Thinking about this blog

I got an email a few days ago about this blog. Said that it had not been posted on in a long time - very true statement. The question that I have now is, what am I supposed to do with this blog. I want to use it to encourage other believers and help them to become more like the person of Christ. Just like Ephesians 4:16, bring people together to help people grow together to be like Christ. Some problems that I am facing with this idea: people are in different locations, with their own ideas and agendas for their lives. How do I bring all these people together and best help them? I think this is a question that a lot of churches face, too. Countless books have been written on the subject, conferences planned, events promoted, etc. Is this blog going to be any different, is it going to accomplish any more than those? Anyways, enough about that. I have recently started to memorize scripture again. It is one of those things that you don't realize how much you needed it until you start doing it. I remember their being great value in memorizing the bible, but I didn't know how much. It is so great to have parts of God's word with me wherever I go and whenever I need them. The disciples said that Jesus along had the words to life, and I couldn't agree more. In a sense, I have found life in His words. My passion for Christ and for the Gospel is refreshed and I have a newness in me because of Christ's words. I would encourage everyone to memorize at least a few verses. But you won't stop there, you will want more. The soul will want more of Christ, the flesh will grow weary and weak. I have dealt with this concept the last couple of days as I have just gotten tired of the work involved in memorizing and in pursuing Christ. It is a fight every day to get up and spend time in His word and to learn more about Him. It is worth it, but it is a fight. So choose with me this day whom you will serve? Will you be dead to the flesh or to Christ? Who will you serve? As for me, as best as I know how, I will serve the Lord. And when I don't, I trust his grace to be sufficient for me. Blessings from a pilgrim Later

Is God calling?

Last week, our pastor gave a sermon on the third commandment: "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain."
He gave alot of reasons how we can take God's name "in vain", but one of the ones that stuck out to me was this:

We can take God's name in vain by using it as an excuse.

So we can be going on a mission trip to gain the glory for ourselves, but we say "God called me to do this." You can get into an argument and in order to get out of it, you can say "I felt God was telling me to do this." There are SO many ways that we can use God as an excuse. So many ways that we can just "casually" throw His glorious and holy and worthy name into conversation. We use our Savior as an excuse. We use His name flippantly.

So when we say that God is calling us to do something for His glory, are we really meaning what we say? Do we really think God is calling us for a greater purpose? What is it He really has planned?
This has been something I've been learning... I feel very often, especially after prayer, a tug to do something for the Lord. But I have, I'll admit, and still can get so caught up in working that I forget that it is all for HIM. It is all for the glory of my Savior... every breath. Every movement, every new day is from Christ.

So, when we feel or when we say that God is calling, let's make sure that He IS. And let's make sure that we do all for the glory of Christ.

Stories

At the church that I am interning at, we are going through a series called "Stories." It is what you might think it is, people telling their stories, or stories from the bible. The stories are about how individuals came to meet Jesus and trust in His grace. The outline of a story is this : Before Jesus, meeting Jesus, after Jesus. Today I want to share my story. Anyone else is welcome to share their story also.

Before I met Jesus I lived for my own pleasures and fulfillment. I did what I thought was right in my own eyes, never considering the feelings or rights of others. Even as a kid I did what I wanted and I didn't let others stand in my way. I was out to get the most out of life. I was rebellious to my parents and to authority. I listened if it gave pleasure or prevented displeasure. My life was about me and what I wanted from it. A story that I always remember when talking about my life before meeting Jesus is when I was about 6 years old. My mom saw me playing near the window and I said “Oh my god” she immediately told me not to say that, told me that it was wrong. Then I, being the rebellious 6 year old that I was waited until she was out of ear shot and said it to myself for the pleasure of disobedience. right after that the window pinched my finger. I thought to myself, “God punished me for disobeying my parents.” even at age 6, its a story that I will always remember.

In most of these situations that I acted out, I was well aware of what I was doing. I knew that I could get what I wanted if I complained long and hard enough. I disobeyed God and purposefully broke His standards; I disregarded my parents and yelled at my siblings because it gave me temporary pleasure. I did anything to find or obtain satisfaction, even for a moment. Yet, every time I looked for pleasure outside of God I only felt less satisfied and more empty.

That all changed when God stepped into the picture. God did not want that life for me. God desired to give me a life that I had never experienced filled with joy, peace and satisfaction in Him. God brought a guy named Caleb into my life to listen to my story. Not only that, but he shared his story and ultimately God's story, which eventually changed my story. When Caleb and I talked, we mostly talked about spiritual matters. I was torn after our conversations. I wanted this God he kept talking about, but I still wanted the life of pleasure I had. I wanted the satisfaction of following Jesus and the pleasure of living for myself.

Caleb invited me to hear him share his story and at that point I broke down. Caleb shared how he surrendered his life to Christ and the freedom he now has. I wanted that. I didn't want to be chained to my own pleasure any more. I wanted to be free. I broke down and started to cry over my own failure and sins. I started to cry out to God.

I did not change overnight. I didn't give up all my sins that night when I met God. At age 13, I didn't know anything when I started following Christ. But I felt a new sense of peace that I didn't have before. I began to give rather than take, and I didn't know why. I no longer fought for what I wanted; instead I fought to keep peace in the situation. God’s work in me has been a long process. I have not arrived yet, I still have a long way to go, but God is leading me through His Spirit. I am satisfied when I follow him and find greater pleasure than I thought possible by following His will.

Slaves of God

I started reading a book called "Slave" the other day. It has been a great reminder to me of a great teaching in the Bible. While many of us read the words "A servant of God" or "A servant of Christ" in the Bible, a better way to translate this would be slave instead of servant. God wants us to understand this picture. We belong to Him. He owns us. After all, He did pay for us! And the slave's greatest task is to obey and please His master in everything. But being God's slave is not a bad thing. It is an awesome thing. One reason is because if we were not God's slaves we would be slaves to sin. Now that we belong to Him we are free from our slavery to sin.
Whoever we are slaves to defines who we are. Thus, if we are God's slaves, our identity is found completely in Him. And the wonder of it all is that, while we are the slaves of God, He also calls us His friends. So, I say with Paul, "I am a slave of Jesus Christ!"

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

"he is with you" by Mandisa - Ecc 3:1-8

There's a time to live
And a time to die
There's a time to laugh
And a time to cry

There's a time for war
And a time for peace
There's a hand to hold
In the worst of things
In the worst of things

He is with you when your faith is dead
And you can't even get out of bed
Or your husband doesn't kiss you anymore
He is with you when your baby's gone
And your house is still
And your hearts are stone
Crying "God what'd you do that for?"
He is with you

There's a time for yes
And a time for no
There's a time to be angry
And a time to let it go
There's a time to run
And a time to face it
There's love to seek
In all of this
Through all of this

He is with you in the conference room
When the world is coming down on you
And your wife and kids don't know you anymore
And He is with you in the ICU when the doctors don't know what to do
And it scares you to the core
He is with you

We may weep for a time but joy will come in the morning
The morning light

He is with you when your kids are grown
When there's too much space and you feel alone
And your worried if you got it right or wrong
Yes He is with you when you've given up on ever finding your true love
Someone who feels like home
He is with you

When nothing else is left and you take your final breath
He is with you

He is with you
-----
Be encouraged to listen to this song, and be encouraged that life has trials. But no matter what trials are present, God IS with you. and that he never gives us more than we can handle ( I Corinthians 10:13).
Remember God during trials, but remember him when life is good. Because that's when the praise matters most. When "God isn't needed" but you still praise him in the good times.

In my Father's house.

A few weeks ago, I had the privilege to accompany my friends to a conference about an hour from our home. It was called the Fellowship Conference, and it was comprised of a number of preachers from across the world.
One of my favorite speakers was a pastor named Jose. These are some of the things that especially encouraged me in his message:
Christ had to prepare a place for us in heaven. He took our sin to prepare that place. There is only one house in heaven and Christ is making room for us there right now. "In my Father's house, there are many rooms"... many rooms means that we will be close to each other. And we will be close to Christ. All of the saints will gather in one place, and that is the place where Christ will be.
Why are we serving Christ? Are we serving Him to get a place in heaven? We should be serving Him because we love Him. We should want to serve Him for all eternity.
Ephesians 2:9 - "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God." We are, right now, no longer strangers to God. We are members of HIS household.
But we can't enjoy our place in the House of God till we know what He did for us.
John 17:24: in our daily walks we should see Christ.
2nd Corinthians 3:18: the glory of Christ never ends.
Heaven is a prepared place, for us, already. Christ is ready for us now. We bring NOTHING, but we enjoy EVERYTHING in Christ (2nd Sam. 9:7-8).
We have access to the Kingdom of God. We have access to the King of the Universe (through prayer and faith). Do we use that access? Do we take advantage of that access?
We have access to the King's table.
John 6:48: "I am the bread of life." He is the bread of life. Bread does us no good if we don't have it where it belongs. If we don't make it our own. 
Ephesians 1:3 and 7: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places." 
"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace."
We have access to Him, but we must desire Him. Never be dissatisfied with what you have now, because the Lord has more. The fullness of God is lavished on us. 

And our response should be in love, in humility and in faith. All of the things we receive from Christ are not from our own self-pride, but for our own humility.
Romans 12:1: "I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."

Who Did Jesus Die For?

Yesterday I was meeting in a home group from my Church for Good Friday and we were watching a live podcast of David Platt. One of the things Platt taught on (and he taught a lot that night) was our salvation. He said something that struck me very hard. It's a truth that I knew, but the way he said it hit me in a very amazing way.

Platt was commenting on how so many times Christians miss the point of the crucifixion of Jesus on the cross. We like to say "Jesus died for me." And this is 100% true! However, Jesus did not die primarily for us. Primarily, Jesus died for God!

When I heard this, I was struck. Like I said, I knew that Jesus died on the cross to satisfy God's wrath, but it hit home to hear that statement, "Jesus died FOR God!" To remember that God's holiness demanded satisfaction against my sin and demanded me to stay away, yet His love desired to bring me in so I would not stay away. So, there was the "Divine dilemma" as people like to call it. How can God be holy and love at the same time? How can He be just and yet save sinners? The Divine Solution...Jesus ' death! The Father sent His Son to die for the One Who sent Him, so that His wrath would be appeased and His grace would be imparted!

Watchman Nee once said, "If I would appreciate the blood of Christ I must accept God's valuation of it, for the blood is not primarily for me, but for God." Jesus' blood is of infinite value to the Father because Jesus died for the Father. Not in the same way He died for us. He died for God to make it possible for Him to be just and the Justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (Rom. 3:26). That is the primary reason for Jesus' death!

Had Jesus not died for God to solve this Divine dilemma, then we humans would have a dilemma of our own. When we see how precious this blood is to God, then we will see this death aright, and it will make it all the more glorious to us! What a wonder it is that Jesus died for us. But a greater wonder still, is that first and foremost, Jesus died for God!

Adoption.

I was thinking the other day on adoption.
When we think of adoption, we think of adding someone not born of our family into our family. We think of making them one of us. We think of them becoming one with who we are.
One of the definitions of adoption is "to make a child one's own."
So, when we, as believers in Christ, consider adoption, what should we be thinking?
Galatians 4:4-6 says "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God."
God sent His son to die for our sins. And through the death of Jesus, we can be called sons and heirs through God!  
Adoption is not in the physical aspect. We can call ourselves children of God, because we have been saved by His grace, through faith. It is nothing we did ourselves, it is a gift from God.
This adoption is and remains a total and utter blessing from the Lord. It was planned since the beginning of time. It was divinely inspired. We were rescued from sin by the death of Jesus, so that we might be called children of God.

Romans 8:15–16 says "For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God."
Adoption is never one at a time. We are all adopted into this spiritual family together. One is not more important than another in the family of God. We are not above one another, because we are ALL saved by the grace of God. When we are saved, there is a blatant moral, physical and total spiritual transformation. We have thrown out our old selves and put on the new. We are no longer slaves, but a son.That is when Christ adopts us.

 

"He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved." (Ephesians 1:4-6) 

Before the foundation of the world, God chose us. 

 

How do you feel when you realize this? How do you feel when you know that you are adopted? I can say I feel overwhelmed knowing that before the world was created thousands and thousands of years ago, God had chosen to make me and form me and grow me more in the likeness of His son... He adopted me, when I was a child of wrath, as Ephesians put it, and He added me to His cloister. 

That is a blessing. 

That is a gift from God.

What is your purpose?

A good friend of mine wrote up on a white board: What is your purpose? Then another friend added what he believed his purpose to be. The first friend clarified what certain words meant and defined the purpose more clearly. The whole white board was filled as student began to add thoughts and discussion.

As I said over hearing what took place I wondered if something like that could take place in a blog with multiple authors, which is what this is. So I will ask the question and see if it goes anywhere.

What is your purpose?

What is most important to us?

Personally, recently, I've been quite overwhelmed by the world.
And when I say "world", I mean what is important to us as humans, nowadays. What we think on, what our lives revolve around. 
Most everybody I know has heard about the serious calamities that have occurred in the past few months, around the world. The earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand. The violent bombings and murders in Libya, as well as other places. And most recently, the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
I know many churches, many believers and many bodies were in fervent prayer during this time. Prayer for help... prayer for recovery. Prayer for restoration. Prayer for revival, not just in Japan, but in all places. Prayer for peace. Prayer for love.
It hurt to know that there were so many deaths, in just a matter of days. "Over 8,000 souls were ushered into eternity", our pastor reminded our congregation. "So many of which did not know Jesus Christ as their Savior."
It is enough to drive one to tears.
And the next day, all that America was concerned about was the top song on iTunes.
This caused me to really start thinking about it: what matters most to us? As believers we would instantly say, Christ. He is our All, He is our everything.
But if you ask us as human beings, there are so many things that can easily take the place of that. There are so many things we might be tempted to put over Christ. And there are so many things that we do put over Him, though we may not even see it.
It has been amazing growing up in this age. Since many of us were just children, the world has changed tremendously. Technology has gotten better, faster, easier to use, easier to get to, more efficient. Gas prices have risen, as well as the price of everything else. Presidents have come and gone.
But just seeing, hearing and watching how the world has changed, how America has changed. They have taken the words of God and they have twisted them into everything that they aren't.
So what is most important to you? Make sure to ask yourself that. Especially in times like these.

I praise God for His

I praise God for His faithfulness in the ever changing circumstances of this world.

What next?

The more I think about this blog the more I realize that has lots of possibilities for just about anything. I have thought about it as a non-locational church site, a place to find encouragement, a place for those who are following Christ to have other believers who care, and the list goes on. But what really is this blog about?

Since I am not the only writer here I don't have the final say in the matter. My vision for this blog is to create a place to join together in unity of faith, love of Christ, and desire to grow and help others join in as well. I want to see people join in the pursuit of Christ-likeness and begin to show the love of Christ as they go.

This blog is a product of me being a visionary, wanting to get something done even if I have no idea what I am doing. I greatly desire to see the unity of the saints join together to bring Christ into their worlds and invite others to do the same, so I created a place to do just that. I don't know where this will go, but that is part of the adventure of following Christ.

If you have been invite to be a contributor please feel free to write about whatever. My sisters have written challenges, I have written strategy, and I am sure others will write something that is unique to them. Join the pursuit, all are welcome. If you want to contribute just let me know

Question

it has been said that technology adds to our relational experience. my question is that true, or are we as children of technology finding ourselves more empty by it?

Prayer

I realized something today on my way to Chapel. If you begin to pray for Godly things, and for actions that are clearly within God's will and desire. He gives them. Just be careful for what you ask for.

I am reading a book, Bruchko, and with it tells a very passionate story about a young man who is passionate about God. He simply prayed, "God, change me like you changed the people in the bible" and after being struck with God's presence he continued, "and give me the passion that you gave them."

A very simple prayer, but one with a lot behind it. If you think about what kind of passion it takes to be like peter, or to have faith like john, then asking for that would mean a lot.

I asked God this morning that he would give me a passion like Peter's and a faith like John's and a drive and compassion like Paul. Already within the day I have felt a greater desire toward those very things.

Be careful what you pray for.

Am I A Soldier of the Cross?

Am I a soldier of the cross,
a follower of the Lamb,
and shall I fear to own his cause,
or blush to speak his name?

Must I be carried to the skies
on flowery beds of ease,
while others fought to win the prize,
and sailed through bloody seas?

Are there no foes for me to face?
Must I not stem the flood?
Is this vile world a friend to grace,
to help me on to God?

Sure I must fight, if I would reign;
increase my courage, Lord.
I'll bear the toil, endure the pain,
supported by thy word.

Thy saints in all this glorious war
shall conquer though they die;
they see the triumph from afar,
by faith they bring it nigh.

When that illustrious day shall rise,
and all thy armies shine
in robes of victory through the skies,
the glory shall be thine.

Suffering = hope?

Romans 5:3-5 "Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us".

This world is full of deceit and evil. We are going to suffer on this earth, and we aren't going to like it. its going to hurt,we are going to cry, and we are going to be persecuted for what we believe. So what's the point? why bother? Well, in 1 Peter 4 it talks about suffering for God. and we are called to suffer, knowing that its God's plan, and how much we suffer, shows us that we are doing his plan. And suffering isn't just for that reason, no, far from it. Because if suffering was just for that, then wouldn't you think God would come up with a better way to show us his plan? God also provides suffering for us, to help us grow. for suffering also produces endurance (perseverance) and endurance produces character. Character is one thing that everyone has... strength. But how much you have its determinded by your character. How many hardships or trials have you gone through, haven't you grown from them? exactly! And from character ( strength ) theres hope. God isnt going to make you suffer just to suffer, he does it so you can build that strength, and from building strength, it gives you hope. Knowing, that this world is not our home. we are only here for a limited amount of time. so lean in to the trials, lean into the pain, for its only going to produce strength and further more....Hope.

First order of business...

First and foremost we must pray!
For directions, for God's blessing, for pure motives, and a ever growing love for God to name a few starters.

Broken Sinners

If you think that we have any idea what we am doing you are greatly mistaken. If you want a step by step process of how we are going to grow and invite people into the body of Christ we don't have one. If, for whatever reason, you want a safe place to find encouragement and be a fair-weathered Christian, you won't find that here. What you will find is a bunch of broken sinner in need of a great savior who want to extend the favor to other and will go to great lengths to do so.

As you might have guessed, this is a blog to provide a opportunity for the body of Christ to purposefully join together to do those good works "which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them" (Eph 2:10).

This is a multi-author blog, there is no one person in charge. This is about people, not programs - if this blog project crashes and burns it will only be in vain if people aren't impacted for Christ.

Welcome to the journey fellow pilgrims and exiles on this earth.

Ephesians 4

 1Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, 3being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.
      7But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
8Therefore it says,
         “WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH,
         HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES,
         AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN.”
9(Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.) 11And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. 14As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, 16from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.


      17So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; 19and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. 20But you did not learn Christ in this way, 21if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, 22that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
      25Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another. 26BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27and do not give the devil an opportunity. 28He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need. 29Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. 30Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.