Under Cover Christians

I’m not going to lie. I LOVE reality TV shows. I love “Survivor” and I LOVE LOVE “Deadliest Catch”. One of my new favorites is UNDERCOVER BOSS. The show is about these CEO’s of major corporations like 7-11, Hooters, and Waste Management Company that go under cover in their organizations that they run from the top. They spend a week on the front lines, going entry-level jobs, meeting people and finding out what they think of the company and how things are ran. The boss then listens to them, sees what the perception of the company is and then meets with all of the people that he “worked” for that week and tells them who he is. He then says what they are doing well and usually does something for them and then confronts those who are not doing what they should be doing.

It is a great show. Really eye opening for these big time CEO’s to really see how things are run from the lower level. A lot of the things that they experience usually change the ways the run some aspects of the company and it usually changes the way themselves look and run the company.

Sometimes I think that Christians need to some “Undercover Boss” work. Christians can get some bad wraps. Based on David Kinnaman’s book “UnChristian” (honestly, everyone need to read this book. Click HERE to check it out.) He basically takes a poll of non-Christians and asks them what they think of Christians. I do have to say, its not good. Majority of non-Christians that were polled think that Christians are hypocritical, only worried about converting people, anithomsexual, sheltered, we are too political and too judgmental.

Just to throw out some of the numbers in the book, 47% of the people polled believed that Christians were saying one thing and going another. Saying we are preaching one thing and doing something completely different. That we were hypocrites. 38% of the people think that the only thing that maters is converting people. Not the relationships, the friendships don’t matter, as long as we get the convert. An overwhelmingly amount of people, 67% think that we hate homosexuals and we look at them as an abomination. Ouch. I don’t know about you but I don’t think that. I don’t think any of those things that non-Christians think about us in general.

Those are just a few things that I listed. The book goes into detail about what do non believers believe about us, why it has come to that, and there are some things listed in which we can start to change the stereotypes that have been placed on us.

I know for me, I try to act in a way that is like Jesus. I fail…a lot. I think if we were to really look at what Jesus says, on what He did, and literally act the way that He acted and interacted with people, there would not be this problem. Nowhere in Scripture is Jesus standing outside a funeral with a sign demeaning a soldier’s life. Never did Jesus stand on a corner holding a sign and a bullhorn screaming God Hates Fags. Jesus wasn’t only about getting people to follow Him. It was relationships. We ate with the people that no one wanted to eat with. He talked to the people you were “not supposed to talk to”. If we were to literally live and interact with people like Jesus did, if we were to talk the Red Letters seriously, then there wouldn’t be this perception of Christians.

Is it tough to live like that? Yup. But we are called to do it. We have to do this in order to change things. I once heard of a church in San Francisco go out during the Gay Pride Parade and set up confession booths. There was interest so many people stepped inside and were shocked to find out that Christians were in there confessing their sins and apologizing for how they have mistreated the gay community in the past. I thought that was amazing. We need to do more like this.

I think we need to do some “Undercover Boss” work in our communities and find out what people really think about Christians. If the church that you are at right now were to lock up its doors right now, would the community that its in know that you left? Would that be “Hey, where is _____________ Church? They did so much for us! We miss them, we need them.” if we are out in the community, let Jesus was out and about talking to people, helping them, showing them light in the darkness, there is only one way to point when asked “why are you doing these things?” That is to God.

If we cant answer the question of, “Are you a Christian?” and we cant confidently say, “Tell me what you see” and not be afraid of that answer, then we are doing it wrong.

Hear It and Do It

I’m sitting here getting ready and waiting for my family to come over for our annual Christmas Eve get together. We have been doing this since I was born, my grandparents would have us all over at their place in their huge living room and we would all have German food and just hang out and open presents. It honestly is one of my favorite moments that I have. Now they are have passed, it has moved to my parent’s house. Its great, but I still do miss the feeling of walking up and seeing my grandparents smiling faces because they are so stoked that we are over. I miss them. Regardless, i am super excited that everyone is coming over tonight and I am in need of some great family time. It fills me up in every way.

I have been reading this devotional book called “Devotional Classics” (click HERE to get it) and it’s absolutely amazing. I highly recommend it to everyone.

The section I read today from Scripture is Genesis 22:1-12, about Abraham and how he obeyed God always in the moment. What ever God told him to do then, he did it, and obeyed.

I read a section from Jean-Pierre De Caussade (if you couldn’t tell, this guy is French). He says “All we need to know is how to recognize God’s will in the present moment.” For me, I sometimes have a hard time determining what God wants me to do in a present moment. I know for me, I am a slow processor. When something happens, I need a few days to think about it, process it, and then I will tell you what I think about it. I’m like a 4 year old trying to understand Algebra kind of slow in certain situations. And when it comes to obeying God in the moment, I think I fail in a lot of it. There has been many times where I have felt this certain tug to talk to someone or act on something, but I miss out on the opportunity because I think about it too long instead of obey right away.

Its like when you are thirsty, thinking about being thirsty will not help quench your thirst. Doing something about it and going and getting a drink will be the only thing that will help your thirst. Same thing with acting on what God is telling you to do in the present. If we think about it too long, it is not going to help anyone, and you will be disobedient in that moment. We just need to act, and it will be taken care of because of our obedience to God.

I think something that I happen to do, and its unfortunate, is that as much as routines are great (reading the Bible, praying etc.) they can negate the fact of what God is willing you to do. If you feel at a certain time that you need to read, or to pray, then do so. But if we feel something else, but we have this routine of reading at a certain time or praying at a certain time, and don’t do that certain thing at that moment, then even if we are reading Scripture, at that time it is not what God is calling us to do. We are being defiant. Its crazy to think about but its true.

Let's say I am visiting my parents and my mom asks me to help her by taking out the trash, but instead I clean the bathroom because that’s what I always did when I lived there and would help her clean, I would be disobeying her. Even though I think I am doing the right thing, its something that she didn’t ask me to do. Same thing goes with God. We need to be ready to act in obedience like Abraham in the present. We feel that tug on our heart to talk to someone or do something; we need to act because at the moment we HAVE to be obedient to God.

I know for me, I am praying that I get better at this. Obey in the present, in the moment, at that time.

Is this hard for you? Can you determine when a command is in the present and you needed to act on something right then and there? What did you do?

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

What I Love About Christmas

Man oh man this is a busy time of the year. What is the best thing? Peppermint mocha from Starbucks in a red Christmas cup… hmmmmmmmmmmm!

What I want to do right now is come up with a list of things that I love about this Christmas time. So I hope you enjoy and don’t judge me:

· Like I said above, peppermint mocha from Starbucks. It’s Christmas in a cup. I know you can get it all year around though but it always tastes better around this time.

· I love the movie “Christmas Vacation” with Chevy Chase and the Griswolds.

· I love the rain. The fact that its been raining for what seems like the past 127 days is amazing.

· I love seeing older dudes who look like Santa but are not Santa because that’s how they look all year around.

· I like being able to tell when the 1,000,000 Santas we see during this time of year are actually really skinny and they don’t do a great job stuffing their stomach.

· I love to go into Toys’R’Us and just finding a place to sit and watch as all the kids throw a tempter tantrum and see how the parents react.

· I love that when I go home, my parent’s house smells like Christmas cause of my mom’s many, many candles.

· I love that Christmas morning is my cat’s favorite day of the year because she loves to hide and make dens out of the mountains of wrapping paper.

· I love the German food at our Christmas Eve dinner with my entire family.

· I LOVE online Christmas Shopping…. seriously, why would anyone go into a freaking store with a billion other people when you can sit on the couch in your PJ’s and looks at things online, go on facebook, watch TV and drink coffee, all while having all of the presents send to your door step. The…best…. thing…ever.

· I love that my roommate and friend Jeremiah Mullins is dressed up like an Elf for the JOY Christmas services at CCV.

· During the JOY services, I am back stage, and I LOVE LOVE the kids faces when they are on the stage and it snows on them. It’s adorable.

· Love that every year, without fail, my mom gets my brother and I a package of underwear to unwrap Christmas morning.

· I like seeing little cars (like a Prius) take a huge, huge tree on top of their car to the point where it looks like the car its just going to say, “I quit.”

· I love that the movie ELF is ALWAYS on…ITS SANTAAAAA!!!!! HE’S COMING!!!!!!! Get me every time.

· I love that I get to wear pants, a jacket, and beanie everyday and not because I am just lazy and didn’t want to do my hair.

· Candy canes!

· Love that one of my other roommates sleeps in a onezie when it’s cold in our house.

· Waking up to the rain.

· Going to sleep to the rain.

· I hate/love that my dad, every Christmas, will wake everyone up in the house at 5:30 am Christmas morning.

· I hate/love that when we don’t get up he will FULLY BLAST Christmas music through the speakers until everyone is up and down stairs reading to open presents.

· Love that Christmas day I do absolutely nothing.

These are just a few things I love. What are some of yours?

1 Cookie vs. A Basket of Treats

I don’t know about you, but I can be selfish. Shocking huh? I think we all are naturally, it’s who we are, its what we do, and everyone is at one time in his or her life. For instance, I can have no motivation to do anything but then someone will offer me $20 and I would be more than happy to do it.

Why? Because I get something better for doing it. I had to be enticed, lured in if you will.

If a toddler who has 1 cookie, and then you offer them 2 brownies, the toddler will leave the 1 cookie simply because 2 brownies simply because 2 is more than 1. Get it?

God has a clever strategy. Like I said, we are all selfish, and this selfishness that lives inside us is so contrary to God that God uses this to induce us to go towards His will.

This is His clever plan….

He promises us greater things than the world can give us, even in this life, and promising to give us something so great that the world doesn’t even know. We are attracted to this because God is so, so good, and He does this because He knows that we are attracted to pleasure. We obviously are attracted to attractive things… like how I am attracted to Buffalo Chicken Pizza from BJ’s. It’s just good.

He knows that we are the kind of people that will not leave our 1 little toy unless we are offered 4 toys!

God promises us so much more than this world offers us. God shows us this by offering up His own Son. God has all of this to offer, things greater than anything we know, and it looks amazing. But when we follow, are our motives pure?

In Genesis 22 God promises Abraham and makes a covenant with Him. He promises great and mighty things, things that would blow Abraham’s mind. But god, to test our motives, will put us through tests to make sure our heart is right so that we are not following Him just because he want the reward. Abraham was put thought the ultimate test by going to sacrifice his son because God commanded him to. Because he went through the trial, and was faithful, God blessed Him beyond this world can understand.

God offers us the same. We have 1 cookie, but God offers us an entire basket. We are the non-motivated teen-ager who wants to be given $20 for doing nothing, when in order to get the reward we need to do chores to get the allowance.

God has our reward. He is waiting to give it to us. We need to work for it and be faithful in the troubling times. We need to be like Abraham.

God plays off our selfishness to get us to understand that He offers way more than the world we live in now. In that, we take our first step into noticing that God REALLY does have more to offer, and that when we follow Him, that selfishness turns into true faith and a wanting to follow Him, and because of that we are then rewarded in heaven by our Father.

Leave your 1 cookie, do the chores, and leave with a relationship with the Creator and receive your basket of goods.

my Apology for My Last Blog

just wanted to take the time to apologize for my last post on language.

I think it's an important and over looked topic... and I'm passionate about it. but in my own language in writing the post, the way it came off to some was not in the way I had intended it to.

if you know anything about me, if there was any hint of ungodly talk please know those where my intentions. I simply wanted to bring up a topic on how language is a barrier sometimes.

so again, I apologize if i offended and maybe brought up the idea of using foul language and an evangelistic tool, please know that is not what I was intending and is not what I truly believe.

after talking with some people, I realized that it came off that way and was not how I intended when I was writing.

so again. please know my heart. and I apologize if I came off the wrong way.

don't judge me. pray for me that i can communicate in a better way with blogs to come.

You Have No Idea....

Luke 9:57-62

The Cost of Following Jesus

⁵⁷ As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”

⁵⁸ Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

⁵⁹ He said to another man, “Follow me.”

But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

⁶⁰ Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

⁶¹ Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.”

⁶² Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

Powerful....just powerful. Now i got this idea from Bonhoeffer, i cant put him down. His story is unbelievable. it has everything i love. it has theology, history, i love anything to do with WWII and the Nazi's (i find it very interesting). Bonhoeffer has all of it. but this passage is something that i always looked over, never truly got the full grasp of it.

the first man/potential disciple offers to follow Jesus without waiting to be called to be his disciple. Jesus warns the man that he has no idea what he is about to be involved in and he is in know way of knowing. Jesus is on his way to the cross, the whole purpose of Him is "suffering" and this man wants to follow without being called. "No man can choose such a life for himself. No man can call himself to such a destiny, says Jesus, and his word stays unanswered. THE GULF BETWEEN A VOLUNTARY OFFER TO FOLLOW AND GENUINE DISCIPLESHIP IS CLEAR."

the second man/would be disciple is called by Jesus to follow, but he says he needs to go bury his father first, because it was by law he needed to bury him by a certain time. he knows what he wants to do and he knows what he needs to do. he is held from following Jesus by the law. there is a legal obligation standing as a blockade between him and Jesus. "at this critical moment nothing on earth, however sacred, must be allowed to become between Jesus and the man he has called- not even the law itself." His would be disciple cannot go against the grain, cannot go opposite of what the Lord is calling him to do because THIS CALL, THIS GRACE, IS IRRESISTIBLE.

the third man/potential disciple is willing to follow Christ, is willing to give everything up for him, but he immediately puts up a huge barrier between him and Christ. He says "Suffer me first, let me go back and say bye to family, then ill come follow you." he wants to follow but only as long as he sets the terms first. discipleship is a possibility but only as long as certain conditions have been filled. by him offering up his own terms, he alters the whole position, "discipleship can tolerate no conditions which might come between Jesus and our obedience to Him." He wants what he wants and what Jesus wants, and Jesus' answered him "⁶² Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” he cannot look back at what he want if we follow Jesus, because like his disciples, they left everything behind to follow and never looked back.

Where would Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John be if they looked back at what they had while following Jesus. the discipleship would have been tainted.

Which one are we? which one are you? which one am i? just something to think about.

Cheap Grace vs. Costly Grace

"Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.

Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock."

The passage above is from Dietrich Bonhoeffer (pp. 35-47)

Its from his book called "The Cost of Discipleship". i literally just started it, 2 weeks ago and i have only gone through 1 chapter. i have just been dumb-founded by it. its so much to take in.

i have been thinking a lot about this idea of grace. i have read that, and this last Wednesday we had at Shift Students Mike Foster from People of the Second Chance (check them out here) speak about grace. so lets just say its been around me a lot.

this whole cheap grace thing is something....something that i feel i take advantage of. cheap grace is believing in the idea of God's grace when you know you are about to do something wrong and you do it anyways because you have the idea that God is going to forgive you anyways for doing it. it is a preemptive sin, you know its a sin and you do it cause God is going to forgive you and give you grace. ill admit, i have done this before.

Eph. 2:8 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God"

how dare we take advantage of this gift? and how often do we do this? daily? weekly? God is offering this amazing, amazing gift and we constantly take advantage of it. just because we know we are going to be forgiven because that's what God does, doesn't mean we go out and sin.

Grace is at a cost. costly grace is what we need to seek after. Bonhoeffer says this grace is "It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble, it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him."

Costly grace is the idea that we will give up everything we have to follow who God is because that's how much we love him, and when we mess up, and we will mess up, because we have given up everything for God, is when he presents us with the best present anyone could ever receive, Grace. Grace is costly because it demands everything of us, all of us. and its out of that love we receive Grace in which we would gladly give everything up for Christ.

i just don't like the fact that i have taken advantage of this. its like what Jeff Vines (senior pastor of Christ's Church of the Valley) says, grace is this huge safety net. the purpose of the safety net is to catch us when we are fully devoted to Christ and we are all gun-hoe for Christ and the net is there for when we sin and fall to catch us in God's grace. we would be miss using the safety net if we didn't even try to follow and just jump straight into the net.

cheap grace vs. costly grace.

which one are you receiving?

Students Teaching Teachers

this last week i got the opportunity to share and teach on a Wednesday night at SHIFT Students. i love it. it has been a while since the last time i got to speak on a Wednesday night and i was super pumped to be able to too. i truly feel that teaching is something that i am supposed to be doing, something that i feel that God has called me to do. i also feel that God calls all of us to learn. i always hear, "the moment you stop learning is the moment you stop teaching" and it really is a true statement. even though i got to teach this last Wednesday, i felt that i was taught a huge lesson...none other than by the students i was teaching too. let me explain...

since it was the day before thanksgiving, i taught on how we NEED to be thankful for everything, the good and the bad in our lives and that it is super easy to be thankful to God for all of the great things He has provided us. but true thanksgiving comes when we are thankful to God for the difficult areas in our lives because its during those times in which we are more like Jesus and closer to Him then ever, and we should be truly thankful for those situations because of our closeness with Him in those times.

after i was done, there were different stationed set up around the room, all having to do with giving true thanksgiving to God. i was blown away be the students responses. one of the stations was a prayer wall, and some of the prayers brought me to tears.

i wanted to be more like these students. i prayed then and there that i can learn from these students and be truly thankful to God for the things in my life i see no good because these students were giving up everything to Him. they were going through difficult times, more difficult times than i have gone through and i am twice as old as them. i was humbled by the way God worked through these students to teach me, who was the teacher for that night.

i was humbled. i want to learn from them. here are some of these prayers:

• Thank you for my depression because without it I wouldn’t have gotten as close to you as I am now.
• God, I pray for the trials you are putting me through. I am dealing with depression but I am happy because I know that it will only make me stronger. Thank you for your love and thank you for giving your son to die on the cross for me.
• Thank you for guiding me by testing my faith in you and showing me that I need to be more in you. I love you with all of my heart, soul, and mind.
• Dear God I know all this pain and suffering with family will make me a better person and I am thankful for that person I will become and the people you put in my life.
• Lord, I can’t even express the thankfulness my heart wants to express to you. You are bigger then any worry I will ever face. You are the resolution to any problem I will face. Thank you for all the difficult times in them my faith will be strengthened.
  -Amen

• Dear Jesus, I know that I have struggles and although they hurt and I don’t always know the best way to handle them, I thank you because these struggles make me a stronger person, a stronger believer, and a stronger follower of Christ. I promise to always follow you in the good times and the bad.

STUDENTS TAUGHT ME LAST WEEK....I DIDN'T TEACH THEM. THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR WILLINGNESS TO BE THANKFUL FOR THE TOUGH TIMES! YOU ALL ARE A TRUE INSPIRATION.

Stop

i know its been a while since i last posted. i want to apologize.

let me just say something that i have been learning lately. i feel like i have been going crazy. i feel that i have been tempted with sin more than ever before in my life. i don't know why. i feel that Wednesday nights at SHIFT Students has been going nuts! (in a great way). i never have seen so many students passionate about worshiping their God. Just the other day, i noticed something. that I'm so freaking busy running around on Wednesdays that i am not stopping to really pay attention to whats going on around me. i think that is the enemy working there. he is making me so busy running around and worrying that everything is perfect, that i am missing the true meaning why i am there in the first place...and that is to worship God.

last week i made sure i slowed down and not worry about the small details. me worrying about the small stuff shows how small my faith in God was to provide the night with His spirit. it was almost like God told me, "Dude, do you think i am not going to show up in my own house on rock this place?...ill take care of it." it was humbling.

God is Bigger than any worry.....

Psalm 91 states:

"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust." Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.

If you make the Most High your dwelling-- even the Lord, who is my refuge-- then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. 'Because he loves me,' says the Lord, 'I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.'"

Is Christianity Hard or Easy?... Yes

I worked at Islands for 7 years. it was the easiest job at times. I worked a couple hours and would make great money. it was easy. other days, it was the hardest job cause you had to deal with difficult people. I remember going up to tables and taking there order and I would ask "would you like a white or a wheat bun?" and they would answer, "Yes." not paying attention. I would just laugh. this is how Jesus answers the question of "is Christianity hard or easy?" the answer is yes.

a lot of people think that being good is all that matters. if I'm more of a good person than a bad person, I'll be fine. you can be good, but you can only do so much good by yourself that you will start to notice that other people are not noticing your goodness and you will be bitter by the end.

Christianity is different. it's hard yet easy. Christ says give me all. I dont want a majority of your money, work, or time... I just want you. I dont want a few branches trimmed here and there, I want the whole tree down. I don't want your natural self... in fact, I'll give you a new self, I'll give you Myself.

Jesus is confusing sometimes. he says following Him is hard and is easy.

Matthew 16:24-25
"24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it."

Jesus is saying that following Him is following Him to the cross. to physically be there next to him carrying the cross and physically hanging next to Him on the cross. that's hard. I don't know if my faith is strong enough to do so, and that's what Jesus calls all people to do.

but then Jesus says it's easy.

in Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus says,
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

He says just hand everything to Him. give Him everything, the sin, the struggle... to Him. and He will take care of it.

it's that easy.

what a balance. is Christianity hard or easy?

yes.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Pretend...Pretend Hard

Eph. 5:1-2
¹Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children ²and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

i was leading my high school life group last night and we read this verse above. i don't know why i cant get it out of my head. "Be imitators of God". what does that truly mean? when i think of this, i just get discouraged, in all honestly. be imitators of Christ? how can i, sinful me, be a true imitator of the Christ? do i think its possible for us to be imitators? yes. is it easy? heck no.

i love how C.S. Lewis describes this. if we were to be imitators of Christ, we are to basically be pretending to be like Him. i know what you are thinking, "Justin...really? Pretend? like we are pretending to play house or cops and robbers?" well yes actually. Lewis explains that there are two types of pretending. there is the pretending in a bad way, as in a man pretends that he is going to help but but then really doesn't. and there is a good pretending like how children pretend to play house because it is pretending that is leading up to the real thing.

i know this about me, when i am not in a good mood and i am in a public setting where i don't really want to talk to anyone but i know I'm going to have to, i put on a smile and pretend like I'm in a great mood. eventually, i will then be in a genuinely good mode because i first pretended to be. it rubbed off. this is the same with Christ and how we imitate Him.

when we are praying like how Christ prayed, we are "pretending" (in a way) to be like Him. when we treat others like how Christ treated others and we "pretend" to be like Him, we eventually become like Him. Lewis describes it as a "good infection", where if we are infected with Christ, and we are out being imitators of who Christ is and represents, then the infection WILL spread.

so my question is...am i doing this? i know i have this "good infection" but am i spreading it? am i honestly trying to be an imitator of who Jesus is? or am i just living my life and maybe Jesus will come in and out with my doings.

1 John 2:7-8
⁷ Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment for you; rather it is an old one you have had from the very beginning. This old commandment—to love one another—is the same message you heard before. ⁸ Yet it is also new. Jesus lived the truth of this commandment, and you also are living it. For the darkness is disappearing, and the true light is already shining.

Jesus lived the truth of this commandment and we are supposed to be imitators of Him. it says that if we do live like this, pretend in a way to be like Christ, we will end up acting like Him more naturally without even thinking about it, and the darkness will be disappearing and the true light of the "good infection" of Christ will shine. once that light shines, people will be attracted to it like moths on a dark night on a porch light. it will be something irresistible for being not wanting to have this "good infection".

i want to "pretend" to act like Jesus so i can end up acting like Him more genuinely.

Random Fact: A group of jellyfish is called a smack.

Focus on the Blank Not the Blot

prayer has been something that i have been thinking and studying a lot lately. you would think cause i have been thinking about it and studying it that i would be getting better at it. i am not. and its frustrating. but i am getting a little better. you have to have discipline in order to have a spiritual life, and I'm working on being discipline.

sometimes when it comes to prayer, we can think that is boring. i think we get in this mind set when prayer becomes a routine. when it becomes too formal. when it becomes the same prayer for the same thing every time. ill agree with you then, when prayer becomes routine and mundane, yes it is boring. but prayer cannot be so formless either. it needs to have some structure, because no structure will let to no prayer at all. i think i have fallen into this "formless" prayer, where there is no real thought in what i am praying. i feel sometimes that i pray because that is what Christians are "supposed to do". and this bothers me that i do that.

when you look at the ink blot above, what do you see? what do you focus on? the blot? the space around it? what?

in prayer i think we sometimes focus on all of our problems and not the widespread mercy of God. for example, if there was a blank white page and there was an ink blot right in the middle of it, because the page was blank, the ink blot will stand out to us and that will be the thing that we focus on. but the ink blot doesn't take over the whole page, its just a small section compared to the rest of the page. there is still a lot of white on the page. the ink blot is our sin, and the rest of the page is God's mercy. in prayer we only focus on the ink blot, our sin, and that's the one thing we focus on. the rest of paper, which is far bigger than the ink blot, is God's mercy, and that is what we should be focusing on. we always pray for and focus on our sins, which is only tiny compared to the rest of the page of God's mercy. THAT'S WHAT OUR PRAYER SHOULD BE FOCUSED ON, THE VAST MERCY THAT SURROUNDS OUR SIN.

Also, praying for your enemies...holy crap. its so hard.

Luke 6:27-36

27"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. 30Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31Do to others as you would have them do to you.

32"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. 33And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. 34And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. 35But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

this is so so hard. when i read this, i just laugh because i think of all the times that i failed to do this. its not a laugh of because its funny, its more of an embarrassing, ashamed, laugh. the kind of laugh where you don't look the person in the eyes laugh because you were called out and don't want to make eye contact laugh. i feel that all of my prayers are selfish, i focus on the ink blot. i barely think of others when i pray, let alone my enemies and those i have a hard time dealing with. i am praying that i start to genuinely start to pray for these people. because that's what Jesus told me to do.

then i started to think about who was praying for me as an enemy. that scares me, concerns me. i need to try to live my life to where no one is praying for me as an enemy. this is my goal.

Random Fact: In order to make a billion dollars in one year, you would have to make an average of $31.69 every second.

It Wont Cost?...Awesome

today we had a staff meeting. Jeff Vines shared with us 2 Samuel 24:24.

2 Samuel 24:24
²⁴ But the king replied to Araunah, "No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing."

So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels ^a]">[a] of silver for them.

We talked about how David did not want to give up an offering to God if he did not have to pay for it, if he didn't not have to sacrifice something to give it to God. As of most of us, we would get something great for free and we would think that giving that to God would be ideal because 1) it is a great thing and God would love it, it is worthy of God and 2) we didn't have to pay anything for it. FREAKIN' BOMB right? that's not the case for David.

the reason we do not do this is because the things that we do have distract us from fully worshipping God for who He really is. we might do a great job in many things for the Lord, but there always is something that is distracting us from wanting to truly give God our full attention that He deserves. We were asked to write down what we think our own big distraction is and i wanted to share what i wrote down.

God
what is my distraction? what is the biggest thing in my life that is holding me back from doing all the things in life for You? what is holding me back? there are so many things that one doesn't even stand out to me. is it watching too much TV? is it money? is it my job? do i think that because my job is ministry and because hundreds of students come on Wednesday nights that those who do not attend, out in the city, don't matter? is it my attitude or motivation? does my personality and comfort zone need to be stretched more so that I actually go out and talk to people i don't know who i feel You have prompted me to talk to?
God, make me this way.

i think we don't ask these questions all the time because we are afraid God is going to answer them and then tell us we need to actually do these things and then we have to change things that bring us comfort in the life we know now. but i think questions like these will help mold us into the man or woman of Christ God wants us to be.

Random Fact: Farmville is a real place.

Farmville, Virginia had a population of 6,845 as of the 2000 Census and is located between Richmond and Lynchburg. It has no known relation to the popular Facebook application, however!

Mind is Blown...God is Love

i am in a small group with a bunch of amazing dudes. we meet every Monday night. its always a great time. we hang out, eat some food, lately have been watching Monday night football. after the game we will get to talking. we are going through C.S. Lewis' book Mere Christianity. its truly amazing and as a group we have grown a lot from reading it.

something we read last night stuck out to me. everyone uses the term "God is love." all Christians seem to know this term and it has become pretty clique within the Christian community. which is fine. it works. but something that we started to talk about, which we got from our reading, was that people don't really understand the FULL CONTEXT of this saying "God is Love."

it has to do with the Trinity. people say they don't get the idea that God can be 3 different beings but they are all in the same. we try to use the "egg example" and the idea of water, ice, and steam to explain it. but the mere saying of "God is Love" explains this idea that God is 3 in 1. that He has to be.

think about this.

Love. it is an emotion. in order for someone to love something, truly love someone, there is an exchange of feelings. we love someone and they love us back. an irrational love is when you love something and it can love back. this is not the case with God. "God is Love" means that there is more than 1 there. love requires 2 or more beings (beings because we are the only ones capable of such complex emotions) there. meaning God is more than 1 being. God is love because love requires at least two.

a better explanation of this term would be "Love is God" for our culture today. Love is God is something that we are obsessed with today. it sounds similar, but its not at all. today, the act of getting love is turning into a god, an idol. where we are not pursing the love of God, but love in general, from anyone or anything. there is a big difference. its funny how our culture takes something that is amazing like "God is Love" and changes it something like "Love is god" which is something far from what is true, but it sounds so similar.

also, think about this. the fact that God is Love shows that he is living and active. showing love is an action. you give love and you receive love. God is Love then basically means that he is actively giving and receiving love. always. the saying "God is Love" proves that our God is always active and living. this is reassuring.

i hope that makes sense. i was just thinking about this whole idea. it blew our minds last night.

Random Fact: A head of human hair is strong enough to support the weight of two elephants.

Man Oh Man I'm Blessed

so this last Friday was my birthday. i turned the big 2-4. man i am old. holy crap. i woke up and the whole was planned for me. Kristin picked me up and we went down to Balboa Island. she knows that i have this fetish for little hole-in-the-wall diners and she took me there for lunch. it was amazing. mushroom and onion burger with a dosxx amber.....hmmmmmmmmmm. that was great. we walked around downtown a bit, a beautiful day, and then we went walking around the board walk looking at all the multi-million dollar houses. i thought it was funny that this ridiculously nice house had a huge raptor in front. kinda scary.



but, the day went on and we went back home. Kristin was getting ready for the night, which i thought we were going back to my friend Eric Ortega's house. Kristin was getting ready and i am not going to lie, she was taking for ever. i was sort of getting annoyed.

little did i know....she had a surprise for me and was buying time.

so we go back to my house, which i thought we were just stopping by to say hi, and i walk into my house like i usually do...like i own the place. and come around the corner into the kitchen and there are 25 of my closest friends and family standing there screaming, "SURPRISE!!!!!". i didn't know what to do. i just stood there in shock. my first surprise party. it was a success. apparently, this whole thing whole thing had been planned for weeks and i literally had no idea. ZERO. i was impressed.

throughout the night, people came and went. we had food. drinks. horse shoe tournaments. it was great. i had my family there, my friends, co-workers. over all, it was a amazing night.

i feel blessed to have such an amazing girlfriend. thank you Kristin. and i feel so loved by all my friends who came to celebrate. cant even tell you how lucky i am to know all of you.

LOGOS

This is something i think would be super helpful for me to have for my ministry. it will be able to help me study, way better than i am able to do now. its so expensive though. its only something i work up to getting.

Logos Bible Software is giving away thousands of dollars of prizes to celebrate the launch of Logos Bible Software 4 Mac on October 1. Prizes include an iMac, a MacBook Pro, an iPad, an iPod Touch, and more than 100 other prizes!

They’re also having a special limited-time sale on their Mac and PC base packages and upgrades. Check it out!

Between 2nd and 3rd

i was doing my quiet time this morning. Read this section on Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) who was a monk in the monastery of Citeaux. The Section was called "Four Degrees of Love":

Out of the four degrees of love, I think I have maybe experienced 3 of the 4. I know for sure I have got the 1st Degree down to a “T”. The Love of Self for Self’s Sake. I believe that I am a master at that. “Human nature is weak and therefore is compelled to love and serve itself first.” I think we are all good at this one. I know have the 2nd degree in love, which is: Love of God for Self’s Sake. God makes himself to be loved. He blesses us with protection. And when we are free from trouble we are happy but because we are prideful we start to think that we are the reason for our own happiness. God then sends storms to humble us and makes us turn to Him in times of trouble. A big slice of Humble Pie. When we realize that we, who only love ourselves, can’t do it on our own and we need God, begin to love God. We begin to love God, even if it’s just to help our own selves out. I believe that I have this one down too.

I can easily think of many times where I am complacent where I am at in life and I start to think that I am the reason that everything is great, and then a storm comes and God rocks my face off and I realize that I need to turn to Him to help ME get out of MY situation. Even though I turn to God and start to love Him is because I am selfish and want His help. The 3rd Degree of Love is “The Love of God for God’s Sake”. This degree of love is the love by which God is now loved for his very self. This sort of love we give to Him is not based off of something we get in return. We love God because He is God. We don’t only love God with our words but with our actions. We love because we are loved; we love others because Jesus loved others. The 4th kind of love is rarely reached, according to Bernard of Clairvaux, so im not going to touch it.

I think we are really good at number 1. I think this is our default setting. We are all experts at loving ourselves and taking care of ourselves. I feel like it am mostly in the 2nd degree of love, where I love God my own sake, because I need Him. I think most of us struggle with getting out of this. I think we are in this degree of love and barely reach the 3rd degree of love of Loving God for God’s Sake. When we really should always be in the 3rd degree and rarely reach the 4th degree, which is Loving Ourselves for God’s Sake.

My prayer is that I am in the state of the 3rd degree of love, loving God for God’s Sake, and love because he has already loved me, and keep that on my mind always. Because I feel that I forget that. All the time.

Hardest Thing Ever

so i started this new devotional book. i love it already. its called "Devotional Classics" and it as selections from the great Christian minds, questions, Bible References, and tons of content. i highly recommend it.

this caught my attention as i was reading. its a selection of C.S. Lewis' "Mere Christianity":

"Christ says, 'Give me ALL. i dont want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: i want you. i have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. no half-measures are any good. i dont want to cut off a branch here and a branch there, i want to have the whole tree down. hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked- the whole outfit. i will give you a new self instead. in fact, I WILL GIVE YOU MYSELF; MY OWN WILL SHALL BECOME YOURS."

also read: Luke 14:25-33

that to me is the hardest challenge. to truly give everything over to Christ. EVERYTHING. it says at the very end of that section in Luke 14, "So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all of your possessions." its VERY clear.

God i pray that you help me do this. die to natural self. give everything to you. EVERYTHING. so i can be your disciple.


RANDOM FACT: There are 302 characters in the movie Toy Story 3.

Human Trafficking

i got the great opportunity to share last night on the tough subject of Human Trafficking. i hope that i got to shed the light on a truly evil thing that is going on in today's world. human trafficking effects 27 million people around the world. there is more slaves today than there ever has been in the history of the world. we are to be a light to these people. there are some ways to combat this right now, even if its just a little.

START NOW!

Human Trafficking Stats

•27 million- Number of people in modern-­day slavery across the world.
•It is the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the 21st century - a nine billion dollar industry.
•1.2 million children are trafficked every year
•600,000-800,000 men, women and children are trafficked across international borders each year. Approximately 80 per cent are women and girls. Up to 50% are minors.
•Human trafficking in the second largest source of illegal income worldwide exceeded only by drugs trafficking.
•Types of recruitment; include abduction, false agreement with parents, sold by parents, runaways, travel with family, orphans sold from street or institutions
•161 Countries identified as affected by human trafficking: 127 countries of origin; 98 transit countries; 137 destination countries.

Not just in European Countries:
Human Trafficking of U.S. citizens within the U.S.:
•The United States is one of the top three destination points for trafficked victims, along with Japan and Australia. California, New York, Texas and Nevada are the top destination states in the country.
•244,000- Number of American children and youth estimated to be at risk of child sexual exploitation, including commercial sexual exploitation, in 2000.
•12-­14- Average age of entry into prostitution
•Los Angeles is one of the top three points of entry into this country for victims of slavery and trafficking. The diverse communities of this sprawling city make it easier to hide and move victims from place to place, making it very difficult for law enforcement to locate potential survivors.
•Immigration agents estimate that 10,000 women are being held in Los Angeles' underground brothels; this does not include the thousands of victims in domestic work, sweatshops or other informal industries.

Here are some great sources that i mentioned last night. get on there and get informed and create awareness!

HERE ARE SOME GREAT SITES THAT ARE ALL ABOUT STOPPING HUMAN TRAFFICKING (click on them to view them). All of these sites have information on how you can create AWARENESS around you today:

STOP THE TRAFFIK
INVISIBLE CHILDREN
LOVE 146 (the shirt i was wearing last night)
A21 CAMPAIGN
OXFAM
NOT FOR SALE CAMPAIGN

HERE ARE SOME FAIR TRADE STORE SITES TO WATCH WHAT YOU BUY:

THE HUNGER SITE STORE
Fair Trade (Where to buy fair trade items)
Global Stewards

i hope this helps to start to spark the fire to start sharing what is going on around this world!

Psalm 82:3-4 (New International Version)

3 Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless;
maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.

4 Rescue the weak and needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.

My Confession

sorry it has been a while since i last posted. i feel like i have been running around like crazy lately.

with that, that is just an excuse i know. and im sorry for that. i have come to realize in the past few days that i am not as great as i thought i was. the past few weeks have been super humbling. i know i am great at a lot of things. i can run a service, i can make videos, i can make people laugh, i can help people out and listen when people have a problem. these things among many other things.

there are TONS of things i need to work on for myself. not just to better myself but to allow other people to help me better get along with me. i know i am a sarcastic person. thats just who i am. dry, short, witty humor. i just dont know how to turn it off sometimes. and it hurts people. adults and students. i am not patient with certain people. some people get on my nerves way easier than others. and my first reaction is to be sarcastic with them and belittle them. thats not right. i am not organized. because i am not, and i dont focus on the details of certain things, it leaves others in the dust picking up after my mistakes. im not okay with that. i know for sure i can be a lot nicer and literally show Christ's love to people. i have been slacking on that. my prayer life is, in my opinion, is awful. i know that is just Satan trying to deter me from from communicating with God. to the point where i fall asleep while others are praying. that kills me. i love my job. but i feel that i can do so much better and give more passion to what i already am doing.

i want God to use me in the most useful way possible. i want to show other people God's love for them through my actions and words. i want to be more of a light that represents who Jesus is.

this is my prayer. i would appreciate it if you kept these things in your prayers as well.

Peter: Stepping Out

Here are my message notes for Tuesday night from DELTA X.

Delta x Tuesday night

Story about me stepping out of my comfort zone. • Trying my first hamburger at a underwear show

Review of the last two nights. • Jonah_going south running away from God. Why are we running? • Moses- west, why would you choose me? Who am I? Who is God?
Tonight we are talking about East, about Peter and walking on water, and how it took a huge step of faith

So:
• Jonah - rebelling against God and running away • Moses- calling to do something and coming up with excuses • Peter- finally stepping out once we get called
The story of Jesus and Peter walking on water happens immediately after Jesus fed the 5000 people with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish.
Read Matthew 14:22-24
Peter steps onto the water.

Do you notice something?
• Jesus after being around people. Giving a sermon, feeding thousands of people, after an amazing miracle
• Jesus sends the disciples away so he can get alone time on the mountainside and pray.
• Even in his busy schedule, spending time with God is a priority for Jesus

In order to have a strong faith you have to pray • Quiet times • If it was was important to Jesus, it should be important to you • How will you ever have faith you need to read the bible and pray?
So he sent out his disciples on a boat to go ahead of Him
Can you imagine what they thought?
• Ok ya, we will go on the boat ahead... • How are you getting there? • Do you have a boat?
• Oh ya for sure, for sure, we are going. • You will catch up? How... Ok we will go

Read Matthew 14:25-27
Sometimes we don't even recognize Jesus in times we are scared. • The disciples, even though they have spent much time with Jesus, don't recognize
him in the storm • Sometimes we don't recognize the Lord in our storms • The disciples say they were terrified! • Jesus calls out to them immediately telling him that he is here!

Read Matthew 14:28-33
They don't believe him, Peter calls out to him saying, "if it's you Jesus, let me come out to you."
Isn't it funny?
• They just saw Jesus feed 5000 people, and they don't believe that he is even walking on water?
• Isn't it funny how we say we believe in Jesus, but sometimes look at jesus' words and don't really believe them either?
Or at least our actions show that we do not believe
Have you ever really thought about how big peters
faith was?
• They were on a lake. Lakes don't really get like "sea storms" these are dessert people • I'm sure they were pooping their pants if it was a true storm • Being on the boat was scary enough, let alone stepping out on stormy water
Ever thought why was it Peter who got to do it?
• It's because he asked Matthew 7:7-8 You ask God to give you strong faith, you read, you pray about it, God will give it to you
You ask God to help you to step out in faith, he will give you opportunities to do so. You will just need step up to it
• When we pray for courage, does God give us courage or does he give us opportunities to be courageous.
• When we ask for patience, does God give us patience or does he give us opportunities to be patient.

I can just see it: • Jesus is walking on the water • Calling out to Peter • Andrew sitting next to to Peter, thinking it's him, and he is scared • Relieved it's Peter and not him that has to do it

We are to have faith that walks on water!

Which one are you in is situation?
• Jesus? Haha no • Peter? Are you stepping out in your faith like that? • Taking risks for Jesus? • Or are you one of the disciples in the boat? Watching Peter do an amazing thing.

Francis chan makes me feel like I'm not a Christian

There are so many of us who are stepping out and doing awesome things for their faith. Proclaiming and showing God's love to other people
Other people will know God's love by the way you show them love 2 reasons why people are not Christians • Because they dint know a Christian • Or because they do

So many of us are the other disciples, sitting in the boat,
watching others do amazing things for Jesus • You know what those are called? Cowards • Telling you right now, I am one of them • If Jesus told me right now, to step out onto the water, i am not sure if my faith would be
strong enough

People stepping out in faith: people in idea being baptized, and they could be killed for their faith Question is: • What have I done to step out in my faith?
Jesus also calls us faith to move mountains.

Your going to look in Hebrews 11: • It's ani all star line up • Noah • Abraham
• Isacc • Jacob • Moses • Joshua • Gideon • Samson • King David • Solomon • Daniel • Jonah • Isaiah

Get my point yet?

Compared to these men and their stories are we really stepping out in our faith?
Peter began to sink when he took his eyes off Jesus
• The distractions are what made him sink
When we are driving and we are focused on the road in front
we are good.
• When we focus on the car next to us, we look that way, we startbto veer off without really knowing
Here at camp, there is not really any distractions, it's really easy to focus on god here

There are distractions everywhere
• Satan will do whatever he can to keep your focus off Jesus • You ever wonder why every time you try to read the bible, you all ofnthensudden feel
like you need to sleep? • Hownthe minute we come home from church, and there is something on the tv or
onnthe computer that happens to be on? • It's not an accident
Even though Peter got distracted and he started to sink • Jesus was there to pick him up

When we are falling and we are sinking because of all the distractions becausenwe are not focused on God

We need to call on Jesus because he will life us up When our focus is on Jesus, we are ablest step out and do amazing things

Which one are you?
• Are you Peter and stepping out in your faith? • Arenyou Peter who is stepping out in your faith and now the geech of life is tying you
up? • Or are you a disciple in the boat, watching other people do amazing things?
If you are stepping up, keep going If you are drowning, stop struggling, let it go, and let Jesus pick you up If you are still in the boat, what are you doing? Wake up, you are called to do more

Jonah: Running Away From God

So we just got back from camp. something we thought would be sweet, for those who did not get to go, to keep everyone in the loop for what we did up there, we did a series called "Navigating Through Life". The first night we went through Jonah, rebelling God. Then we did Moses and doubting God and His ability to work through you. then we talked about Peter and walking on water in stepping out in faith, then ended the week talking about Joshua and crossing the Jordan River into the Promise Land and us going back home from camp and keeping this "camp high" going, this passion for Christ when we are back home.

it truly was an amazing week.

keep an eye out over the next few days as JP and i post our message notes so you can get to experience the camp in a way also.

hope you enjoy

Jonah: The Reluctant Prophet

Jonah 1:1-3 (click HERE to read)

Ok, not the best start to any Bible story, but for legit reasons:

Assyria: Nineveh was the capitol

· One of the most feared nations

· They were brutal

· Rumored: whole nations would commit suicide, rather than deal with their torture

· Raped all women and girls

· Hang all boys

· Skin all the men, bury them in the dessert up to their necks

· Stake their tongues to the ground…all night make them listen to JUSTIN BEIBER CD’s

· Take all the heads and pile it outside the city gates

Jonah had a great reason not to want to go.

WHEN GOD CALLS US TO DO SOMETHING, ITS USUALLY GOING TO BE SOMETHING WE DON’T WANT TO DO.

· You will feel a tug on your heart, and its something that you don’t want to do

· Or it wont make sense

· But we are called to do it anyways

THE TOUGH THINGS WE FEEL GOD CALLING US TO DO WE ARE SUPPOSED TO ACT ON THEM BECAUSE WE ARE FAITHFUL TO HIM.

A prophet during that time, was called to be a messenger of God. we can say that today, ALL Christians are prophets because all of us have this call.

Every prophet/ Christian is called to do 3 things:

· ARISE

· GO

· Cry (not wah-wah cry, but go cry out God’s love to others)

Jonah AROSE, HE WENT…. But he pouted like a baby and ran the other way.

It says he went down to JOPPA, then PAID his way on a boat, to TARSHISH. If you were to look at a map, TARSHISH and Ninevah are about 2000 miles apart.

Jonah didn’t run, HE SPRINTED!

Some of us here:

1) has felt God call us to do something, but we went the other way.

· We are like, “NOPE! Not doing that God. anything else.” Ill talk to anyone else. Ill invite anyone else to church. God that is too hard. Do you even know what that will take of me?

2) some of us have not even given God a chance to even talk to us.

· Meaning, you are so not even sure. You say you are a Christian, but you don’t read His Word, you don’t talk to Him through prayer, you don’t listen to what pastors say at church.

· You are just here. A skeleton.

JUST CAUSE YOU ARE HERE AT CAMP DOESN’T MEAN YOU ARE CLOSE TO GOD.

· Some of you are sitting right here, but inside you are truly the furthest thing from God and His calling from you.

My question is:

· Why are we running? How dare us run from God? do we really think we will out run Him? Do we really inderstand who it is we are running from?

· Think about it…its like when a 2 year old trys to run away from their parents, their little steps get them no where and in 2 steps the parents pick them up.

We think that if we run far enough away, God will be able to use someone else who is better/closer for it.

· IN YOUR OPINION

· But God didn’t call them, he called you

You SEE:

· If we run the other way, God will tell somebody else to go talk to that person sitting by themselves at school, God will tell someone else to step out in faith and preach and interact with the people who you know do not know who God is.

· If we run, then we don’t have to listen or follow his rules.

But, you see, to run from God is like trying to flee from light. The only thing you wind up with is darkness.

· It's like turning in your wealth for poverty.

· It's like making an exchange of wisdom for ignorance.

· It's like turning in joy for sorrow, peace for chaos, usefulness for uselessness, fruit for leaves, reward for punishment

The trap we all fall in is:

· THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A BOAT GOING IN THE OTHER DIRECTION

· Jonah was able to find a boat going in the complete opposite direction.

· We are always capable to find excuse after excuse not to do something.

· Excuse after excuse why we shouldn’t fully follow God.

BUT AGAIN MY QUESTION IS: WHO DO WE THINK WE ARE FOOLING?

· When we think God for a fool, he will make a fool out of us…in a hard, hard way.

Jonah 1:4-11(click HERE to read)

The thing about running from God is: He will sometimes send a storm after you to catch your attention

THE STORM:

· God wasn't through with Jonah, and God was in the business of pursuing. God came after Jonah, and God had infinitely greater resources at His disposal, and so He just blew over the Mediterranean and created a storm. Remind yourself that rebellion never escapes God. Eventually God will appear to say, "you are the man, I am the GOD.”

· God may let a man go to a certain point before He steps in, but, believe me, He'll step in; and God moved in the storm.

· When the storm hit, all the men on the boat started to pray.

Isn’t that a normal thing? When things get hard, that’s when we pray.

· We have it back wards. When things get hard, what do we do? Whats the order?

· Problem, talk to your friends, text your bff, talk to your boyfriend or girlfriend, God forbid talk to your parents, talk to a pastor…oh man I did all that I guess I should pray.

· Prayer needs to be our first instinct. We need to pray first! (Nouwen text)

We are all going to encounter storms. Its going to happen. Its what you do in that storm that will make you or break you.

During storms we should not be:

· WHY IS GOD PUTTING THROUGH THIS STORM? WHY IS HE DOING THIS TO ME?

· What we should be asking is…

· WHAT DID WE DO/OR NOT DO TO CAUSE GOD TO GIVE ME THIS STORM? What am I am I not paying attention to?

· What am I afraid of?

Look at verses 4 and 5 again. Go back to that.

THE SAILORS WERE SCARED TO DEATH AND WERE SUFFERING BECAUSE OF JONAH’S DECSIONS.

· When we do something, and rebel, how many people suffer because of our decisions.

· We become completely selfish, and others suffer.

NOT EVERYTIME WE REBEL AND FLEE WILL GOD PURSUE US.

· In Jonah’s case, God pursued him.

· Our God is living. He is pursuing after our love daily.

· But sometimes he does not. He lets us walk off.

Mark 10: The Rich Young Ruler (click HERE to read)

· God tells him that he needs to sell everything he has in order to follow Jesus because he knew that things and money meant everything to him.

· The man became sad, and walked away.

· JESUS LET HIM! HE DIDN’T CHASE HIM DOWN.

· What??!?! Have you ever noticed that?

Sometimes God will let us go, in hopes one day we will return to HIM.

Luke 15: Prodigal Son (click HERE to read)

· The son rebelled against his father.

· He left home will all the father has given him

· The father did not chase after the son…he let him go.

· BUT THE FATHER WAITED, HOPING FOR THE SONS RETURN.

· When child finally relized he needed his father, he returned home

· THE FATHER RAN TO HIM. WITH OPEN ARMS, AND WELCOMED HIM HOME

When we REBEL, and flee from what God has called us to do, and He lets you go. ITS NOT OVER!

· He just will be waiting for you to come to your senses and he is standing there with his arm wide open, waiting to welcome you back into a relationship with him.

TRUTH IS:

· Some of us are running right now. You have felt that God tug on your heart. And youre just ignoring it.

· Some of us are just avoiding God completely. In everything, because in your mind, if you don’t acknowledge HIM, he wont ask you to do anything that is uncomfortable.

· Some of you are doing it right. You are answering the call. Amazing! Keep doing it.

For those who are running:

· Remember who you are running from. You cant outrun HIM. If He has called you to do something, and you are disobedient, expect a storm coming your way.

· Remember He is the God of the universe. They God who created you.

· We are supposed to show God’s love to everyone, no matter how hard it is.

THE NICE THING ABOUT JONAH:

· Even though he ran, he rebelled, God pursued Him.

· He ended up going in the right direction.

· It just took a big fish to get him there.

THIS TRIP IS YOUR BIG FISH.

· You have been running long enough. You are tired. Its time to turn the right way. Towards God.