What Are You Willing To Trade?

All You Need

Do you ever find yourself praying for the same things, especially when it comes to the way you live or the sins you struggle with? I do. I wonder sometimes, why I am still dealing with something when I have been praying about it for so long?

I read a short post over at The Rabbit Room by a Ron Block. I realized when reading it that maybe the problem is that I am not embracing what I have already been given. Click Here to read the full post.

Here is the part of the post that really stuck out to me.

“As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him” (Col 2:6).

Remember, He does not give you strength - He is your strength! He does not give you victory - He is your victory! He cannot be your life without being all you need, for “in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in him” (Col 2:9).

Then count upon the fact - and stop asking for what you have!--Ron Block

Next time you feel like you are struggling or you are stuck, cling to that beautiful truth. "He does not give you strength - He is your strength! He does not give you victory - He is your victory!"

Thank You Jesus for being EVERYTHING that we need!

The Coming of Christ

Sarah Grace and I are going through an Advent Devotional Book with the family this year to prepare for Christmas and teach our children and remind ourselves about the importance of the coming of the Messiah. The Advent Devotional that we are using is called the Jesse Tree Advent Devotional by Ann Voskamp and Nancy Rodden. This is being offered free through Ann's website.

The devotion includes

Bible Text- "Readings are selected to begin in Genesis and cover significant events throughout the Old Testament — each story pointing to the coming Messiah. It’s like an overview of the whole span of His Story — leading right up to the climax of the coming Christ!"
"A devotional that (humbly attempts!) to be a read-aloud for the whole family – engaging enough for young children and yet meaty enough for teens and adults."

An Action point for the day

A color ornament to hang on your tree to remind you of the stories pointing to Christ.

Yesterday was the first day. Sorry I am not passing on this information in time for you to start on day one but if you start now you can double up today and be on track.

If you want to get a copy of this wonderful devotion, click here.

I Believe

Here is a remake of Rich Mullins' song titled Creed covered by Third Day & Brandon Heath.

Third Day and Brandon Heath perform Rich Mullins "Creed" in the studio from Garrett Viggers on Vimeo.

Thanksgiving

This video made me laugh. Since Thanksgiving is almost upon us, I thought I would share it with you.

David Crowder Band Is Awesome!

When we listen to How He Loves, Gideon will say "Is this song about Jesus?" "Yes, son, this song is about Jesus" The he says, "Yeah, its about Jesus!"

Right Now Conference Day 2

Here are some of the thoughts that came out of Day two of the Right Now conference last week.

Paul was a Christ Intoxicated Man. We need to strive to be Christ Intoxicated.—Pete Briscoe (This was actually from day one; I just wanted to make sure I added it in. Think about that statement. If you are intoxicated, it changes you, and you act differently. We should be so overwhelmed with the presence of Christ, that it changes who we are, how we act, and what we do.)

Don’t wrap yourself with an identity achieved; wrap yourself with an identity received. –J.R. Vassar

Look for the significant, not the sensational. –J.R. Vassar

Revival is when God’s people are saturated by His presence. –Joann Hummel

Your identity is not in a position it is in a person. Our identity is in Christ Alone! --J.R. Vassar

Don’t worship your work, but let your work be a form of worship. –J.R. Vassar

What if every job paid the same thing? Would you be doing the same job? --J.R. Vassar

Bigger is not necessarily better when it comes to saving souls. We need to God size our church, not super size our church. –David Kinnaman

Bigness ≠ Deepness --David Kinnaman

The Greek word for church is Ecclesia. It stands for “called out ones.” --Tony Evans

We don’t need to grow the church; we need to be the church. –Tony Evans

This was a great conference. I hope to go again next year. Between now and then I look forward to the Gospel Wakefulness Conference at Conroe Church of Christ with Jared Wilson as the Key Speaker on April 1-2, 2011 and the Sent Conference, which is at Champion Forrest Baptist Church in Houston on April 8-9, 2011.

It Is Almost Here!

Thursday November 25, 2010. A day for Joy! A day to create memories! A day to… SHOP! Oh, did you think I was talking about Thanksgiving? No, I was talking about the Toys-R-Us sale of the year, which has been moved from Black Friday to Thursday. Yes, Thanksgiving Day. A day that could be used for family, joy, memories, or helping those in need, but now instead we can go shopping one day earlier, to fuel our materialism and in most cases waste money on gifts that people don’t need. In a year they probably won’t be using them, and in 10 years they probably won’t remember them.

I know, I sound like Scrooge! It is not that I don’t love Christmas. I truly do love Christmas time. I watch Elf year round and proudly blast “Santa Clause is coming to town” (The Live Bruce Springsteen 1970’s version) from my radio and sing as loud as I can. I have just started to have some concerns for how we celebrate Christmas. Here is my main concern. For a day that is supposed to be celebrating the birth of Christ, we spend an awful lot of time, and money, making it about people other than Christ.

I have recently read a couple of blogs about Christmas time and the giving of gifts. I liked what both had to say. One was from Jared Wilson titled The Goodness of Gift Giving: the Real Christmas Conspiracy. The second was from Ann Voskamp titled: Christmas: Thinking About Whose Birthday It Is. They take two different approaches to answering the Christmas question. I suggest you read both of them.

For those of you who have stuck with me to the end of this post, let me say, I am not telling you that you are wrong for buying gifts for your family. I am not telling you that my family is not buying Christmas gifts any more. Our boys will have stuff under the tree. But it is just that; it is stuff. It is stuff that will rust or rot, stuff that will get lost, forgotten, or destroyed. It is not eternal. So what I am is asking is that we as believers spend some time in prayer this year before we do go out and do some binge shopping. Pray about and consider what your plans are for celebrating this holiday. And however we are going to celebrate, let us be certain to spend more time this this year sharing the truth of Christ and the truth of why we are celebrating.

Thoughts From The Right Now Conference

Choose Daily, Hate Injustice, Work as Worship, & Act Swiftly.

Last week I was blessed with the opportunity to go to the Right Now Conference in Dallas with three of my brothers in Christ. The conference was great. It was a breath of fresh air and it challenged me to make changes in my own life and to encourage changes in the life of my church. I am posting some great statements that I heard from this conference. They are only punch lines & thoughts of lessons and do not explain the full context of what they were addressing, but I feel like these thoughts were beautiful and can encourage and challenge you with out the full context. These statements came from sessions on day 1 of the conference. I will include more stuff from day 2 later. Share your thoughts about any of these statements. I pray they encourage you.

We must never allow the authority of books, institutions, or leaders to replace the authority of *knowing* Jesus Christ personally and directly. When the religious views of others interpose between us and the primary experience of Jesus as the Christ, we become unconvinced and unpersuasive travel agents handing out brochures to places we have never visited. --Brennan Manning in the Ragamuffin Gospel (shared by Pete Briscoe)

Walk with Jesus, don’t work for Him. –Pete Briscoe

Be traffickers of God’s Grace. –Pete Briscoe

The Church is God’s chosen vehicle to take the gospel into the world. –Pete Briscoe

Don’t judge what God is doing by what we do or don’t like. –Larry Osborne

We like to be a Servant Leader until someone wants us to be a servant. –Larry Osborne

We exist [individually & as a church] to live out the Great Commandment and to carry out the Great Commission. –Dave Auda

God Loves You, He created you uniquely, He gifted you specifically, & He placed you strategically. Remember this and be used by God right where He has placed you.—Dave Auda

How are we going to get people into a relationship with Christ while we are squeezing them through the tiny hole of religion? --Tim Ross

God places boundaries in our lives for His purposes and there is true joy in submitting to those boundaries. –Todd Phillips

Seek wise council, especially when you are most certain. –Todd Phillips

God’s solution for a hungry & hurting world is a compassionate church. –Max Lucado

Compassion is our finest Apologetic. –Max Lucado

The book of Acts is in the Bible, not to show us what the church did, but to show us what the church can do. –Max Lucado

Don’t neglect compassion. 2000 verses in the bible tell us to care for the poor. –Max Lucado

My Tongue

Last week I received a text message from one of my coworkers asking what I would do with a billion dollars. My response was that I would use it to bring glory to God. I later explained that this is where my heart is and I hope it doesn't change no matter how much money I have.

It was at this point that I realized I was sending all of these second round of text messages to my brother-in-law and not to my coworker. I sent a message saying "oh sorry those were meant for someone else." I thought "At least these messages were about God & not about something embarrassing or inappropriate."

In this I was just reminded how I need to control my tongue (James 3:2-8) and use it to build people up (Ephesians 4:29).

What if before I text, email, or speak, I think twice and consider who I wouldn't want to see or hear it? Maybe if I wouldn't send or say it to someone in particular I shouldn't send or say it to anyone.

Take A Risk For The Gospel

Taking Care Of Our Bothers And Sisters

This is talking about financial needs but is not limited to them. May we always take care of our bothers and sisters financially, emotionally, and physically whenever there is a need.

Overcome

I loved these words from Jonathan Parnell on why we need to hear the Gospel over and over again. May we all be "overcome by the Gospel."

The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the salvation of those who trust him is old news. It is really old, really good news. So what are we aiming for in hearing again and again that which we've heard before?

The hope in hearing the old, good news is that it would perpetually break new ground in our lives. Our hearts are like a jungle. There is untamed wilderness and darkness that has not yet been brought, as it were, under the rule of the One who has laid claim to it all.

We need to hear the gospel again and again so that the old, good news of Jesus Christ would reach into these unchartered territoties of our lives and fly the flag of its dominion. This is how we are "being saved." This is what it means to be overcome by the gospel. --Jonathan Parnell (post on www.desiringgod.org)

New

"Forgiven, Beloved, Hidden in Christ, Made in the image of the giver of life. Righteous & Holy, Reborn & Remain, Accepted & Worthy, This is our new name!" --Jason Gray from song I Am New

Find Joy and Praise God for the truth in the words of this song!

Thought

I read this yesterday and I was thinking about all of the people encouraging us not to work too hard and to not take on too much. I feel like people mean well, but I also feel like God has opened our eyes to work that he wants us to do and I feel like making excuses to not do it would be sinful.

One of the most frustrating things about moving into this new consciousness of Christ in a particular area is that the people around us, especially the people we love most, sometimes seem committed to keeping us in the old consciousness. That is what they are used to. So by unbelief they try to keep us nailed to that Cross when everything in us is screaming “RESURRECTION!” By faith we’ve got to continue loving them even though they seem against us; they are part of the cocoon from which we’re trying to break free. That’s what gives our wings the strength to fly once we’re out. If any man is in Christ, he is (not “will be”) a new creation.
--Ron Block Commenting in the Rabbit Room

Time For War

I have been thinking about spiritual warfare lately. As we read through the New Testament we read several passages that remind us of the battle that is going on. Verses like:

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. --1 Peter 5:8

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. --Ephesians 6:11-13

I don’t think like this on a daily basis, but I think I need to start. I need to recognize the battle I have to face as I face the temptation of sin that tries to separate me from God. I need to realize that Satan has waged war on believers to work against the good work of God that is going on in our lives and through our lives. There is a battle going on for the souls of the lost and I need to take a stand. It is time to take a fighting stance against the evil of this world and against the work of Satan.

Does that scare you? Do you feel inadequate to think of yourself as a warrior for God? I do sometimes. I question my abilities. I question if I will have the right words. I question if I am strong enough. But the truth is I don’t have to be. I just have to be willing and trust that God is big enough.

This summer I read a book titled Book of the Dun Cow by Walter Wangerin Jr. It is a fiction book that is a story of the battle between good and evil. I loved the book even though all of the characters are animals. One of the main characters of the story was Chauntecleer, a rooster. The night before a battle between good and evil was about to take place he made this speech to the rest of those who stood for good. He used these words to encourage them to stand and fight the evil of their world. I remember being encouraged when I read these words. I remember feeling moved to take a stand no matter how inadequate I feel, because God has prepared us for the fight.

I pray these words will encourage you to make a stand for God today!

“Now that time is come which one day had to come. God breathed faith into us so that today we might be faithful. For generations God won trust from us so that today we might trust him. Years and years of providence had this purpose: that for one day we might not faint, but believe in him--and fight--stouthearted, fight--and win--and live!”

You Surpass Them All

I was going to tell my wife this personally but I remember recently hearing a discussion on the importance of publicly honoring and praising your spouse, and that I agree with wholeheartedly and I realize I should do this much more than I do.

A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life...She sets about her work vigorously; her arms are strong for her tasks...She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy...She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue...She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness...Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: "Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all." Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate. --Selections from Proverbs 31

Sarah Grace, these verses describe you. No matter how much you will want to disagree with me, they do! I am proud of you. I am proud to call you my wife. I am proud that people in our community recognize you as a Godly woman who chooses to serve God through loving others and helping those in need. And yes, “Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.”

I Love You

Whatever Pleases You

“Be of good courage, and let us be courageous for our people, and for the cities of our God, and may the LORD do what seems good to him." --2 Samuel 10:12

These words were spoken from Joab to his brother when they were about to go into battle with the Syrians and Ammonites. I heard this verse referenced in the sermon clip that I posted last week from John Piper titled “Where are the Faithful”. The reason it stuck out to me is that I have been thinking a lot about the prayers that I pray and also thinking about the prayers that others ask me to pray. I just feel like many of the prayers that are offered are wanting God to line his will up with what we pray instead of our prayers lining up with God’s will. Even when I pray, “God, let your will be done!” I really only mean, let your will be done if you are going to do what I want you to do.

I think these words from Joab reveal the attitude we should have. “May the LORD do what seems good to him.” He doesn’t say, “Brother lets pray that God will protect our lives and keep us safe during this battle.” “Let the LORD do what seems good to him!” Do you feel comfortable praying this when things are going completely wrong? “God, I am at one of my lowest points in life. Do what seems good to you!”

I don’t! I want to, but to be honest I don’t feel comfortable with that. But shouldn’t that be our hearts? No matter what happens, we should be so focused on the will of the Father and bringing glory to Him, that we can say, “Do whatever pleases you!”

Where Are The Faithful?

May we be counted among the faithful!

Small But Powerful

Last week Sarah Grace and I read the book of Titus. The book, although small, is quite powerful. I know that seems like a ridiculous statement considering that it is part of the very Word of God. Of course it is powerful! The reason I bring it up is that I think some of the smaller books of the Bible get overlooked sometimes. More words means more power, right? Don’t think like that when it comes to the Bible. I would recommend you read through Titus today. It has some powerful words, instructions for right living, and beautiful Gospel statements.

Here are a couple of the mini Gospel statements that I loved so much in Titus.

“He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing what is right.” Titus 2:14

“But then God our Savior showed us his kindness and love. He saved us, not because of the good things we did, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins and gave us a new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us because of what Jesus Christ our Savior did. He declared us not guilty because of his great kindness. And now we know that we will inherit eternal life.” Titus 3:4-8

All I can add to that is…Amen!

God Is A Wild Man!

After my encounter with God on Wednesday, I have been watching some videos of Rich Mullins speaking and sharing his heart at concerts. You may be thinking, “Seriously, again with Rich Mullins?” But I love the way he words things. I love his brutal honesty. I respect the way he lived his life. Here is one of the quotes that I really liked from one of the videos and the video will be below if you want to watch it.

God takes the junk of our lives and makes the greatest art in the world out of it. And if He was cultured, if He was as civilized as most Christian people wish He was, He would be useless to Christianity. But God is a wild man! --Rich Mullins

Spiritual Shipwreck

From my post yesterday you probably realized that I was going through something. I will try to put to words what was going on.

Yesterday morning I locked my door and sat down at the computer to check e-mail and read a few blogs. My few moments of peace and quiet before the students arrive. It was in this 30 minutes that God opened my eyes, broke my heart, and then ministered to my soul.

I stumbled across(and by stumbled across, I mean God put it right in front of me so I would trip over it and take notice) a blog post from 5 years ago about the death of Sarah Grace’s grandma that had been written by one of her cousins. As I read it something started to change inside. Something subtle about how I was feeling. I didn't know what exactly it was or how to explain it. I then went over to a blog that Sarah Grace and I read titled A Holy Experience, which is written by Ann Voskamp. She recently went on a Mission Trip to Guatemala with Compassion International. As I read her words and looked at her pictures from the trip I paused. The faces were somewhat familiar. Their smiles and their tears were familiar. The pictures from the mission trip I went on to Honduras are pictures filled with the same smiles and tears. Pictures filled with the same poverty.

I started thinking about Mario, who owned the little restaurant across the street from the school where we would go get cokes after working all day. I thought about his smile and the time I sat outside of his restaurant drinking a coke after a long day of work and trying to use my 25 words of broken Spanish to actually have a real conversation with this man. This is the same man who on another trip down there caught up with us after we attended a worship service at his church. He came to me, because he recognized me and hoped I could convey the message that he was trying to give. Unfortunately I was unable to translate what he was saying. Finally one of the youth picked up on one of his words. The word was “cantar” which means to sing. He wanted us to tell Jeff Phillips that he sings beautifully. He didn’t understand the words that Jeff was singing, but he understood that Jeff was singing with all of his heart to the God that they both loved, and it was a beautiful sound.

As I thought of those moments during those trips and I remembered their smiles, I cried. I didn't know exactly why. Maybe it was for Mario, maybe it was for us, and maybe it was because I just wanted to be with my family at that moment. I think it was all of these, paired with wanting something different. Something different for us, something different for Mario, something different for the world, and something better for God. In the silence and tears I sat pondering the brokenness and fallen state of our world. I thought about that this is not what God intended. He intended a paradise for all of his creation, but that is not possible because of our sin. So we are left with this world that is full of brokenness, hurt, illness, poverty, and sin, instead of what God planned for us. I wasn’t really hurting I just think God was breaking my heart and sharing His about the world that we live in.

After God opened my eyes it was then that He ministered to me. Later in the morning, Jared Wilson posted a blog titled A Thick, Thick Heaven. The post was a reminder about how much better Heaven is than Earth. It was beautiful. It was just what I needed to see after spending so much of my morning thinking about our broken world. God wanted to remind me that there is something better, far better, than I can even imagine. This post soothed my soul. It provided medicine and bandages to my wounds.

That afternoon as my conference period was starting I came across a post that was a tribute to Rich Mullins. The author ended the post with all of the lyrics from the song, If I Stand. When I pulled up the video on youtube, I wept as I saw Rich singing the lyrics to that song. It was as if God had been sitting beside me all day. I know God is with us all day, but I felt like he pulled up a chair beside me and said

1. Look at the brokenness of this world. Hate it. Want something better!
2. Remember that Heaven is better than anything this world has.
3. Fight the brokenness of the world for as long as you can but know
that there is more.
4. Always long for Heaven.

It was the first time in a long time that I was a spiritual wreck, but when the day was over I felt closer to the heart of God. My request for prayers is still open. I now know what I want you to pray for. Pray that these things are not quickly forgotten. Pray that I will keep my eyes open for God’s will on this Earth while longing for Heaven.

If I Stand

There is a reason for me posting this video right now but I can't even put it fully into words. Not yet anyway. Maybe soon all the right words will come. I love this Rich Mullins song. Here is the chorus.

And if I stand let me stand on the promise
That you will pull me through
And if I can't let me fall on the grace
That first brought me to You
And if I sing let me sing for the joy
That has born in me these songs
And if I weep let it be as a man
Who is longing for his home

Watch the video for the rest.


Pray for me today! Please Pray!

Something is wrong...

I am currently reading a book titled Crazy Love by Francis Chan and another book Compelled by Love by Ed Stetzer and Philip Nation. While reading them this week I came across statements in both of them that started out by saying, "Something is wrong..." Both of these statements really stuck out and I think we should ask ourselves if these statements are descriptors of our lives.

"Something is wrong when our lives make sense to unbelievers." --Francis Chan in Crazy Love

"Something is wrong when a person claims to belong to Christ and yet fails to love others." --Ed Stetzer/Philip Nation

Does your life make sense to unbelievers? Does the way you spend & save your money make sense to the lost world? Do the things you watch, say, and do make sense to the world? If we are truly living out our faith, the answer should be and emphatic "NO!" Unfortunately I would have to say that much of my life has made perfect sense to the lost world.

What about your love? Do you love others as Christ does? Not just some people, but all people. Remember what Jesus says in Luke 6? "If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same…Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” Luke 6:32-33, 36. If I am claiming to be a Christian, I need to see people differently and love people differently. If not, then can I actually say that Christ is living through me?

Let us look at scripture to see what we should look like, compare that to our lives, and ask ourselves “What’s Wrong?”

God help us line up with your will and your ways and not the world’s will and the world’s ways.

Upside of Messy

When you look at the Pharisees in the New Testament they were disturbed by the fact that Jesus would eat with the tax collectors and sinners. More literally translated “scum.” Their thoughts were, “How can he be from God if he is willing to stoop so low?” Jesus’ response in Matthew Ch. 9 is “The healthy don’t need a doctor but the sick do. I am calling these people to repentance.” Yesterday I was reading a sample chapter from a new book coming out called Church Planter by Darrin Patrick. I liked this quote that he included in the book.

We are able to see the “upside of messy” only because Jesus went into the mess first in order to heal it. He left heaven for a womb, a stable, a wilderness, and a cross, so that the world would be saved through Him. We are able to love and pursue the healing of messy people because Jesus did it first—befriending tax collectors, sinners, pimps, and prostitutes, and then making many of them His apostles! --Scott Sauls

That quote just really hit home what I have been feeling lately. I don’t want to ignore someone because of their mess. It is easy to overlook someone because of their differences, problems, or strange behavior, but that shouldn’t be the case.

Christ stepped into the mess of my life and yours to save us. Shouldn’t we in turn step into the mess of others’ lives with that Good News?