Heart Your Neighbor

last night was amazing. at SHIFTstudents, i got to baptize 2 students that are in my small group. as i was talking to them before and they were pumped. right before we went out to do it in front of the whole service, we prayed. as i was praying, i almost lost it. almost balled my eyes out. i was just overwhelmed with joy, excitement, and the realization that God has blessed me to be apart of this ministry ministering to students. its unbelievable.

i also preached last night. it was great. i had such a fun time up there. its funny because i feel like i blacked out and i don't remember what i said, but i know God was pouring out to the students using His words through me. i felt the entire message went well. it was smooth. except when i called out a kid for talking and i said, "hey, I'm up here." but he heard, "hey, come up here" so i turn around and he starts up walk up on stage...IN THE MIDDLE OF MY MESSAGE! by the time i turn around he is at the bottom of the stage. when i saw him i asked him what he was doing, go sit down, and the whole place erupted in applause and laughter. it was awesome.

one thing when i was getting ready for the message, and what i felt was connecting with the students was 1 John 4:15-18:

All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.

i spoke about loving our neighbor and what they looks like. i redefined neighbor as "anyone you come in contact with at any given time." and with knowing this, people should know God's love by how much you love them with your actions. we are commanded to do this. we have the faith, but like it says in James 2, faith without deeds is useless. USELESS. it means nothing.

something that stuck out to me is that for the most part when it comes to loving others, to loving our neighbor. the Mormons have it down. for the most part, MORMONS ACT MORE CHRISTIAN THAN CHRISTIANS DO when it comes to loving our neighbors. think about it. have you ever met a mean Mormon? i haven't. they have the action down, but their faith is wrong. we have the faith but a lot of times we have our actions wrong. you cant have one without the other if you want to truly be effective in this world for Christ.

like it says in 1 John 4:17, if we live in God our love becomes more perfect. and then we will be able to live like Jesus on this earth. MIGHT MIGHT BE THE ONLY JESUS A PERSON MIGHT EXPERIENCE. we might be the closest thing a person might have with a relationship with God, and they will be able to fell God's love through your actions towards them.

if we were to love other people as much as we love our pets...this world would be a much different place.

random fact: The Olsen twins wore FAKE TEETH on Full House episodes because their teeth began to look different.