Something to think about???

I recently watched a message by Rick Warren and the 2013 Resurgence Conference. It was a so enlightening. He helped me to see how much FAITH I really lack. I would tell anyone to go listen or watch it. The thing that hit me the most was how simply he articulated our sin problem. He uses the terms “Lust of the flesh”,”Pride of life”,and “Lust of the eyes”. These are the three things that every sin is rooted in. The most well known place that we see this is in the Garden of Eden. Eve is temped to by all three. She lusted after the fruit on the tree seeing that it was good to eat. Then desired to be like God. So, she took the fruit and ate it. 

In our culture these three things are intertwined with everything we do. We see it everyday on our TV's, on our billboards,  and in the every day interactions we have with people. It has opened my eyes to the sins that are placed before me everyday. It has challenged me to put to death those things in my life that I see as common place. To be closer to my Savior I must die to the things of this world. Therefore, I am making a complete evaluation of all of the things that I am doing in my life. I am taking the things that are not going to push me closer, or help me to walk closer with Jesus. So, I ask you what are you changing in your life? What can you cut out? What can you put in place to draw you closer to Jesus? 

Colossians 1:21-23

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

     God is in the business of reclaiming and reconciling things back to himself.  This Scripture is letting us know that in spite of ourselves God wants us to be his. He is saying, "Hey you, come here! I have something for you. I did this amazing thing for you. While you where making your own decisions about life I sent my son for you. He went on a rescue mission. Yes, a rescue mission. For you, and yes it hurt. It hurt me so much that I had to turn from it. It pained me to see my son like that." 

     Jesus had to take on and bare the weight of sin. There was nothing in creation that could handle cleansing us from sin. The sacrifice of animals was just a way to show you that nothing could or would clean us from the sin problem that we have. Only someone that was truly without spot or blemish would reconnect us back to God the way we are meant to be. Jesus is the lamb of God that both cleanses us from sin and then by his blood allows us to walk in a new nature. Not by us, or by our actions but by his being in our place. 

Jesus

     I think people today are missing the big picture of the bible. It is Jesus. The Bible is all about Jesus. This might be as simple or fundamental as something could ever be but it is so important. So I look to the book of Colossians. 

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by[f] him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

    Paul means that Jesus is the first of us all. Before creation was made he was. If we believe in a God that was before creation why don’t we put him first before us? Our lives were placed under his supremacy. Then WHY do we stress over the trivial things in life? When he has taken care of those trivial things. 

     We have a problem in the Church today. We forget Jesus. He is the cornerstone of the Church. He is in all of scripture. We miss him most often when reading the Old Testament. Shoot we forget him when we teach the New Testament. But, he is all over the book. He is so forgotten. 

     I would love for people to put scripture is such high regards in our lives. We put TV shows, sporting events,  concerts over the Christ. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy some good mindless entertainment once in a while but, we have forgotten our first love. Just like the church in Ephesus in the book of Revelations. The reason that our people are not growing is Jesus is not lifted up as priority in our lives. We are looking for four steps to a better prayer life! Let's just do this. Read the scriptures, sit with Jesus in prayer and plead with him. Maybe if we did that we would see change. The only thing you need to experience is Jesus. If when we lay our heads down at night we have not pursued him, at the end of that day Satan has won the battle. Let our view of Jesus be higher than everything in life. Then we will have peace in him. 

What change can I do???

  I recently finished reading a book by my favorite author Tim Keller. The title is Generous Justice. The book tries to open your eyes to live out a life focused on how you truly do social justice in light of the Gospel. This is a constant struggle we have to deal with everyday. I always come back to Matthew 25:45 ……you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. 

     This verse gets straight to it as Jesus always does. He goes for the heart. He never disappoints when it comes to that. Where is your heart in doing what you are doing? Jesus never looks at the external. He sees the internal matter of the heart. That is what Tim Keller is getting at in his book. Because of the generous God that placed you on this earth in this time and because he wants to love you into a relationship with himself. What will you do for the least of these?

     Will you sit in your box? Would you be willing to not think about yourself and your own self gratification? Or, be consumed by a loving God that sent his son in the most generous act of love to die on a cross for people that did not deserve his love, yet gave it to you for free? Take the free gift and give it to the least of these.

Tim Keller #1

     I've decided to take a little bit of a break from the Genesis Series and do something a bit different. I enjoy reading books about our faith. I am always highlighting sentences that really stand out to me. So, I was thinking about how I could take that little sentence and really expand on the thought of the author and speak about how it would effect me as I walk out my faith in Jesus. So, lets start with my favorite author Tim Keller.

     The quote is "Jesus must become more beautiful than our idols." I found the quote by following the twitter handle @DailyKeller. I can't say exactly what book this came from. My research suggests that it came from Reason for God.

     I find this quote to be such a beautiful explanation of what Jesus wants for us. We must put Jesus before the things of this world that come to take our time, money, and attention. This is really the first commandment. You shall have no other gods before me (Exodus 20:2). Idols are not always bad things. They are good things that can become God things. We need to see Jesus as more desirable than the idols that we place in front of Jesus everyday.

     Here are some questions to ask yourself. What idols am I placing in front of Jesus? Is Jesus even beautiful to me? Why don't I see Jesus as beautiful? How can Jesus become beautiful to me? Am I constantly placing Jesus first everyday?

Blind

     I posted something on Facebook about this just to let people know the sadness that I see in our society. We makes stances on things but we don't back up our opinions. We bandstand about something and then go back to our pretty life and do nothing about it. 

     We as Americans have bought into the HYPE. Not me. The media feeds us information about this and that and we make stands on Facebook but get off of our soapbox as soon as we post our voice. We vent our frustrations about injustice but don't do anything about it. In a nation of such abundance, we are unwilling to sacrifice to make a change. Our life is consumed by the idea that we can make a change but nobody is making that change. We Need Change is what I heard but is there true change. I'm not trying to make it political so don't take it that way. 

     I looked at my most of my friends on Facebook make such ignorant statements. I was so disappointed in people. Should I not be disappointed? We are flawed people leaving in an imperfect world. We are naturally going to say things like this. With an imperfect justice system why should we be surprised? The thing about justice is people want to preach justice until it does not agree with their cause. Funny how people feel when the shoe is on the other foot. 

     Now to the race/color thing. I am a looked at in the world as a Black/African American male. Truth be told my father/sperm donor is a Hispanic male. My mother is an African American woman. Now if I came out looking like my dad a fair skinned male verse looking like my mother a dark skinned woman that changes the way people would look at me. How sad is that? Are we ignorant enough to believe the lie? The lie that depending on the color of someones skin they are either one way or the other. Have people not died to stop this?  Yes, we continue the cycle when we spew hate on the inner webs and then out into the world with our words and actions. 

      In conclusion, we as a people must be the change that we want to see in the world. That is what I live by. We show people that change can come. Change will come when you step out to be that change. We must educate people about the ignorance that they put out in this world. I know that there will be people that will not want to receive it but that must not stop us from doing it. So, what do you think? 

Baptized

So, today I got baptized. This won't be long. After many years of being a follower of Jesus I decided to make the plunge. A long long time ago..... I was baptized as a baby. But, when I became a believer at the age of 19 I understood what I was doing to be a follower Christ but never felt that I "Had" to be baptized. I wasn't saved by baptism I was saved by the inner workings of the spirit. After many years of back and forth discussion I never felt that there was a necessity for me to be baptized. But, after listening to multiple sermons about baptism I became convicted. But, stubborn ole me said forget about it. But then on Wednesday God/Dorrien was speaking to me again. Now without a doubt my I knew this is what I had to do. Then I said today would be the day June 2 2013. I would be baptized as an adult professing my faith. 

Oh what grace we do not understand When one man made a stand 

That man was Christ who was there for thee  

For the blind and lost he died for me