Reaching Out.

In trying to seek Christian fellowship and have found a few blogs I enjoy. The first is by a friend I went to school with for a number of years; Tim Smith. From what I know Tim has always been a Christian, I just didn't know he had a blog about it until now. The blog is a combination of both lessons to learn and the Christian fellowship in Tims life. Here is his blog entitled: Love, Laugh, Learn, Live. After reading through his page I see where he has made Christianity an all encompassing part of his life. I admire this trait and am trying to work on it in my life. I especially like the clip he posted about comedian Lewis C. K. adding perspective to life, I just wish I would have found it first...you only beat me by a day Tim :)

The other blog I have found is from Steve Furtick; the Lead Pastor of Elevation Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. The blog is based around the Christian fellowship that is his church rather than the lessons to be learned from God. There is a particular post that I like called Stop the Slide. The post talks about addressing and fixing the problems in our life before they become too large. I have always known these concepts but its nice to hear it worded differently.

God Through Art

Recently I have notice the pastors using media to support sermons. Dave Cover's sermon this past Sunday at The Crossing talked about films and art that portrayed God. There have been many film clips shown the past few weeks. I have taken some for this post, you can click on some of these to watch the clip.

The Shawshank Redemption scene shows the main character, Andy, playing music over the intercom while locked in the wardens office. The beautiful music makes the inmates feel free for a fleeting moment, despite being locked away. This is a metaphor of how we are free from sin when we live in Christ. However unlike like the beautiful music in that scene, Jesus allows us not only to feel free, but actually be free.

The Passion of The Christ scene here (from 1:15-1:35 minutes in) shows the portrayal of satan lurking through the crowd as Jesus is being beaten. Towards the end of that section satan holds up a disfigured baby like creature that looks toward Jesus and smiles. The baby represents sin in our lives, its disfigured and ugly just as sin is in the eyes of God. Jesus died for us so we could be forgiven of sin. He endured unspeakable pain so we could be saved, so we could enter Gods kingdom. He alone was able to give us this gift. It is ours to accept.

A clip from Saving Private Ryan was shown but I couldn't find a clip online. The segment shown was the aftermath of the beach scene where the water was stained red with blood and bodies littered the ground. The blood, bodies, and death in the air represents the sin of man.

There was a documentary from last years True False Film Festival called From The Earth To The Moon. In the previous examples I was just trying to reiterate the message that was given at The Crossing, however this clip really stood out to me. It was a documentary put together to speak to the astronauts that had left earth and come back; the only people to step back and look at earth from afar. Various men gave their thoughts, feelings, and depictions of what their journey was like. As scientists the astronauts tried to explain everything that occurred to them. Many people that grow up with science as a heavy influence in their lives struggle to accept the idea of God with so many things pointing towards evolution. I expected to hear these kinds of things from the people who spoke, but I heard the exact opposite. There are over 2.5 million parts in a space shuttle, it has to be able to travel 25 times the speed of sound, withstand temperatures of 3002 degrees Fahrenheit, travel to the moon 238855 miles one way and then back again. After achieving such great feats, all the astronauts said that they felt a higher power acting. There are so many small details that go into a space launch, that many of the people involved started to see that we were meant to do great things, not by accident or evolution, but by God. We were given these gifts by God. These people of science acknowledged a higher being guiding us.

At one point in my life I believed in evolution of man because as a engineer its hard to ignore scientific facts. As an engineering student I was always taught to question things and look at every possible aspect of a situation. Looking back I can see where there are too many gaps to fill in for evolution to work, at some point its just our minds trying to connect the dots. We have accomplished so many great feats that it cannot be an accident. The bible says God created us in His image; if we can do these great things, imagine what things God is capable of. Evolution may have some valid points but none of them have been proven.

The content of clip itself was not what stood out to me, it just made me think about why I believe in Christianity. It made me realize something; its not the fact that these theory's are not proven that make me believe in Christianity. I did not say to myself "oh well, evolution doesn't explain how mankind came to be, so I'll believe in God instead." It was not the absence of these theory's, but rather the presence of God in my life that made me believe in Him. I cannot see God however I do see His works, feel His presence, and can listen to what He is telling me to do. God is our father and He intended us to carry out these great acts.

Look forward to Gods gifts

This week I decided to take on two larger topics for my blog so I haven't posted in a few days as I have been working on them.

I was thinking of my past recently; about my memories and friends who have since gone. I have reflected on both good and bad memories in my life. I have been feeling guilty about the mistakes I have made and the people I had hurt within this time. I felt so guilty about certain things that it was consuming me. A friend gave me some advice on the subject that helped me. He had told me that if God has forgiven you, and the people involved have forgiven you then you should put it behind you. I realize now that the hardest one to forgive is sometimes ourselves. He quoted Romans 8:1-2

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. "

I see where this is correct, but I still beat myself up over things. I wrestle with this lesson the most right now. With so much change in my life that it's hard not to look at my past. However I also realize if people are constantly thinking about their past, they cannot perform God's works or help others. This means taking what we have and moving forward. I know God wants me, as an individual, to repent from my sins and mistakes then progress in life.

I never truly knew the extent of God's care for me until recently, so I'm undergoing many changes. I have learned from listening to other, more experienced Christians and through scripture that God wants us to live a healthy, productive lifestyle. Knowing the things I know now, I can work on becoming the person I was always meant to be. I have learned from my past, now its time for action. Serving Him, spreading the gospel, and putting my all into life are the things that I am meant to do. My past self would have thought this was too much to handle, but now that I am calling on God's help I feel I can accomplish anything. This knowledge is one of His many gifts to me, but right now its my favorite.

Patience is a virtue

I always thought of myself as a patient person, very slow to get mad or bothered. I do however have stronger feelings and am impatient when it comes to those I care about because I expect more of them. Occasionally I do get impatient with some things, people who are slow drivers in the left lane, long lines,ect. Recently God has been helping to guide my life and show me what I need to do. I want to be proactive and try to fix my predicaments but I am learning to accept Gods time line for my life rather than my own. I can see where he provides for us in His own way and that doesn't mean giving us everything we want right when we want it. I have been seeing where sometimes no matter much we think we know, we just need to place our confidence in God and let Him tell us what is right. Again I see that total trust in God is key here. I have always had trust issues, but I'm working on them with God as I know he will always take care of me. Here are a few examples of patience as talked about in the bible.

Psalms: 37:7-9 says:

7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when men succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.

8 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret—it leads only to evil.

9 For evil men will be cut off,
but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land

Lamentations 3:25-26

The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

It is literally telling us to be patient for the Lord and His salvation. God is a very giving God in His own time and will give when He sees fit. Patience is easy to exercise when we see everything going our way but it gets much more difficult when things are not working out the way we want. It is not a skill one develops overnight, it takes time to learn total patience. Patience is a learned act that we get better at as life continues. When we are young, little thought is given our future and we don't have to wait for long about the things we think about. As we get older, our ambitions, plans, and goals get larger and we must learn to wait longer to get to them. Without waiting, things would not be special, If everyone got everything they wanted when they wanted all sense of accomplishment would be lost. By having patience we are showing God that we trust him to deal with the issues at hand. It shows Him we are following His plan for us, not the other way around.

The Importance of Christian Fellowship.

I struggle with this topic--it's an area that I am working on, so I decided to write about it as it will remind me of what I need to do. I think there are three aspects of Christianity that are very difficult to perform on your own: learning, living, and serving. Learning Christianity on your own is much like trying to teach yourself calculus. You may learn some aspects of it but you're not going to see the whole picture and it will take longer to understand. Proverbs 27:17 says: "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." Beginners need a good teacher to get them started the right way, and people that are more familiar with Christianity need peers to discuss their thoughts with. Church on Sunday is like going to class, but you need to do your homework to understand better. I have found from experience that independent study only goes so far; you need to see other viewpoints about scripture to understand it the way it was meant. Church attendance and group bible study are important to fill in those gaps.

When I say living is an important aspect of Christianity, I mean living within a Christian community. Mathew 18:18-20 : "When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I'll be there." By surrounding yourself with fellow Christians you inadvertently weed out a lot of negative influence in your life. Showing your faith and dedication to God as a Christian means living a certain lifestyle. Being a member of any religion brings you under the scrutiny of others which means that it is important to show your faith through your life and actions. Be a Christian; live as a Christian (this goes back to the post: Life in God). A fellow Christian will uplift you in your walk of faith, discourage you from sin, and hold you accountable for your actions. Knowing that another person is invested in your life is a great motivator to follow the right paths.

Acts 2:44-47 brings us to the third aspect of serving, it says this:

"All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."

When envisioning this in a modern-day society, it is hard to get a mental picture. Church gatherings, bible study, and service groups are all forms of Christian fellowship. Individually we can serve God, however in groups we can accomplish more. An article I was reading here said this: "You might say that God’s plan must be compared not to a solo but to a symphony." I can see where this is quite true; as humans it is our job to serve and praise God as a community. God intended us to serve Him by spreading His word and building on His kingdom that is Christianity. This is in no way possible on your own; a team is required.

"Gods Gonna Cut You Down"

The lyrics of Johnny Cash's song, Gods Gonna Cut You Down, go like this:

GODS GONNA CUT YOU DOWN - JOHNNY CASH

This song really hit home for me. "As sure as God made black and white, what's down in the dark will be brought to the light." I know all too well that the when we sin it will come back to you. God will punish you. It is the way things are meant to be. Sin, be punished. Don't sin, be blessed. I have gotten much better in recent years, however I do sin, and I accept full responsibility. The punishment received from God hurts not just mentally, but also physically. The weight of carrying that punishment feels unbearable sometimes, but we have no other option but to endure through it. We must walk through the dark bearing this weight to get back to the light. Someone once said, "God's business is setting things right." This is 100% true in my opinion. He is the only one who can fix our lives, but we must be proactive in this process. He will not fix our problems if we just sit around; He is not here to do things for us, but rather us for Him. In serving Him, He will help us and guide our actions to fix our own lives after sin.

Life in God.

Today the message from The Crossing today was my favorite one to date. Dave Cover talked from the book of Romans about how to live in God. Before Christ died for us we were "bound" to sin. Once He died on the cross for our sins, we were free to live a life in God. I think this means God has forgiven and will continue to forgive us for our sins, but it's a choice we have to make. We either live our lives in sin, or we ask for His forgiveness and live a life in God. Like a fork in the road you must take one or the other, not stray in between . To follow one path we must give up the other. To live in God means you must live in His image. To live in God you have to give up sin completely. While no one is perfect, it is important to try. Dave told us that sin was about more than just doing bad things; it encompasses self-righteousness, self-entitlement, and not trusting in God. Die in sin to live in Christ. If you don't trust in God you are not letting go of sin. My dad has never been one for giving much advice but recently he said to me: "Worry is a punishment we inflict upon ourselves for not trusting in God." This really hit home for me as it was the last thing I expected my dad to say to me. I would like to think that deep down, my dad trusts God but he never talks about it or shows it. It confuses me and makes me think he wants to walk the gray area in between the paths. Living in God is not about reading the bible or going to church, it is shown through your actions. While reading the bible and going to church are very important, they mean nothing if you don't live in God. It all boils down to the fact that you must let go of your old ways and place your trust in Him before you are able to live in Him.

Listening To and Obeying Gods Word

There are many aspects of my life I have been having trouble with lately, particularly the challenges of the ones I love. Multiple members of my family are going through rough times right now and am trying to remain supportive of them while dealing with my own challenges. Following Gods path for me has been the key. I have been praying to God about those paths and if the choices I make are right. God always provides an answer for my questions in various ways. The most common way I hear Gods answer is through feeling. It helps me personally to ask very specific questions with a yes or no answer and wait for His word. Despite the fact that God always answers my prayers, His answers are not always what I want to hear. Just because you place your life in Gods hands does not mean He is going to give you what you want. Gods gifts to us are holy gifts, not business arrangements! We must listen to Gods answers no matter how much we want something to work out a certain way. If you place your life in His hands he will take care of you on HIS time line and ways, not yours. It is difficult at times but I have learned to listen to him and place my trust in God. So with that I am off to follow His path.

A Lost Soul

I was talking to a friend tonight about what was going on in his life with his wife, daughter, and things in general. I asked how they met and he told me that he dated his wife for 4 years before they had a daughter. They loved each other and got married for a short amount of time before their feelings for each other turned. I asked why they did not feel the same for each other and was informed that they came from very different backgrounds. She was raised with a strong sense of family in a religious home where as he was raised in a broken home. His parents did not get along, the family life he was exposed to was an unhealthy one. My friend said that while he wants to be a better, more responsible man and repair things for his family so it didn't turn out like his childhood, he did not know how. I had mentioned if he had truly given religion a serious effort to help him in his relationship with God and his reply was yes and that was why he felt he could not be a religious man. As a child of 10 his two best friends were murdered. He started going to church and was accepted by the community but years later found out that the pastor had sodomized children. When these events came to light in the public eye, the congregation forgave the pastor and tried to cover it up stating that God forgives us for our sins. At this point he gave up his religion and told me that he believed there are unforgivable sins that no one should get away with. I told him that the experiences he had in life were not the shortcomings of God but rather the choices of men. I said that he should not give up his faith in God because of these peoples poor choices. He seemed disinterested and became distant from our conversation later saying that he prayed about these things but felt no answer from God. I could see where he felt alone in life without a reason to live except for his daughter. I tried again to explain to him the role God plays in our lives; how He works through us and to not give up on his walk but he would not have it. Mathew 18:14-16 compares us to lost sheep: "Your Father in heaven feels the same way. He doesn't want to lose even one of these simple believers. If a fellow believer hurts you, go and tell him work it out between the two of you." I felt utterly useless in trying to help him find his faith again and it was one of the worst feelings I have ever had. I wish I knew what to say or how to help him but I do not. I suppose I learned from talking to him that some people are just too hurt to repair their faith and all I can do is pray for him and talk to him again, in hopes that he can resolve his own issues with accepting God in his life.

God Is Caring For YOU !

I woke this morning thinking that Sunday was too long to write my next post. I had the topic of God caring for us on my mind so I started looking through scripture and searching using Bible Gateway. Bible Gateway is a site that allows you to search scripture by verse, topic, or keyword. The verse that got me thinking was in Deuteronomy 11:12 "It is a land the LORD your God cares for; the eyes of the LORD your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end." This does not mean God is caring for your house or your land, the verse is not literally talking about land its talking about us. Despite this many forget God or reject Him in their life. Although we try, humans in general cannot love or care like He can. Gods love for us is truly unconditional; even the worst sins cannot affect Gods love for us if we ask for forgiveness. (This goes back to Gods grace, His ability to forgive us, and the fact that we shouldn't take advantage of it.) Too many believe that if God does not fulfill their wants and desires He does not care for them. This is not the case at all. God cares for you on his terms not yours. You might ask "Why would He do that? Why would God not listen to what I want?" It is because the way we think we should be cared for is a skewed view of what is right for us. Much like children asking for candy from their parents, we are children in the eyes of God. God will provide for you what you need, that may vary depending on what is going on in your life. If life is going great, your doing good, your happy; we tend to forget about God. If life is bad we question God and say why is He not caring for me, why is God not making my life great. The answer to that is it is not His job. God is not there to make our lives perfect but He will care for us as needed. Think of a time when you were in trouble or things seemed to be falling apart in your life and ask yourself: "did God not care for you or provide for you to help you through it?". Every time I feel like I have hit rock bottom or run into a challenge God has cared for me and got me through it. He will lead you through your time of need if you just ask. Talk to Him and He listens, and watch closely for His answers.

"Chapter 2: An old friend"

Tonight I found myself talking to a very old friend who was always the "tough guy" in school; he was the one who didn't show much emotion and was always that kid you expected to body check you or knock the wind out of you for fun. Recently I spoke with him and found out that he is recovering from a drinking problem and getting his life back on track. I asked him what made him want to alter his lifestyle and he replied that a someone inspired him to change his ways and introduced him to God. I didn't know what to expect--at first I thought he was half-way joking or that this was an impostor of the hard-nosed guy I once knew. I went on to talk to him at length and gave him some advice, as I was once in his shoes. We had a long, refrehing conversation about religion, faith, and God. I realized that the tables had turned, that "tough guy" was now asking me for advice and guidance. I think I was of some help to him in his life, but at the same time I learned some things about myself. I learned that even those who are struggling with their own issues can still help others in their walk to find Him.

"Spiritual Amnesia"

The message at The Crossing today was centered around the book of Romans. Our pastor, Keith Simon, told us a story about a man who was one day stricken with a case of amnesia on his way home. He didn't know who he was or where he was. Somehow he ended up in another state and adopted a new identity; he worked and lived there for 15 years while his wife thought he was dead. One day he fell and hit his head, suddenly he remembered who he was, and went home after all those years and rejoined his wife. The moral of the story is that some people fall into a rut where they get sidetracked from their faith in God. Pastor Simon described this phenomenon as "Spiritual Amnesia," where one forgets the ways of Christ due to the things happening in their life or some traumatizing experience. It is true that God has a plan for all of us, but if we suffer from "Spiritual Amnesia" we deviate from His plans. It's funny how God works through the ones around us. I didn't know I had Spiritual Amnesia until it was made apparent to me by events in my life and God's word.

We also talked about God's grace on us and his ability to forgive us. In Jude 4 it says: "For certain men whose condemnation was written about[a] long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord." Just because God is very forgiving doesn't mean that we should justify our sins by saying "oh its ok because God will forgive me". One should never take advantage of God's forgiveness or try to justify sin even though we all struggle.