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.

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