Warning to people who think they're saved but are not:

Wise Wise words of a 19th cent pastor: "They say they are saved, and they stick to it they are, and think it wicked to doubt it; but yet they have no reason to warran their confidence. There are those who are ready to be fully assured; there are others to whom it will be death to talk about it. There is a GREAT DIFFERENCE between presumption and full assurance. Full assurance is reasonable: it is based on solid ground. Presumption takes for granted, and with brazen face pronounces that to be its own which it has no right to whatsoever. Beware I pray thee, of presuming thou art saved; but if thou merely sayest, I trust in Jesus," it doth no save thee. If thy heart be renewed, if thou shalt hate the things that thou didst once love, and love the things that thou didn't once hate; if thou hast REALLY repented; if there be a thorough change of mind in thee; if thou be reborn again, then hast thou reason to rejoice: but if there by no vital change, no inward godliness; if there be no love to God, no prayer, no work of the Holy spirit, then thy saying, "I'm saved," is but thine OWN assertion, and it may delude, but it will deliver thee. Our prayer ought to be, "Oh that thou wouldst bless me indeed, with real raith, with real salvation, with the trust in Jesus that is the essential of faith; not with the conceit that begets credulity. God preserve us from imaginary blessings!" - Spurgeon

When it is valid for us to be pissed at others.

I always considered myself to be a fair, level-headed guy.

I usually try not to get mad at someone if they wrong me as long as I can understand where they're coming from:

i.e.
1) if someone is grouchy to me b/c they've had a hard day.
2) if someone steals something from me b/c they don't have much at home.
3) if someone flakes on me b/c they they had to take care of something.

These kinds of things, suck, but for the most part, I've grown up to understand that things come up, people are different. If i were in their shoes, i could see myself acting like them.

But the one thing i couldn't stand was someone who wronged me with the intention to do so:

i.e.
1) Someone who wants make fun of you for the sole purpose of giving himself a laugh.
2) Someone who steals from you b/c he just wants what you have, and he doesn't want to pay for it, and he wants you to suffer.
3) Someone who flakes b/c he doesn't care about your schedule, and he wants you to waste time.

These kinds of things would really get me mad.
And i feel justified in being mad about these things. b/c they did it purposely!

That was the little standard I set for myself, and i passed it off as godly.
It sounds godly right?

Then i read about Joseph.
The guy who was maliciously thrown away in a watering hole by his brothers and then sold to some traders for some money. His brothers intent was evil, to harm.

Joseph eventually becomes the second hand man to Pharaoh in Egypt and he sees his brothers again. (Gen. 45)

What's going through Joseph's mind?
If i was him, i'd think, "ok what was their intent? They were jealous b/c i was the favorite son of dad. They hated me, and they wanted to kill me, but instead they realized that they could make some money by selling me instead of killing me.
Their motivation was bad. Now that i have the chance to exact my anger... I shall"

But what does Joseph say?
"Don't be afriad, i'm not mad at you. You didn't send me here, God did to make sure that our people would get food during the famine." He tells them, don't be angry or distressed b/c it was all part of God's plan!

What this taught me:
In my humanness- i would look to other people's intentions to see if i should be angry or not. I thought that was the right thing to do.

BUT Joseph teaches me- I should look to God's intentions to see his greater purpose even when i am being wronged. God can use and redeem all your experiences (the good ones and ESPECIALLY the bad ones) for his purpose. Pray and find out how.

Tangent:
Bad experiences are the best places to build up testimonies (like Joseph):
- who cares if someone who is a millionaire, has everything he wants, says God is good, he's worthy to be trusted.
- but if someone who has lost family, friends, has nothing but sickness and heartache can say, i trust in God (ala Job), that is one of the greatest testimonies.
- maybe God is building a great testimony in you.

Importance of Community

I love the show Community....so Funny!

This post is not about that show.

I was just thinking about how important it was for a Christian to be in community. Not necessarily from a biblical perspective, but just from a "Paul In Lee's" perspective that might have some biblical hints.

Here's the main point: Community promotes spiritual growth; isolation promotes spiritual death. God wants community, Satan wants isolation

Think about it:

High School/Junior High Retreats- Weren't these some of the moments you felt closest to God? Often retreats are called "Spiritual highs" b/c of how people cry and pray on the last day. It gets criticized (i believe wrongly) as just an emotional high that doesn't last when they get back to "reality" But think about it... when you're with Christian brothers and sisters, you wake up early in the morning to do QTs, pray, have three services a day, have small groups and are surrounded by godliness, does it shock you that you feel close to God when you're doing Godly things 24/3? Not me. In fact the thing that people call "spiritual high" seems more like reality to me. And when we get back down the mountain, that seems more "unreal" to me...that's when the distractions of the world creep back in and you're back to living the spiritual low. But in heaven, we'll be with God 24/7/eternity. In Community Forever.

Community in College- for those of you who were really involved in church or Christian clubs in college, think about it, weren't those years times of great spiritual growth? Did a lot of it have to do with the fact that we were surrounded by Christians doing Christian things? Small groups, accountability, prayer meetings, weekday gatherings, fellowship. You had old mentors and younger dongsengs to take care of... that's how the body is supposed to function! not in isolation.

Young Adult life- often this is the hardest stage of a Christian's life... when most people fall away...why? could it be lack of community? lack of accountability? Christian isolation wasn't meant to be.


On top of that, think about the world/Satan's recent attempts at isolating Christians in America:

Internet- in the world of Facebook, Google chat, blogs, the world has gotten smaller, but at the same time, every gets their own cubicle...and its impolite to get in someone's personal space. Internet itself is not bad, but not if it is used as the primary means of building community.

Work/School- Often times we place work and school at such a high priority that other important community things get shafted (small groups, church, fellowship groups)... we say...all they do is share...i'd rather work...i'd rather study, all they're going to do is eat dinner.... but man.. its in that dinner, in that sharing where real life community happens.

Exhortation: for those who are not involved in a church (not just attending)...I encourage you guys, get back into it... your spiritual growth depends on it...

Proverbs 27:17 talks about ironing sharpening iron...if you don't have another iron buddy, you can't get sharpened.

Happy Ending!

We have a hope that is unfading.
Although we groan now b/c of the effects of sin in our lives today, we hold on to the promise of a better and greater life in Christ on that last day when He returns in his glory. Of course that last day will be our first day in glory with the Lord.

Inspired from C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia:

"And as (Aslan) spoke, He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that i cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before."

Father's Love by John Q

An old movie by Denzel Washington...
He's about to sacrifice his own heart to give to his own son so that the son can live.

And before he kills himself, this is what he says:

"I just need to tell you a few things. You always listen to your mother. You understand? Do what she tells you to do. She’s your best friend. You tell her you love her every day.

You’re too young for girls right now, but… there’s going to come a time. When it does, you treat them like princesses. ‘Cause that’s what they are.

When you say you’re going to do something… When you say you’re going to do something, you do it. Because your word is your bond, son. It’s all you have.

And money. You make money if you get a chance, even if you got to sell out once in a while. Make as much money as you can. Don’t be stupid like your father. Everything is so much easier with money, son.

Don’t smoke.

Be kind to people. When somebody chooses you… We talked about this. You stand up. You be a man.

You stay away from the bad things, son, please. Don’t get caught up in the bad things. There’s so many great things out there for you.

I’ll never leave you. I’m always with you. Right there. I love you, son."


I think about the Father's love, the love that runs so deep to sacrifice his own life so that his son could live.
Can you imagine how heartbroken the Father would be if he knew that the son was just living life completely disobedient to the Father?

How to identify what your struggles are

Its important to struggle. Anyone who doesn't struggle in the Christian life is living life in the clouds. The reality is that we all have sins, the problem is we don't like to struggle with them...

Identifying the things that Satan tempts you with is one of the first steps to knowing, confessing, repenting, and living a transformed life with God.

Well, how can we find out what our struggles are?

Last night i told myself, wake up early, pray to God for strength to live the day for Him. Before you do ANYTHING ELSE.

As soon as i woke up, there were so many things in my mind:

"Sleep in, you don't have to REALLY wake up until later...you don't have any appointments, classes or anything..." But i still get myself to get up

"Turn on the TV, see what's on ESPN. What if some crazy news happened since last night?" But i still manage to get to my desk to do QTs.

"Turn on the computer, just look through your Facebook, or Inside UCLA? or Email?" But i manage to keep the internet closed.

"You should work on your school work, get ahead...or at least ministry stuff, you shouldn't slack on that...this is God's work, are you going to put it aside? You're a pastor!"

(FYI, i don't REALLY have these voices in my head, but i REALLY do have these pulls in the morning)

The way i identified these temptations was that, after all that, i thought...why do i want to do anything BUT spend time with God? What's wrong with me? Shouldn't i love to spend time with God? I know that if i spend time with him, i'll be better for it for the rest of the day. I know for a fact that when i spend time with Him, i'll find joy and peace and comfort...why do i feel the pull to do anything else but?

And then i realized that its Satan's deception. He wants us to worship anything besides God. The way he does that is by making us want us to worship created things over the creator(Romans 1). TV, internet, work, school. None of these are bad things. But Satan tries to make you place it over God.

When the things that you do/have become more important than God himself, then you know there's a problem.... there's some idol worshiping going on somewhere. Search your heart...

What distractions are presented to you when you want to seek God?

HOPE HOSPITAL - first of its kind- come get a free check up

1) Hi, my name is Dr. Park, and I’m one of the doctors at Hope Hospital. I’m very excited to be here with you guys because I get to tell you firsthand of the great things that are happening here at Hope Hospital.

a) First of all, I need to explain to you, this hospital is probably unlike any hospital you’ve ever been to.

i) Most of you are probably familiar with the normal hospital where they treat things such as cancers, kidney stones, and any physical injuries.

ii) We here at Hope Hospital have a different focus, we attend to the cases that are more spiritual in nature.

(1) We treat things such as hands that cause you to sin. Eyes that wander. Minds that are sinful… Mouths that have problems sharing the gospel. those kinds of things.

b) Hope Hospital is the first of its kind. There is no other hospital in the world that treats these spiritual conditions outside of the church.

i) We started 5 years ago, and every year its been growing…more and more people have been coming and using our services….and due to the recent success and growth, we’ve made plans to expand our hospital.

ii) And we’re in the process of building one right here in Norwalk.

iii) So Hope Hospital has sent me to the neighboring churches in Norwalk to share with them the awesome resource that will be available to you by the end of 2010.

2) Our vision is to see the spiritually dead alive, and the spiritually hurt, healed, and the spiritually well, growing. à spiritual life, healing and growth.

a) The difficulty is that spiritual injuries or hurts are hard to see, because they’re not like a gash where you feel physical pain. Spiritual injuries are more internal, and have to do with our hearts.

b) That’s where we come in, each of the doctors here are specially trained to diagnose spiritual diseases, prescribe medications, and even operate if necessary.

i) When it opens, I want to invite you guys for a free check up. It could possibly be life changing.

3) To prove my point, I’d like to share one of the cases I recently encountered.

4) For the sake of protecting the identity of the patient, I’ve changed his name…lets call him mike.

a) Mike came into our hospital about 3 years ago, this 28 years old, bright young man, got a good job, married two kids, lives in a nice house…but I’ve seen enough patients to know that the spiritual well-being of a person didn’t depend on what he had, or his salary, or anything like that.

i) Mike came in because he had a spiritual problem.

5) I met Mike on a normal Friday morning, he’d come in for a check up and he told me that he once in awhile he would feel ill. He felt that something just wasn’t right.

a) So I asked, well what do you mean? What are your symptoms? What’s wrong?

i) Well I feel like I lose my passion for God.

ii) I remember when I was younger, i used to go to church every day, try to read the Bible and pray… I’d try to obey all the commandments and live for God. and it was good..but now…its getting harder and harder.

iii) But now, I don’t care if I come to church late, I don’t get excited for praise, the sermons are ok, but its not that convicting…

(1) I feel like I don’t get anything out of reading the Bible…or even when I pray I feel like it’s a one way prayer…he isn’t listening or speaking to me.

(2) I don’t hunger for God anymore; I can’t say that he’s my all in all, and I want to live for him alone anymore.

iv) When I’m with my friends, I don’t have a desire to be holy or to be a light for him…

(1) I’d rather just do what I want, even though I know it’s a sin.

v) Sometimes I’d rather just live as if God wasn’t there.

(1) Just make money, live a comfortable life, retire…

(2) Doctor, is there something wrong with me?

b) When he told me this, I was growing concerned, the symptoms sounded serious:

c) So I asked him how long has this been going on?

i) Mike’s response shocked me: 4-5 years…

d) What happened?! Why didn’t you come earlier?! This is your spiritual life!

i) And he sounded kind of surprised, and guilty, I don’t think he realized it was this serious:

ii) I don’t know after I got out of college, no accountability, no people to talk to about spiritual things. Busyness of life…kids, work, caught of to me.

iii) I thought something was off, but all my friends were living the same way, I thought that’s just how it was supposed to be.

6) I was worried, I told him, Mike, from the symptoms you’re sharing with me, this sounds serious. I think you have a condition that’s known as the hardness of heart.

a) You have a callous heart. A heart that is cold before God.

b) Basically hardness of heart is a disease that is turned away from God.

i) It doesn’t respond to God’s calling, it doesn’t desire to live for him…its opposed to God.

c) Even though he didn’t know what it was, he could tell by my tone that the condition hardness of heart was something serious, and he began to flood me with questions: What is that? Where did it come from? Can it be fixed?

7) And I tried to give him as much information as possible:

a) The last time I read about it in Romans 1, where it talks about people who were cold hearted…they continually turned away from God.

i) What happened to them, Mike asked?

(1) They died.

b) Now Mike was serious.

8) How did I get this hardness of heart?

a) According to Romans 1, Paul tells us that there are two main causes of hardness of heart

i) The first cause of spiritual hardness was: Suppressing the truth-

(1) Basically it means that you’ve been constantly ignoring God’s call to you. Romans 1 talks about how God created the world so that his invisible qualities would be made known. Like when you see the mountains you see his majesty, and when you see his oceans you see his power, and when you see the sunset you see his beauty.

(a) God was using nature to reveal himself…and he wanted his people to draw near to him. But these people didn’t.

ii) God is always revealing himself to us, because he always wants us to draw near to him.

(1) So he gives us his word, he gives us his church, he calls us to pray…and he tells us he’ll be with us when we evangelize and even when we suffer…ultimately he’s revealed himself to us in Jesus Christ.

(2) But suppressing the truth means that every time God reveals himself to you…you shut him down…you turn the cold shoulder.

iii) Maybe for you, the suppressing the truth came when you came to church but didn’t feel like listening? Or when your friends were trying to keep you accountable from sin but you didn’t listen? Maybe its those times when you felt convicted to read the Bible but you just watched TV instead?

(1) These are all ways that people suppress the truth, and its definitely a cause of spiritual hardness of heart.

iv) The second cause of spiritual hardness is: Worshipping the creation over the creator

(1) Romans 1 talks about how instead of worshipping God the creator, they started to worship idols in the form of man and animals.

(2) Mike seemed confused, he said, I’ve never created another idol, nor have I ever bowed down to worship anything….how did I ever worship the creation over the creator

(a) Let me ask you: on Sundays have you ever wanted to stay home and watch sports more than come to church?

(i) Or have you ever had a time, when all you did was worry about your financial situation? Every thought you had was, is this going to make money? Or is this going to save money? Or how much is this going to cost?

(ii) And he interrupted, well that’s something that I think all godly people should do…they should be using their money wisely and being good stewards of their money…

1. and I told him…yeah you’re right…but when the thoughts of money consume you, and it is the only thing that directs your actions and thoughts…then its become something that turns you away from God.

(b) Spiritual hardness doesn’t just come from making another idol and bowing down and worshipping it.

(i) Worshipping creation is whenever you put something above God in your life.

(ii) And surprisingly, anything in the world can be idolized: even things that seem good, music can be an idol, cars, family, even food can be an idol if you live life for that next nice meal.

1. if you’re stingy about everything else, but lavish when it comes to food…because remember scripture it says: where your treasures are, there your heart is also.

2. and if your heart is in the created things, that will lead you to be distant from the creator and that’s how a hardened heart is formed

v) The bottom line is that sin causes you to harden your heart before God.

(1) Sin is what makes you suppress the truth and turn away from god.

(2) Sin is what makes you worship created things over God the creator.

9) And if your sinfulness is not dealt with here and now…it can get worse.

a) I told him, if you don’t deal with your hardness of heart right now, it can lead to things much more severe.

i) First of all it could lead to deeper sin.

(1) Romans 1 continually uses the phrase: therefore God gave the over…meaning that as the people got into sin, they didn’t get out of it, instead they got deeper and deeper into sin.

(2) Paul shares the example of how first, they suppressed the truth. When God was calling them, they didn’t listen. Then instead of listening to God’s voice, they started to worship other idols that they created. Then they started to have sexually immoral relationships, then it got even worse and people started having homosexual relationships, and then lastly it says that they were filled with every other kind of sin.

(3) Sin is like that, you can’t ever get out of it, without a change of heart you only get in deeper.

(a) Right now you might be worried about money, but that can lead you to cut some corners to make a few more bucks…and then that could eventually lead you to stealing bigger things to make more money…or it could lead you to gambling away all your money in hopes of making money or paying off debt.

(b) Your lust could be just as simple as allowing your eyes to linger when someone attractive walks by, but if you let that linger, then it could lead to deeper sin.

ii) And as you grow deeper in sin, all the symptoms you’ve talked about will only get worse:

(1) It’ll get even harder for you to hear God’s voice.

(2) You’ll lose passion for serving God, living for him, sin will become more enticing…

iii) And Romans 2:5 says that you’re storing up wrath (2:5), basically, its going to lead to your spiritual death.

10) At this point Mike was completely devastated.

a) I could see that he had so many things going on in his head:

i) Probably thinking: why did I wait so long?

ii) How did I come to this point?

iii) Why me?

b) And it even surprised me a little because on the surface, his life seemed so fine…no one could have ever imagined that his spiritual life was in need of so much repair.

c) Desperately he asked: Dr. Lee, what can I do?

11) I think what I told him shocked him: I told, him there was nothing he could, nor was there anything I could do.

a) It was impossible to fix this hardened heart by himself.

b) It didn’t matter what he read or how many times he attended church or did good things…the sin had already done the damage.

c) And because the sin had already entered into his heart, it was impossible to take away the sin without taking out the entire heart.

i) This would require a complete heart transplant.

12) Then came the good news.

a) I remembered where Mike could get a new heart.

b) I remembered a case where the Israelites had the same issue: a hardened heart, and I remembered that Ezekiel said about the cure:

i) When Israel had sinned and turned away from God, God spoke through Israel and told them to repent and turn from their offenses.

c) Ezekiel 18:30-32 ³⁰ "Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each one according to his ways, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. ³¹ Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? ³² For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!

i) God said that if we repent and turn away from sin, then God himself will give us a new heart and new spirit!

(1) That new heart is filled with new desires: to worship God, to seek him, to turn to him…that new heart now will grow in christlikeness and holiness.

(2) God will give us a new heart if we repent and turn away from sin and turn to him.

d) At that point I began to share with him that true repentance comes when we turn to Jesus Christ to receive forgiveness of sins. I told mike truthfully, the death that you deserve for your hardness of heart, Jesus Christ died that death on the cross so that you wouldn’t. He took your sins and paid the price of death by shedding his blood on the cross. So that you could have a new heart, a heart that loves God.

i) When we come to him humbly, acknowledging our sin, admitting our need for a changed life, and turn to Jesus Christ, through God’s grace, we receive the blood of Jesus Christ as the substitution for our sins. Now we can have a perfect relationship with God the father.

(1) We can enjoy his presence…we can hear him speaking to us…we can get excited about worship.

13) I’m so grateful for your help…At first I thought that I really liked the things of this world, but now I realize now that this is what I really wanted, a walk with God that is satisfying, desirable…more than anything in the world, I wanted God to love him and to experience his love…I want to come to church and meet with God, I want to open up his word and experience his grace and mercy…I want to serve and help and love others as Christ loved the church…and now with this new heart, I can have it.

14) He was so thankful.

15) These are the types of things we offer…

a) If you ever feel like you need a check up in your heart, feel free to come by and ask for a first time free complimentary check up.

Chad Ochocinco, Terrell Owens, Tim Tebow- what do they have in common?

Chad Ochocinco, Terrell Owens, Tim Tebow- what do they have in common?
They're all controversial football players.

The only difference is that Tim Tebow doesn't flaunt himself. He uses his stardom as a platform to preach the gospel. He doesn't mind the negative press b/c he's convicted of what he shares.

ESPN just wrote an article about Tim Tebow's controversial commercial he'll be airing during the Super Bowl about abortion:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/commentary/news/story?page=hill/100202

Application: don't mind being unpopular with the world, 1 John 3:1 says the reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. We're aliens on this earth, but citizens in heaven. So lets live like it.

Dating 101

In the most loving way possible, Janet told me "if you blog don't make it boring."

So i thought...what more not boring is the subject of dating!
I remember in high school...and college...and young adult life...during sleep overs having pillow talk about relationships....good times...that topic NEVER gets old!

My take is: in the end, if they're married and they're happy, it works...but then again...that's not a really good stance...so:

Here are some godly tips for those of you who are thinking about getting into a relationship.
This is taken from Mark Driscoll from Mars Hill Church in Seattle.
Here's the link if you want to read the manuscript or listen to the sermon:
http://blog.marshillchurch.org//2008/02/20/dating/

Christian Dating Principles for Both Men and Women

1. Maximize your singleness for God.
2. Do not pursue a relationship until you are ready to marry.
3. Be reasonable – do not set your expectations too high or too low.
4. A date is not dating: date = time together; dating = couple (1 Tim. 5:1-2).
5. Never go on a date or date a non-Christian (2 Cor. 6:14).
6. Only date one person at a time.
7. He initiates; she responds.
8. Look at who God puts in front of you (e.g. Boaz & Ruth).
9. Feel free to use technology (e.g. internet dating) wisely.
10. Only invest in a relationship with someone who you are attracted to entirely (e.g. physically, mentally, spiritually, emotionally, ministry gifts).
11. Only date someone who agrees with you on gender and family.
12. Guard your heart (Prov. 4:23).

Christian Dating Questions for Men

1. Are you overlooking good women (e.g. single moms, shy, divorcees)?
2. Are you honoring, God, her, her family, her friends, etc.?
3. Is she modest (1 Tim. 2:9)?
4. Will she follow your leadership?
5. Does she have noble character (Prov. 31)?
6. Can you provide for the lifestyle she expects (1 Tim. 5:8)?
7. Is she like the worst women in Proverbs (e.g. nag, loud, quarreling, unfaithful)?
8. Do you want your daughters to be like her and your sons to marry someone like her?

Christian Dating Questions for Women

1. Do you want to help him and join his course of life (Gen. 2:18; 1 Cor. 11:9)?
2. Is he tough enough to remain strong in tough times (2 Tim. 2:3)?
3. Will he take responsibility for you and your children (1 Cor. 11:3)?
4. Is he considerate and gentle with you (1 Peter 3:7)?
5. Will he be a good father (Ps. 127:3-5; Eph. 6:4)?
6. Is he a one woman man (1 Tim. 3:2)?
7. How valuable are you to him?
8. Do you want your sons to be like him and your daughters to marry someone like him?

Helpful resources for all Bible believers!

I just wanted to share two awesome resources that i've been using.

1) http://www.youversion.com/
Pros:
a) Free, my Bibleworks software was over 200 bucks... this one...just as useful...but without the original language stuff.

b) Lot of versions (ESV, NIV, and NASB are the ones i recommend).

c) It also has a daily bible reading schedule that allows you to set goals and helps you to be disciplined in your reading. This new year I just started a one year "read the bible in a year" program on this website (McCheyne's bible schedule?)...and if you need more accountability, you can even send out emails to your friends to ask them to keep you accountable through this program.

d) Most awesome- Audio Bible. For those of you who are like me and have a hard time reading and focusing...this audio bible allows me to concentrate and follow along.

This website is especially fantastic b/c we're on our computers a lot. And instead of facebook, espn, twitter, blog?, etc....we can go online and read the bible! Fun!

p.s. i am already a week behind in the reading, so if any of you sign up, keep me accountable.

2) http://www.faithcomesbyhearing.com/

Audio Bible, this link came from the youversion website...but here you can download an audio bible for FREEEEEEEEEE! burn it, put it in your car and listen to it! awesome.

- also there is a link that allows you to donate Bibles to Haiti...a worthy cause.

enjoy!

Dwell on THESE things....

I was recently listening to John Piper's sermons on the past Puritan preachers/pastors/godly men, and man they're pretty crazy...and what's interesting about every single one of them is not how famous they are or how many books they've written, what amazes me is the passion that each and every one of them had to be WITH God. To be in communion with God. Their journals talk about how intimate their times were and how sweet their prayers were with God. That was always at the forefront of their minds. That's what they thought about, talked about and lived: a satisfying, joyful relationship with God.

When i hear that I sometimes feel ashamed b/c a lot of times when me and my pastor friends get together, we want to talk about "ministry," What kinds of programs are you doing? What's your vision? Are you building up leaders...all of which are important things to talk about...but it gets a little uncomfortable when we start talking about GOD himself....

imagine a conversation like this with your friends at lunch:
"Hey man, I just had the best time with God today...i was reading his word and meditating on Scripture and you know what thought came into my mind? How faithful God is! Man spending time with God is so sweet!"

...awkward...WHY?!?!?!

we can talk about sports, purses, animals, clothes, people, gossip, even partying and all the taboo Christian things, talk until our heads fall off...but why can we not talk about our relationship with our Father?

Isn't this part of growing together as brothers and sisters towards Christlikeness and an intimate relationship with God?

Is the world influencing us so much that b/c its taboo to talk about our faith in the workplace/school, that its taboo to bring it up with brothers and sisters?
Are we so filled in our minds with secondary things that the primary thing stops becoming the priority?

AH!

Philippians 4:8 8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-- think about such things.

--> If God is our utmost, our minds and hearts belong on him...

Whats up!!!

If I ever speak at your youth group and i start with, "whattup whattup"...its probably b/c i'm pretty nervous. Its my way of letting out to feel looser.

This time, it was my default saying b/c i didn't know what else to write.

Goal of this blog:
- to encourage others in their walks with Christ.
- to share my thoughts.

Here i go!