Week 3

Last weekend I was at the laundry mat and I witnessed something that took me for a loop. There was a 3 year old who could hardly form words sitting their playing with a toy gun. My question: How is it that we learn how to use a Gun before we learn how to speak. We are growing up in a society that prizes violence over encouragement.

Right now I am at the Marriott in Orlando and there is a dance competition going on. Which means two things: 1) annoying preteens and teens and 2) annoying parents of preteens and teens. I was really surprised that a lot of the adults are drinking beer at the dance recitals. I found it guite humorous. But what got me was that parents allow their daughters who are like 7-13 years of age dress provocatively. These kids were hardly wearing anything. One of the mothers was like, "it is only for the competition." Let me tell you something mothers, If you let them dress like that in public for a competition they will think it is ok to dress like that all the time! I was just very surprised at the terrible parenting that was happening.


I will write more later, I am about to hit the hay because we have to set up everything tomorrow morning very early!

Spiritually Sunburned

"But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ." - 2 Corinthians 11:3

This past Saturday I was laying out by the pool with a few of my fellow interns. All was good! It was a gorgeous day, bright and beautiful, and the water was cool and refreshing and I had all the sunscreen I needed to prevent the harmful rays of the sun. But despite all of the sunscreen I got extremely burned. It is funny how being burned by the sun is a process. You don't just get burned by spending 5 minutes in the sun. You can be having a lot of fun out in the sun, hearing from your friends that you dont look that red, but then you find after a hot shower that you are indeed as bright as Ronald McDonald's nose.

It is a lot like sin in our lives. Most of us find ourselves at some point in our lives battling some kind of habitual sin and ask the simple question, "how did I get here?" We get distracted by the fun under the sun, and the constant approval by our friends that we never notice the attempts of Satan to distract us from following Christ. Then in the end, we find ourselves burnt. We find ourselves searching for something that will undue what has been done. But like a sunburn it cant be undone, but it can be healed. Christ offers us healing. He doesnt say that He will undue the consequences but He gives His mercy and love which is essential in the healing process.

To be very simple, We have all been spiritually "sunburn," looking for something that will heal our aching soul. The only one that can regenerate your soul is Jesus Christ and sacrifice on the cross.

Take some time and check yourself to see if you are getting "burned."

Check Yourself

The more and more I think about God's grace, the more I think about my response toward Him. Is my response towards Him holy and upright? Or Is my response ungratefulness and disrespectful?

In 2 Cor. 13:5 is says, " Test Yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or Do you not recognize that Christ is in you?" Paul is destroying this false notion that all it takes is a "prayer" to save you and there is no need for commitment to God. Newsflash: You cant be a Christian and live in complete Rebellion against God. That is why Paul is saying Check yourselves. He is saying, "Are you living out your salvation?" "Can you see Christ in you?" or Have you been claiming the title but deep down know that you are far from God?

God's Grace is Big. God's Grace is Sufficient. I am not saying that if you sin you are not saved- if that was the case nobody could find saving Grace in Him. What I am saying is, If you are truly saved, you will produce fruit. (James 2:14-24) If you are not seeing ANY fruit, you need to check to see if you are in the Faith.

SO what is your response towards God? Are you Producing Fruit? or have you been unproductive? I leave you with this thought: We don't serve God so that we can be accepted; we are accepted no matter what, that is why we serve and obey.

I love you guys. Lets Produce.

The True Gospel

"I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!"

"Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ."
-Galations 1:6-10

I read this today and it broke me. Paul is addressing followers of Christ who have traded in the True Gospel for a second-hand gospel. I started thinking about all the different types of Gospels we have in your society like Liberation Gospel, Social Gospel, and Prosperity Gospel ( I know that is not all of them). So what is the Gospel?

The Gospel is NOT a get our of hell free card. Christ never said, "If you would believe in Me than you will be saved, and dont worry about loving me, Just believe I exist!"
The Gospel is Not to make you wealthy. There are a lot of churches teaching that Christ died to make you "victorious" in your finances. God will provide and be your sustainer and comforter but He never says He will make you wealthy.
The Gospel is Not soley about helping the needy. Ill explain. God does call us to help those in need. It is a vital part of our ministry as Christians. BUT when a pastor says that the reason Christ died was for us to help people and thats all, we got a problem.

The Gospel is that while, you and I were sinners, completely broken, completely seperated from God; He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, who lived a perfect life, never having sinned, and was crucified to a cross. Hung there, to die as He carried the weight of the Worlds sins. He was murdered by the men He came to save. He rose three days later, and after appearing to many witnesses, He ascended into heaven to await the day He would return.

When I think about the Gospel, I think about the Roman Guard at Jesus' crucifiction. Do you know which guard I am talking about? In Matthew 27:54, it says that when Christ died, the curtain split and a roman guard said, "Truly, this is the Son of God." Let me ask you a question: If you were a roman guard, the one that put the nails in Christ hands, If you were the one, who mocked him, and put the crown of thorns on His head, If you were the one who shoved the spear in His side, and you realized that you Crucified God, How would you react?

How could God ever forgive me for doing that? I would think that I have absolutely no chance of reuniting with God. But It is the unfailing love that Christ has, that saves the centurion and reunites him with God, even after he crucified Him.

We are all accountable for Christ's death. We, even 2000 years later, sent Christ to the slaughter for our Sins. But still, God redeems us from our brokeness and depravity and He makes us whole and complete through Him. When we realized that we have done nothing to deserve His grace and His love, and that it is only by the absolute Mercy that God shows us that we can come to know Him, only then can we understand what the Gospel truly is.

Let me leave you with this quote from Thomas Aquinas, "All the world would be Christian if they were taught the pure Gospel of Christ!” Lets preach the True Gospel of Christ.

Bleeding To Death

When I was younger I scrapped my knee today playing football. Now before you judge me and call me a "whimp," let me explain. It was a tiny little cut. It bled a little. Nothing to serious. Actually, I continued to play with it. At first, it was somewhat painful and a little uncomfortable but nothing to bad. Eventually, I forgot that my cut was there until i ran into my dresser and realized again that I cut my knee. So I washed it. Bandaged it.

Do you know where I am going with this?
In my life, sin is like that little cut. My sin causes a little uncomfort and then usually within minutes, I forgot that it is there. I continue to live this life, usually forgetting that I have sin until it rises again. I live my life being totally ignorant of my cuts. And more and more little cuts develop in my life. See one cut on my knee is not going to kill me. My guess is, I would go about my life just fine. The problem is, the more little cuts I get, the faster I bleed to death.

Ready for the Good News?! God has the bandage for our wounds. He has the cure for our disease. God sent His only Son Jesus Christ to die for our sins. He sent Christ to die to seal our wounds forever. If we believe that He died and rose again three days later, than every time we get a little cut, Christ heals our sins, with the same care and passion like a mother bandaging her small child.

Let me ask you: Are you bleeding to death?

The Smell of Salvation

I was sitting on the Metro rail in Miami trying to fall asleep, but with every jolt from the train, it felt like it was going to go off track, I decided it would be better for me to stay awake. So I looked around. At the end of train was this middle eastern man. His shirt and pants were a mix of brown colors. He had square glasses that wrapped around his aged face and his white hair. I couldn't tell what he was reading because he was to far away so I moved on to the next person. This person looked like a student, probably in high school. He sat directly in front of me. He had his i-pod in and his Target employee page on the right side of his shirt. From what I could hear, he was listening to "Make it Rain" by Fat Joe feat Lil Wayne. He just sat there minding his own business. The next person was a 50 to 60 year old woman dressed in floral prints and had gigantic pearl earrings on (they were fake). She looked somewhat confused about how public transportation worked and for the most part she made sure not to look around at anybody. She came and she went like everybody else, in silence, not giving a hello or a smile, not showing any hint that you were alive. Everyone(besides our group cause they knew each other) sat there in silence not showing any sort of acknowledgment that you were a human being.

Then a man about 6 foot came and sat next to me. He was wearing a torn up and extremely dirty Grant Hill Jersey. If i had any thoughts about trying to fall asleep they were now gone, due to the smell of alcohol and lack of deodorant. I sat there and thought to myself, "that is so disgusting." I felt myself do a mental "move-over" and i was completely against the idea of talking to him. So I sat there in silence. No Smile. No Hello. No Acknowledgment that I even saw Him. Then he got up and left. I would love to say that the smell of alcohol and body odor followed him as he left, but it didn't. I sat there and i thought. How could I have not said hi to him? How could i not even smile?

I am ashamed because I dont know what this man might be going through. God placed me next to him for a reason but I ignored the call to share the Gospel at that moment. I remember something the Lord taught me a few weeks ago and that is " Are you more concerned about your own comfort, or about people that are in need of God's love?" And in that moment, my heart was crying to God for forgiveness because I did NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING, to show this man the love of God. The smell was not the smell of Alcohol our sweat, but it was the Smell of Salvation. It was the Smell of someone in need of a Saviour, in need of the forgiveness that only God can provide. So now, I pray, that someone more willing than I, would penetrate this mans life, and show him true love of Christ.

I beg you all not to fall into the trap of Comfort that Satan wants us in, but to fearlessly live out the Gospel as it says in Ephesians 5:19. Let us put on the Full Armor of God and proclaim the Gospel, ready to take the suffering that comes with it. Let us remember that Christ is coming back and there WILL be judgment, and those that are not followers of Christ have offended a HOLY God and there is a price to be paid and Let us remember that Christ has fully saved us from the punishment we deserve if we believe that He died for our sins and rose again. Let us remember that Christ loves the sinner and much as He loves the pastor.
DO you want to know what separates a professing "Christian" from a real one? True understanding of the Gospel and the willingness to share it.

You can not be a Follower of God that is redeemed by Grace, and not have any desire to Share the Gospel.

So Let's share the Gospel.

Redefined

I was once undefined. I had no meaning in life or any purpose for living it. The only definition I held strong to was selfishness and that is all. My life was undefined. It lacked the character and the shaping of God and his Hand. It lacked the immense love and grace that He gives. I was undefined merely, because I wish not to have it. I was undefined by God's mercy because I thought I could be defined in other ways. I realized something significant: On the day we stand before God, He will look to see if we have been defined by Him or not. There is no other way. Be ready. Become Defined by who God is.