Today’s youth is faced with an incredible task. The task is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, (Mark 12:30) to love our neighbor as ourselves, (Mark 12:31), and to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19). Now this alone may not sound too difficult, but as the country moves toward a post-Christian new age culture, we as Christians find ourselves stepping on egg shells with a God unwilling to blend.

The void is in every human being; the call is not in secret. So why does it seem like everyone is blind and deaf?

Let me begin with Joshua 1:9 - “Have I not commanded you? ‘Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed, for the Lord you God is with you wherever you go.’” The first line strikes me. You mean to tell me it is the command, to be “strong and courageous”? This courage is found with faith in the Lord. Our goal in life is to rescue the lost, because we were not born of peace but in a war zone. Our bothers and sisters are out there lost, and it is up to us to speak the word so that they may come to their senses and come back home.

“For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Matthew 7:14)

Again I want to touch on this idea of the way Jesus wants us to live. Scripture says that “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” It seems as if the world has tricked us into believing that Jesus is a religion that can sit down next to Hindu Buddhist new-age paganism. Jesus is real and He is the only so why are we so passive? Really, your God is real! It’s my turn to be strong and courageous, speak with power and self-control.

I am standing up. Someone has to be the voice in the wilderness. Jesus is alive and until we live like he is in us pushing us toward the salvation of others, the only thing we are doing for him is becoming extinct. Non-Christians and Christians alike may not like to hear words like Jesus is GOD and He does send people to Hell. The Truth is I cannot let you risk Hell because I was told Jesus is religious and I am not allowed to use that sort of language. God has put people on my heart with urgency. Some will say it’s all about speaking the truth in love. We must spread the news fearlessly or it means nothing.

So what is our purpose here on earth? Is it to live a happy life with 2.3 kids and 2 pets, a white picket fence with black metal hinges, the ability to drive a Land Rover or Jeep ? What is the lie that you bought? Is it that we are to sit down and shut up? As Christian, our only purpose in life is to glorify Jesus Christ. In fact even God lives to glorify himself. Christ died so that you may have life and life to the abundance. This glorifies God. To live is to die for Christ sake.

Romans 8:35
“As it is written ‘For your sake, We are being killed all day long; We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered’.”

And I wont be silent anymore. We sing it, but do we mean it? Is the only one we are fooling ourselves?

Now is the time of year of new life and rebirth - a time of joy and happiness that comes from change and the renewing of life. Just as the flowers start to bloom and the leaves begin to bud, we emerge from our enclosed lives and venture outdoors with new smells and plenty of sunshine. This spring has me observing the season of my own life. Are we as humans traveling through our own seasons as well? Can you think back to this time last year and see the changes in your life? If not, maybe it is time to make some changes.

Let me inform you, though, that just as the rain comes to bring forth new life, the rain will have to come and purify you so that you may have a renewing of mind and spirit. This so-called rain is best explained in Romans 5:4-5 - if the rain is suffering than the end product is hope in God, and God’s love has been poured into our hearts via the holy spirit that is in bloom at this current moment. This rain/suffering did not come as a punishment but as to grow us or refine us.

Thank the Lord for His blood on the cross, because without it we would be under punishment. The rain and wrath-like hurricane would not grow us but destroy us. Because of His love I can confess my sins in confidence that He is faithful to forgive. Because of His faithfulness I can see that his way is good and in turn, repent (never to go back to the sin which in that way is different to confession). God is good to us and just as the spring time has produced its yield of trees and flowers, the Lord will produce a yield in me. And all because one God became one man, lived one extraordinary sinless life and died one brutal and disgusting death to become the only sacrifice for the sins of all men that He would be high and exalted, alive and well forever and ever.

What does Calvary inspire you to do?

If you know me personally, you would come to the understanding that in my walk with Christ I have not yet had the courage to journey out of the Gospel. Luther was once asked at his church why, week after week, all he preached was the Gospel. Luther’s response was, ‘Well, because week after week you forget it. Until you walk in here looking like people who are truly liberated by the truth of the Gospel, I’m going to keep on preaching it to you.’

I pray you see the Gospel as the heart of the bible. Jesus is the core of everything that is scripture. He puts “God breathed” into the scriptures. To apply any of the stories, understand any of the characters or comprehend any sort of value on the principles that are spoken anywhere or in any chapter, verse, or book of the bible, WE MUST remind ourselves about Jesus or else we will not get it. Everyday we can sit and blog continuously about the Christian life, but it doesn’t mean a thing unless we walk with Christ, understanding that it was His blood that was shed for us. His blood is powerful. His blood transforms us; it lets us know that it is not on our strength that we exist but only by His Grace and Mercy. That without Him we are lost and confused. Without Him we are dirty and disgusting. This is not to tear you down, but it is so you my be lifted by God who loves you and not pride and arrogance.

We, as Christians, need to put into motion the movement Jesus began, but we can’t do it alone. We need the help of the one that comes after, The Holy Spirit. Remembering Calvary with the blood of Jesus which can be communion or just picturing the cross in your head and letting go all you think you know allows the Spirit to be exalted and glorified. I don’t know about you, but when I see my God strapped to a tree with His blood pouring out, I am ruined. This is what should inspire us. This is the life-changing Gospel: that Jesus entered the world as a man, lived a perfect sinless life, and died a disgusting sinner’s death full of pain and torture. But He rose again to conqure the grave and make a way for US.

Pause. Reflect.

Now how do you feel? Upset, right? That feeling is good. Derek Webb put it this way “You just can’t preach the gospel and not be confrontational,” he says. “The cross is both beautiful and offensive, and it must be both … There is no other gospel for us to preach.” Thank you, Derek; I couldn’t have said it better myself. The Gospel is powerful on its own and will cause things to happen, but we can not strip it of its power. We must allow it to change us and work us. So What does Calvary inspire you to do?

“And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” John 1:16. This is the stumbling block of my life. How can this be and how can I learn to do such things myself? The truth is that I can’t. I cannot give grace until I myself have accepted the grace that is given. We are truly not free until there is acceptance of the grace that Christ so freely pours out on our heads.

Do you know the story of the good Samaritan? We have come to understand that story shows us that we are to help the beaten man in the ditch and that the so-called holy men would pass up the needy. However, the truth of the matter is that I AM the man in the ditch and Jesus is the Samaritan. The Samaritan doesn’t ask what happened nor does he care, but he sees someone that is in need and and helps because that person can’t help himself. The Samaritan shows the man grace. Jesus rescued us out of the grasp of death and shows grace and generosity, mercy and kindness. He gives us a gift of grace, heals our wounds, puts us up, and anoints our heads.

John 1:16.

So why do I have such a problem accepting this gift? I mean I was a former drug addict, a former cult leader. It is all too easy to see God’s grace in my life. It was the fullness of God’s grace that allowed me to even exist.

Pride is a weapon that wages war on God’s grace. God hates pride, and in fact, pride hates God. If the God of the universe can come down in a human form and live a poor and humble life, who are we to think that we are exempt from humility? We have more than Jesus had physically, but yet we are poor in spirit. That grace in which I spoke of earlier is a gift from God, but we have to understand that it is nothing that we could have earned or stolen. It is a gift and that is where I have trouble; it is accepting that God gave me something I did not deserve or earn. Because of His mercy we are anointed by His Grace. I know that this may even sound easy to receive, but for me it is a burden. It is this debt in which I can never pay back. I want to say I earned it, that I did something worthy, but there is nothing to do except accept it.

So because this grace is a gift from God, the best thing to do is to just relax. Let go and let God use you with his own strength. Let Him be glorified in you. Forget everything the world tells you about making it on your own, trying to make lots of money and being the best at something. The truth is that you are the best at being you, and that is all God wants from you.

Have you ever looked at an ant and wondered “Am I so big that the ant has no hope of possibly of even perceiving me?”. What if I was the ant and the ant was me? How could I identify with something so large and magnificent?

So when we as Christians identify with God as a father, brother, friend, or lover, is that stranger than how we perceive ants? We as human beings have a size. We can say things like “I am 100x smaller than such and such” or “ I am two feet taller than what’s her face”. But God is never-ending and infinite. How much more is that from the ant versus us. Now scripture says in James 4;14, “What is your life?…For you are a mist that appears for a little time then vanishes.” Psalm 103 speaks of human life disappearing like smoke.

God is this super amazing Man that in His holiness and endlessness gives up His life for the ant. Not just an ant but a defying and sinning ant. If we are the blink of an eye, the mist and smoke of the Earth, then how glorious, crazy and messed up is it that Jesus (God the Son) would let us spit on, whip, mock, beat, pluck, and crucify in front of His own Father, Spirit and all of the host heaven can boast.

The ant that I could lay down my life for?
That I would elevate and call friend?

Who am I God that you hear me?
Who am I God that you would shed your blood?

Oh God, have mercy on my mind as I try and contemplate this. You could have crushed us like we crush ants but you have loved, Lord. Forget me, Lord and let me die in my filthiness. I do not deserve you. I am ruined, but because of Your grace, You love me anyway.

Good morning! I can say this now that it’s well on it’s way towards noon, and lunch is around the river bend. You know, I never found it easy to wake up on Monday mornings at 5:30am. It could be because of the late nights at Lighthouse or my frequently bought quad shot Americano. O how I love the taste but for some reason my love will never let me sleep. If I manage to squeeze some shut eye out of the darkness, Monday always comes to soon. Upon my waking moment I must act quickly; if not I will surly fall back into the abyss and really wake to the realization of unemployment. However, this post is not about my mornings or about my obsession with Starbucks. This is about my work.

My job is to sit with the dangerous and the elderly. This Monday I arrived at work with cotton for eye balls and a brain somewhere among the stars. My client, on the other hand, was a crazy old man that loved to give me kisses and hold my hand, at least until he noticed that I was male. Then he got all worked up! This Monday I was not in the mood and evidently nether was he because he was hollering up a storm, cursing at the top of his partially deflated lung and throwing things, trying to get out of bed and whatever he could do just to tick me off. It was working for a while, but I had this feeling of peace come over me. It said something to the beat of “Isn’t it great to be free”? Wow, I had to take a step back and try and comprehend it all. Free- free in Christ. I am free not to get mad. If he throws a punch, I don’t have to be upset. If he calls me a completely vulgar name, I don’t have to say anything or if I would like, I could say something nice to him. This freedom is like nothing found on earth. If someone cuts you off in traffic, it may be instinct to automatically speed up on their tail, but you don’t have to when you walk with Christ. The same thing goes for gossip. If someone talks some smack about you, love them, talk well about them. And if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything.

Jesus made the point clear that He cares. In fact He takes care of the birds and beast- how much more does Jesus love us? I am completely assured that He will take care of me so that I don’t have to be enslaved again to anger or revenge. I have only regret for not knowing or maybe for not going to bed sooner. But with all love I hope you can learn from this and apply it to your own story. Thanks for reading.

I generally begin blogs with a question I need answered or an answer that I have a question for. I very quickly looked up the meaning of the word Word in the dictionary, and this is what I saw.

1.  meaningful unit of language sounds: a meaningful sound or combination of sounds that is a unit of language or its representation in a text

2.  brief utterance: a brief comment, announcement, discussion, or conversation

3.  promise: a promise, assurance, or guarantee

4.  command: a command, order, or authorization

Now here is the question that I wonder. Which definition is Jesus? Because Jesus is the Word becoming flesh, he must be one, right? Hmmm. He could be the very first one and be a meaningful sound but I don’t know if that sounds right to me. I mean that’s almost more like a Buddhist and Hindu shenanigan. Continuing onward we come to the second description, which would definte Jesus as a brief comment. I am no sailor but if Jesus was used in that sense it would sound more like a curse word and less of a Divine Savior that conquers death and sin. Number three gives me hope and makes me feel like we are not totally lost. A Promise- I believe we have found Him who is the Word of God. Jesus is the promise of God made complete. In the book of Isaiah, there are many references about this servant that will bear our iniquities and be wounded for our transgressions. This is the same Word that promised, assured and guaranteed us life and to the abundance. This is Jesus; He is the Good Seed.  So it is more like we now have GOD’S WORD right! His promises are true and His guarantee is definite. But we still have one more to go. What about number 4? This is not a quarter pounder with cheese, if you know what I mean ( my apologies, I am not very funny). Anyway, Jesus is our Authorization to live for God, to make disciples. Jesus gives us the authority to declare these things- Exhort and rebuke, let no one disregard you. This is scripture and God’s word. This is just a taste of all the goodness that is found it Christ Jesus. If you don’t know Him as your personal savior, I say to you that He is the meaning of the Word and He is good for His word. May you seek out all that God has promised through His Son (the Word) Jesus Christ. The incarnate God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Word.

Everyday I could so quickly turn on some Desperation Band or dive into a Mark Driscoll book. I could call Stef, JJ, Scott, Nicole, Brian, or Jaime. I could even be so tempted to press a fine Italian Roast. It seems that I try and fill every bit of my day doing THINGS. What exactly are these things accomplishing for God? Is God really that interested in running me around the town for His Glory or is His Glory more interested in me?

Why is it just so hard to stop everything and just listen to your beautiful voice, Father God? Is it the fact that when the music stops and the coffee dries up, all I can do is get real? Sometimes I can get so wrapped up in having to do things that I sacrifice the one-on-one time with You. When everything is done and over, You are there waiting and it makes me wonder why I am worthy of Your intimacy. Oh it’s just too much and I just want to run right back into the noise. The fact that I know you wait for me in the silence is too much for my soul to handle. Now I hunger for that alone time.

I wish the world would just turn down and rest. I think that the reason we as a world are falling away from You is because we don’t hear you anymore. We can’t hear you. Our music gets louder; our days become more crowded with business. I love you God, but is this going to somehow make up for the things I have done, the times I have knowingly walked away from you? Can that be good enough even after I have set You on a dusty shelf only to call out Your name in my most desperate times?

The most amazing part is You DO rescue me after it all- after the world has got my best, after the world has defiled and thrown me away, always after. I am sorry God; You are my first and only eternal love, and I am your beloved.

I’m mad at people that can’t seem to grasp the concept that God never changes. I’m sure you may be thinking or even saying “Well I know that!” But do you? What happened to Abraham’s God? Did God take a break from His style of doing things in the Old Testament to seem all but just logical sense now? Is it the Word Old that makes us think that He is on some Va-K and won’t be back til the end of the Book. NO! and I say “Blasphemy!” for thinking such things.

To the best of my knowledge and from reading the scripture I see that God is unlike us humans that can’t help but change- He is a God that won’t change. He is the same God that created the universe, breathed life into us, flooded the earth, sent fire to devour Sodom and Gomorra, delivered the Jews, defended the Jews, poured out wrath on his Son for us, saved the day, and tormented evil. He will come again in power and glory. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says ” All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”

So did we become incompetent because the Old Testament was about breaking what logic says about God and the way the world works and stepping out on faith? God clearly calls Isaac to step out on faith and move toward a unfruitful land so when the people see him do well, they will know that it was God that blessed him. Or how about Peter and walking on water? Maybe if we took some steps of faith God would get a chance to show Himself and make an appearance. I can only speak for myself here but I want to see God move because I know when you ask God to move, He moves big. I want to see big changes; I want God to move.

If God is for us who can be against us? Of course we will face adversity but God is with us- the same God that delivered the Jews; the same God that died for you. Instead of a heart of fear, may we walk with confidence that our God is moving. And if we want to see the God of Old move, we need to make some bold moves of our own. God is waiting for you on the other side with arms wide open, pondering how long will it take for you to realize “I AM, Right Here, Right Now!”.

So the next time your pocket book is empty, the next time your car doesn’t start, the next time your bills pile high, may you call upon a God that saves and delivers, a God that creates and destroys and say to Him, “I beg you to move”.

So once again, I believe it to be very important to share an occurrence with you. God has blessed me with the word to say this, and I hope some of you will relate.

Recently, the Rebels have been reading Humility by author C. J. Mahaney. Now even I admit that I was not too thrilled on the subject matter. After reading other books to escape, I was skeptical. But then I began to see things differently. God started revealing Himself to me.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I love it when I can feel God talking to me. I am in love with the feeling that this book has stirred up inside of me. I want to encourage and love everyone.So yeah, I was feeling pretty good. I was now trying to see things from God’s eyes. He loves everyone and so should we. It is sin that hardens our hearts and by humbling ourselves, we can reverse the effect.

So let me tell you that I now see the world from a completely different pair of eyeballs. I truly feel compelled to apologize for the way I have treated some people and can now admit that I don’t know everything. All I do know is this: “God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble.”

Father, please forgive me for ever boasting in anything but You. Allow these relationships healing. Thank You.