Thursday, February 26, 2009

I Kissed A Girl and I Liked It....

So I was reading a blog of one of my former profs at Criswell, Dr. Burk and really enjoyed it. Take the time to check it out if you can. There is a great sermon on there as well...

http://www.dennyburk.com/?p=3770

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

"Head"


So I am reading a book that so far is amazing and I recommend it...but not if you aren't ready to hear an amazing life altering story of someone that was dead that God has given life. Check it out...


as always there may be some stuff you can lose but most of it is amazing

Monday, February 16, 2009

Redeemed

I am part of a church choir and for those of you who think that "church choir" is old fashioned and not cool, come see us. I am not saying, "Hey come see us perform or do a show." I am simply saying that from experience with what is going on I am so happy to be a part of a core set of believers that is trying to make their walk and their love for Christ show in the way they worship. Our music ministers name is Eric and he constantly reminds us that when we sing on Sundays it is not the time to be showing our praise at the start of the week but a time to reflect how we have done it all week and outpour that into the service so that other people can see and feel how real Jesus is. The music that we read is usually a little different than what we sing and often it is said, "Your music is only a guide," meaning that Eric is taking us to a new place and to just go with him. haha. It is fun to sing and make music that glorifies God but there is so much more.

Every week we come in and, though it takes up a lot of time out of rehearsal, we give praise and prayer requests. We will sit there for a while and share stories of what God is doing and how we need prayer or praise God for what He has done. This is honestly my favorite part of choir. There have been many times that you sit down and can see the hand of God moving through someone or a situation. I have gotten tears before because of this. Tears of joy and tears of emotion for someone that is going through some tough issues. Sometimes Eric will pray and then sometimes he will split it up so others can, and then sometimes we break into groups and pray. Beyond that there is more.

The people in Redeemed are the most genuine, loving, caring people you will ever meet. Whenever I got to the lowest point in my life where I could not make it another minute without God reassuring me, people from the choir stepped in and prayed and took me to dinner and loved on me. Whenever I had my wreck I was on my way to sing with everyone and praise God's name. The first people to check on me and to pray for me were the people in redeemed. The hardest part of my life was passed through by the grace of God showing and pulling me through and with the Almighty placing those people in my life. Since then I have built relationships with people that I never hope go away. I have bonds with both guys and girls in there that are unique and amazing beyond what I can imagine. The stories of those around me and the possibility of taking ministry further with a couple of them puts a joy in my heart. This obviously is only a God thing and for Him I give the glory. When I miss choir on Wednesday nights it throws me off. When I don't get to sing with them on Sundays however I am blessed because I can hear them and know that I am part of a group that is striving to show worship to the most High Creator of the Universe. What is better than that? I don't really know. I love me some Redeemed though and I am just going to leave it with that.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Heart to Heart

It is hard sometimes to sit down and blog because of time constraint. There are so many things going on right now in life that I can barely keep up with myself and I am worn out!!! I just wanted to mention that right now I am actually feeling as if I am where God wants me to be and I don't know that this has ever happened in my life. I am not saying that my spiritual life is amazing or that it doesn't need to be better, I am simply saying that for the first time I feel that I am at a church that I am supposed to be at, the school I am supposed to be at, and with the person I am supposed to be with. Don't get all flustered with the last part. I am single as can be with not a real interest in the opposite sex in sight. I am simply talking about the relationship with Jesus that keeps getting better not as a result of me, but instead where He has led me to and who He led me to. I have guys that are awesome from my church that help me to be accountable in different areas. I have just a little bit left as far as school gos and right now God is working. I go through that to say this, I know that financially I am about to find rougher roads because my dad is going to finally be out of a job (months after they told him he was getting laid off). I am only a part time worker for the bank and I am about to be paying school loans off. So with that said why would I feel as it is where God has led me to? The reason is this, I have come to the point where everywhere I go I have found a new way to grow in Christ and find that tough decisions are having to be made but they are all leading me back to the main focus of ministry that God wants me in. It is sorta complicated but honestly....it is where I need to be and who knows maybe those people that I have met along the way will be a part of the ministry that I am doing. Soon I will be blogging about the experiences of Redeemed, a church choir that is amazing... we're not your Daddy's Oldsmobile! We're different as the church website says.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Praise God!!

Location: China
Arrested: January 2007


Released
Print Fact Sheet

On January 26, 2007, 76-year-old Shuang Shuying and her son, house church leader Hua Huiqi, were attacked, wounded and arrested by police while walking near a 2008 Olympic hotel site in Beijing. Shuying has numerous medical problems and is serving two years in prison. We invite you to write a letter of encouragement to Shuying. We have experienced incredible results when readers write to believers who have been imprisoned for their faith. The letters often result in shorter prison sentences. Send a letter of encouragement to Shuying and let her know you are praying for her. Also, write to the Chinese government requesting she be released. Let your friends know about suffering believers in China and encourage them to pray and write too. Get involved. Pray and write today.


UPDATE:
Update on Shuang Shuying

Praise God! On Feb. 8, 2009 Shuang Shuying was released from prison and immediately went to see her deathly ill husband in the hospital. Shuying wrote a letter thanking you for praying and supporting her. The letter also revealed that she was tortured in prison. Shuying was strengthened by the prayers and help of believers like you. We encourage you to continue writing letters to believers who remain in prison. Get involved! Pray and write today.

IF YOU DO NOT PRAY AND SUPPORT THOSE CHRISTIANS WHO ARE BEING TORTURED AND THROWN INTO PRISON FOR THEIR BELIEFS THEN YOU SHOULD START. THE INFO ON THIS BLOG WAS FROM WWW.PRISONERALERT.COM YOU CAN WRITE NOTES TO HELP THESE BELIEVERS WHO ARE TRULY BEING TAKEN THROUGH TRIALS IN THE NAME OF OUR LORD JESUS.

Monday, February 9, 2009

How about some Oswald???

February 9th.

ARE YOU EXHAUSTED SPIRITUALLY?


"The everlasting God . . . fainteth not, neither is weary." Isaiah 40:28

Exhaustion means that the vital forces are worn right out. Spiritual exhaustion never comes through sin but only through service, and whether or not you are exhausted will depend upon where you get your supplies. Jesus said to Peter - "Feed My sheep," but He gave him nothing to feed them with. The process of being made broken bread and poured out wine means that you have to be the nourishment for other souls until they learn to feed on God. They must drain you to the dregs. Be careful that you get your supply, or before long you will be utterly exhausted. Before other souls learn to draw on the life of the Lord Jesus direct, they have to draw on it through you; you have to be literally "sucked," until they learn to take their nourishment from God. We owe it to God to be our best for His lambs and His sheep as well as for Himself.

Has the way in which you have been serving God betrayed you into exhaustion? If so, then rally your affections. Where did you start the service from? From your own sympathy or from the basis of the Redemption of Jesus Christ? Continually go back to the foundation of your affections and recollect where the source of power is. You have no right to say - "O Lord, I am so exhausted." He saved and sanctified you in order to exhaust you. Be exhausted for God, but remember that your supply comes from Him. "All my fresh springs shall be in Thee."

"My Utmost For His Highest"
Oswald Chambers

Friday, February 6, 2009

An Important Passage

This is just an important passage I find for the church to look at in its efforts to work. We need to be more Holy Spirit driven instead of program driven. This should be used as a model for all churches to do the Lord's work and evangelism.

Acts 1: 1The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach,
2until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen.

3To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.

4Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, "Which," He said, "you heard of from Me;

5for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."

6So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?"

7He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority;

8but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."

The Ascension
9And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
10And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them.

11They also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven."

The Upper Room
12Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away.
13When they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Crossover!

so check this song out...the lyrics are below...The words are amazing.



Yeah, they gon' hate this one
They gon' hate us cause we love Him so much
But it's finna go down dawg
Yeah we gon' represent Him tonight

[Verse One]
You can find me in a church
Focused and alert
No suit and tie, jeans and a t-shirt
I'm into praising God because He made us out of dirt
And plus He gave His life for this world's evil works
So flirt with that
Most of y'all can't jerk with that
Cause it ain't no benefits and no purse with that
Still gotta' live your life on this earth with that
But we live eternally and I can work with that
Holla, yeah I cheated, yeah I lust within
But guess what that's why I trust in Him
See you thinkin' that you ain't that bad
You just lying to yourself playboy you better check your health
While you're all about the cash and ice
Hope you ready for change you just broke the first commandment twice
And I know that you done stole before
If it wasn't a gun it was some gum from the grocery store
It's all sin to God
Man look into God
You guilty, you ain't even a friend to God
Sin gotta' high price it'll cost your life
But God fit that bill on the cross with Christ

[Chorus]
The crossover from death to life
What's the hold up accept the Christ
We flex the Mic to rep for Christ
So we can put your soul at rest tonight

[Verse Two]
Yo
I don't catch the Spirit I'm all filled up
I can't lose it either I'm all sealed up
And you can bet yo life
I'm a rep for Christ
One taste He'll get you right

Folks is thinking they Christian
But when they sinnin'
They don't feel the conviction that the Spirit is givin'
And they keep living life like, "that's cool with me."
Y'all people ain't fooling me
Try to play me to the left like I'm trying to get deep on them
This is real talk dawg, you better peep somethin'
This ain't that philosophic rap like ‘Harmoynm'
And I ain't talking about the God you heard about from mom and them
Put that blunt out dawg, put down the Heineken
"man God understands" What? Come again
I guess you think that God is kinda' like yo momma huh?
Like He ain't even trippin' on your sinnin and your drama

[Chorus]

[Verse Three]
Yo, life's way more then ice and rims
And you don't make enough to pay the price of sin
And God's gon' judge you dawg that's reality
Saying you don't believe is like saying there ain't no gravity
Then running off to go jump a cliff
And when you hit the ground tell me what you get
Hey, why you running from the freedom of the gospel?
You hostile
You're looking like your lucifer's apostle
But God got you
And though we all deserve death He still keep putting breath in your nostrils
But you treat Him like an obstacle
See Him come at your convenience like a stop and go
Waiting for a sweeter deal or a sign or something
Like God ain't come down and die or something
Trust me dawg God wants the best for you
That's why the gospel of Christ is addressed to you

[Chorus]

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

So right now I have alot on my mind...

There are things that have been on my mind alot lately. Here is a few things...
1 life-what its supposed to be like
2 marriage-read and find out
3 being a leader


So lets go with number 1. I have been thinking about life in general and what it is supposed to mean. As a believer why are we contemplative about? Shouldn't our life be one big party for the cause of Christ and the glorifying of His name? I posted a blog about this somewhat not too long ago. Check this out... John 10:7 So Jesus said to them again, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
8"All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9"I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. 11"I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
So here we go...If we are saved then why do we contemplate doing anything for our King and Savior Jesus? We don't live a free life and lately that has been bothering me. Lord shake us loose to the way we are supposed to be.

Numero 2.
For the longest time in the past 3 or so years I have had marriage on my mind alot. It is so crazy the way it would go through my head. I started thinking about how awesome it would be to have certain songs at my wedding. I knew what I would wear at the wedding and saw so many things and had known for a while who was going to be in the wedding. I had written songs to the potential bride. With feeling that it was near I was prepared in many ways and still working in other areas to become ready. Well now I can see differently, all I can say is will you marry me Jesus? I feel that all those things will seem very small in the light of having an intimate relationship with a Savior that is worthy of my praise. If He so chooses for me to be married at that time He will reveal how awesome He is and it will be alot less about me. I look at my life now and see that right now finding God and going towards the Messiah with my full heart is what needs to happen. Jesus first and maybe someday I will come across the one that I am supposed to be with unless singleness happens for the cause of ministry. Lord I hope not. haha.

Point 3
Leading is something I am called for but hey...who isn't? I fret so much about what I need to do to be a good leader and show Jesus in every way possible. Then I realize that I have the answers right in front of me and I am too lazy to go through them. I think everyone is at this point...because we will never be the perfect Christian or leader. What we need however is to get on our knees and quit trying to change our own lives. How? Pray and read the word of God. Why is that a chore? Lately I was at a small group when they were talking about being accountable to each other for reading the bible and journal. Why should we even have to be? Is it really that much of a chore and do we really have to have help like that? Yes, alot of times because we are in a sinful nature which will pry us away from our first love. So with that hold me accountable guys!!! I am now the leader of a small group myself and it is nerve racking but what I find is in every leader of the bible you don't see these huge proud awesome men, but those that have weaknesses that are used by God because He is strong. That is how it works. I will be blogging on these points by themselves later, but this is where my mind is.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Super Bowl Partayyyyy!


Ok so today is a great day. Go Cardinals! Hope that everyone is having a blast!