Hey everybody, I have a couple things on my mind, so I will break this up into two posts so it will be easier to read.
The first thing is that yesterday, while I was on campus reading at a picnic table, this kid walked up to me and asked me if I knew Joseph Smith had a vision, I said I did, but didn't know much about it.
This young man, no older than 17 or 18, then went on to profess his faith to me. He was a Mormon and said that proselytizing is what he did all day.
I told him he had a lot of courage to go around and openly talk to people about his faith, but I didn't agree with him that the Church of Latter Day Saints was the way to God.
He was well prepared and argued every point I brought up. I told him I didn't think Jesus walked in America after the resurrection, I didn't believe there was a complement to the Bible, and I didn't believe in Joseph Smith's "vision" that the Mormon Church was the only church with true authority from God.
I tried to express to Him what I believed and why I believed it. What it really came down to was that I believe the Bible is the true word of God by faith, and he believed that the Book of Mormon was the word of God also, by faith.
The hard thing was, he said he believed in the Bible. Everything I believed in, he believed in too. I then asked what is the point of Mormonism and he said that you had to be baptized in the Mormon Church to be saved. First off, I don't think you have to be baptized to be saved, and I don't think it has to be in any specific church.
I guess what I am getting at, is that it is hard to witness to someone who is part of the Church of Latter Day Saints. We both believe Jesus is the Savior and both believe in His resurrection. The biggest differences I could see (excluding that whole polygamy thing) was they follow the Book of Mormon, and believe in that whole baptism under authority deal.
I wish I would have been more prepared as to why I see holes in their faith, by Scripture. So now I'm going to look and search for the major differences between Christianity and Mormonism. I was just wondering what you readers out there know about Mormonism, or any tips on how you talk to them.
Yo
Hey there everybody. Just filling you in on what's been going on. I am back up in Gainesville, on week 2 of my second year. Things are going great. I am now living off campus in an apartment with two of my friends from Campus Crusade. Shannon has transferred up here, and she is living in the same apartment complex. I have never eaten better at college than I have with Shannon here. I have gone from frozen corn dogs to Chicken Alfredo. It is great to have her up here, and my classes are going well so far. We are just getting started, but I am getting a handle on my classes, I'm sure in a couple more weeks I will be past the learning curve. I only have to go to campus on Tuesdays and Thursdays because I am taking a few classes online. It is definitely keeping me busy, but its great being up here, the change of scenery, and the change of atmosphere. The other thing coming up is football season. Only a few days away, I am stoked! I'm hoping for a Gators repeat and the Dolphins to make the playoffs.
So in summation, I'm going to be pretty busy the next few weeks, I will try to keep you updated, and whenever I am inspired, I promise to blog about it.
See you soon.
So in summation, I'm going to be pretty busy the next few weeks, I will try to keep you updated, and whenever I am inspired, I promise to blog about it.
See you soon.
What's the point?
I just finished up at a leadership conference and I was reading through Acts tonight and this scripture caught my eye:
"We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus." -Acts 15:11
This got me thinking along the lines of what Tim Keller was talking about at the conference.
He talked about the story of the prodigal son (funny how that keeps popping up) from the perspective of the older brother.
Basically, the way this all came together in my head was that it is very easy to lose sight of this verse, and this verse's meaning when we get deeply involved in ministry.
We are saved by the UNDESERVED grace of Jesus.
Many times Christ followers will start to "work for God" and volunteer at their local church.
I want to go on record and say that I personally think that is the best way to connect with people in a church.
But as always, we have to be careful.
Anyways, a person starts volunteering at a church, or is on staff, and soon gains responsibilities and jobs.
They have a list of tasks that they want to get done every weekend, and get done with excellence. This is anyone from a person who hands out bulletins to the lead pastor.
We all start to get into this cycle of trying to constantly improve work. We spend more and more time on how to do a better job, instead of spending that time with God.
We start to pour all of our effort and time into our ministry under the banner of "God's Calling", and in a twisted way, we start to worship the ministry and not our God who is behind it.
We become so focused on our work that we put it up on a pedestal. We begin to prioritize our work for God above our relationship with God. We worship our work, worship those who excel in the area of our ministry, worship the strategy behind an effective ministry like ours, we begin to worship ourselves for our accomplishments in our ministry.
In a short matter of time, we have convinced ourselves that our work for God is more important than God. In a sense, our ministry is more vital to us than God's grace.
If we're not careful we may begin to think that our work is critical to how God views us, forgetting how He loves complete failures and successful people.
If that happens, we will be under constant pressure to please God through our work.
If we are trying to work hard enough for God to love us, then we in essence are trying to WORK for our SALVATION.
We put ourselves in this pressure cooker to live up to God's perfect standards and actually get lost in our work, instead of getting lost in our God and his salvation through grace.
We are saved by the undeserved grace of Jesus Christ.
Plain and simple.
We don't deserve. Never can, never will. No matter how hard we work, we will never be good enough for God's standards.
Yet through His love, and His son's death on a cross, God gives us His saving grace as a free gift that is unearned and undeserved.
It is not we do. It is what Jesus has done.
We can't forget that.
You're ministry is important to God. You are changing lives!
Just be careful that your ministry doesn't become a matter of eternal life or death to you.
Yes, you should focus on your work. But focus more on emulating the spirit of God through your work, and your work will take care of itself.
"We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus." -Acts 15:11
This got me thinking along the lines of what Tim Keller was talking about at the conference.
He talked about the story of the prodigal son (funny how that keeps popping up) from the perspective of the older brother.
Basically, the way this all came together in my head was that it is very easy to lose sight of this verse, and this verse's meaning when we get deeply involved in ministry.
We are saved by the UNDESERVED grace of Jesus.
Many times Christ followers will start to "work for God" and volunteer at their local church.
I want to go on record and say that I personally think that is the best way to connect with people in a church.
But as always, we have to be careful.
Anyways, a person starts volunteering at a church, or is on staff, and soon gains responsibilities and jobs.
They have a list of tasks that they want to get done every weekend, and get done with excellence. This is anyone from a person who hands out bulletins to the lead pastor.
We all start to get into this cycle of trying to constantly improve work. We spend more and more time on how to do a better job, instead of spending that time with God.
We start to pour all of our effort and time into our ministry under the banner of "God's Calling", and in a twisted way, we start to worship the ministry and not our God who is behind it.
We become so focused on our work that we put it up on a pedestal. We begin to prioritize our work for God above our relationship with God. We worship our work, worship those who excel in the area of our ministry, worship the strategy behind an effective ministry like ours, we begin to worship ourselves for our accomplishments in our ministry.
In a short matter of time, we have convinced ourselves that our work for God is more important than God. In a sense, our ministry is more vital to us than God's grace.
If we're not careful we may begin to think that our work is critical to how God views us, forgetting how He loves complete failures and successful people.
If that happens, we will be under constant pressure to please God through our work.
If we are trying to work hard enough for God to love us, then we in essence are trying to WORK for our SALVATION.
We put ourselves in this pressure cooker to live up to God's perfect standards and actually get lost in our work, instead of getting lost in our God and his salvation through grace.
We are saved by the undeserved grace of Jesus Christ.
Plain and simple.
We don't deserve. Never can, never will. No matter how hard we work, we will never be good enough for God's standards.
Yet through His love, and His son's death on a cross, God gives us His saving grace as a free gift that is unearned and undeserved.
It is not we do. It is what Jesus has done.
We can't forget that.
You're ministry is important to God. You are changing lives!
Just be careful that your ministry doesn't become a matter of eternal life or death to you.
Yes, you should focus on your work. But focus more on emulating the spirit of God through your work, and your work will take care of itself.
Going on in my Head
Have you ever experienced a time where God seems to be telling you or a group the same thing? Everyone keeps coming across similar scriptures, all the preachers are teaching about the same idea?
Its pretty cool how things align like that sometimes.
This week, the story of the prodigal son seems to be everywhere I turn. You can find it in Luke 15.
To be honest, I am kind of at a loss of why this scripture keeps popping up in my life.
It is a great metaphor. A boy asks for his inheritance while his father is still alive, runs off and blows it. He does everything he thinks he wants to do but ends up broke and alone. He's living in a pig pen and realizes even his father's servants lived better back home. He swallows his pride and decides to go home and ask his father to at least accept him as a servant. Except, when he arrives home, he finds his father filled with joy at his return, and they enjoy a great feast.
Simply put, we are the prodigal son, God is our father.
We may run from Him, do everything He warned us not to do, we may end up living in the pig pen, we may be ashamed to turn back to Him. But He is anxiously awaiting our return.
God loves us.
No doubt, it is a great passage, but I had to think through how this applies to me right now.
Then I remembered that I had been praying for some encouragement. Nothing was really wrong, but I was just getting worn out, seemingly beaten down and tired. I could see some evidence of weariness in my relationship with God and prayed for Him to give me a little boost. Kind of a Red Bull for my soul.
I'm now realizing that this is one of the most joyful scriptures there is in the Bible. The more I meditate on it, the happier I become.
This passage is telling me that I can never screw up too much for God. The mistakes I've made are in the past. He loves me and just wants me to be with Him.
Yes, there are many other attributes of God, but what sticks out through this story is His love.
To me, the unending love of God is something that we can never think about enough.
If we don't focus on God's love, we end up like the prodigal son's older brother. Focused only on his father's wealth, and his financial loss. If we become the older brother, we miss the celebration, and the joy of God's love, just like he missed the point of the feast.
So I've decided that this lesson is a rather simple one: go back sooner to God, don't wallow in self pity, bask in His love and mercy, be more thankful for His grace, and rejoice!
Its pretty cool how things align like that sometimes.
This week, the story of the prodigal son seems to be everywhere I turn. You can find it in Luke 15.
To be honest, I am kind of at a loss of why this scripture keeps popping up in my life.
It is a great metaphor. A boy asks for his inheritance while his father is still alive, runs off and blows it. He does everything he thinks he wants to do but ends up broke and alone. He's living in a pig pen and realizes even his father's servants lived better back home. He swallows his pride and decides to go home and ask his father to at least accept him as a servant. Except, when he arrives home, he finds his father filled with joy at his return, and they enjoy a great feast.
Simply put, we are the prodigal son, God is our father.
We may run from Him, do everything He warned us not to do, we may end up living in the pig pen, we may be ashamed to turn back to Him. But He is anxiously awaiting our return.
God loves us.
No doubt, it is a great passage, but I had to think through how this applies to me right now.
Then I remembered that I had been praying for some encouragement. Nothing was really wrong, but I was just getting worn out, seemingly beaten down and tired. I could see some evidence of weariness in my relationship with God and prayed for Him to give me a little boost. Kind of a Red Bull for my soul.
I'm now realizing that this is one of the most joyful scriptures there is in the Bible. The more I meditate on it, the happier I become.
This passage is telling me that I can never screw up too much for God. The mistakes I've made are in the past. He loves me and just wants me to be with Him.
Yes, there are many other attributes of God, but what sticks out through this story is His love.
To me, the unending love of God is something that we can never think about enough.
If we don't focus on God's love, we end up like the prodigal son's older brother. Focused only on his father's wealth, and his financial loss. If we become the older brother, we miss the celebration, and the joy of God's love, just like he missed the point of the feast.
So I've decided that this lesson is a rather simple one: go back sooner to God, don't wallow in self pity, bask in His love and mercy, be more thankful for His grace, and rejoice!
Talking It Out
A friend of mine pointed out some scripture she was reading, it sounded like it had really grabbed a hold of her heart, so I read it over tonight.
The passage was Ephesians 4, Paul is writing to the church at Ephesus and basically telling them what's up.
He starts right off the bat telling us how to act with each other, always be humble, patient and gentle, bind yourselves together with peace, overlook each others faults with love.
That struck a chord right away. I don't know about you, but if you hang around a church or a ministry long enough, you will see relationships ruined by it. If you hang around really long, it can make you question if there is a way to do ministry with people without eventually destroying your relationship with them.
Paul tells us how to do it right here. He basically says to put yourself to the side. Be gentle, humble, patient. Don't get heated with the people you are doing life with. Work with them and their faults, overlook their faults with love, because that is what Christ did with us.
Paul is the man at bringing everything back to Christ.
He tells us its simple, not easy, but simple, if we constantly focus on Christ and try to emulate Him in everything we do, we won't have relationship problems.
The only reason that doesn't work is that pride, anger, jealousy, and frustration get in the way. It is a lot easier to tear someone down and blame them for bringing down your ministry than to listen to what Paul says in the next paragraph and build up leaders.
Paul keeps referring to unity in the body, telling us that we need to speak truth in love, like Christ, and depend on each other, help each other grow, and the body will benefit.
The Bible tells us how to confront people without causing a quarrel. This half of the chapter is a guideline to me for handling how you talk to people, whether it be at work, church, or school.
Paul tells us to first be humble and gentle. Meaning don't come in arrogant and hostile, thinking your idea is the only idea, you have the best solution and everyone should agree with you. You're just going to come across as a jerk. Be humble and gentle, listen to others, take in their point of view.
He next says to overlook each others faults out of love, because that is what Christ did for us. We don't need to point out every little thing that irritates you about a person. There are times when people need to be confronted, but the Bible says to "Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binging yourselves together with peace." Eph. 4:3
That sounds to me like you shouldn't rock the boat unless you really really have to. Strive to keep the peace, and overlooking some faults with love is how we do that.
Finally, it says that we need to work together. We are dependent on each other. No one can do everything perfectly, we need each other to maximize our potential. We have to depend on the other parts of the body.
That takes a lot as well. Sometimes that means you have to step aside, out of the limelight, and let someone who is better than you perform some duty. I know that can be hard. But how are we supposed to work together so well?
Paul says we have to remember that Christ is the head of the church. He is also the head of our lives. If we can look to Him, and remember what he did for us, remember that we are brothers and sisters of Christ, we're all on the same team, it should make it a little easier for us to work together.
This way, in verse 16 it says, "As each part does its own work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love."
Remember love, guys.
If you approach people with humility and love, those tough conversations will go a lot smoother.
The passage was Ephesians 4, Paul is writing to the church at Ephesus and basically telling them what's up.
He starts right off the bat telling us how to act with each other, always be humble, patient and gentle, bind yourselves together with peace, overlook each others faults with love.
That struck a chord right away. I don't know about you, but if you hang around a church or a ministry long enough, you will see relationships ruined by it. If you hang around really long, it can make you question if there is a way to do ministry with people without eventually destroying your relationship with them.
Paul tells us how to do it right here. He basically says to put yourself to the side. Be gentle, humble, patient. Don't get heated with the people you are doing life with. Work with them and their faults, overlook their faults with love, because that is what Christ did with us.
Paul is the man at bringing everything back to Christ.
He tells us its simple, not easy, but simple, if we constantly focus on Christ and try to emulate Him in everything we do, we won't have relationship problems.
The only reason that doesn't work is that pride, anger, jealousy, and frustration get in the way. It is a lot easier to tear someone down and blame them for bringing down your ministry than to listen to what Paul says in the next paragraph and build up leaders.
Paul keeps referring to unity in the body, telling us that we need to speak truth in love, like Christ, and depend on each other, help each other grow, and the body will benefit.
The Bible tells us how to confront people without causing a quarrel. This half of the chapter is a guideline to me for handling how you talk to people, whether it be at work, church, or school.
Paul tells us to first be humble and gentle. Meaning don't come in arrogant and hostile, thinking your idea is the only idea, you have the best solution and everyone should agree with you. You're just going to come across as a jerk. Be humble and gentle, listen to others, take in their point of view.
He next says to overlook each others faults out of love, because that is what Christ did for us. We don't need to point out every little thing that irritates you about a person. There are times when people need to be confronted, but the Bible says to "Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binging yourselves together with peace." Eph. 4:3
That sounds to me like you shouldn't rock the boat unless you really really have to. Strive to keep the peace, and overlooking some faults with love is how we do that.
Finally, it says that we need to work together. We are dependent on each other. No one can do everything perfectly, we need each other to maximize our potential. We have to depend on the other parts of the body.
That takes a lot as well. Sometimes that means you have to step aside, out of the limelight, and let someone who is better than you perform some duty. I know that can be hard. But how are we supposed to work together so well?
Paul says we have to remember that Christ is the head of the church. He is also the head of our lives. If we can look to Him, and remember what he did for us, remember that we are brothers and sisters of Christ, we're all on the same team, it should make it a little easier for us to work together.
This way, in verse 16 it says, "As each part does its own work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love."
Remember love, guys.
If you approach people with humility and love, those tough conversations will go a lot smoother.
Deception
I was on Facebook earlier today and a guy I know posted a link to a couple videos on Youtube. They were of this crazy preacher talking about God's "drunken glory." The guy was on stage, intoxicated, and rambling nonsense about "sexual worship" and throwing in a lot of mystic terms from various religions.
He had a packed house!
What gives me a heavy heart is that next to that video were dozens of links to other crazy "preachers" and nut job "prophets." The list went on and on.
It made me think of how many people were out there following these men, falsely thinking they were seeing God through ridiculous acts and heresy, like a "healer" beat a crippled woman with a baseball bat because "the Holy Spirit said it would heal her."
The Bible speaks a lot about false prophets in books like 1 John and 2 Peter.
It's scary! They loosely tie in parts of scripture to back what they are saying and babble on about nonsense that the people in the pews accepted as fact. I had to watch one guy for over 5 minutes before I was sure he was a phony. I can see how people can believe them!
These people are good at what they do.
The Bible talks about how those who are teachers will be held to a higher standard. I believe this is because many things teachers say will be accepted as fact by the congregation. Just like a lot of the people in those chairs assumed what this man was saying was rooted in scripture or backed up somewhere, when in all reality, it was coming from his warped mind.
It is a scary thing. Everyone out there who follows Christ, or at least has some common sense must guard themselves from these people. The Bible tells us they are out for money, greed, and sexual desires.
People abusing the Word of God and the natural respect people have for it, for their own twisted desires makes me physically sick to my stomach.
It is our responsibility as the body of Christ, especially those called to teach, to follow God's will and work for His glory.
If we're not the ones out there telling people truthfully about Christ, these whack jobs will be there to lead them down a dark path.
My heart breaks for those people, I'm sorry that it takes something being thrown in my face for me to really get fired up about it. This happens everyday and I don't give it a second thought until now. We must constantly remember that there are billions of people out there that are lost, hurting, and broken.
We have the one thing that everyone needs, Jesus Christ. Yet far too often we are more concerned with what we're having for dinner, where we are going to spend our money, or what we're going to wear tomorrow. We put ourselves in a church bubble and hang out with only church people. That is great, the Bible says we need fellowship and that will lead to spiritual growth. But never forget the main reason you are here is to glorify God by spreading His message to those around you.
Jesus came to save the sinners, that's why He hung out with them.
If we don't love on those around us and try to be an example of Christ to them, then those crazy deceivers will lure them in with false hope and false teachings, which will ultimately lead to Hell.
It is our duty to know the truth, and share the truth.
He had a packed house!
What gives me a heavy heart is that next to that video were dozens of links to other crazy "preachers" and nut job "prophets." The list went on and on.
It made me think of how many people were out there following these men, falsely thinking they were seeing God through ridiculous acts and heresy, like a "healer" beat a crippled woman with a baseball bat because "the Holy Spirit said it would heal her."
The Bible speaks a lot about false prophets in books like 1 John and 2 Peter.
It's scary! They loosely tie in parts of scripture to back what they are saying and babble on about nonsense that the people in the pews accepted as fact. I had to watch one guy for over 5 minutes before I was sure he was a phony. I can see how people can believe them!
These people are good at what they do.
The Bible talks about how those who are teachers will be held to a higher standard. I believe this is because many things teachers say will be accepted as fact by the congregation. Just like a lot of the people in those chairs assumed what this man was saying was rooted in scripture or backed up somewhere, when in all reality, it was coming from his warped mind.
It is a scary thing. Everyone out there who follows Christ, or at least has some common sense must guard themselves from these people. The Bible tells us they are out for money, greed, and sexual desires.
People abusing the Word of God and the natural respect people have for it, for their own twisted desires makes me physically sick to my stomach.
It is our responsibility as the body of Christ, especially those called to teach, to follow God's will and work for His glory.
If we're not the ones out there telling people truthfully about Christ, these whack jobs will be there to lead them down a dark path.
My heart breaks for those people, I'm sorry that it takes something being thrown in my face for me to really get fired up about it. This happens everyday and I don't give it a second thought until now. We must constantly remember that there are billions of people out there that are lost, hurting, and broken.
We have the one thing that everyone needs, Jesus Christ. Yet far too often we are more concerned with what we're having for dinner, where we are going to spend our money, or what we're going to wear tomorrow. We put ourselves in a church bubble and hang out with only church people. That is great, the Bible says we need fellowship and that will lead to spiritual growth. But never forget the main reason you are here is to glorify God by spreading His message to those around you.
Jesus came to save the sinners, that's why He hung out with them.
If we don't love on those around us and try to be an example of Christ to them, then those crazy deceivers will lure them in with false hope and false teachings, which will ultimately lead to Hell.
It is our duty to know the truth, and share the truth.
Separation
Today is one of those days where I feel like my prayers are hitting the ceiling. Like I can't get through to God. My mind won't focus, I have to fight distractions and discouragement. There is no major crisis or disaster I am dealing with, something just isn't right.
I think days like this are caused by disobedience. When I finally realize that something is wrong, something is different, hopefully it gets through to me that something needs to be fixed.
Times like this, I'm forced to think back through the last day or two. I have to check my actions, my pride, and my motives. I'm not sure if this is how it works in your life, but this is how it goes in mine.
My disobedience is sin. The ironic thing is God is just giving me what I thought I wanted. When we sin, we are declaring our independence from God. Most times "independence" is seen as a good thing, in this case it is not. We are saying we don't need to depend on God. I got it, I'm good, thanks for the help, I'll take it from here God. It is a dumb move, but when we sin that is what we do. God loves us and wants us to have our best life, we disagree, we think we know what's best, we declare it with sin, and are basically saying we know better than God.
So I think these nights when I feel distant from God are a result of previous sin. God is saying you wanted to be out on your own, here is a little taste. I know He would never let me go, the Bible says He never loses one of His flock.
Sin gets into our hearts, it hardens our hearts from God. In Philippians, Paul says we should have tender hearts like Christ. Sin does the opposite. It hardens our hearts, pulls us from God, makes us more defensive to His message and His call. That is why it is so hard for people far from God to come to Him.
So what do we do? We have to give it all up to Him. Repent, confess, apologize, whatever you want to call it. We have to go back to Christ. Make things right, ask for His boundless grace, and as Paul says, REJOICE when He forgives us!
I think days like this are caused by disobedience. When I finally realize that something is wrong, something is different, hopefully it gets through to me that something needs to be fixed.
Times like this, I'm forced to think back through the last day or two. I have to check my actions, my pride, and my motives. I'm not sure if this is how it works in your life, but this is how it goes in mine.
My disobedience is sin. The ironic thing is God is just giving me what I thought I wanted. When we sin, we are declaring our independence from God. Most times "independence" is seen as a good thing, in this case it is not. We are saying we don't need to depend on God. I got it, I'm good, thanks for the help, I'll take it from here God. It is a dumb move, but when we sin that is what we do. God loves us and wants us to have our best life, we disagree, we think we know what's best, we declare it with sin, and are basically saying we know better than God.
So I think these nights when I feel distant from God are a result of previous sin. God is saying you wanted to be out on your own, here is a little taste. I know He would never let me go, the Bible says He never loses one of His flock.
Sin gets into our hearts, it hardens our hearts from God. In Philippians, Paul says we should have tender hearts like Christ. Sin does the opposite. It hardens our hearts, pulls us from God, makes us more defensive to His message and His call. That is why it is so hard for people far from God to come to Him.
So what do we do? We have to give it all up to Him. Repent, confess, apologize, whatever you want to call it. We have to go back to Christ. Make things right, ask for His boundless grace, and as Paul says, REJOICE when He forgives us!
