Image Management...

We live in a culture where you can be whoever you want to be. That can be a good thing, if you are really putting in effort to better yourself and your life. However, it also can be a very bad thing. In these days you can have a internet blog through Myspace, Facebook and others that you can pretend to be someone you are not. It is so easy! You just simply use a fake name and a fake picture and presto! You have a whole new life in under 5 minutes. I realized this when I opened up a myspace artist account to start networking my music. I would click on an artist page to become there friend and it would turn out that it was not the artist they were portraying. I started to think, how many people are on these blogs that "are not really on these blogs?" How many of these people are pretending to be someone they are not, just for the simple reason that they do not like who they really are or they are ashamed of who they really are?

We all want to be know for something good. Whether it be for good grades in school, having a great career, having good looks, have a good life style or simply just being a good parent. No one walks around and says that I want to be know for beating my kids or I want everyone to see this report card with three "F's" and two "D's" on it.

The fact of the matter is that we all have our problems in life, some more serious than others. And when we have these problems we tend to want to keep them to ourselves. We conduct "image management" in which we only allow people to see the side of us that we deem appropriate for other people to see. See, when there is a gap between what you want to be know for and what you really are, that is a problem. Because when there is a gap there are secrets. For example, my wife and I are not the all cute-see perfect couple that most people see us as. We have our problems like any other normal married couple but when it is Sunday morning and we roll into the church parking lot, the disagreement gets put aside and we smile, laugh and shake hands. That is image management to a certain degree. I would not go into church being all frustrated at my wife in front of other people because that is none of their business. However, as believers, there are some problems in our lives that have more power over us in the secret dark shadows of our lives than they would in the public.

James 5:16 says,"Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."

Now I am not saying that you should stand in front your entire church this Sunday and tell them your deepest darkest secrets that you have been hiding for the past 10, 20, 30 years! But you need to understand that we all had a gap or have a gap! We all practiced "Image Management" at some point in our lives! Trust me, we all want to be known for something good and positive, but what we need is to be known by someone! Someone who loves us to much to leave us the way we are. Who is praying for your gap? Who knows who you really are?

Johns Dark Hour...

Luke 7:18-20
18John's disciples told him about all these things. Calling two of them, 19he sent them to the Lord to ask, "Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?"

20When the men came to Jesus, they said, "John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, 'Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?' "

21At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. 22So he replied to the messengers, "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy[b] are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. 23Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."

I find this scripture very interesting. Why would John question Jesus' authenticity. At this point John was in prison for a better part of 10 months. He was put there for basically rebuking Herod and his adulterous marriage. If you don't know, the jail cells in those days where not like they are now. They were very dark, cold and damp. You didn't see a lot of daylight. Anyhow, in that better part of a year John had a lot of time to reflect on his life and how he measured up to that point in time. For a better part of a year John has his disciples coming to him and telling him all these "different" things Jesus, the one John spoke of, was doing. Jesus wasn't what everyone thought the Messiah would be. Among many other things, he socialized with prostitutes and tax collectors, he attended parties and social gatherings and he did not fast in the same way and manor as everyone else did. So, John just hearing this and not being able to witness and experience the amazement of Jesus' miracles, found himself having a dark hour, an hour of doubt. Did he just waste his life? Was Jesus really the Messiah that the scriptures spoke of? In having the questions of doubt, he sends two of his disciples to ask Jesus, Are you really the one that we were expecting? The response that Jesus gives here is perfect. He didn't just stand there and talk to these two men and give them a list of reason why he is best fit to be the Messiah. Jesus knew that John was a man that lived his life according to scripture. And that just words from Jesus was not enough to prove his authenticity to John. So without saying a word he turns cures many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. This would make perfect sense to John because John knows that the Messiah is supposed to do all those things. Then he tells them to simply go back to John and tell him what they have seen.

See when we are in that dark hour of our lives when we question God. Is he real? Does he really care? Why can't I feel him anymore? Is there really a point to this walk or am I just a fool wasting my time? Those are the times we need to follow the example that Jesus' laid out for us and not turn to a bunch of gimmicks on how to get closer to God, but to simply turn to the scriptures. They are the actual words of God and there is nothing that is going to make you feel closer to him that reading his actual words he laid out for you and me.

Passing Thought...

As Christians we need to find the things in our lives that strengthens our faith to the Lord Jesus Christ and constantly come back to those things. For example if you have a houseplant and you want it to grow you need to water it. Any two year old could tell you that, it is just one of the basics of life. All living things are dependent on something else to keep them alive. Well, the same with our faith. Those things that give us goose bumps because they make us see without a doubt that Christ is who he said he is, those things need to be filtered into our daily lives to keep our faith alive!

Grace and Peace

Christ Has Already Done What He Had To Do!

Christ is not obligated to give you that one more chance just before you die to take him back into you hearts. That is what Him dieing on the cross was for! Hebrews 6:4 says, "It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subject him to public disgrace."

Those are some heavy words to swallow, but take them down! Because if you walk away from the Lord once you have experienced his love, what can bring you back? Nothing! If what God has to offer to us is not good enough the first time, it will NOT be good enough the second time...

JESUS IS NOT OBLIGATED TO DO ANYMORE THAN WHAT HE ALREADY HAS GRACIOUSLY DONE FOR US!!!

Grace and Peace

Got the Bible?

I was recently asked the question, "What advice do you have to give to a new Christian?" It was a young man and he said this to me referring his fiancé. I looked at the both of them and then looked at my Bible, paused, pointed to the book setting in front of me and said, "This needs to be your best friend."

It is true. How often do we see people come to Christ, but then never comeback to Christ? I mean, they accept Christ into their lives and all he has done for them, but then never comeback to meet with him in fellowship through His word. People say, "I want to know God." As a Christian you are called to know and walk with God. That is impossible to do if you are not digging into the scripts. The Word tells us everything we need to know about God and who He is. That needs to drive us in our lives.

What happens if we don't read the word? If we do not read to learn and fellowship with our Lord we will know nothing about him. We will be calling ourselves Christian aka Christ Followers, but not knowing whom we follow. We would resort to human wisdom to explain a miraculous God, which is inconceivable. (1 Corinthians 1 talks about how ridiculous human wisdom is.) The message of the cross is not comprehendible unless approached through faith and your faith cant be straightened unless you spend time with God, which includes the very words he breathed.

If a Christian fails to connect on a personal level with God they will always be second guessing themselves in their security in Christ. Every time they sin, they will feel like they are going to hell, get all down and depressed about it and in a sense try to hide from God like Adam and Eve did. Instead, they should be going to the Lord about it and talking it over with him. Christ didn't die on the cross for nothing. They need to truly come to a full understanding of what Christ dieing on the cross really means and that will not happen if you are not in a familiar relationship with the Lord Jesus the Christ.

So, if you are a new Christian, read your word. It is the best think you can do for your walk with Christ outside of prayer. Then again those two things should be going hand in hand.

Grace and Peace

Faith Factor...

Please repeat after me. Salvation is free, it costs me nothing. Following Jesus, will cost me something. This is a big problem for some people. They become Christians and trust Jesus with their salvation, but they don’t want to hand over and trust him with their lives. A lot of people will say, “I don’t want to give up anything in my life, I just like the going to heaven when I die part.” Or, “I’ll give you this much God, but the rest is off limits, you can’t have this. There seems to be some confusion involved. We tend to think, since we are giving up all this great stuff to truly follow Christ (money, job, marriage, relationships, etc.) and not getting anything in return, consequently it is a really bad deal. In other words, "You want your cake and you want to eat it too." If you can relate at all, that I am a Christian but I am not a true 100% follower of Jesus Christ. I’m a Christian but I don’t know if there has ever been a time where I have actually hand over my career, my time, my relationships, My college major, who I am dating or how I spend my free time. If that has never truly happened for you, and the reason is because you are a little bit afraid of what God may take away from you. Your issue is not the value of what you are holding in your hands. Your issue is do you really trust that God is who he says he is, and that he will do what he promised to do. The main reason we are afraid is because we are not sure what he is going to do, If I get out of that relationship, what if there is not another one, what if, what if, what if. And it's like God is saying, "Yeah, I know, isn't exciting isn't it." It is scary. And God says, "No, you’re going to have to, huh, trust me." But that’s scary. "I know that’s why I am not going to force you." I want you to learn to trust me.

Luke 5:1-11 is a story about a guy much like us. His name is Peter and he had heard and learned a lot about Jesus. Peter had come to a point where he was taking the teachings of Jesus seriously in his life. And all of a sudden he is challenge to do something with what he has heard and with what he has believed and it scares him to death. And what Jesus asked him to do really does not make any sense at all with in the context of what he understood, which is the same for many of us. Peter was not famous, he was a business guy, and he worked in the family business.
If you had met Peter at that point and said, “Hey Peter, what do you want to be when you grow up”? He would say, “I am what I want to be when I grow up. I’m a fisherman. I am there.” What is your vision for your life? "I don’t have a vision, I am a fishermen. I don’t need a vision. I want to provide for my family, I want to be a good Jewish man; I want to be an upstanding guy in the community. I am just a guy.” Nobody knew who Peter was. But yet this is the day that everything in his life changed.

“One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, he saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets.”

Let me tell you a little side information. Fishermen would go out at night to fish, because the water was cool and all the fish would come to the top of the water. They would fish with nets and would fish all night and then come into shore in the morning. Then get the fish, clean the fish, and get the fish ready for market. Then they would clean their nets, and get all the “bear cans” and seaweed out of them. Then spread them out and let them dry. Then they would roll them up, store them, and then go to sleep because they were up all night. So Peter sees Jesus teaching. Apparently the crowed is getting so big that Jesus is backing up and backing up closer and closer to the water, and it is getting a little gushy. So Jesus saw two boats and figured he would hop in one of the boats and push out from the shore so he would have some distance to speak.

“He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.”

So apparently Peter was at the edge of the water working with his nets or he may even be inside the boat. Either way he is close to Jesus, listening too his sermon. Peter has heard Jesus speak before. He knew that Jesus was a teacher. He knew that Jesus clamed to be from God, and many people said he was a prophet. So he knew who Jesus was pretty good, probably better than most people. So he is there listening to Jesus, we don’t even know what he was talking about. Peter is drying his nets, very sleepy, no doubt because he has been fishing all night. He is getting ready to put away the nets and turn in for the day. And then Jesus turns to Peter and asks him to do something that if he did would make no sense at all. So Jesus is basically saying, “Peter I would like you to risk your reputation for me. Peter I would like you to risk your finances for me. Peter I would basically like for you to risk your career for me. Peter I would like you do something for me that everyone on the shore, by the way I have drawn quite a crowd, would look at you and laugh out loud.”

“When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

Now I don’t know what Peter was thinking, but my guess is Peter was probably thinking something like this. You’re a carpenter, and I am a fishermen. You obviously know nothing about fishing because if you did, you would know that we don’t fish in daylight, we fish at night. The water is warm therefore the fish are low. Also, I don’t know if you we paying attention but my nets were just dried. And if you take a look my nets, they are ready to be stored for the day until it is time to go fishing again tonight. You don’t fish in the day. Again if any of the other fishermen and if anyone on the shore line see you and me rowing around on the lake and not just having a little lake time, but the two of us with these dried clean nets starting to fish in the middle of the day. Who knows what would be said about us. This doesn’t make any sense at all. So peter push's back a little bit like we often do. You know, whatever the deal is. Oh but God do you know how hard it is to get in with this school? But God do you know what an honor it is to be even asked to be apart of that group? But God my parents really like this guy. But God have you seen her, have you seen her? And then as if God would say, "Oh yeah, I forgot, I’m sorry, go ahead, my bad." So peter try’s to give Jesus a little information that maybe he did not already know.

“Simon answered, ‘Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything.”

It is like peter was saying, “Jesus, you don’t fish during the day and you especially don’t fish during the day that is connected to the night that you already fish and didn’t catch anything. It just doesn’t make any sense. And besides that, people are watching. And if I go out there and get my nets all dirty again, and then have to spend the whole afternoon cleaning them off, I'm not going to be in any shape to fish tonight. This could wreck me financially. I mean there are a lot of things at steak here." So listen to the rest to verse five.

“But because you say so, I will let down the nets."

This is huge. Peter is saying Jesus I wouldn’t do this for anyone else. Jesus I am not doing this because it makes sense. And Jesus I am not doing this because I think we are going to catch anything. I am not doing this because it is going to help my life in anyway. I can’t think of anything good that is going to come from this. But I’ve been listening, I’ve been watching, and I am going to trust you. Even though this could make me the laughing stalk of all of Galilee, because you said so, I will to do it.

“When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”

See what happens here? When Peters little bitty faith intersects with Jesus' faithfulness, he realized whom he was dealing with. And all of a sudden Peter realized that this incredible man, must not simply be a man. Not only did Peter see and recognize who Jesus is. Peter realized that Jesus knew who he was. And in that moment, Jesus was no longer a prophet or a teacher. He became the real, live, personal, son of the living God. And His life was never the same. And the fish weren’t even the issue. See your testimony won’t be about “fish”, when you realize who Jesus is and what he has done for you. It will be how he acted in your life personally as a response to your faith.

“For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men." So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.”

This is an amazing part of the story. Peter encountered Jesus and when he did his life change forever. Something inside of Peter clicked. He realized that Jesus was who he said he was. That alone was enough for him to drop his plans for his life and follow Jesus. He gave up everything, his job, family, and friends. Not to mention the pile of fish they just caught. The pile of fish that just made them very well off. And instead of going back to shore and cleaning those fish and preparing them for the market, he leaves them there. He picks up where he is at and just goes, goes to follow Jesus. Peter had no idea what hung on the other side of the door of him saying, "I trust you", and neither will you. You may be afraid to fail or it just may not make any sense at all. But if Jesus says he wants you to do it, open your hands, open your life and say, “Here I am Lord, do with me as you please.”

"When you decide to follow Jesus, he takes full reasonability for the out come of the journey." - Charles Stanley

Grace and Peace

Don't Give In...

I would like to start of by asking, what goes on in your darkness? In daylight you are ministers of the word to the world. You go to work in the office; supermarket, gas station and you spread seed for the harvest. Showing Christ’s love to the world by living the example. But when your home, doors closed, do you hold strong in your self-control or does your other half come out? Is your righteousness like a light switch? Can you flip it on and off, so you can live life just like a hypocrite?
1 Peter 5:8-9 reads, “8Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”
“Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” This poses a question, doesn’t it? Why would Peter choose to describe satin as a roaring lion? It seems that throughout the bible there have been times that those who threaten Gods people have been described as a lion. David wrote Psalm 22 and he says, “roaring lions tearing their pray open with their mouths wide against me.” In Jeremiah 50:17 it says, "Israel is a scattered flock that lions have chased away. The first to devour him was the king of Assyria; the last to crush his bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon." In 1 Samuel 17:33-37 it says, "You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth." 34 But David said to Saul, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.
Lets take a look at this for a minute. Here we see David is trying to get Saul to allow him to go out and fight Goliath. Saul is telling him you are only a boy, your to small, he is much older then you and has been fighting since he was around your age, therefore has a lot more experience than you. And David then says, but I have gone after a lion and a bear when they would take a sheep from my care. I would rescue the sheep and when the lion and the bear turned on me, I killed them. This is a lot like the verse in 1 Peter isn’t it? In 1 Peter it says, “Resist him, standing firm in the faith.” Resist him, this means to stand firmly against attack, to be unwavering in resistance. It doesn’t mean bail at the first sign of trouble. When the lion comes in the darkness and tries to take away your righteousness by tempting you with the pleasures of this world, resist him! Stand strong against his attack and trust that through God you will prevail. That’s exactly what David did, he didn’t run and say, “Well now I am down another sheep.” He knew that if he did not go after that lion and take back what was his, the lion would keep coming back till he was totally striped and left with nothing. That is what verse 8 and part of verse 9 is trying to say. Be aware of your lion because he is there looking to devour you at any sign of any weakness.
That is not the end of verse nine though. Not only does Peter tell us who is out there looking to destroy us and how to handle him, but he gives us words of encouragement. He could have easily told us, Hey, be alert cause satin is out there looking to ruin your lives. And oh yeah, resist him and stand strong in your faith when he does try. But that is not all that he gives us. He tells us how to concur such a huge feat. He says, “Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing through the same kind of sufferings.” Here he is telling us, Hey, your not alone. There are people all over the world that are going through the same kinds of sufferings. We need to take advantage of that and act as one body. You need to find someone in the church that you can trust to hold you accountable and feel comfortable talking to knowing there is no judgment being cast around.
Finally I would like to end on the story of Sampson. He had an issue with temptation and sin too and it crept in slowly. He was lust driven and had a real urge for revenge against anyone who did him wrong. As a Nazarite you are not allowed to have wine or vinegar even grapes were off limits, but that did not stop Sampson he continued to approach the vineyard. Then a young lion approached roaring toward him. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him and he tore the lion up. He later passed through were he left the carcass and saw there was bees and honey in it. But as a Nazarite you must consider all dead bodies to be unclean. That also didn’t stop Sampson; he scooped out the honey and shared it with his parents. Lastly he was not allowed to cut his hair, but while he was sleeping, Delilah the woman he loved, cut his hair. The Philistines came and gouged his eyes out and sent him grinding in prison. Later he was in the temple were the Philistines were teasing him for there own pleasure. There the Lord avenged Sampson and allowed him to push the pillars out and bring down the entire temple. He killed three thousand men and women, but his story has a bad ending because he went with them. So I ask you, “How are you going to finish yours, Christian”?

Grace and Peace