Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Be a cup.
What is the purpose of a cup?
There are almost unlimited materials that a cup can be made from, any shape, or size--but they all have the same purpose.
If it sits unused in a cabinet it is a waste of material. If it is only filled and not poured it grows moldy and nasty. If it is filled and poured out it has fulfilled it's use. Yet it will need to be washed from time to time, but the purpose of a cup is to be filled up and poured out. The more liquid it moves the better. We are to be cups to carry and pour Christ's love.
Why remain comfortable in your cabinet? Why rejoice in being filled up but sit there refusing to pour. What was the purpose in filling you then? Isn't a cup of water desired most by those who are thirsty? And you would deny them that? It's worse for you to be filled and not poured than to not be filled at all, at least you are still clean then... Useless... But clean. Why agonize over being poured out? Is this not what your purpose is? Glorify God in being poured out as well, for you are fulfilling your purpose as a vessel of God's love.
"Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered." Proverbs 11:25
Saturday, August 11, 2012
I'm not done with you yet...
At about 10:30 was when we started our last part of cleaning up and I said to Tyler that we should get out around 11:15ish. Well, we finish the last bit of cleaning and I go and drop some stuff off in the sanctuary. I run back up to the office to get my keys and move my car to put the equipment I borrowed in there. As I was waking out I was thinking in my head "I'm done with the day... It's been a long one. It was good but I've had enough." As I get into my car another car pulls into the parking lot. At this point it's only me and Tyler left.
I drive over to the other door and she's out of her car in the parking lot and I thought she waved at me so I waved back. But when I got out of my car she was walking towards us and needed help. She asked if I spoke Spanish. I replied "No hablo." lol. Long story short she needed directions. Somehow a lot of the Spanish I had been taught came back to me and I helped her find out how to her destination.
It wasn't until Tyler and I were walking back towards my car that it hit me. I said "I'm done with the day..." God had another plan. He still had work for me to do. He needed me to minister to this woman. The humbling part of this whole experience is that I taught a class that very morning about submission. Who are we going to submit ourselves to as slaves? We are slaves to the one whom we choose to obey. Paul says we have two choices--sin or obedience (Rom 6:15-18).
Part of being a slave is that we sometimes don't have a choice when we are told or asked to do something. I had the option of ignoring this woman or not giving her the kindness due or helping her. I chose to obey Christ. I don't say this to toot my own horn. I say this to remind myself that Jesus teaches lessons better than I ever will and he taught to me the exact same message I taught a dozen high schoolers this morning...
I have not proofread this or anything so I apologize for any grammatical mistakes. I'm also very tired and there is the high possibility of this not even being coherent. If so, I might fix it later. lol I just needed to get this written down while it was fresh.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Coffee Shop Devo on 2-16-12
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language
where their voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
This is for the Guys: Kingdom Work Requires Both Hands
Stop It.
Whenever I check up on “my guys” I ask them two questions. “How did you do today? and How did you do today?” Meaning how did you do in the battle for purity? and How is your Devotion going?
Purity and Devotion--I think that the two are inextricably linked. You cannot do one well without fulfilling the other. Romans 12:2 says “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of you mind so that you may be able to test and approve what God’s will is--his good, pleasing, and perfect will.”
As Christians we are called to live a life by the spirit (see Romans 6&8). In order to live by the spirit we must know what God’s will is. We are only able to know what God’s will is if we do the two things described in Romans 12:2.
- stop conforming to the world
- transform our minds
Those two things, for me, translate into sanctification/purification and consumption by the holy spirit. For most guys the biggest hinderance for sanctification is sexual purity.
Once we defeat that purity and focus on our devotion time with the Lord then we can start to be transformed.
This is not a long complicated theological thing...
Guys, when you’re frustrated that you don’t know what God wants from you don’t get frustrated with God for not revealing his plans. Get frustrated with yourself because you can’t discipline yourself and purify yourself. Stop it. Put the habit/sin to death. That old self was nailed to the cross. Stop trying to revive it.
So don’t be surprised if I ask you “how did you do today” and expect two answers.
Darkness Cannot Exist in Light
Lord, let me not walk in the counsel of the wicked, stand in the way of sinners, or (most importantly for this note) take the seat of a mocker. (Ps 1:1)
After reading the word, a few books by christian writers like Francis Chan and Donald Miller, hearing multimple sermons recently about sin and God's will, and most importantly being led by the spirit I feel compeled to remind myself and others of this fact--darkness cannot exist in light.
Some Christians feel that we are allowed to do whatever we please. We sometimes feel that as long as we go to Church and take communion, smile, do "the right thing" we are righteous. We can continue to have sex outside of marriage, smoke, drink, pander to our laziness, our stomach, and our sin. "We are saved by Christ and can just repent right?" Yes, but repentance actually requires action and a change of heart and orientation...
Consider 1 John 3:9: "No one who is born of God will contiue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God."
When you choose to profess Jesus as lord, receive the grace of God through baptism, and dye to your old sins it means truly that-dying to your old sins. You are reborn as you symbolically rise from the watery grave of the baptistry; clean, new, and filled with the holy spirit. That doesn't mean that you go back to sinful paths... Why would you return to what kills you?
We can't live a life of habitual sin and continue to follow the will of the father...
The fact is you are a slave to something. 2 Peter 2:19 says that "...a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him." Would you rather be a slave to a loving God who has purchased/redeemed you from death, or would you rather be a slave to death, sin, and ultimately satan...
In reality a Christian who continues to live in habitual sin is lukewarm. "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. " When you become lukewarm (and we all eventually will at one point) you must catch the fire of God again. Most often we become lukewarm because we are not focused on eternity, we are focused on the world and therefore will be bound by it. Don't focus on the temporal, focus on eternity and how you'll be spending it and you can't help but be on fire for God.
Seriously, God is Awesome
Seriously, God is awesome… I’ve dwelled on what Donald Miller wrote in A Million Miles in a Thousand Years:
“And as I worked on the novel, as my character did what he wanted and ruined my story, it reminded me of life in certain ways. I mean as I sat there in my office feeling like God making my worlds, and as my characters fought to have their way, their senseless, selfish way of nonstory, I could identify with them. I fought with my ecoterrorist who wanted the boring life of self-indulgence, and yet I was also that character, fighting God and I could see God sitting at his computer, staring blankly at his screen as I asked him to write in some money and some sex and some comfort.”
Two out of the past three days I have just asked God to be the story teller in my life and for me to be the character. I found myself asking the Storyteller “do I really have to?” or “meh… that sounds good but can I do this?” When I would remind myself that I’m supposed to be being written, not trying to grab the pen, something wild, fun, and unexpected would happen. It would completely ruin the schedule of the day that I had in my head but I would still somehow get done everything that needed to get done.
The first day I had a bunch of errands to get done but I started the day by praying and asking God to be my storyteller for the day. To take control from me and make his will be done in my life for that day. I then started to organize them in my head into a concise, orderly, efficient plan… Step one was to meet with a professor then check my mail and go do a couple more things. When I got to the office no one was there. So I went to the SUB and checked my mail. I saw some of my high school students helping with an event at the pool with a bunch of elementary school kids. What I got for being nice and saying hi was eventually being drenched and chased around by about a dozen kids looking to soak me further and—a wild, fun, and unexpected story. God took the wheel, got his will done, and gave me the gift of granting mine to be done as well.
The third day I prayed a similar prayer in the morning “God, let me be submissive to your will and be my storyteller. Prepare my heart and make it like yours so I may be able to seek your will, find it, and follow it.” At the end of that day I was going to go with my roommate to return a borrowed keyboard to the campus tech guy. But when we opened the door of the apartment we quickly closed it and went to grab umbrellas and rain coats to prepare for the downpour that was sweeping through Kissimmee. It was mild on the way to the tech guy compared to the maelstrom we encountered as we began to leave. The campus was literally flooding and yet again a plan that was perfect was deemed to change. After I walked/swam back to our apartment, rather than feeling annoyed with being wet, I felt immensely relaxed and then overcome inexplicable joy. I think God finally saw that I was beginning to figure it out that he was the writer and I the character and smiled… I removed all my keys, wallet, phone, etc. and explored new rivers forming on the Campus of FCC without raincoat, shoes, inhibition, and selfish desire. I came back to the room drenched once again and with a sense of peace and an overflow of joy.
Being a character in God’s metanarative is a place of peace. But I know, by the way of Don Miller, that story also involves character change and a plot arc. The thing about an arc is that it isn’t flat—this sounds elementary but it’s crucial. There is elevation, challenge, obstacles, and change. The protagonist is the character that changes the most or most dramatically throughout the story. There is also an antagonist—the character that forces the change of the protagonist and usually places the most obstacles.
You’re probably wondering what happened on the second day. Enter the antagonist. I wanted to be my own writer that day… I had played God’s pawn for a day. It was fun, but I was not interested in relinquishing my “perfect” schedule for that day. I had a list of about four or five things to do that day and I finished them in about 20 minutes. With nothing else to do I decided to just take it easy. I rented a movie from iTunes, played some Goldeneye, and surfed on the waves of facebook. With boredom and stagnation your guard begins to drop and the antagonist sees “an opportune time” to throw an obstacle on the plot arc that I decided not to walk that day. The thing about deciding not to take part in the story is that—you really don’t have a choice; you’re in the story no matter what. When you choose not to participate you choose not to practice before the game, you choose not to put your cleats on, and you choose not to get your head in the game that you have to play no matter what. That day I completely fell over the obstacle placed on my path because I denied that I was even on the path.
You have a choice to make. It’s not a choice whether to participate in being a character in God’s story or not. It’s whether or not you acknowledge you’re on the page, the arc, the story. It’s whether or not you acknowledge that you’re a protagonist and by that very definition you are going to change and that there’s an antagonist that’s going to make you change. That antagonist is going to put obstacles on your path and force you to move, jump, or fall. This antagonist wants you to fall, wants you to deny that he even exists and that life’s pains, hurts, problems are the cause of a brutal unloving God who doesn’t care. When, in reality, they are opportunities to grow and make the story that much richer. James 1:2-4 says: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
The best part about these challenges is that you are guaranteed to be able to overcome them. Not guaranteed to overcome them, but guaranteed to be able to overcome them. First Corinthians 10:13 says “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.” You can get through whatever barrier is placed in your path. God knows you, inside and out, and knows what you can handle. Why would he ultimately make you fail by letting you be tempted beyond what you can bear? That doesn’t make sense…
In the surrounding verses Paul says “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!... he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” That’s what happened to me on day two. I thought I was standing firm. But it’s like standing firm on a beach with the waves washing the sand out from under your feet and when the tide comes in the under-toe pulls you out. The second part of that means that God also lets you take a path around the temptation if you don’t want to battle through it… How awesome and merciful is that! Seriously, God is awesome…
You’re a character in a story. Are you going to participate or are you going to deny the very existence of the story and ultimately fall?
Ps 107:1
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
Ps 107:10-16
Some sat in darkness and the deepest gloom,
prisoners suffering in iron chains,
for they had rebelled against the words of God
and despised the counsel of the Most High.
So he subjected them to bitter labor;
they stumbled, and there was no one to help.
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress.
He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom
and broke away their chains.
Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for men,
for he breaks down gates of bronze
and cuts through bars of iron.
This Psalm is filled with little short stories (anecdotes) about how people mope and complain about a bad situation and they finally turn to God and he rescues them. Then they give him thanks.
I think that this is still continuing but we fail to thank him at the end... I think there is a pandemic of spiritual apathy and amnesia. We seem to not care about God and keep forgetting to honor him first and focus on the first commandment "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength." Since we take our eyes off of him crap happens. Then we finally cry out for God to intervene.
Read that passage again with this view point...
Ps 107:10-16
Some sat in darkness and the deepest gloom,
prisoners suffering in iron chains,
for they had rebelled against the words of God
and despised the counsel of the Most High.
So he subjected them to bitter labor;
they stumbled, and there was no one to help.
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress.
He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom
and broke away their chains.
Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for men,
for he breaks down gates of bronze
and cuts through bars of iron.
Now do this:
Ps 107:1
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
Just a Rubberband
Faith... It's an interesting word. How do you define it? People say we are "Saved by GRACE through FAITH." What does that mean? What is faith? Is it believing there is a God? Believing that his one and only son died on a cross for all of mankind's sins (including yours)? Does it mean we believe he defeated not only sin but death and rose again on the third day? Does it mean we believe that his holy spirit dwells within us? Or does it mean we proclaim the gospel? Does it mean we LIVE the gospel? The short answer: yes. Faith includes all of this.
Through faith we get closer to God, we truly learn what it's like to live a life with God, the way things were meant to me. Although people fall into the misconception that your actions save you. If you're a "good person" you'll be saved and live with god forever in heaven. Kinda...
Sin separates us from God. Every time we sin we get a little further away. Eventually without God at all, we cannot live, it's how he designed us. Picture this. Creation, God just created the heavens, earth, all things in it, then the culmination, the pinnacle of all creation!--Humanity. And what did he have to say about it... "It was good." This means things were perfect, everything was in order just as he intended it to be. But what happens? We screw it up... We sinned. It's like taking a perfectly good sheet of paper and tearing it in half. You can't put it back together! Try it. lol tell me how that works out for you. Tape does not fix it.
The point is, there is never ANYTHING we can do to get back to where we were before the first sin. No action will put the paper back the way it was before we tore it. So how then, do we get back to God? There must be something God does to get us back with him... This is his biggest desire! We are the pinnacle of his creation, the pride of God, his crowning jewel!
He let his son die for us... A perfect, blameless man; died for us. Took all of our sins and washed them away... That statement now has more weight to it huh? God put the paper back together...
But don't forget about the thing that caused man to fall, the thing that ruined all of creation. Ultimately it was our choice, but we were tempted by evil... Nothing has changed guys. The closer you get to God the further you get from Satan and the more he wants you to fall.
Think about it like this: Get a piece of paper out. Draw two dots on either end of the paper. Label one God the other Satan. Get a rubber band, put it around the dot that says Satan. Put one finger on the dot that is labeled Satan (inside the rubber band). Take the other finger and put it also in the rubber band (this is you). Try to pull the other finger closer to God. There is resistance isn't there? The harder you pull the more resistance from satan there is... This is exactly how it works... The cool thing about a rubber band is the longer you hold out, the longer you have your finger closer to god the weaker that rubber band gets... It eventually loses it's elasticity.
Hold out.... Keep seeking out God, keep serving him--Keep the FAITH. The rubber band of temptation gets weaker the longer you hold it.
Man Up
26 My son, give me your heart and let your eyes keep to my ways, 27 for a prostitute is a deep pit and a wayward wife is a narrow well. 28 Like a bandit she lies in wait, and multiplies the unfaithful among men.
Proverbs 23
Men, keep your eyes with the Lord. The Prostitute is not so much a physical person anymore. It has now taken the form of the computer screen, phone screens, tv screens. You pay to have sex with a prostitute, you also pay when watching porn, but with much more than money... You pay with your life, your witness, your integrirty, your relationship with your future wife. Stop. Here and now.
22"The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
Men, you don't realize how powerful of a force you are... God created us in HIS image. Even angels are jealous of the things we can do. Let me ask you a question; what is the one thing you can do on earth but cannot do in heaven?
You can't go out and minister to people. You can't go and talk with them about Jesus. You can't help a friend put the bottle down. You can't help a brother get his hands off the mouse and keyboard... You don't realize the power you have when you're working with Christ. Don't diminish that power by succumbing to petty temptations to watch porn. If your body is filled with light from watching good things you can't help but shine it.
Prayer
When's the las time you really prayed?
I'm not talking about the mantra you say before eating, even after you've already had appetizers. (never understood why we don't consider appetizers food...)
I'm not talking about a routine prayer before going to bed.
I'm not talking about "God, please let me make this light!"
I'm talking about really talking to God... Look what David wrote
"O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water." -Psalm 63:1
God is not only an all powerful being, creator of the universe, heavenly father, he's also your best friend. Think of your best friend... Go ahead, do it...
How often do you talk with them? Probably every day right? Usually multiple times a day right?
Why should you treat God any differently?
Some people ask: "How are you supposed to pray? Like what do you say?"
The great thing about that is God already answered that, Jesus says specifically:
9"This, then, is how you should pray:
" 'Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
11Give us today our daily bread.
12Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.[a]'
Matthew, lord's prayer
-Matthew 6:5-14
Okay, that's a lot all at once. Let's break it down a bit.
"Our Father in heaven" -Acknowledge that he is your father and creator.
"Hallowed be your name" -Praise him
"Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" -YOUR kingdom come, YOUR will be done. It's HIS that's important, not mine. Acknowledge that he is the King of Kings and let him take control. (I think if he created the universe, not only does he KNOW what's going on in your life, I think he knows how to solve it.)"Give us today our daily bread" -We acknowledge that everything we have is from God and we ask him to sustain us.
"Forgive us our debts" -Ask for forgiveness of your sins.
"As we also have forgiven our debtors." -You must forgive others to be forgiven. Look just a few verses after the prayer at what Christ
says. "(14)For if you forgive men when THEY sin against YOU, your heavenly Father will also forgive YOU. (15) But if you do not forgive men of THEIR sins, your Father will not forgive YOUR sins.
"Lead us not into temptation" -Guide us, make our paths follow along side you.
"But deliver us from the evil one" -Protect us from evil.
I don't believe that this was intended to become a mantra is it is in the Catholic church... I think prayer should be dynamic and different every time... You never have a set of how your conversation is going to go when you call your best friend (or any friend for that matter) do you? That seems more like when you call for service and get a machine and all you do is press numbers to talk to an operator. Is God a machine? This prayer can essentially be boiled down into four steps.
Praise
Thanks
Confess
Ask
Pray using those four steps and concentrate on the first three more than the last. It seems like all we do is ask god to fulfill our wishes and wills... We must remember our place in creation (beneath the creator).
Shine Your Light
"Shine your light and let the whole world see,
We're singin' for the glory of the risen King"
Sing that a couple times.
If you've heard it sung at a ciy by 700+ people, put yourself in that moment...
It's something we take so seriously at ciy and something we carry home with us. "We're gonna show the world who Jesus is." is often said. Now that school is back in session are you hiding your light? Has it dimmed? Look it's reality that the world kinda stinks... It's discouraging when no one wants to see the light, or even acknowledges there is a light. But don't stop. You are not working for the praise of people, but for the praise of God. Who cares if your laughed at for helping a homeless guy? For paying for a friend's lunch who can't afford it even when YOU are tight on money. Who cares if you are ridiculed for sitting next to the girl everyone laughs at? Who cares if you're laughed at for saying "Oh my gosh" or not cursing... You were so determined at one point in time that you were gonna live for Jesus and live to spread the Gospel...So determined to change lives around you. So determined to be a good influence. What is stopping you? Laughter? Judgement?
Take a look at Matthew 10:22 and 2 Timothy 2:22... Get real and let your light shine again. It's incredible the difference you can make by just setting an example and living to the standard Christ calls us to. You can do this.