Consider It Pure Joy

A study in Romans

2010-10-15T22:51:00.000-07:00

God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— Romans 3:25

A footnote to that verse found in a study book says this; appeasement or satisfaction; Christ's death satisfied the offended holiness of God.

Man, that hit me like a ton of bricks. Have you ever offended someone when you had no idea of just harsh the consequences of your actions were? I've grown up in church, and so I guess I've always had this underlying knowledge of Jesus' blood covering my sins. Have you ever really taken seriously the sin in your life and really come to terms with the fact that you deserve death. The bible says no one is righteous, no not one (Psalm 14). We read in Romans the seriousness that the punishment for sin is death. The sins committed day in and day out are an offense to God, he hates sin. And yet how many times have we let him down?

I had to spend a few minutes in prayer and just repent and ask for God's forgiveness. I have been reminded of just how much we NEED Jesus. Without the blood shed on the cross we have no pardon, no redemption. Our sins are totally forgiven, the debt has been paid in full. Thank you Jesus.

Can't wait for this next part in the study in Romans where Paul shifts gears and talks about God's love, his open arms ready to receive those who come.

Fuchsia Lamps

2010-08-14T19:18:00.000-07:00

I swear, I find myself in the oddest of situations. I'll probably become a comedian one way and tell this story......

So I took Dad shopping (just had heart surgery can't drive himself anywhere) and he wanted a reading lamp from our local Walmart. They had it in their usual silver color for $12; but our family are cheapskates, Dad didn't mind taking the college dorm colored ones available in Orange an Fuchsia. They only had 2 Orange, which we bought earlier today. So we later find out one doesn't work. So my Dad insists I take it back tonight and pick up two new ones (he now wants three, one in his room, and one on either side of our couch so no matter where he is, he has light so he can read.)

I made the return, and go to pick up the now Fuchsia lamps and as I am checking out the cashier poses the question, "so.........are you buying these for yourself?" I'm explaining the whole story to the cashier of how my Dad who just had heart surgery and can't drive wanted more lights, and this all that they, your silver ones that you carry year-round are $12, and my Dad wanted to only pay $9, and didn't mind having the bright Orange ones you might find in a college dorm room.

The funniest part is I'm using my Dad's credit cart, and it's not signed, so she asks for my ID and I further explain my Dad can't drive; and she's like, "with you telling me that whole story, it's too weird not to believe he sent you to use his card." So this is just one story of the weird situations I find myself in while trying to help my parents out.......

Speaking of which, my Dad and I get to spend more time together as I'm taking him to church tomorrow! Yay!! I really do love my Dad; but he is not always the most appreciative person in the world. So I'll be glad after I take care of him, and take him home, I can go and do what I love doing the most in this world; and that's hanging out with students and ministering to them, and using my gifts and abilities in tech to make them more able to worship.

Thought I'd never see this

2010-08-09T19:25:00.000-07:00

I've been at my job for almost 6 years, and I've never seen this before. This kind of thing is the reason I work in Harford County. I would expect this in Cecil County.... Some guy drove his lawn tractor to the store today. I didn't get a picture, wish I had. It was hilarious. I'll share this pic from a friend's Facebook.

Consider it pure joy

2010-08-08T22:59:00.001-07:00

You know, I started this post with some of the stories of what's been going on in my life over the past 2 months. I've got to be honest, I appreciate the concern of so many people, but I'm sick of talking about it. Trying to use all the fine medical terms, trying to make people think this is something that's easy and makes sense. Quite honestly, this whole ordeal doesn't make sense. I read the passage in the book of James that says to "Consider it purse joy whenever you face trials of many kinds." It's a part of scripture I should be familiar with, growing up in the church I've heard it many times. But right now it just makes me want to punch the writer in their mouth, and I'm not usually the violent type.

Consider it pure joy? My Dad lost his job, a job he worked incredibly hard at, and spending long hours just to keep the bills paid and to work on paying off credit card debt. Then we find out he needed to have bypass surgery. I can't help by feel through the circumstances of events, I was so close to loosing him. He has never been the easiest to get along with, he's always the first to let us know if he's upset about something. And yet he's my Dad. I get angry with him periodically knowing all while I will end up forgiving him. I am the apple of his eye, he captures my heart, and my affection for him grows more and more.

Consider it pure joy? Life has been so hard lately. I was standing in church one Sunday just a few weeks ago and we began to sing "His Love Endures Forever"; and you get to the chorus where it says, "forever you are faithful, forever you are strong..." Never has is been harder for me to sing those words. Really God, you are always faithful, and strong? You are always in control?

It's easy for someone who's grown up in the church to understand how God works from a theological, and educational standpoint. You understand God in your head. You have that knowledge inside of you. It's something totally different to realize it in your heart; and to lean on Jesus. Deep down I want to get to the point where I can just lay everything down for God, and live in reckless abandon for Him. I so want to be able to release by burden, my pain, and this unsurmountable uncertainty I feel. Uncertain about my life, where it's headed, what lies in store for my future. Will I find a career I'm happy with, will I find a wife, the woman of my dreams, and grow a family that obeys Jesus, will I live out my commitment to be a kingdom worker?

In any case, I'm going to take the advice I would give someone else who feels this way; never give up. One of my favorite passages in scripture is John 6. A challenge to anyone wrestling with their unbelief. Verse 60 says, "On hearing it, many of his disciples said, 'This is a hard teaching, Who can accept it?'" Skip to verse 66 which reads; "from this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him." In the next verse, Jesus asked the Twelve, "you don't want to leave to?" I love Peter's response in verse 68-69;"Peter answered him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God"

So challenging. When the going gets tough, or when you encounter teaching that is hard to accept, like James 1:2, are you going to just give up? Or will be grounded like Peter and say to the Lord, "where else could I go? You are the Holy One!" I don't know where this journey of life will take me; but my earnest prayer is that I stay grounded in what is true. I want to know in my heart that Jesus is the Holy One. I want to know in my heart that he's all I need.

"cause I need you Jesus,

to come to my rescue.

Where else could I go?

There's no other name

by which I am saved.

You've captured me with Grace,

I will follow you."

Salvation

2010-05-24T21:58:00.001-07:00

Just thinking over some stuff in our Christian circles, want to set the record straight. Make sure we understand what we're about. Let me know what you think..

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household." Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. Acts 16:29-31

Several months back at a student ministries events, one of the other leaders posed the question, "how do you become a Christian?" Some said you have to go to church, some said read the bible. Some said you need to volunteer at church. All good things, essential things to be an active part of Christ's body (the Church).

But just in those two verses is proof that the idea of having to do something in order to be good enough for God is absolutely not correct. Like what it said at Mountain a lot, "all that thinking about Religion where you have to do this, or do that that, we realize it just a bunch of doo-doo"

How am I saved? By grace, God loves you enough he brought his Son into the world to die for our sins. Through faith, we place our trust in Jesus. Not something we've done, not by doing good works, or doing good things, so that way no one can boast. "I'm a better Christian than you, look what I offered to the Lord." No, the ground at the foot of the cross is level. Everyone who shows up there is equally broken in our sin, and just as sinful and wretched as the person standing next to us and redemption is only brought through Christ's sacrifice.

Do we really believe what our Bibles tell us, or is our faith, instead of being built on the rock of our salvation, is built by a bunch of do-do?

Take a minute this week and read over Ephesians 2, see what it is to be made alive in Christ. A good look at just what people are.

Don't Leave...

2010-05-24T21:53:00.000-07:00

Don't Leave...

a note for graduating seniors

From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
"You do not want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve.
Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."

John 6:66-69

Especially if you're a senior this year, you've no doubt already made a ton of decisions in the last 12 months, I want to encourage that you take of the most utter seriousness one more decision. Do not leave the church of Jesus. Do not turn your back on the Lord. You need the church now more than ever, as you enter this time in your life where the church has probably the least amount of attenders.

If you're going to spend next fall on a college campus, one of the very first things you should do is locate the campus ministry. Some ministries are harder to find than others depending on the campus. You need to locate a good, bible-teaching church where you can grow in your faith.

If you're going to spend time near home, seek ways to get plugged into other people your age. Mountain has a great Young Adult Ministry with small groups meeting weekly, and many large group gatherings throughout the year.

In either case, you need to make a decision. Some of you will be like the early followers of Jesus and turn your backs on him. The same tongue you used last Sunday singing, "You are stronger, sin is broken, you have saved me" you'll use that same tongue to no longer have any regard for Christ. Some of you will choose to continue to follow Christ and say with Simon Peter, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."

In any case, you're adults now, and it's a choice YOU will have to make for yourselves.

This is a time where many adults in your life are giving big congratulations and encouragement to you. I probably won't be there this Sunday night, even if I am able to make it I wouldn't have the guts to get up in front of people and say this. But if I'm going to say that I care about students, then I want to leave you with these words, because it is of such great importance that you get this.

You're graduating from high school, you're graduating out of Fuel, many of you will be leaving home, but don't graduate out of Jesus. Don't leave...

How He Loves Us

2009-10-22T20:47:00.000-07:00

This is a song that's been pulling on my heart strings lately. It's pretty simple. The chorus repeats in perfect harmony "oh how he loves us so, oh how he loves us."

And I can't get over the poetic beauty of the two choruses. Remembering the verse in the Bible which reads, "God is a jealous God."

These exact lyrics I copied and pasted off a website which couldn't provide the names of the writers of this song, but it's popularity arose from the David Crowder Band. So thanks to the David Crowder Band for giving this song to the world. Oh if only everyone could believe so passionatly how much God loves them...

How He Loves Us

He is jealous for me,

Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,

Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.

When all of a sudden,

I am unaware of these afflictions

eclipsed by glory,

And I realize just how beautiful You are,

And how great Your affections are for me.

We are His portion and He is our prize,

Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,

If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.

And Heaven meets earth like an unforseen kiss,

And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,

I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,

When I think about, the way…

God works in our lives

2009-09-17T21:13:00.000-07:00

Here's a few stories of how I've seen God move in my own life. Two stories about my involvement on the tech team for Fuel, your Student Ministry weekly program. God gets the praise, but I was priviliged to be part of it.

Story #1:

Just last weekend Student Ministies had our Fall Retreat at NorthBay in North East, MD. We had scheduled enough tech help for two positions; sound, and screen/projector. But we didn't realize that we were on our own for lights. See last year they had on of the employees of NorthBay working their already installed lights; but we didn't realize that it costed about $500 extra than we already spent to rent the place to pay the guy to run lights. More important than money, it didn't fit our theme. They had these really great flashing lights and things, but we were trying to "unplug" on the first night. So loud rock music and flashing lights didn't fit the theme.

So not only did we not have enough help, but our normal lighting design wouldn't work. We have this truss that sits behind the drums in our normal Fuel set up, but because the screen came down so far it would have blocked almost all of the lights on the truss. So it's about 2 hours before the first sessions starts, and we want to squeeze in some dinner before the session and we have no idea how we're gonna design lighting.

It was a cumulitive effort. After giving up and hoping someone else figured it out. I simply said why don't we just put the two poles on the sides and fly lights pointed in various directions. So it was my idea, Alex figured out how to link everything up to the light board, and Brandon being the visual guy pointed them in such directions that made the stage look good. We put our heads together, worked hard, but God showed up. We were running really late we almost missed dinner. We were thirsty and hungry and just desided to leave it the way it was for the night and go eat.

Well we got done eating, and realizing we had about a half hour before the first session we trotted back to the theatre and finished fixing up our design and making it work. I'm becoming more and more convinced that when we get together and work on something that's gonna glorify God, and we run into an issue, God always shows up.

God, our supply, our breath of life, still more awesome than we know.

Story #2:

Last year Matt, our youth pastor noticed there was a problem with our Middle School session, and so he and our lead tech guy Alex worked hard on making it possible for us to move the middle school session back into the cafe like where the Fuel session used to always take place. All sounded good, we're all down for making it an experience for the middle schoolers to come and actually be able to engage in worship and the teaching. One problem, Welcome to Mountain, our class for new comers was meeting in the cafe, scheduled to end at 4:30, and worship service for middle school was supposed to start at 5pm.

While WTM was on a break we were able to move some of our bigger clunkier items into the room, but basically we were not at all set up for a worship service. Within a half hours time it was all hands on deck. The previous group tore down all of their stuff, including their own tech set up, about 15 tables full with tablecloth's and place settings for the lunch meeting. And we began to set up a bunch of speakers, a full drum set and mics for all drums, guitars, singers, and speakers. At the same time some other volunteers were setting up a couch and chair set up as VIP seating for the winners of the big group game out in the gym. They also were setting up chairs in auditorium fashion, all facing the direction and more of them.

To make a long story short, we had enough time to sound check one full song, using that same song as a walk-in for the students. The even resulted in a total change. The kids were plugged in and participating in worship, and listening intently to speaker. It was a total 180 degree change from the previous weeks.

If you weren't there you may not get it. You might think, "so you changed over a room, big deal." I saw it deeper than that. It was the body of Christ, from different ministries coming together and accomplishing a goal. The work got done, everyone put their hand in and we did a total room change in about 20 minutes time. While it's easy to pat ourselves on the back for a job well done; it's always been my perogative to give God the glory. I'm reminded again of the Psalmist, what is man that you are mindful of me? We're nothing on our own. But put us together and we're the body of Christ, the laborers of his field. Solo dei Gloria. To God alone be the Glory.

The Big Picture: Stations

2009-08-26T23:24:00.000-07:00

Here's an overview of the stations as part as one exercise of the Spiritual Disciplines portion of the evening. These are in order of how our group experienced them, and to the best of my memory.

1) Hopwood Christian Church; inside the church pictures and stories of heros of the faith. Saints, teachers, professors, leaders, pastors, martyrs.

2) Derthick (classroom building); Make a word with Scrabble peices to describe Christ.

3) Tent of Meeting; in the old testament the people would set up a tent wherever they were camping to have church, and to pray for eachother. Curtis Booher and Phyllis Fox, the leaders of the conference, gave an invitation for those who may request prayer to come and be prayed over.

4) Student Union Building; after being prayed over before, and not having artistic ability I opted out of this one, just relflect on what's going on around me. Magazine articles and other arts/crafts supplies were made available for the students to put a picture together to represent Christ.

5) The hill facing the athletic fields. We all sat our on beach towels and just looked up at the stars in quiet reflection on God. In the stillness and quiet, we opened ourselves up for God to speak to us.

6) Behind Hopwood Christian Church; at a firepit we were given the chance to write down a sin we needed to omit and toss it into the fire. Being of Christ, we all new creatures, the old has passed away. On another card we wrote something we were going to commit to in order to keep away from these sins.

I get the feeling I'm missing a station; but I hope you get the overall magnitute of this event. They mean serious business. Doing this pratical things to intentionally let God in and speak to us. Not just brush him off in the busyness of our lives, "I'll someday give him my full attention." I feel I should say this again, there is no other conference like the Big Picture.

Youth In Ministry: The Big Picture

2009-08-26T23:03:00.001-07:00

Another great conference on the wonderful campus of Milligan College in East Tennessee. Recently I've been wrestling with where my life is going. I can't live at home forever. I need to make a change here sometime soon. Being a concerned youth leader, I of course wanted to go on this trip to be there for the students; althought that's not where my complete motive was. I wanted to learn a little more about what it means to be a minister or pastor. I wanted to see what vocational ministry looked like.

So I went there desiring to learn, just as much as I desired to be there for the students. What a great conference. There is none like it. I've been to CIY, I know what it's all about. CIY does a great job at their gig. But The Big Picture is a totally different conference, and they do a great job at what they do too. From classroom teaching where the students receive practical information for their field of interest, to experiencing the spiritual disciplines together; this conference had it all!

As much as this conference is about gaining a better look at vocational ministry, The Big Picture goes deeper than that. Youth in Ministry seeks to allow students grow deeper in their walk with the Lord. We literally had a mountaintop worship experience where we were led to worship our creator. Another time during the week we got to celebrate in a meal of remebrance where we got to sit together, break bread, and to laugh and cry. We spent the hour just sharing with one another what we remember about Jesus.

Did I mention the fun? Our time this week had a lot of fun things involved too! From the waterslide down the hill, to the picnic in the park for supper, to showing of the two-man version of the musical "Star Queen" telling the story of Esther.

This conference had it all. I would definately encourage students to go to this conference. This isn't like any other conference. This one is designed for those students who are rock solid in their faith, and are incredibly serious about growing deeper with the Lord, and those who are open to hearing his call. if I haven't said it enough already, this isn't like any other conference.

CIY Move

2009-08-23T02:08:00.000-07:00

In my earlier post I spoke about my involvment in youth ministries at Mountain Christian Church. Well last month I attended with our students the MOVE Conference, a part of CIY. That was a really cool conference, I haven't been to CIY in about 6 years or more. From the second we stepped on the campus of Milligan College I felt like God was gonna, well, MOVE that week. For some reason, for the first few days I kind of seperated myself from the other guys. Maybe I was a bit tired from the drive still, or I really like naps. So the start of the week was a bit rough for me. It was a hard transition from the mundane routine of a full time job to this really awesome God thing.

On the fourth day we this extended free time, so after we went out for lunch our entire group took a trip to these waterfalls up in one of the mountains of East Tennessee. I like to call it my Mount of Transfiguration. I'm not a all an athletic guy, and have terrible balance. After traveling along this path we come to this extremely steep grade that led to the waterfall. After I made it down there and took my shoes off to get into the water, my feet began to shake from the coolness of the water, and I became almost terrified. Did I mention I don't know how to swim? I've got to say the only reason I went down there and didn't chicken out was because I was asked to baptize someone.

So after I get down there and splash around in the water a bit, then we do the baptism. I'm about done and just make my way back to put on my shoes because I'm ready. At this point, realizing I'm not that athletic, begin to realize that I need to somehow get myself back up this intensly steep hill. I was asked to lead the group up at first, then needed to tie my shoe again, so with someone else at the lead the youth pastor and myself were bringing up the rear. It was a big strain on me, became out of breath, terrified of losing my balance. There were all kinds of thoughts in my head.

After we began to take it slow, as my calves were burning once we actually made it up there, we had a few chances to take in the experience. We looked around in amazement of God's beauty, asked eachother what was on our minds. My answer was, "I sure hope Jake still has that iced tea in the mini van from the trip down here four days ago, because I'm awfully thirsty!"

I'll never forget Matt's response when I asked what he thinking about. He said, "I'm wondering what Carrie and the kids are doing right now. How wonderful it would be if they were up here with us." Then our conversation went on and one thing that came to my mind while on this mountain was when Moses received the ten commandments from God on Mt. Sinai. That poor guy was in his 80's when he climbed up the mountain to see God. No wonder it took him 40 days and 40 nights. He was probably there for only 20 minutes, the rest of the time was travel up and travel down.

But God really showed up in this week for me. He really opened my eyes to his love for me, and to the love and encouragement I received from the students patiently waiting for us in the parking lot to emerge from the trail. No one said to me in even a joking fashion, "well it took you long enough," or "man, you looked scared down there!" I imagine if they had said that I would have jokingly laughed it off with them. But they'll never know the level of appreciation I have for their love that day.

Of course since I love naps, when we got back I took a shower and took a quick snooze in the room while everyone was out playing frisbee or something athletic like that. Before I fell asleep I kept replaying my emotions from the few hours before and just cried into my pillow. Thanking God for the love that I felt in that moment. For His love for me, for the love from the rest of the group. It doesn't matter that I lack style, make no money, am overweight, can be quite negative. What matters is that despite my faults I am loved.

That's my encouragement to anyone reading this who doesn't feel loved. Just believe that you are. You can have a lot wrong with you, but then again doesn't everyone? We're nothing without God. The psalmist asks, "what is man that you are mindful of him?" What we are is really nothing. God doesn't need us. But He does love us, and he so longingly desires us.

Welcome to the new blog!

2009-08-23T01:48:00.000-07:00

So I used to blog on another website, but I forgot my password. Then when I had it sent to my email, I never got the email from the help department of this blog. So here I am starting this new blog. So I'm a Christian. Following God is definately my goal in life. Although I'm very wary that I may not know where God's taking me, so I pull away and get complacent in where I currently am. One of my passions right now is youth ministry. I feel that may be God's call to my life.

Currently I'm a volunteer leader with the youth ministry at Mountain Christian Church and am having a total blast working with the students, leading them on trips and in discussion groups, connecting with them online, worshipping with them, and growing closer to Christ with them. I'm a definate believer that to be an effective leader you have to show those you're leading that you're willing to do what you're requesting them to do.

So sometimes I wonder if I act more like a student than a leader. But it's important that I take part in the activities with them. Too many adult leaders see themselves as simply security, or van drivers. They stand up in the back of the room and lean against the wall.

Being a youth leader is so much more than just showing up. You need to be transparant. Not that we're showy in our walk with God, but that we model a walk with God that's appealing and going somewhere. That's one reason I love being a youth ministry leader, it forces me to have a good relationship with the Lord. It keeps me in check, allows me to be honest about myself and what I am and am not willing to do. So welcome to the blog. Hope it's a wonderful journey!