I have been a Christian for about 2 years now. My walk with Christ has changed dramatically since that first day of my new life, but it is funny, Jesus hasn’t changed at all. Every day as I read the word, pray, and fellowship with others; I find myself feeling that God is getting greater and greater. But he is not. I am simply coming to a better understanding how great he truly is.
I wrote this because I feel like sometimes we feel that the greatness of God is dependent on our knowledge and understanding of who he is. But God will make himself great no matter what. We are not helping him develop into a greatness that he has not yet achieved, but we are simply coming to a more intense knowledge of who he is, therefore, we take what we know, apply it to our lives, and make him look and seem as great as he truly is to the people whom we interact with everyday.
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May 16 2008 | Christianity and Jesus | No Comments »
As I was browsing Myspace earlier today, I read a post from an old acquaintance talking about how people can create there own truth, and it arose some old thoughts. About a year ago I was really into this whole emergent, postmodern idea, but I eventually stopped talking about it; because I felt like I had turned it into a bigger deal than it really was.
But this post I read earlier really reminded me that there are people that have forgotten that there is really something called truth, and it is not relative. The concept which I keep hearing is: what we are exposed to and taught throughout our lives constitutes what we know as truth. This is correct, kind of. We may conceive things one way, for instance; if I was raised in a home where my older siblings, whom I thought were really smart, did drugs, drank all the time, and dropped out of school, I may come to an understanding where my conceived truth is that drinking, doing drugs, and dropping out of school will make you smart. Obviously this is not true though. The truth is that none of those things will help you become smarter.
So what I am trying to say is this. Many people will choose not to believe in God because they say he doesn’t exist in their eyes. But if he really does exist it doesn’t matter what that person thinks. Do you get my drift? One of my favorite analogies is this, if you were standing in the middle of the road and a bus was going seventy miles an hour directly towards you, and it hit you; it would kill you or severely hurt you regardless of what you believed. This is because the bus was really there, and you were really in its way.
Jesus Christ is the same way. He is either real, or fake. There is no in between. If you are a Christian who chooses not to tell your friends about your believes, you need to start now. Don’t let this lie of relativity hold you back from what is true.
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May 15 2008 | Culture and Evangelism and Jesus and Salvation | No Comments »
Don’t Waste Your Life, written by John Piper is possibly the most powerful book I have ever read. And when I say that I am not exaggerating. Piper writes this book with the intention to show our purpose, and that purpose is to live to glorify Christ and find our Joy in him.
Through reading this book I have developed a much more complex perspective of what my purpose is in this life. But it is funny; I haven’t gained this perspective because of a bunch of soft little stories or because of the things I will receive if I adopt this perspective. But I have acquired this new perspective, because of the conviction of the plea which this book contains.
Piper does an awesome job at telling his readers that this life is not about them… At All!!! I know this sounds crazy, but he takes you on a trip through scripture which will prove to you, if you are willing, that you were designed for far more than having the perfect life. But we were designed to glorify Jesus Christ.
Towards the end of the book he sums the whole thing up by explaining how we can better glorify Christ in our jobs and in missions. I highly recommend this book because I think it will really change your perspective of life and joy. You will find yourself wanting to do things you never thought of in the past. And most of all you will learn to appreciate Christ in a way that you may never have before.
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May 14 2008 | Books and Christianity | No Comments »
I don’t know about you, but I pray a lot. I am not saying that in a prideful way, but I am constantly praying because I don’t know what to do. I don’t have the wisdom or the will within myself to really do what God wants me too. So I pray constantly asking God to refresh my mind and guide me so that I won’t fall off of this path he has placed me on.
When we pray it is so important to remember to pray for the will of God. Yes, we can pray for many things, but we don’t need to beat around the bush. Just ask God. He already knows, and he will answer your prayers according to his will.
I have found that when I am frustrated and I decide not to pray, that the many stresses of life slowly consume me. But when I finally decide to humble myself before my Creator, almost immediately, I will regain a healthy perspective. Prayer helps me remember that I am not in control, but God is.
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May 13 2008 | Christianity | No Comments »
… in the world is joyfully rescuing people from hell, meeting
their earthly needs, making them glad in God, and doing it with
a kind, serious pleasure that makes Christ look like the Treasure
he is…. (Piper, Don’t Waste Your Life)
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May 12 2008 | Books and Christianity and Salvation | No Comments »
Here are some links to some great tracts I have just ordered…
And if you are looking for a great Bible to hand out to people who need one check out these…
And just in case you are wondering, I am not posting these so I can make a few penny’s, because I won’t. I am posting these, because I think they could be very helpful in your evangelism efforts.
Good luck, and God bless!
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May 12 2008 | Books and Christianity and Evangelism | No Comments »
I am making myself a promise tonight as I am sitting here writing this post before I fall asleep. I am going to do everything within my ability to make this the best week I have ever experienced. You may be thinking that this is a little extreme, or maybe you are thinking it isn’t possible. Well, let me explain.
This week I am going to stop focusing on myself. I don’t want to be inwardly focused. I want to care more about other people than I do about myself. I am going to keep God’s word closer to me than I ever have before. I will fill my day with prayer to the best of my ability.
You see. This is not going to be the best week of my life, because of a place I am going or because of friend I will see. But it will be the best because I am planning on serving the Lord whole heartedly and without selfish intentions…
I know this is random, but how are you going to try to do the same?
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May 11 2008 | Christianity | No Comments »
If you are like me, your only real day you get to take off and totally rest is Saturday. I work all week, and Sunday is pretty much a full day for me. So, today I am just sitting around really just wasting my time. It is making me think. Is there a way which I can be more productive on a Saturday than I am being? I don’t mean is there a way for me to wash more clothes or clean my room better. But is there a way for me to stop wasting my time by helping glorify Christ more.
There are a few things that come to my mind when I think of this. The first one is evangelism. I could totally go down to the river and talk to some people, the second one that comes to mind is helping out at the church. These are both major possibilities. The one thing I wonder though is, am I the only one who is thinking like this?
One of the main reasons I don’t do these things is a lack of enthusiasm by others. There are so many people who do want to take there Saturday and use it for themselves. I totally understand, being that I will most likely not do either of those things I mentioned above today. But I just wonder how is it that we say we are so passionate about serving and being full hearted Christians, when giving up a Saturday to the Lord’s work is absolutely out of the question?
What do you think?
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May 10 2008 | Christianity and Evangelism and Jesus | 1 Comment »
I heard about this group of people a few months ago. When I first heard about them thought it was a cool idea, but didn’t know how I could help out. Since then I have gotten onto their website and found out a little bit more.
The mission of the blood:water mission is to get clean water and blood to people in Africa who need it. They want to place over one thousand wells throughout the continent. The reason that they have this so heavy on their hearts is that one reason that so many diseases are so prevalent in many parts of Africa is due to the water. Many diseases are found in the water, and these diseases are very deadly without the proper treatment. They also want to get clean blood: blood without the infection of the HIV virus.
All it takes is a one dollar donation and you can help provide water for one person for one year. Please at least check out the site, and give it some thought. Thanks!
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May 09 2008 | Christianity | No Comments »
I am learning more and more everyday that it is very important to be balanced in all things that I do. The reason I am finding this is because there are days when I just want to read, others where I just want to talk, and yet others where I just want to sleep. All of these things are important and needed, but if they are taken in such extremities they can throw parts of your life out of balance that you’d otherwise leave untouched.
This is important with our spirituality too. If we decide to only focus on the love of Christ then we will most likely forget about the full person of Jesus Christ. It is too often that people will do this, and quite frankly I am getting really tired of it. I am tired of people ignoring parts of the Bible so that they can justify something that they want to do. This is seen more and more with homosexuality, other religions, and obviously many other things.
The Bible very clearly state that homosexuality is a sin. I am not sure if and where the Bible talks about it being worse than other sins, but I do know that it is a sin. Why must people try and fight that? Why must they take it into there hands to justify there own wickedness?
The Bible also teaches us that there is only one way to God and that is through God, aka Jesus. Jesus has some very exclusive teachings that tell us this truth. I am tired of people trying to mend the broken relationships between religions. How about we treat them like we should, with love, and and not some mushy gushy love. But a love that comes from our beliefs that if they don’t turn from their sins they will be facing an eternity in hell. Just because they don’t believe that Jesus is really the Messiah doesn’t exclude them from judgement.
As Christians we need to learn to be balanced. We need to love others, and not condemn them. But we do need to step up and be bold about what we believe. If we truly believe it then why is it so hard to say it? Are we afraid that we may not be liked, or is it maybe that we feel that it is wrong? I don’t know but let’s be bold and stand upon the rock which we have been given as a foundation, and let’s never forget that his name is Jesus Christ.
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May 08 2008 | Christianity and Jesus | No Comments »
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