As the observance of Holy week draws closer to ending, I encourage you to remember what we are celebrating.
We celebrate that Christ died for our sins. We celebrate that Christ rose to justify us. We celebrate that He has the keys to death, hell, and the grave. We celebrate that He conquered death. We celebrate that He reigns forevermore. We celebrate the fact that through Him we are free.
I know this is nothing elaborate, but take some time this weekend as you are conducting Easter egg hunts, fellowship gatherings, morning breakfasts, etc., and remember why we are where we are.
Just take a moment. Thank God for stepping in for us. Thank Him for becoming the way.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Do It Yourself
I have great friends in Kentucky. Hard to believe since it is Kentucky.
My good friend's, MJ, dad is an artist, author, pastor, etc. Heck, he is a lot of things.
He has a book titled "Like a Tree". Good book. Find it. Read it. "Like a Tree" by Mitchell Tolle.
From this book I have a million favorite quotes, but one of my top favorites is this:
"When you think you become powerful. When you refuse to think or let someone else do it for you, you have surrendered everything."
Think about it. You're probably wondering to yourself why is this important. You are probably thinking that this is obvious, but I argue that it isn't.
Thinking about church in general, when was the last time you took your bible in to ponder on the Word while the pastor read it? When was the last time you double checked when you got home, since you probably didn't bring your bible, to see if pastor was teaching his passage correctly?
See, we as the the church are notorious for letting people think for us. We surrender our whole knowledge base to what one person is teaching us on Sundays. We have surrendered everything because we won't think on our own.
Like this quote says, we must make ourselves powerful by thinking on our own. Am I saying to abandon the teaching of the man of God? Heck no. We should respect them and learn from them, but we should always have the mind to think for ourselves and make sure what we are receiving is truth. Nothing wrong in that!
I encourage you to think for yourself. It can be hard at times to get motivated in a world where everything is handed to us and spoon fed directly, but we must take the Word of God in for ourselves and think to become powerful.
My good friend's, MJ, dad is an artist, author, pastor, etc. Heck, he is a lot of things.
He has a book titled "Like a Tree". Good book. Find it. Read it. "Like a Tree" by Mitchell Tolle.
From this book I have a million favorite quotes, but one of my top favorites is this:
"When you think you become powerful. When you refuse to think or let someone else do it for you, you have surrendered everything."
Think about it. You're probably wondering to yourself why is this important. You are probably thinking that this is obvious, but I argue that it isn't.
Thinking about church in general, when was the last time you took your bible in to ponder on the Word while the pastor read it? When was the last time you double checked when you got home, since you probably didn't bring your bible, to see if pastor was teaching his passage correctly?
See, we as the the church are notorious for letting people think for us. We surrender our whole knowledge base to what one person is teaching us on Sundays. We have surrendered everything because we won't think on our own.
Like this quote says, we must make ourselves powerful by thinking on our own. Am I saying to abandon the teaching of the man of God? Heck no. We should respect them and learn from them, but we should always have the mind to think for ourselves and make sure what we are receiving is truth. Nothing wrong in that!
I encourage you to think for yourself. It can be hard at times to get motivated in a world where everything is handed to us and spoon fed directly, but we must take the Word of God in for ourselves and think to become powerful.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Growing Up
I know. Some of you all that are a bit older than me are shaking your head thinking, "What does this kid know about growing up?" I get it. I get it.
Anyways, let me share with you what I shared a few weeks ago at Reach service which is somewhat college and career class at Englewood Church of God.
See, I loved church camp. In my family you didn't go to 4-H camp (one because it was too expensive & two because church camp was better) but you went to church camp. I was camp. I felt like if you mentioned camp and you knew me that my face associated with your thoughts. I was always excited come April because that's when sign up started. Mom would pay my 5 dollar deposit and I'd work my tail off to earn the other money by doing extra odd jobs around the house. (No not mowing or anything normal. Extra jobs. Builds character, right dad?)
So I would go to camp and then all of a sudden it was over and I'd come home exhausted trying to find a way to go back and work the next week of camp, because I loved it.
Well, during college I couldn't go and then I got a job as a 4-H agent. They said oh by the way, your first full week on the job is going to be at camp. I was like, "BOOYAH, I got this!" I was excited see because I was camp.
When I got there things changed. I realized that everyone depended on me. It was like this: "Justin, I'm hot. Justin, I miss my mom. Justin, I hate this place. Justin, I don't wanna do that."
Yeah you can picture it. See what happened to me is that I was just like everyone of us in the church. We come expecting it to be about us. We come in with this idea that we are the ones that should be entertained all the time when really we should be doing the work.
In 1 Corinthians 13:11 it says that when I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.
See we get stuck in our "baby Christian" mentality. Where I come from it's bad because we are raised in youth groups where there is always something for us and then all of a sudden when you become "an adult" you are on your own to figure it out.
We have to get over the mentality that it's okay to go out and experiment then come back to the house of God when we have kids that need to be there or when we feel like it's time to settle down. We are called to live a holy and acceptable life. It's our reasonable service.
I like how Solomon progresses. See he took over after David, his father. David was the great king who we know was a man after God's own heart. Solomon was young and understood he was young. That's what I love the most is that he didn't let his young pride in the way, but yet that he acknowledges that he is young.
In 1 Kings 3 we see God appear in a dream and ask him what he wants. I love Solomon's response: "You have shown great mercy to Your servant David, my father, because he walked before you in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with you; You have continued this great kindness for him and You have given him a son to sit on his throne as it is this day. Now, O Lord my God, You have made your servant king instead of my father, David, but I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in....therefore give to your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people that I may discern between good and evil..."
I love that he acknowledges that he knows nothing. I believe in that moment he grew up to become what he was called to be.
I like this quote and how it sums up growing up.
"Ingratitude denotes spiritual immaturity. Infants do not always appreciate what their parents do for them. They have short memories. Their concern is not what you did for me yesterday but what you are doing for me today. The past and future are meaningless. They live for the present. Those who are mature are deeply appreciative of those who labored in the past. They recognize those who labor during the present and provide for those who will be laboring in the future."
It's almost opposite of what seems to be the collective idea of church. People come to hear a word from God. When it's not what they want they get mad. They don't care that you brought a word from God in the past, and could care less if it's coming in the future. They want to hear what they want to hear now.
We've got to get past the "ME" attitude. We must come to the realization that we are called to be the church and it seems that when we read about the church in scripture somewhere close either in front or behind it's mentioning is an action word such as: go, love, be, do, etc. We are the church so we must love like the church is supposed to love.
I encourage you to push the "ME" mentality and be like Solomon. Ask for wisdom. Ask for what you lack. Love people. Grow in Christ.
You may think change is hard, but change only occurs when the pain to change is less than the pain to stay the same.
Anyways, let me share with you what I shared a few weeks ago at Reach service which is somewhat college and career class at Englewood Church of God.
See, I loved church camp. In my family you didn't go to 4-H camp (one because it was too expensive & two because church camp was better) but you went to church camp. I was camp. I felt like if you mentioned camp and you knew me that my face associated with your thoughts. I was always excited come April because that's when sign up started. Mom would pay my 5 dollar deposit and I'd work my tail off to earn the other money by doing extra odd jobs around the house. (No not mowing or anything normal. Extra jobs. Builds character, right dad?)
So I would go to camp and then all of a sudden it was over and I'd come home exhausted trying to find a way to go back and work the next week of camp, because I loved it.
Well, during college I couldn't go and then I got a job as a 4-H agent. They said oh by the way, your first full week on the job is going to be at camp. I was like, "BOOYAH, I got this!" I was excited see because I was camp.
When I got there things changed. I realized that everyone depended on me. It was like this: "Justin, I'm hot. Justin, I miss my mom. Justin, I hate this place. Justin, I don't wanna do that."
Yeah you can picture it. See what happened to me is that I was just like everyone of us in the church. We come expecting it to be about us. We come in with this idea that we are the ones that should be entertained all the time when really we should be doing the work.
In 1 Corinthians 13:11 it says that when I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.
See we get stuck in our "baby Christian" mentality. Where I come from it's bad because we are raised in youth groups where there is always something for us and then all of a sudden when you become "an adult" you are on your own to figure it out.
We have to get over the mentality that it's okay to go out and experiment then come back to the house of God when we have kids that need to be there or when we feel like it's time to settle down. We are called to live a holy and acceptable life. It's our reasonable service.
I like how Solomon progresses. See he took over after David, his father. David was the great king who we know was a man after God's own heart. Solomon was young and understood he was young. That's what I love the most is that he didn't let his young pride in the way, but yet that he acknowledges that he is young.
In 1 Kings 3 we see God appear in a dream and ask him what he wants. I love Solomon's response: "You have shown great mercy to Your servant David, my father, because he walked before you in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with you; You have continued this great kindness for him and You have given him a son to sit on his throne as it is this day. Now, O Lord my God, You have made your servant king instead of my father, David, but I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in....therefore give to your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people that I may discern between good and evil..."
I love that he acknowledges that he knows nothing. I believe in that moment he grew up to become what he was called to be.
I like this quote and how it sums up growing up.
"Ingratitude denotes spiritual immaturity. Infants do not always appreciate what their parents do for them. They have short memories. Their concern is not what you did for me yesterday but what you are doing for me today. The past and future are meaningless. They live for the present. Those who are mature are deeply appreciative of those who labored in the past. They recognize those who labor during the present and provide for those who will be laboring in the future."
It's almost opposite of what seems to be the collective idea of church. People come to hear a word from God. When it's not what they want they get mad. They don't care that you brought a word from God in the past, and could care less if it's coming in the future. They want to hear what they want to hear now.
We've got to get past the "ME" attitude. We must come to the realization that we are called to be the church and it seems that when we read about the church in scripture somewhere close either in front or behind it's mentioning is an action word such as: go, love, be, do, etc. We are the church so we must love like the church is supposed to love.
I encourage you to push the "ME" mentality and be like Solomon. Ask for wisdom. Ask for what you lack. Love people. Grow in Christ.
You may think change is hard, but change only occurs when the pain to change is less than the pain to stay the same.
Monday, April 2, 2012
How Bout Eggs?
Baby, I'm back! I've been out of town on business and I'm too cheap to pay 10 bucks a night for internet. Thus, today I am making my way back to the blogger!
Anyways, it is the week of Resurrection Sunday, or as the world refers to it Easter. Easter is my favorite holiday of the year. To me it has the most meaning of any of em. How did we deviate so far from what Easter is to what it is now? I love Jim Gaffigan's take on it:
How bout eggs? Exactly.
The reason I love Easter so much is because of what it means to us as Christians. See sometimes we get caught up on the fact that Christ died for us, but what would His death have meant without the Resurrection? It was proof that He is the Savior. Not only did He die, but He rose again. I love what it says in Acts 2:24.
"God raised Him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for Him to be held by it."
Because of the impossibility of death to hold Him, WE have the possibility of life eternal with Him.
Because He conquered the grave, WE can become new again.
Because of His stripes, WE are healed.
Because of His blood, OUR sins are washed away.
Because of His cross, OUR debt is paid.
Enjoy the chocolate marshmallows, the cadbury eggs, the chocolate bunnies, because my goodness they are delicious, but remember that Christ paid the way for us.
You don't have to worship just this Sunday. He did it for you, why not start today?
Anyways, it is the week of Resurrection Sunday, or as the world refers to it Easter. Easter is my favorite holiday of the year. To me it has the most meaning of any of em. How did we deviate so far from what Easter is to what it is now? I love Jim Gaffigan's take on it:
How bout eggs? Exactly.
The reason I love Easter so much is because of what it means to us as Christians. See sometimes we get caught up on the fact that Christ died for us, but what would His death have meant without the Resurrection? It was proof that He is the Savior. Not only did He die, but He rose again. I love what it says in Acts 2:24.
"God raised Him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for Him to be held by it."
Because of the impossibility of death to hold Him, WE have the possibility of life eternal with Him.
Because He conquered the grave, WE can become new again.
Because of His stripes, WE are healed.
Because of His blood, OUR sins are washed away.
Because of His cross, OUR debt is paid.
Enjoy the chocolate marshmallows, the cadbury eggs, the chocolate bunnies, because my goodness they are delicious, but remember that Christ paid the way for us.
You don't have to worship just this Sunday. He did it for you, why not start today?
Monday, March 19, 2012
Power of the Cross
Pastor Scott is doing a series about the cross leading up to Resurrection Sunday. He is talking about the cross and the crucifixion.
During worship we sang a song called "Power of the Cross". In the song it has a simple phrase: The power of the cross is in the blood of Christ.
Think about that for a minute. The power of the cross is not the cross itself. We put so much emphasis on the cross when the blood of Christ is where the power is held. Without the blood of Christ the cross is nothing. The blood of Christ is what washes us clean.
Think about it as we approach the Easter season. The cross wasn't beautiful. It wasn't this piece of gold we wear around our necks, in rings, or hang up with a purple robe. It is where our savior was sacrificed and "through His blood we are healed." It's by the power of His blood. We can't lose that simple fact.
The power of the cross will forever be in the blood of Christ.
Nothing is missing.
Nothing is broken.
Now it is finished.
His blood has spoken.
Listen to the song. It's linked above. It's a good 7 minutes.
During worship we sang a song called "Power of the Cross". In the song it has a simple phrase: The power of the cross is in the blood of Christ.
Think about that for a minute. The power of the cross is not the cross itself. We put so much emphasis on the cross when the blood of Christ is where the power is held. Without the blood of Christ the cross is nothing. The blood of Christ is what washes us clean.
Think about it as we approach the Easter season. The cross wasn't beautiful. It wasn't this piece of gold we wear around our necks, in rings, or hang up with a purple robe. It is where our savior was sacrificed and "through His blood we are healed." It's by the power of His blood. We can't lose that simple fact.
The power of the cross will forever be in the blood of Christ.
Nothing is missing.
Nothing is broken.
Now it is finished.
His blood has spoken.
Listen to the song. It's linked above. It's a good 7 minutes.
Friday, March 16, 2012
The "Other" People
My wife and I love the show "LOST". It is one of our favorite series, and probably the only series in which we both can agree on to sit down and watch together. We have different tastes. What can I say. Mom always tells me to get a den or man cave for our house. She may be on to something.
Anyways, on the show you have the group of people on the island that have crashed, "the survivors". Then, there is the group called "the others". That's what everyone says throughout the entire six seasons. What are the others doing? What do the others want? Why are the others bothering us?
For more reference on "the others", visit this previous post which has a video synopsis of "LOST": How to be Like John Locke.
Sometimes as Christians we act like the survivors, wouldn't you say? I know sometimes I do. I stay in my group, where it is comfortable. I talk to people I know. I talk to people that I believe are just like me or at least similar. I'm man enough to admit that, yeah, sometimes my humanness gets me and I look at people as the "others".
I tell you what it really is; we get scared. We see differences we don't understand. Everyone knows I am a huge Batman fan, too. In Batman Begins, the big mob boss looks at Bruce Wayne and he says, "You're always afraid of what you don't understand."
How true is that? I know that if I see people I don't resonate with sometimes it scares the crap out of me to imagine talking to them or building a relationship.
Lately, I've been pushed out of my comfort zone. With how God is working in my life lately, I'm not sure that I even have a comfort zone anymore.
I'm the kind of guy that will talk to a fork if it would acknowledge me most days. My job involves a lot of talking and some days I'm just done with talking. We having been working with youth for almost a year and a half now. In that period I've found myself talking to students that I otherwise wouldn't have spoken to. It's not them; it's always been me.
God is moving me to understand that people are people. I'm slowly learning and it is a hard concept when we grow up in a culture of "us 4 no more" mentalities. It's all about breaking the cycle and living as Jesus did which is loving people that everyone else viewed as rotten, despicable, and unworthy.
I'm glad that He loved me, because I am unworthy. The least I can do is push myself to love like Christ. I haven't read yet anywhere that said living for Christ's cause is easy, but with a reward such as we will be given, eternal life with Christ, how can it not be worth it?
I encourage you to step out of your survivors circle and see the others for who they are: people trying to make it just like you and just like me.
Anyways, on the show you have the group of people on the island that have crashed, "the survivors". Then, there is the group called "the others". That's what everyone says throughout the entire six seasons. What are the others doing? What do the others want? Why are the others bothering us?
For more reference on "the others", visit this previous post which has a video synopsis of "LOST": How to be Like John Locke.
Sometimes as Christians we act like the survivors, wouldn't you say? I know sometimes I do. I stay in my group, where it is comfortable. I talk to people I know. I talk to people that I believe are just like me or at least similar. I'm man enough to admit that, yeah, sometimes my humanness gets me and I look at people as the "others".
I tell you what it really is; we get scared. We see differences we don't understand. Everyone knows I am a huge Batman fan, too. In Batman Begins, the big mob boss looks at Bruce Wayne and he says, "You're always afraid of what you don't understand."
How true is that? I know that if I see people I don't resonate with sometimes it scares the crap out of me to imagine talking to them or building a relationship.
Lately, I've been pushed out of my comfort zone. With how God is working in my life lately, I'm not sure that I even have a comfort zone anymore.
I'm the kind of guy that will talk to a fork if it would acknowledge me most days. My job involves a lot of talking and some days I'm just done with talking. We having been working with youth for almost a year and a half now. In that period I've found myself talking to students that I otherwise wouldn't have spoken to. It's not them; it's always been me.
God is moving me to understand that people are people. I'm slowly learning and it is a hard concept when we grow up in a culture of "us 4 no more" mentalities. It's all about breaking the cycle and living as Jesus did which is loving people that everyone else viewed as rotten, despicable, and unworthy.
I'm glad that He loved me, because I am unworthy. The least I can do is push myself to love like Christ. I haven't read yet anywhere that said living for Christ's cause is easy, but with a reward such as we will be given, eternal life with Christ, how can it not be worth it?
I encourage you to step out of your survivors circle and see the others for who they are: people trying to make it just like you and just like me.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Things That Make You Laugh
A lot of things make me laugh. Movies. Books. Music, especially when it is a train wreck. Comedians. Jokes. People smiling and having a good time.
I tell you what though. God can make me really bust a gut laughing sometimes.
Literally five minutes before I wrote this I was thinking, "God, I know the site gets hits, but does anyone even read this stuff? Am I doing the right thing with this or has it become about me?"
I was literally thinking about just posting and saying hey guys, this is it. Last one today.
No more than before I was about to begin writing I receive a text from a good friend telling me what a good post the last one was.
See it's not that he encouraged me, because a couple of people have. It's the fact that I wanted to know if this was all in vain. My heart is in it. I do it to reach even just one person. It's never been about me in my eyes.
That text came right as I said, "God, just tell me to keep going or not somehow."
Well, I got my answer through a friend. God will answer prayers. Even if they are as simple as what about this little thing that I do.
So, needless to say, I laughed because I thought it was funny how fast that happened.
I'm not asking for mass comments or encouragement. I just want to share my heart.
I tell you what though. God can make me really bust a gut laughing sometimes.
Literally five minutes before I wrote this I was thinking, "God, I know the site gets hits, but does anyone even read this stuff? Am I doing the right thing with this or has it become about me?"
I was literally thinking about just posting and saying hey guys, this is it. Last one today.
No more than before I was about to begin writing I receive a text from a good friend telling me what a good post the last one was.
See it's not that he encouraged me, because a couple of people have. It's the fact that I wanted to know if this was all in vain. My heart is in it. I do it to reach even just one person. It's never been about me in my eyes.
That text came right as I said, "God, just tell me to keep going or not somehow."
Well, I got my answer through a friend. God will answer prayers. Even if they are as simple as what about this little thing that I do.
So, needless to say, I laughed because I thought it was funny how fast that happened.
I'm not asking for mass comments or encouragement. I just want to share my heart.
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