Fulfillment in Christ

With the help of good preaching and the holy spirit, I had a thought that I would like to share with you.

One of the youth pastors at my church, Joe, talked on "over-coming temptation" and used the temptation of Christ as a model. We looked at how each of the temptations that Christ faced is routed back to different desires that everyone faces. The desires such as food, acceptance, power, and ultimately pride of life - a good and happy life.

As the talk continued and Joe gave more examples, I made a connection. As obvious as it was, I found it very interesting at the time. That is, all of our depravities are fulfilled in Christ. Stated another way, all that we inherited from walking away from God, we receive when we come to Christ.

Let me explain. I want to be accepted. So I will often show off, make poor choices and hang around with the "cool kids" so others will accept me. They might, they might not. Even if they do, that desire for acceptance won't be fulfilled. Yet Christ says, "Come to me all of you who are weary..." We have acceptance in Christ.

Another one, love. Girls and guys both want to give and receive love. I have looked for that in a girlfriend, best friends, and a lot of other places. There is a longing to be cherished and to care for someone as well. I have even thought, if I could just get that girl to date me, then I would be happy. The reality is that we are to love Christ and Christ loves us. That depravity is cared for in the character of Christ.

And the list goes on. Every area of our depravity is completed in the character of Christ. Forgiveness, justice, peaces, love, acceptance, joy, etc. Just think of the area in your life, that thing you want more than anything. I'll bet you my college loans that they can find fulfillment in Christ.

My big one is independence. I don't want to need anyone else. At the core, I have this desire to be able to do things on my own and be self-reliant. I think that relying on other people is weak or something, and so I will often push people away. Yet Christ, who is truly self-reliant shows me two things. First, independence is weak, not the other way around. Second, Christ shows his true power as he relies on the Father for power.

Like I said, I always knew that that Christ fulfills our depravity, but I never realized it in a practical setting. That the desires we have, such as love and acceptance, are the very things that Christ wants to fulfill in our lives. The same desires that lead us toward sin and rebellion against God, can be found in the person of Christ.

Later

Press On To Know God

I recently just finished reading through Hosea. In it God talks a lot about His people turning away and forsaking Him for false gods which will ultimately result in their ruin. God warns them of what will happen if they continue in their rebellion, but in chapter 6 Hosea gives an amazing admonition to Israel. "Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us. He will revive us...that we may live before Him. So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD." (Hosea 6:1-3)

Even after all the evil Israel had done, God still offers mercy through Hosea's call. But what I find so intriguing is the last part. Hosea says, "Let us press on to know the LORD." You see, that was Israel's root problem in all their other sins; they did not press on to know the Lord. They wanted to know something else, not God. But knowing all these other things leads to death, but knowing God is eternal life! (John 17:3)

This made me think about the Christian life we live. We say we know God, but are we pressing on to know Him. Being a Christian is not just something you do once in your life where you pray for Jesus to come into your heart. A Christian, a person who truly has eternal life is someone who knows God! That is why Jesus came, to give us eternal life, which is knowing Him!

But so many times we get so overloaded in our lives that we fail to press on in knowing God. We rely on our past encounters to sustain us. But if we do that then we will find that we will slowly drift away. Hosea (and God) cried out to Israel to not do this. I think we should listen to their cry as well. Don't just sit down and do nothing in your spiritual life...press on to know God! Read, Pray, Serve, give yourself fully to Him! Don't let your life get so cluttered with everything else that you forget Him. Thirst and yearn for Him, because He satisfies! Spend time with your Lord, for in His presence is fullness of joy! It is hard work, but it is so worth it! Press on to know the LORD!

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!"

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."