One.Step.

As a Christian it is real easy to get this “I will not fall because God loves me” mentality.  There are a lot of theologies that one can utilize to argue for or against that lifestyle.  However one rationalizes their actions, the most important thing to remember is that we are still human, despite our religious or spiritual affiliation.  We should be constantly desiring to grow deeper and know God more.  This should have an obvious impact on our lifestyle and choices, but things happen.  We are all just one step away from becoming the worst person in the world.  This may not happen overnight, but one choice can lead to a downward spiral and a complete destruction of what God had been doing in one’s life.

A few weeks ago there was some crazy happenings in my little town that involved two folks I knew.  This was very sad because they, at one point were “active” in the Christian religion.  I had not spent any time with them recently, but it made me ask, “What happened?”.  It made me very thankful for the grace I have received, but it also was a harsh reminder that life can change quickly.  Close communion with the Father is necessary and the only sure way of not falling to the human nature.  I fail at this constantly, but it is a process.

I was reading in The Valley of Vision and this section really stood out to me after what all had happened.

“Grant that my proneness to evil, deadness to good, resistance to thy Spirit’s motions, may never provoke thee to abandon me.  May my hard heart awake thy pity, not they wrath, And if the enemy get an advantage through my corruption, let it be seen that heaven is mightier than hell…Grant that in every fall I may sink lower on my knees and that when I rise it may be to loftier heights of devotion. 

Spiritual Helps- Pg.131

This was a much needed reminder.  There is a greater power than my screw ups, but there was also an encouragement to spend more time on my knees before falling.  Devotion now allows for a life transforming power to flow through.  Life change NOW is the best defense against giving satan the ability to work in your life.  Allow the grace that covers up your past to also guide and direct your CURRENT life situations.

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FIXED.

Trying to address emotional issues without claiming the blood of Jesus is essentially saying, “It’s okay if you’re possessed by a demon, as long as you’re not sad about it.” People need to BE ok, not just FEEL ok.

-Mattie Montgomery, Vocalist: For Today

I saw this quote today. It resonated with me deeply. I started graduate school with the plan to get a degree in counseling. I am a youth pastor, so I should think that Jesus is swell guy. Through my study of scripture Jesus is more than just a swell guy. He truly does come to change the life, bring newness in one’s entire life. He did not come just to make people FEEL better about themselves, He came to MAKE people better. Jesus brings about a whole life change. This was the plan from Genesis. God presented redemption to the Israelites, culminating with Jesus which was offered to all people.

I would encourage you to check out:
Ezekiel 36:25-27
Jeremiah 31
Romans 2
2 Corinthians 5:17

This is only a sampling, the is A LOT more in scripture. Seek it out. Do not limit the power that Jesus has in your life as a Christian. Let Him make you a new person. If you do not already have a relationship with Christ, keep seeking. Jesus’ death and resurrection is more than just a ticket into heaven.

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Excellence.

Excellence has been a theme in my life I have noticed. The Christian school I went to was trying to be different, really stand out from the pack. They did this by testing out a buzzword and then making everything else conform to that idea. That idea was excellence. We were to do everything for excellence. Schoolwork, class time, eating lunch, etc. This kind of became a running joke within the high school. Everything was to be done with excellence. In reality there was a huge gap between true excellence and what was going on at the school, but that is another story for another time. Because of this, excellence became a joke, easily attainable in my life. Excellence really was not excellent.

In the fall Propaganda released a fantastic free album through Humble Beast Records called Excellent. This album brought the idea of excellence back in my life. Check this album out. There is some amazingly solid theology contained within some rap tracks. “God uses crooked sticks to make straight lines”- my life. God uses me in ways I never expected.

I have been using the book Valley of Vision for some help in my prayer life. The other day I read a prayer that really spoke to me in my current situation. This prayer was about the sole role of a pastor is learning who God is. As a pastor, my role is not to teach others how to be better Christians, how to learn about God more, etc. My job is to focus on my own relationship with Christ. Out of that I can then do “excellent” ministry. “Thus my end in preaching is to know Christ, and impart His truth”.

This all comes together in my life because I have been stressing a lot about how to be excellent in doing ministry and what that looks like. I am VERY SLOWLY learning that I will never lead a perfect ministry. Ministry is a rough place, but Christ gives strength and guidance. I need to be stoked about what is going on and change the things I can. The rest I need to trust God. I need to focus more on my relationship with God and less on doing excellent ministry. I would love some suggestions if anyone has any. If you are also struggling in ministry this passage in Valley of Vision gave me great help. The author has a long list of things he asks for, he concludes with this thought, “Then, whether i succeed or fail, nougat matters but thee alone.” Oftentimes I feel like a failure in ministry. I am only a failure in ministry if I am not on top of my own personal relationship with Christ and sharing the overflow with others. I have been taking steps to ensure that I am not failing. I encourage you to do the same.

King.Jesus.Gospel

I enjoy two things greatly. One is Twitter, the other is the idea of God’s Kingdom and how we as Christians have the ability to interact with that in our daily lives. I follow a professor, theologian, and author (@ScotMcknight) on Twitter and he was discussing an upcoming book he was writing that was titled “The King Jesus Gospel”. I really appreciate a lot of what he writes about and I was really excited about this new book. In his blog he typically wrestles with culture, theology and worldviews and applies it to the real world. I really appreciate his down to earth discussion on really deep stuff and how the Bible applies to our everyday life and not just on Sunday mornings. So, needless to say, when I saw that an author I appreciate was writing on a topic that I see as an extremely important part of the Christian “experience” if you will I was really excited. Something that is unfortunately forgotten or missed, yet is the whole point of Christianity.

Before the book was officially released, I saw on twitter that Scot was giving away copies to the first 25 or so people that supplied contact information and answered a few short questions. I jumped on it and I got the book for free. I was pretty excited. As soon as I got it I started it. However, school started back up again and I did not make time for it. It is not the end of May and I just finished the book finally. It even took a few months to get through it this time. (I plan on being more disciplined and reading more books, I get “busy” and do not read as much as I want or should).

To the book.

This book starts out with an appeal to move from a Salvation Culture to a Gospel Culture. There is a huge difference in this two types of “Evangelism Techniques”. Salvation culture is “me-centric”- Jesus came to save me from sin, Jesus came to allow me a space in heaven, etc. This is all correct theology, but often we stay here and we do not demonstrate the fullness of what Christianity offers, what Scot refers to as gospel culture. This gospel culture appeals to the entire Bible (Old and New Testament) and sees Christ as not just a savior from sin, but as the Messiah that is looked forward to by the Israelites and the Old Testament. This is something I am working through with the youth group currently. I am trying to tie together the fact that Jesus came to save us from Hell, but there is more than that and Jesus is not just for you and me, but fulfills deeper things. Perfected Gen. 15 (Covenant with Abraham), Perfected the 10 Commandments, and was necessary to rebuild the relationship broken by man’s desire to do things his way.

Scot McKnight then proceeds to dissect some of Paul’s, Peter’s, and Jesus’ statements to determine whether they all speak of the same “Gospel”. McKnight summarizes the “Gospel” as preaching Jesus as the Messiah that the Prophets of the Old Testament spoke of and whether Jesus fulfills the roles that He is supposed to as Messiah and Son of God. The conclusion is that they all do preach the same message. The main thrust of these sections is the necessity of looking at the Old Testament. Jesus appeals to Old Testament texts to describe himself. Paul and Peter also appeal to OT texts as well as phrasing that appeal to the Old Testament as speaking and teaching of the Messiah and Jesus fulfilling those necessary prophecies. We passively expect this to be the case, the Bible telling stories that all coincide, but it is extremely interesting and encouraging to see that everything truly does align and make sense. McKnight finishes his book by summarizing that the only way to be Gospel focused is by immersing ourselves in the Word. Know the Story, know how things fit together, and understand how the Scripture really applies to our everyday life. We have been given power in the form of the Holy Spirit and we truly need to tap into that to make an impact in the world (spiritually and physically). An interesting point that was made in the book is the need to know scripture how to utilize it to speak against worldviews that are contrary to the Gospel and how the Gospel truly can provide a fuller picture of life than the current, broken worldview that is held. Some of these broken worldviews are; Individualism, Consumerism, and Postmodern worldviews.

This is why I enjoy the hardcore scene so much, even though there is no “scene” close to where I live. Many people within the hardcore culture (HXC) hold to “straight edge”. This is summarized by clean living- no drugs, alcohol, and often times no sex outside of marriage or a committed relationship. These are great things to do or be. These are things that many Christians hold to themselves, this is just missing a key aspect- Jesus Christ. This is all done out of self power or power of a community (brotherhood). Straight Edge has the acts of Christianity, but a broken source- self as opposed to Christ. The Gospel perfects this worldview. I am not saying to just add Jesus, Jesus replaces- He is everything, fully sufficient for all of our needs, this is an example of how we need to present the Gospel to worldviews that in a sense trumps the broken worldview and the Gospel is seen as even more sufficient and powerful.

This is a very brief summary of the book. It is short, so you should pick it up and read it yourself. I really appreciated this book. I do wish that there was more discussion on discipleship, but that is an understood movement from the understanding of Jesus as Messiah, and us taking part in a larger story. We are to follow after and allow Christ to become our King. We are to give the rights of our life over to God. Again, I wish this was discussed more in the book, but it would be the logical conclusion to what McKnight discusses. Too many times I have seen students (or adults) on fire for God and then they just disappear and do their own thing. As a whole, the church has done a poor job describing the importance of Salvation. It is more than just a one time decision, and Scot McKnight’s book “The King Jesus Gospel” really begins the discussion and giving solid biblical support for a deeper understanding of who Jesus was and what salvation is.

mission

It has been a bit since I have been on here. Crazy how “busy” life gets.

On Easter Sunday my pastor preached on Acts 1.  As I was following along, Acts 1:3 really popped out to me in a new way that I had not seen before.

He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. (Acts 1:3 ESV)

When Jesus rose from the dead He had two goals on the Earth.  The first was to present Himself alive, the second was to speak about the kingdom of God.  Prior to His death it was normal to present Himself alive, so that is something new, but throughout the Gospels Jesus consistently is talking about the Kingdom of God.  He continued doing what He was doing prior to His death when He came back to life.  That is some consistency.

If you did something cool like rising from the dead your story and actions would probably change a bit, but Jesus continued doing what He had been doing, people just probably listened a little more closely.  One thing we can gain from the time that Jesus was on Earth is to see how we are to live our Christian lives.  He provided a model for us to follow.  Jesus had constant communication with God (Prayer) and we are too.  Jesus was passionate about the Kingdom of God and I believe we should be too.  Through Christ’s death and resurrection the power of sin was broken.  Sin is like handcuffs.  Sin binds us and limits what we can do, but through Christ the handcuffs have been unlocked.  We so often still have our hands behind our back with the handcuffs sitting there, unlocked.  We just have to move and let the handcuffs fall off.  God has given us the ability the fight and be free of sin.  We just have to live in what Christ has given us.

Back to the verse though, I see our role as Christians on Earth being the same as Christ’s.  We are to present to the world a living JESUS, and to speak about and work in the Kingdom of God.  This verse had never impacted me before like it did on that Sunday.  The word of God is always fresh and new.  As you go about your daily life, ask yourself:

“Am I showing a living Jesus today?”  ”How am I impacting the Kingdom of God today?”

Oh.Canada.

This week I am with the youth ministry in Toronto where we are running a science camp. This is an awesome experience because we aren’t on a typical mission trip. Instead of sharing Christ at all possible moments in a verbalnway we have to rely much more on our actions to share the Gospel of Christ. The students are predominantly Hindu, with a few Muslim students as well. These students come from families that are steeped in tradition and the introduction of Christ to these people before a relationship is formed then the work that our contact here does can be quickly ruined.
I enjoy science experiments a lot. I’ve always been kind of a nerd. This week I am a leader of a group. Definitely a new experience and way outside of my comfort zone. I have an awesome group of co-leaders that are doing all they can to help. Some of those in my groups are much more qualifed to be leading this, but they are being invaluable resources in the role they have been given. It’s also been really cool to see how some in my group are really working hard, giving all of themselves. These are the students who typically don’t pull their own weight and just sit or play around. Seeing growth in these students is absolutely awesome.

Here are some pictures of our group (8-10 year olds)

.old.

This past week I have really been struggling with the basic question of “who am I?”.  I was hanging out with some of the youth one day and they wanted to initiate shenanigans with fireworks.  I was down with it, but then it got to be too late.  I needed to go to bed and it just seemed like something I should not be a part of.  It was an odd moment for me.  I was actually making a “mature” decision.  I guess I’m growing up and I have to be even more responsible for actions.  That was the beginning of the week.  The end of the week consisted of advising for my graduate classes and then setting up and running sound for an outdoor wedding.  I actually got excited as I looked at the classes that were recommended for my first semester.  The sound job was awesome.  I love troubleshooting and setting up sound stuff.  I love nerding out on that.  It can be super stressful, yet also oddly calming.  I was talking to my mom and she pretty much gave me permission to do sound stuff as a job or even potentially tour.  It was pretty awesome.  When people ask the question of “what do you want to do eliminating all obstacles and limitations?”, I am torn between ministry to students and live sound production. I want to combine both.  So, who knows. It is weird processing through the idea of growing up.  I kinda want to be a kid for ever, but it just won’t happen.  I currently feel a sense of dissatisfaction with my current life path, but also a sense of peace of doing what I am supposed to be doing currently.  I hope you weren’t already bummed before you read this… probably did not help much and if you were not bummed, you probably are. Sorry, but thanks for reading anyway.

I leave you with this.

i’ll.get.around.to.it

I have been out of town and rather lazy when I am around recently and I have completely ignored my blog. I will get back to it soon, I hope. I was recently in Arizona on the Senior Trip with the Youth Ministry that I help with. Here are some pictures I took on the trip. Arizona is surprisingly pretty. I am super impressed with the quality of my iPhone’s camera.

I only hang with the coolest.

The Grand Canyon

The colors were crazy.

Climbing Adventure.

“Pawn Stars” Pawn Shop.

Series

Since the world did not end on Saturday, and I have some time to potentially kill since I am not in school, I have had an idea floating around for a few years now. I really like As Cities Burn. Their album, “Come Now Sleep” is one of my top ten albums for sure. Musically it is really good, but it truly shines lyrically. The album wrestles with ideas of sin, grace, forgiveness, and death. The album rests in the power Christ and man’s need for salvation.
For a few years now I have wanted to do a sermon series on based on this album (or a majority of them) and basically do a commentary on the lyrics- while utilizing scripture to wrestle through the themes presented. This may fail, but I thought I would start here first. Another reason I wanted to do it here was so I could get feedback from whoever reads this. please, provide scripture, thoughts or even your own experience as we through these songs. My goal is to have t least one post up this week.
I’m kinda bummed it will ruin my one word titles (with one exception) oh well.

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THE.CHARIOT

These dudes are insane live, as this video demonstrates. Their newest album, Long Live, was one of the best hardcore/metal albums of 2010 in my opinion. Enjoy.
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