage, studying scripture, growing in my walk.........
Whew....
Can we all agree that ALL these things deserves 100% attention? All these things deserve 100% intentionality and effort in pursuing and is it possible for one person to do?
Now, if the inadequacy of this being done consistently and well of a man is on himself, I will glady accept that. When appointed the position I reminded God time and time again that I couldn't get it done, and His grace beautifully and continues to remind me that I can not do it without His assistance and reverent power and grace anyway. So I quickly remind myself time and time again that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has empowered me enough only by itself, nothing within myself but of what's been given to me because of it, so all of this is able to be done because Jesus is overall the head of the church. So my focus is to continue to build ALL and EVERYTHING on Jesus so that when my human abilities fails myself and the students, there's still Jesus.
Notice I said, when I fail them----- there's still Jesus.
When I fail, there's still Jesus. When we fail, there's still Jesus.
I love my church, Church of the Highlands, because they put such a focus on small groups. VERY risky methodology. It's risky because you're basically putting the health of the people God is going to hold you accountable for into their own hands, and asking them to be the church. You're asking them to be pastors for one another. The person that's dealing with deep theological questions needs someone to walk through it with him, to dig and study with him. The person dealing with depression needs consistent love and attention, a friend, a best friend. The person dealing with family issues needs a new family, a breath of fresh air from people who treat them right and love them unconditionally. The person dealing with relational issues needs accountability-----all these things ONE MAN cannot do for everybody.
So the people must become the church. The people become each others pastors. And strangely, that's what I see in the early church in Acts is people spreading and sharing the gospel. Not just showing up to listen to a pastor speak, but the gospel becomes an active part of the lives of the people in the church. So just as the pastor proclaims the gospel, so should we with each other. And even when small groups and our friends fail us----
There's still Jesus.
Since becoming a campus youth leader and being concerned about the youth at our church as a whole, I've quickly learned something----- there's no way I can be everything for everybody.
I've heard pastors and listened to sermons and heard people who have critically bashed church leaders of large congregations, claiming that they're unable to properly and effectively pastor everyone in their big church. And now, with the vantage point I have now, I pretty much chuckle at the criticism because sadly, I've found it hard to pastor a little over just 30 students. For example, I could have to address a text from a student asking about the balance of living in freedom and willingly and fearfully submitting to God, a student opening up about parental issues, a student dealing with depression, a student dealing with boy problems, a student dealing with family problems, also while being responsible to communicate vision to new leaders, continue to serve current leaders, dream up new vision, implement new changes, prepare material, respond to emails, meet parents, problem resolutions, work full time, my own devotional, my own family problems, my own relational baggage, studying scripture, growing in my walk.........
Whew....
Can we all agree that ALL these things deserves 100% attention? All these things deserve 100% intentionality and effort in pursuing and is it possible for one person to do?
Now, if the inadequacy of this being done consistently and well of a man is on himself, I will glady accept that. When appointed the position I reminded God time and time again that I couldn't get it done, and His grace beautifully and continues to remind me that I can not do it without His assistance and reverent power and grace anyway. So I quickly remind myself time and time again that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has empowered me enough only by itself, nothing within myself but of what's been given to me because of it, so all of this is able to be done because Jesus is overall the head of the church. So my focus is to continue to build ALL and EVERYTHING on Jesus so that when my human abilities fails myself and the students, there's still Jesus.
Notice I said, when I fail them----- there's still Jesus.
When I fail, there's still Jesus. When we fail, there's still Jesus.
I love my church, Church of the Highlands, because they put such a focus on small groups. VERY risky methodology. It's risky because you're basically putting the health of the people God is going to hold you accountable for into their own hands, and asking them to be the church. You're asking them to be pastors for one another. The person that's dealing with deep theological questions needs someone to walk through it with him, to dig and study with him. The person dealing with depression needs consistent love and attention, a friend, a best friend. The person dealing with family issues needs a new family, a breath of fresh air from people who treat them right and love them unconditionally. The person dealing with relational issues needs accountability-----all these things ONE MAN cannot do for everybody.
So the people must become the church. The people become each others pastors. And strangely, that's what I see in the early church in Acts is people spreading and sharing the gospel. Not just showing up to listen to a pastor speak, but the gospel becomes an active part of the lives of the people in the church. So just as the pastor proclaims the gospel, so should we with each other. And even when small groups and our friends fail us----
There's still Jesus.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Emmanuel is Lord
The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"--which means, "God with us." Matthew 1:23
Hello readers. Welcome to my heart. Let's begin.
This isn't a Christmas blog. Lol. But I do want us to look into the name Immanuel, which means God with us---and let's investigate what that means?
Let's begin with some scripture. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21
So, God in His glory, in His holiness, in His perfection, became a man so that we might become the righteousness of Himself.
Lol. I could seriously end the blog here. But let's unpack that.
This is what burdens me about people who has a distaste for Christ. I feel that they have heard something incorrectly or have experienced something that was associated with Christ but was misrepresented and have turned away from Him. Because naturally, I'm pretty sure every human is drawn to sacrificial love. I'm pretty sure every human is drawn to someone doing something nice for someone else. Never will you see someone giving food to a homeless person and another person rebuking them for doing such a nice and thoughtful thing. Or when someone out of their own will power decides to help you with something that you didn't not want to do yourself---I'm pretty sure that gesture would move your heart.
So this is God's love for us, bottled up in that one verse. That God, who's very nature is holy and separated from anything evil, from anything sinful, entered into the filth-----for you.
God with us.
So, if God is willing to go to that extremity to set things right between us and Himself, which first of all flexes His power and His Lordship over everything to be able to do what He wants. In Ephesians, it reads that God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. Ephesians 1:5.
So He took pleasure in makes things right. He took pleasure in stepping into our helpless situation to rescue us. This further's my confidence that He's always with us---because He's already proven He can be.
I recently read this article about this redeemed bank robber and former prison inmate, and he says that surely Jesus was always with him. He is able to testify that because he has weighed the truth that grace was so quickly to come upon him when He seeked for it. He didn't have to work up towards it, it was ready when he became ready to recieve it from Jesus----because He's with us.
It's easy for us to dismiss that thought because Jesus proclaims and commands to be Lord in our lives. So we visualize a C.E.O of a company, yes he's a nice boss but we never see him. Yes we wants us to be proud of our company, but we never see him. Even when we call God, "The Big Man Upstairs," as if illustrating that God is on the thirty second floor and we're on the first floor. So the gospel tells us that Jesus is with us. Instead of being on the top floor, He's sitting in the cubicle-- with us. He's mopping up the bathroom --- with us. He's handling the rude customers at the customer service---with us. He's delivering mail--with us. He's backing in the delivery truck--with us. He's WITH US.
Our Lord, who asks us to submit to Him fully with child-like faith, is with us. He's not an overbearing presence of authority, but a slow to anger compassionate Father with soverign authority to rule it all---and that is what we have with us.
Hello readers. Welcome to my heart. Let's begin.
This isn't a Christmas blog. Lol. But I do want us to look into the name Immanuel, which means God with us---and let's investigate what that means?
Let's begin with some scripture. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21
So, God in His glory, in His holiness, in His perfection, became a man so that we might become the righteousness of Himself.
Lol. I could seriously end the blog here. But let's unpack that.
This is what burdens me about people who has a distaste for Christ. I feel that they have heard something incorrectly or have experienced something that was associated with Christ but was misrepresented and have turned away from Him. Because naturally, I'm pretty sure every human is drawn to sacrificial love. I'm pretty sure every human is drawn to someone doing something nice for someone else. Never will you see someone giving food to a homeless person and another person rebuking them for doing such a nice and thoughtful thing. Or when someone out of their own will power decides to help you with something that you didn't not want to do yourself---I'm pretty sure that gesture would move your heart.
So this is God's love for us, bottled up in that one verse. That God, who's very nature is holy and separated from anything evil, from anything sinful, entered into the filth-----for you.
God with us.
So, if God is willing to go to that extremity to set things right between us and Himself, which first of all flexes His power and His Lordship over everything to be able to do what He wants. In Ephesians, it reads that God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. Ephesians 1:5.
So He took pleasure in makes things right. He took pleasure in stepping into our helpless situation to rescue us. This further's my confidence that He's always with us---because He's already proven He can be.
I recently read this article about this redeemed bank robber and former prison inmate, and he says that surely Jesus was always with him. He is able to testify that because he has weighed the truth that grace was so quickly to come upon him when He seeked for it. He didn't have to work up towards it, it was ready when he became ready to recieve it from Jesus----because He's with us.
It's easy for us to dismiss that thought because Jesus proclaims and commands to be Lord in our lives. So we visualize a C.E.O of a company, yes he's a nice boss but we never see him. Yes we wants us to be proud of our company, but we never see him. Even when we call God, "The Big Man Upstairs," as if illustrating that God is on the thirty second floor and we're on the first floor. So the gospel tells us that Jesus is with us. Instead of being on the top floor, He's sitting in the cubicle-- with us. He's mopping up the bathroom --- with us. He's handling the rude customers at the customer service---with us. He's delivering mail--with us. He's backing in the delivery truck--with us. He's WITH US.
Our Lord, who asks us to submit to Him fully with child-like faith, is with us. He's not an overbearing presence of authority, but a slow to anger compassionate Father with soverign authority to rule it all---and that is what we have with us.
Monday, July 16, 2012
ALL Are Broken
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" Romans 3:23
Hello readers. Welcome to my heart. Let's begin.
I'll start out by saying that this blog is specifically for the believers. I had an interesting revelation about us. Let's chat.
So, I think a lot of us can get very settled in the truth that we were once lost but now we are found. Now again, that is truth, definitely not denying that and it's definitely not a bad place to get settled. But I think we can forget that just because we're playing for Team Jesus, that doesn't exclude us from possible injury during play. Here's the story.
So, like I said, I had an interesting revelation last Friday night. I was off on a Friday night after working an 11 hour shift at work. I was in a neutral state of mind of not really wanting to do anything at all because I was exhausted, but I would if something fun jumped off. So I ended up watching a fairly decent movie with 50 Cent as the lead actor playing a college football superstar who tragically gets a rare form of cancer. And after the movie, I got the idea for some ice cream from Dairy Queen. So I slipped into my flip flops and drove across town to the Dairy Queen. I was on an uphill swing from a spiritual and emotional rut that I had been dealing with the entire week, so the comfort dessert was definitely going to do its duty of temporarily satisfying my issues.
So as I turned into the Diary Queen, I almost ran over this homeless lady that was walking across the poorly lit entrance. But, this was a special homeless lady--- because I had been seeing this homeless lady in random places almost regulary for the last few weeks. And by random, I mean I was doing something I normally don't do and in places I am usually not at----and there she would be, continuing to be in my path. And here she was again, in my path!
"God, what are you trying to tell me? I never like to over spiritualize things but come on, this is crazy. I'm all the way across town, how could she possibly have walked way out here?"
And I felt that, ya know, that heart pluck of doing something for her. But again, I pushed it to the side like I had been doing every time I saw her. But this time, my heart broke. Tears starting to drip from my eyes and I let out this deep groan of frustration at myself and my lack of faith and lack of balls or whatever it is that keeps me from acting on my heart for people.
"God, I don't know what to say to her! I don't want to buy her some ice cream, that'll do nothing for her! I don't know what to say, or do, so, just whatever!" I wiped my eyes so I could order my Reese's Cup Blizzard and not look like a punk at the drive-thru window. And so as I was leaving, I began to condemn myself for my lack of compassion and love and passion for God's lost children. I groaned at my inability to have enough gumption to just make the initial contact and trust that God will give me what to say or do. I groaned at the countless times I have continually ignored the opportunity to share with one of God's broken children that He still loves them and has an eternal hope for them..........
And then it hit me.
As the idea of her being broken compelled me to want to point her to Jesus, I realized that I hadn't even been doing that for myself the entire week. So, let's say generally, a bad week for a believer is when Satan has done a great job of getting us to believe a lie. Or life has decided to smack us in the face or things aren't going the way we planned, whatever the case may be. But in my case, I was just frustrated with the daily fights and struggles of life, or more so now that I think about it, I was just elevating things that aren't even an ultimate gain. But specifically, what I saw from myself the entire week was a guy responding to his hopelessness and his brokenness and his insecurities by pursuing empty things and empty gains and empty passions, and in that moment, I was just like that homeless lady. In that moment, I was just another broken human being. In that moment, I was just another person that falls short. In that moment, I was just another human that was experiencing and responding to the symptoms of a fallen world because of sin.
In that moment, I was just like her----broken.
And the illustration that comes to my mind is a junkyard, where everything in it is broken or worn out or torn apart. Some things may be broken by just being chipped or warped on a corner is burnt off, and other things are shattered and unrecognizable. But overall, it's all still in the junkyard. It's all still broken.
This is why we are to share the hope of Jesus with others, but also be ready to share it with ourselves. Especially since we know that we've all fallen short because of the slow destruction of sin on our hearts which is causing us to be broken. And if you don't know the next verse after Romans 3:23, here's verse 24.
and ALL are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Romans 3:24
ALL are broken, but ALL are justified---meaning ALL are loved.
So let's be honest here. The gospel isn't just for unbelievers. It's for believers as well. Just like I wanted to share with that woman the hope that is in Jesus, I was needing to realize that truth as well instead of pursuing those empty gains. So as a believer, I should rest my hope in what I wanted to share with her. So I'm sure we can conclude that the gospel is for unbelievers and believers. It's for the unbeliever as to offer them to put their faith in Him, and the believer to continue to regurgitate it whenever they need Him---just for a reminder. And sometimes we need to be reminded.....
that we are ALL broken.
Hello readers. Welcome to my heart. Let's begin.
I'll start out by saying that this blog is specifically for the believers. I had an interesting revelation about us. Let's chat.
So, I think a lot of us can get very settled in the truth that we were once lost but now we are found. Now again, that is truth, definitely not denying that and it's definitely not a bad place to get settled. But I think we can forget that just because we're playing for Team Jesus, that doesn't exclude us from possible injury during play. Here's the story.
So, like I said, I had an interesting revelation last Friday night. I was off on a Friday night after working an 11 hour shift at work. I was in a neutral state of mind of not really wanting to do anything at all because I was exhausted, but I would if something fun jumped off. So I ended up watching a fairly decent movie with 50 Cent as the lead actor playing a college football superstar who tragically gets a rare form of cancer. And after the movie, I got the idea for some ice cream from Dairy Queen. So I slipped into my flip flops and drove across town to the Dairy Queen. I was on an uphill swing from a spiritual and emotional rut that I had been dealing with the entire week, so the comfort dessert was definitely going to do its duty of temporarily satisfying my issues.
So as I turned into the Diary Queen, I almost ran over this homeless lady that was walking across the poorly lit entrance. But, this was a special homeless lady--- because I had been seeing this homeless lady in random places almost regulary for the last few weeks. And by random, I mean I was doing something I normally don't do and in places I am usually not at----and there she would be, continuing to be in my path. And here she was again, in my path!
"God, what are you trying to tell me? I never like to over spiritualize things but come on, this is crazy. I'm all the way across town, how could she possibly have walked way out here?"
And I felt that, ya know, that heart pluck of doing something for her. But again, I pushed it to the side like I had been doing every time I saw her. But this time, my heart broke. Tears starting to drip from my eyes and I let out this deep groan of frustration at myself and my lack of faith and lack of balls or whatever it is that keeps me from acting on my heart for people.
"God, I don't know what to say to her! I don't want to buy her some ice cream, that'll do nothing for her! I don't know what to say, or do, so, just whatever!" I wiped my eyes so I could order my Reese's Cup Blizzard and not look like a punk at the drive-thru window. And so as I was leaving, I began to condemn myself for my lack of compassion and love and passion for God's lost children. I groaned at my inability to have enough gumption to just make the initial contact and trust that God will give me what to say or do. I groaned at the countless times I have continually ignored the opportunity to share with one of God's broken children that He still loves them and has an eternal hope for them..........
And then it hit me.
As the idea of her being broken compelled me to want to point her to Jesus, I realized that I hadn't even been doing that for myself the entire week. So, let's say generally, a bad week for a believer is when Satan has done a great job of getting us to believe a lie. Or life has decided to smack us in the face or things aren't going the way we planned, whatever the case may be. But in my case, I was just frustrated with the daily fights and struggles of life, or more so now that I think about it, I was just elevating things that aren't even an ultimate gain. But specifically, what I saw from myself the entire week was a guy responding to his hopelessness and his brokenness and his insecurities by pursuing empty things and empty gains and empty passions, and in that moment, I was just like that homeless lady. In that moment, I was just another broken human being. In that moment, I was just another person that falls short. In that moment, I was just another human that was experiencing and responding to the symptoms of a fallen world because of sin.
In that moment, I was just like her----broken.
And the illustration that comes to my mind is a junkyard, where everything in it is broken or worn out or torn apart. Some things may be broken by just being chipped or warped on a corner is burnt off, and other things are shattered and unrecognizable. But overall, it's all still in the junkyard. It's all still broken.
This is why we are to share the hope of Jesus with others, but also be ready to share it with ourselves. Especially since we know that we've all fallen short because of the slow destruction of sin on our hearts which is causing us to be broken. And if you don't know the next verse after Romans 3:23, here's verse 24.
and ALL are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Romans 3:24
ALL are broken, but ALL are justified---meaning ALL are loved.
So let's be honest here. The gospel isn't just for unbelievers. It's for believers as well. Just like I wanted to share with that woman the hope that is in Jesus, I was needing to realize that truth as well instead of pursuing those empty gains. So as a believer, I should rest my hope in what I wanted to share with her. So I'm sure we can conclude that the gospel is for unbelievers and believers. It's for the unbeliever as to offer them to put their faith in Him, and the believer to continue to regurgitate it whenever they need Him---just for a reminder. And sometimes we need to be reminded.....
that we are ALL broken.
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