Mini-Update

To Whom It May Concern:

I've always thought there were better ways to address a letter to someone who you don't know is going to read it, but that's just my own opinion. I personally like, "Hi There!" or "Hello."

Haha, anyway here is the logistical side of things. For those of you who do not know, I am currently living in Jacksonville, NC with my mom. I'm here to save money and raise both financial and prayer support for the UNC-Charlotte church plant.

The prayer and plan at the moment is to be in Charlotte with the rest of the team (Keegan & Amy Rice, David & Renée Johnson, Bekah Maier, and Shannon Beamon) by January. I have been looking and applying for jobs for the new year in Charlotte as well as roommates and potential apartments.

Right now I Jacksonville, I am currently job-less even though I have been applying diligently since August to a plethora of different temporary and part-time positions. However, I have been doing some odd jobs here and there, which is more of what I like anyway because I get to work hard for the Lord and bless other people more directly.

Personally and spiritually, this has been a difficult season to adapt to. Though I do attend the church I "grew-up" in (I only went there my senior year in high school, yet I learned my first lessons about Jesus there) and attend a couple LifeGroups, there has only recently (the last Sunday) been a singles ministry and it has been hard to find like-minded Christians. This season has been like an addendum to the lesson that I learned while at camp for a summer separated completely from Christian fellowship. Only, instead of being separated from Christian fellowship, my heart is simply somewhere else.

Now I want to make this clear, the church and fellowship I am with now is great. I love the church and the people. Everyone I have met there loves Jesus and this is one of the fastest growing churches in the country, so don't get a picture of a dying church or anything of the sort. It simply doesn't have the same culture as the one I have become accustomed to in the Great Commission Churches. This has risen a lot of great introspective questions that I have been praying and thinking though and has led to great revelations from the Lord. However, now is neither the time nor place to address them.

All in all, the truth that God is faithful has become ever more clear in my life. I now simply need to trust that truth and remember the great and awesome works that God has done in and through me. To end, I will share the verse I read this morning: Jeremiah 29:11-12

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.

Now I am not "claiming" this promise as my own, because this was issued to Israel from God through Jeremiah in the midst of almost 50 chapters of "doom and gloom," as it were. I am, however, encouraged and reminded that in the midst of darkness and depression, God still makes provision for His people.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support!

Question 6 - The Big One

Is this really what God wants for my life to be able to best glorify Him with this life He's given me?

As I mentioned in the original post, I had been contemplating a lot of heavy issues of my heart at the end of the summer. All of the questions really culminated up to this final point really. This question is really two questions in one: a) Should I be doing Ministry? b) Have I utterly failed in St. Petersburg?

a) I'm pretty confident that no matter what I get paid to do, I will be proclaiming Christ's name. However, should "ministry" be the long-term career that I seek? *Side Note* I speak of "ministry" as a professional career here. I believe that everyone should treat their everyday circumstance and job as their own ministry. However, that's a discussion for another time. *End Note* Well, if my "end-goal" is to see Christ come back before I reach the end of my life, then yes, I believe that it should be my career. However, I cannot let that long-term goal (which is great!) allow me to lose sight of the present time and age in which I am a part of. I need to see every opportunity as an opportunity to share the gospel of Christ!

b) I think it is so easy to see the lack of d-groups and people coming to Christ during this project as a sign of failure. Yes, we want to see fruit, as it were, for our labors. However, we are called to so abundantly and faithfully and to labor diligently; not to be harvesters. If the hundreds of people that we have shared the gospel with this summer don't come to know Jesus until 3 days, 3 months, 3 years, or even 30 years after we're done here, will I/we still see this project as a success? YES! Of course!

I'm reminded of Ezekiel and Isaiah who were commissioned to spread the news of God's kingdom to people they were specifically told that would not accept it. BUT, they still went out and God set aside a remnant to hear and repent and believe.

This is my heart.

My utmost desire in this lifetime is to see Christ's second coming. I desire that and want that so badly that sometimes... actually, A LOT of times it makes me critical of others and my own life. The root issue and question of almost all of these previous questions is this: 

If I die before Jesus returns will I be bitter against God, or will I simply rejoice in the fact that I was able to live my life to honor and glorify my Savior King to my utmost and give everything I had in steadfast pursuit of the single greatest and most loving cause this world has ever seen?

THAT is the question. I pray that God would continually mold and shape my heart so that it is the latter and never the former.

Question 5

Am I looking to God first for my provision and rest and to carry my burden?

In a sense I am, but if we look back to the struggle question #1 then I am also looking elsewhere for my peace and pleasure. James 1:16-18 tells me that God gives every good thing. He is the ultimate provider for all of my gifts and any goodness, so why don't I practice ASKING Him for those good things? I need to hold onto the promises that Jesus provides on prayer. I can ask anything I wish and it will be done for me (John 15:7); if I ask in His name, it will be done (John 14:13); God, like a father, longs to give me those things that I truly desire (Matthew 7:7-11); and that God hears the prayers of the humble (Psalm 10:17).

Ok, so that last one obviously isn't form Jesus. However, after I claim those promises, I need to put them into practice. I need to be praying... A LOT! As Ronald Dunn put it, "Prayer is work" and I cannot afford to neglect it. I need to be casting my burdens upon the Lord (Matthew 11:28-30) and asking Him to lead me to the right actions after that.

This is simply an answer to one of the questions I had on my heart at the end of LINC. You can see the original post here.

Question 4

Is Charlotte God's desire for me?

As far as Charlotte is concerned, this question came from another question that was asked by my good brother, Michael Ashton, last night while he was speaking about the Dominican Republic: "Where can I most effectively multiply my life for God?" Now of course, he was talking about the question that he asked himself when deciding what he should do for his summer vacation. However, it made this question come up in my life and as I wrote these answers, the answer popped into my head.

Sometimes it is necessary to leave a place so that others can step-up and take the lead. Am I leaving Grace with brothers who will step-up and take the lead in my stead? You bet! I'm so excited for Keith, Zach, Justin, Jeremy, Trent, and Albert. These men are going to blow what Keegan, David, and I did out of the water. I pray that they simply can team up and work together for God's greater kingdom not only in Raleigh, but also in the future.

So, now that I haven't answered the question, I will say yes. Yes, I do believe that Charlotte is the right place for me to not only give others the opportunity to step-up, but also because it is so ready for the gospel. It has the great potential to be a highway for the gospel to reach the nations, if only that's what God wants. I pray that it would be so, but I pray even more that if UNC-Charlotte is not, that God would lead Keegan and myself to wherever it is that He has a highway planned.

This is a series of answering some questions that were on my heart. You can see the original post here.

Question 3

Is my heart too calloused and hardened for God to use me?

First of all, yes I skipped question 2 on purpose. The answer was very specific and personal. In the great words of Forest Gump, "That's all I gotta say about thayat." As for this question, it really stemmed from a lot of things that happened this summer. I just sensed that throughout the summer, I had become more blunt and more hardened rather than seasoned with grace and pliable by God. Here's my answer:

This is a ridiculous question, for I know that even if my heart were calloused and I turned away, God would still be able to use me. Look at Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar. I suppose the real question is if I will be humble enough to want to be used by God, or will I continue to be stubborn. I've been walling myself up with the burdens of others, while still casting mine upon Him like Matthew 11:28-30 says to. However, I have let a root of bitterness spring up within me. I am biased against those who I sense or feel as "weak." Reality is: I am weak. 

I need to humble myself before the mighty hand of God so that He may exalt me (James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:6). Also, I need to remember that Jesus is in each of my brothers and sisters. I need to remember that God has shown me so much grace that I cannot refuse to show grace to others. The answer really comes in 1 Timothy 1:5 (what I briefly was able to read) 

"The aim of our charge is to love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith."

My heart needs to be pure and my conscience needs to be clear. I know that I have been dragging guilt about wherever I go because of my sin, and I need to offer that up to God. Romans Chapter 8. Need I say more?

Inadvertently, I answered question #7 as well with this answer. See the original post here.

Question 1

Will I ever be free of the sin of my own heart?

This was my first question, and I'm glad I asked it first. The whole summer I had been struggling with pride and selfishness and a whole other myriad of sin that had hindered my relationship with God and with people in so many ways. In a sense, I was just "fed-up" with my flesh, so I searched the scriptures and this is what I found:

In a sense, I will never be rid of this sin nature. Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Later on in Romans 5, God's word says that we have all been cursed with sin, however, at the same time through Christ we have righteousness. I know that I will never be free from my sin nature (not until Heaven, at least). This is absolutely clear to anyone who reads the scriptures, lives a life interacting with others, and is humble enough to be sensitive and submissive to Christ's Spirit.
With my particular sin that I struggle with, I need to trust and believe what Paul writes by the Holy Spirit in Romans 6:6 

"We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin."

Later still, he speaks of being slaves and bondslaves to Christ and His righteousness. So in all, I know that it is possible to see victory sin in my life because I trust the scriptures to be 100% TRUTH, and it says that I can be a slave to righteousness instead of sin.

See the original post here.

Some Questions of the Heart

There I was, sitting in Starbucks. Contemplating all of the heavy issues that had arisen over the course of the summer of LINC. It was the last Sunday Sabbath we would have while at LINC, so I took the time to just get away and read (or that was the plan, at least). As I started reading 1 Timothy, I couldn't even finish the first chapter without God really pressing that there were some loaded questions that I had to work out. So, I did. 

The Friday before this particular Sunday, we had church. The teaching by Mark Trujillo was simply a summary of the summer teachings to keep the vision in front of us. Well, there was one particular question that stuck out to me:

"Has there been a burden too heavy to carry alone this summer?"

I couldn't think of one. I knew that I had been bearing others' burdens with them, because that is what we are called to do in Galatians 6:2. However, was I being prideful and not letting others help me with my burdens? Trust me, I had a lot of them this summer. Immediately I thought: Have I become less gracious this summer? Has this summer hardened my heart? Have I focused so much on myself that I have forgotten about the growth of others?

With these questions swimming through my mind that Sunday, it's no wonder that I couldn't just read the Word and relax for the last time. The reason I was reading 1 Timothy in the first place is because I had not been a good example of a godly man lately. I was calloused and hardened towards others over a game... A GAME. I was sickened with myself because of times like then. Seriously, God had some questions for me to answer by His word. Here are the questions:

1. Will I ever be free of the sin of my own heart?
2. Will I ever be ready for marriage?
3. Is my heart too calloused and hardened for God to use me?
4. Is Charlotte God's desire for me?
5. Am I looking to God first for my provision and rest to carry my burden?
6. Is this really what God wants for my life to be able to glorify Him the most with this life He's given me?
7. What are some healthy habits to be practicing grace towards others?

Now these questions were personal, and very close to my heart. With that said, I wanted to use these questions to share just a piece of my heart with you guys by answering them. Just click on the question, and it should take you to the answers.

A Different Season

So right now I'm in quite a different season than I am used to. I am back in Jacksonville, NC raising support so I may be able to be long-term part-time staff in Charlotte on the church plant.

I will honestly admit that this is kind of a struggle, because I truly desire to simply move to Charlotte and raise support from there while helping out with the church. I want to be with the new students who don't know Jesus and introduce them. I want to be with those lost Christians on UNC-Charlotte's campus who are looking for fellowship. I want to be with Keegan, David, Amy, Renee, and Bekah. So many wants...

...But alas, I know that this season is really pivotal if I want to do any of those things long-term. I'm trusting God's wisdom through my elders and other pastors throughout our region who have lived the life of Ministry Team Development and are now running hard for Christ in different places.

As Paul writes in Philippians 3:14 "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Ultimately, I simply want the Great Commission to be fulfilled within my lifetime. Haha, I just wrote simply. Yeah, it IS simple. Simply sow the gospel wherever you go!

In other news, I've been reading through a psalm a day, so why not share what I have been gleaning from the word of God?

Psalm 40 was a solid reminder of who God is and what He is capable of. Verses 5-6 stuck out particularly to me. 5 not only talks about God's wondrous deeds, but tells of how David will "proclaim and tell them." I love the picture of God's mission heart all throughout the Bible, and the psalms are great reminders of that. Verse 6 just reminded me of the different times and ways God emphasizes that He wants our hearts: All of me. 

Also, Keegan and Amy have been through some cool changes lately, look at Keegan's blog here.

LINC 2013 Update

It's the end of July, and thus the end of LINC (Laborers Impacting Nations for Christ). It was an extremely fun summer, yet it was a stretching and growing one at the same time.

If you don't know what LINC is all about, click here for the website (soon to be updated). Also, let me give you a brief overview: The idea is that students from all over the southeast region in our network of churches (Great Commission Churches) get to come together for a summer and live, learn, and labor together. We have students who primarily work during the day to learn what it's like to be on mission while working in the "real world," and staff and interns who primarily make sure the project runs smoothly and do a magnificent amount of sharing the gospel.

So, this summer I was on staff as one of the co-directors of the project. There were originally three of us: Matt (the lead pastor), Jordan (an experienced staffer), and myself (noob). Well Matt had to leave the second week in due to unforeseen circumstances, so that left Jordan and myself to run the show with the help of the interns. I will say that God really used this summer to show off through some otherwise unqualified people. 

Between all 26 of us on project, we were able to sow the gospel (whether verbally, through tract, or visually with the mini-bridge) well over 500 times this summer. It truly was an amazing time to see God show off. If I had to sum up the summer in one Bible story, I would say it is the story of Gideon. God dwindled our number before the summer started from the usual 40 students to the 26 of us who ended up on project and we were still able to see victories because of God.

That's just an extremely brief overview of what this summer consisted of, and perhaps I'll share some of the stories soon, but just know that God changed lives this summer, and for that I am extremely grateful and humbled that I could even be a part of it, let alone co-lead the project.

James 1:17 ESV "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change."

A Tidbit of Fun

Now I realize that this is massively late, but I figured I could let you all hear the teaching that I was able to give back in April. It is basically a summary of my story and how my pastor, Berk, pursued me and built into me. I think a few people may have enjoyed it, and I know that I had a blast giving the talk! Anyway, here it is:

http://www.graceatstate.org/media/3739/2013-04-14.mp3

Psalm 119

I just wanted to share with you a really neat exercise that we did on Tuesday morning for doctrine training. Usually, the guest pastor for the week goes through a teaching of one of the Great Commission Churches CORE values (found here) and some doctrine of some type. This week, the value was "Commitment to God and His Word" and the doctrine was...well... God. Haha

So, for the doctrine time, we all spent 25 minutes creating a word picture (example here

to the right) for God and each word we used was to have a verse related to it e.g. Holy (1 Peter 1:16) or Righteous (Psalm 11:7) or Father (Ephesians 4:6). Well, that was fun and we then had to defend one of our choices of words when Andrew Roberts (the guest pastor this week from Jacksonville, FL) "attacked" it from the world's standpoint. It was a neat exercise that I would encourage you to do as well to just find in scripture what describes God.

However, the real work was the core value training on God's word beforehand. Well, Andrew is not a traditional teacher in a sense that he sat us down and walked us through some written talk that he had prepared beforehand (as you might ascertain from the God doctrine exercise). Instead, Andrew had us pair up and read through Psalm 119. It's the longest psalm and I believe all but 1-2 verses are about God's word. So we paired up and just went out for about 50 minutes reading and praying through the psalm. Well, we were supposed to get through the whole thing and then afterwards talk with our partner about what stuck out before we got back into our whole staff/intern group and discussed it. Turns out that only one pair got through the entire psalm. Haha, it was an amazing time of letting God's word teach itself. I think I learned more about God's word from reading and praying through that psalm then I ever have before from any teaching.

With all that said, I think it would be one of the best experiences in your life if you just took an hour or so one day, maybe grab a brother or sister (where available) and walk, read, and pray through Psalm 119 together. The way Andrew and I did it (yes I got to pray with the ballin pastor) is one of us read one of the sections and then prayed about it, and if the other person wanted to pray about it too they did. If not, they just went right into reading the next section and then prayed about it. We just kept rotating and the whole time we were in fellowship with each other and God through the Holy Spirit. No breaks, just straight going hard in the paint! Haha, so yes. 

Do this! 

Get to know God's word! 

Be filled with His Spirit and enjoy this free doctrine lesson brought to you by JESUS!

Apology Update

I would first like to apologize that I have not been faithful to my word of at least one post every two weeks. A small reason would be that I haven't had time, but the truthful statement would be that I simply haven't made time. For this, I am sorry. However, with that said, prayerfully I will be posting a few blogs here shortly with a couple updates from St. Pete. Here's the first from yesterday:

In St. Pete not even a week and we already have some connections. My brother Mike and I had a fun time playing toss with a few little kids who introduced us to their grandmother Joyce who seemed interested in hearing more about Jesus, so we're going back to speak to her soon.

Today the interns and some of us staff went to the best place to get free Wi-Fi... Chick-Fil-A. Haha, and we met this young manager named Derik who is going to participate in a gap-year program after high school to strengthen his faith before going to college. It was really neat to get connected with him, and to top things off a stranger bought us all cookies because they overheard that we were on mission here in St. Pete. I thought the day was great by then, which it was, but it got better.

Morning Prayer at 7:00 every morning

This evening, we were able to be encouraged by Ray Vaughn (the champion for Christ in Columbia, SC) in some T4T training. I think the people not so familiar with it were able to catch the vision that God put upon the leaders' hearts. It was really encouraging to be paired up with a campus minister on USF-SP's campus, David. He seemed really excited and encouraged to be laboring alongside us for the summer outreach program. Another encouraging sight was to see my pal Andi who we met last summer come back and get reconnected to be able to do some outreach with us this summer. He went so far as to pretty much put aside all his work until August.

So needless to say, I'm excited about what this summer holds for us here in St. Pete and I pray that I'll be able to make the effort to keep everyone updated.

Encouraging verse of the day: John 21:25 NASB

Staff/Intern "team-building" exercise

And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written.

I find that John always ends his books with a bang of some sort. Haha

UConn Trip

Condensing a whole week of funtivities into a simple blog post is going to be difficult, but I will try my best to keep this short... or I'll just break it up into parts. And you'll want to go to the very end of this one, because the ending is a real doosie! Haha

SO, this past week was NC State's Spring Break, and since I am not a student I didn't get an official spring break. However, my boss is pretty much the coolest guy around and he let me have a whole week off to lead a spring break mission trip to the University of Connecticut, home of Jonathan the Husky (a descendent of a wolf, like the NC State Wolfpack, if you catch my drift. Though, technically they were founded before us...). 

ANYWAY, there were 5 of us in total who went on the trip: Zach, Anthony, Sarah, Jordan and myself. Four of us spent a great time driving the 12 hours up to UConn, while we picked up Anthony (a truck driver who drives enough) from the airport up there. Also, 2 more folks flew up from Florida: Mark and Katya. I know you may not know these people now, but you will by the end of the story. 

The story actually begins on the drive up to Maryland on Saturday. We stopped in Maryland at Oak Ridge Community Church to hang out with the college group there and then stay at a friend's house and go to church the next day. Well, Saturday night with the College group (C-Group) was extremely encouraging and Spirit filled. Before the meeting "officially began" there were groups of two's and three's praying together and having fun catching up and introducing themselves to us and eating the food that was there. Once we finally got started, we went over John 16, particularly verses 5-15 dealing with the Holy Spirit.

A lot of people went around giving their testimonies of how they had the joy and peace of Christ because of His Spirit even though according to this world's standards, they should have been downtrodden. It was simply an encouraging time of hearing the Truth of the scriptures and then after the discussion, one of the guys in the back spoke up and said that he was Jewish and he would go out and party and talk to other people and not understand how they could still have joy and peace and happiness even though they didn't go out and party. The bluntness and honesty of him speaking up in front of everyone like that really shocked and encouraged me! He simply said that and that these verses really made it make sense to him at that time. It was a direct application of how the Spirit is the one who convicts the world and not us, and it was exciting to see and be a part of. 

After some more discussion, we broke up into small groups. Little did I know, but I was in for another shock. We were told to simply share a little of what we learned with each other and pray for each other and have some fellowship. However, the first girl that spoke up said something like this: "I just wanna say that I'm not saved, but I can't help but see the happiness that you guys have and I want it." Immediately, someone asked, "Well, do you know how to be saved?" and she said that she didn't. So everyone started explaining their relationship with Christ and how it has changed their life, and all I could think about was sharing a clear gospel presentation to her. I was literally trembling by the time I finally got to share with her.

When it was my turn to talk, I asked her if I could show her what we would be sharing with the people we met up at UConn. She said, "Please!" My heart almost melted in my chest at being with someone so hungry to hear God's word of truth. So, I sat down in the middle of the circle so that she could see my handwriting better. This is what I shared with her:

For the sake of length, if you'd like to see The Conversation, simply follow the link... or read the previous blog post. Haha

Soon after I had finished, the rest of the group continued to encourage her to pursue Christ and know Him. One big comment that I really appreciated was by a cool guy near the end of our time. He said, 

"Listen, don't do this for us. This shouldn't be done because you feel like we're pressuring you. We just see you in the same position we were in before we accepted Christ. We have so much that we would want to tell our former selves, but instead are telling you. No, don't do this for us. Do this for God and you. Realize that the relationship that you will be entering in is one that will change your life forever and for the good."

I really appreciated that guy! We then prayed, and we asked her if she would mind if we laid hands on her, and she said that'd be fine. So we prayed over her and it was overall just a great time! Though she did not come to Christ right then and there, I am confident that she will soon seeing as she is the one pursuing the rest of the people at the C-Group.

Soon after, the team and I went to our friend's house and rested for the evening. We woke up to a great breakfast and then a great service at church that morning. The trip had just started, we weren't even in Pennsylvania yet and we were already ready and raring to go share the good news of Jesus Christ!

NEXT Time, we'll hear of the fun exploits on the road and perhaps the beginnings of UConn (finally).

The Conversation

Here is a general overview of how I am usually blessed to be able to share the Gospel based on one of my more recent conversations with a girl in Maryland that I met at a church College Group on our way up to the University of Connecticut. This is about how it went:


Really, being saved means having a personal relationship with God, so let's look at God first. In Acts 17:22-31 it says 3 main things about God: 1) He's the Creator. He created the heavens and the earth. He is all-powerful and is everywhere. 2) Since He created us, He is a Loving Father. However, He's not just loving, but the Bible says that He IS Love. 3) Finally, it says that He is a Just Judge. Here is something that people don't like to look at much, but since He is perfect He knows the difference between right and wrong and judges justly, or impartially. He doesn't show partiality and so everyone is on the same playing field. That is God summed up in a very small nutshell, but for the sake of time, let's look at people now.

Do you think that people are similar or different from God? Different. Much different. *Laughs briefly* We certainly aren't perfect and we mess up a lot. *I laugh* Yeah! I agree. In fact the Bible tells us in Romans 3:23 that ALL of us have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. When I say all, I again want to emphasize that everyone is on the same level. You, me, even the pastors that you know have messed up and fallen short of God's glory.

What this does is cloud our vision of God and actually separates us from Him. This separation is caused by our sin. Now tell me, have you ever had a job? Yes. Cool, so every week or two you got paid right? Yeah. Yeah. Let me ask, if your boss said that he was giving you your pay out of the kindness of his own heart, you'd laugh right? *Laughs* Yeah. Exactly! You earned that! Just like if he withheld your pay, you'd be upset right? Oh yeah. So those are your wages. Well, the Bible tells us what our wages are in Romans 6:23. What we've earned because of sin and that is Death. Not just the fact that 10 our of 10 people will die physically, but that we have earned spiritual death, which is separation from God. Even more, the Bible tells us that there is nothing that we can do to get back to God ourselves.

It seems we have a problem here. *Nods* In summary, God is perfect; we aren't; because of our sin, we are separated from Him and in fact deserve death; and there is no way we can get back to God by our own attempts. This is the truth, and it's sad. 

Be that as it may, this is not the end of the story. God knows that we can't get to Him on our own, and He desires a relationship with us more than we do with Him. That is why He sent Jesus Christ for us. Jesus dying on the cross was where God's love and justice met. In Romans 5:8, we are told that while we were still sinning and separating ourselves from God, He sent Jesus to die for our sins in our place. God was being just by sentencing us to death, but being love by sending Jesus to take our place.

Now, I told you the beginning to Romans 6:23; that the wages of sin is death, but the last part says that the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. It's a free gift that God is offering for us to have a relationship with Him. Now, like every other gift, what do we have do to? Say I were to offer you this free pen, *holds out pen* what would you have to do? I'd have to say thank you and take it, right? Yeah, that's exactly right, and that's where our response comes in along with another verse.

John 3:16 says that our response is to believe. What we need to do to have that everlasting life and relationship with God is to believe in His gift of Jesus. Now believing is more than simply acknowledging something intellectually. Instead, it has to be deeper than that. First of all, we have to repent (a churchy word, I know), but this simply means that we have to turn away from our sins and not only face God, but actively pursue Him. Next we have trust or faith that Jesus has made a way for us and that we cannot make it to God on our own. Finally, we simply confess that Jesus is the Lord, or boss, of our lives. Romans 10:9 tells us that we need to make that deliberate choice that we want to turn towards God and let Jesus be the bridge between us and God instead of us attempting to get to Him on our own. 

Does this make sense to you? Yeah. Yes it does. Good, so what would you have to do to have that relationship with God? I'd have to let go of my current lifestyle and pursue Jesus and accept Him as the boss of my life. Yeah. So what's holding you back from making that decision right now and accepting that eternal life through Jesus Christ? I dunno. I'm afraid of what will happen with my friends. I just don't know if I can let go of my lifestyle yet.

I'd like to say that I was able to continue to encourage her, and lead her to Christ, but that isn't true. The truth is, however, that she got to hear the gospel presented in a clear and concise (though it may not look it in words) way that was written on paper that she can go back and look at. I cannot help but think of Isaiah 55:11 in the King James Version at this point. God's Word will not return void. It WILL accomplish His will!

Where is Your Hope?

This is the question I usually ask my friends when they say "I hope so," or "I hope [this thing happens]." Sometimes, they look at me with a perplexed expression on their face. However, sometimes my friends actually understand what I am implying: Psalm 71:5. It says this: 

For You are my hope; O Lord God, You are my confidence from my youth.

Even deeper is the word used for God here. It's Yahweh, the personal name that God gave to us. That's another topic in itself, but I just wanted to say that personal God came in the bodily form of Christ to die for us. Because of that, I infer that Christ is my hope.

Anyway, Christ should be our hope as Christians, and that is why I ask that question. It is to point people back to God and get them thinking on what He has done, what He is doing and what He will do.

So today, I have been asking myself that question a LOT. I have needed to be pointed back to God so many times today. The one thing I keep on thinking is this: "If it weren't for the Lord, my heart would despair!" It is so true! I like the NIV version of John 16:33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

Take HEART! Take courage! Praise the Lord that He continues to turn my wandering heart back to Him. Though many different things were thrown at me at once, it seemed, God was gracious to turn my thoughts back to Him. It would have been easy to despair if it weren't for God. A couple saints are currently experiencing some familial issues leading to the uncertainty of joining us on some mission trips, and a brother battling cancer passed away today. I received this news as a wake-up call to what I need to do: pray.

We JUST went over Matthew 6 last night and the big takeaway that I had was to labor in prayer more and seek FIRST His kingdom and righteousness. Praise the Lord for opportunities to do so, even if I don't like the circumstances. 

If you'd like to support my brother's family, you can go to this page: https://www.facebook.com/PrayingforIanPeterson

Though I Intended for Evil...

Another humbling experience happened last Thursday. Well, A LOT of humbling experiences, but we'll get to that. First of all, it was a GREAT DAY! The one thing that keeps coming into my mind is this: Though I intended for evil, God worked for His good!

That morning, I did not get out of bed for the weekly discipleship meeting between homegroup trainers partly because of a small headache, but more so out of my laziness. So, the day didn't start out with the best foot, but somehow I was able to encourage my co-workers during work while we were absolutely slammed because of a swim meet (I work in the food court of a mall). However, the day at work flew by because we were busy the entire time. 

After work, I was pretty beat, so I was a little happy that the conference call I was supposed to have didn't happen. Again, not the best motivation and mindset here. Luckily for me, I got to spend some time with a great bro doing some discipleship time and outreaching. Praying for people went amazingly well! We met a guy that goes to our church that we didn't know (shame on us, right?), a guy who is laboring hard for Jesus with another group, and another guy who was looking for a church home. All these times were encouraging, but we hadn't had the chance to share the gospel yet. So we prayed that we would be able to... and that's when we ran into another guy who seemed pretty apathetic and non-responsive. I honestly was thinking that we should move on and find another person, but my bro persevered with him and kept on asking him questions. Finally, he wanted to see the gospel, so we shared it with him. This apathetic guy's demeanor changed a bit during the presentation and afterward he gave my bro his contact info and they are grabbing dinner together to talk about Jesus some more.

After this, we ate and I got to see some more friends on campus and have funsies. When I got home I got to share these stories with my roommates, and then I felt like my job was done. I could check my "Spiritual Box" off for the day. That's when I went to play video games online. Once again, however, God used me for His good. On the side chat bar, I was able to talk about Jesus' love with someone who was talking about suicide. Then used me to encourage a struggling young lady about her faith. All this while playing VIDEO GAMES!!! Amazing! Praise the Lord!

A great thing that was told to us today by the really encouraging laborer was this: "We're here for one purpose: To glorify God. If we accept His salvation, we glorify Him in His mercy. If we refuse His salvation, we glorify Him in His justice."

I Love It!

Moses... The Most Humble Man

This actually happened to me one day as I as in the mall after work. First of all, I currently work in a mall at Chick-FIl-A (appropriate, I know), so being there after work is not that big of a deal seeing as I usually have to find a ride home as well. 

Anyway, I wasn't going to get a ride home for another hour, so I decided to do some reading while I was waiting. In this One Year Plan I'm doing, it was Exodus 6 that day. So I'm reading along, and I had to stop midway through because right at the beginning the Word just spoke to me, and this is what I wrote down.

In Exodus 6:2-8 God opens up to Moses after he comes to the Lord in distress about Pharaoh and the Israelites. God says, "I am the Lord." Then He continues on by telling Moses how He did all of these things for his fathers, Abraham & Jacob. Then God declares once more in verse 6, "I am the Lord." Then He continues on to tell Moses what He WILL do, and how He's never broken a promise.

Moses comes back in verse 12 about how he is "unskilled in speech." Really Moses...? Unskilled in speech? Wow. After all that God has just told him AND after God has already told him earlier that He would be with his speech (Exodus 4:11-12), Moses comes up with a lame excuse like THAT?!? Let's be honest though, how many times do we, do I, come up with some lame excuse not to be bold for the Lord and do His work? "God, I can't talk to that guy because I'm alone..."

Right at that moment, I realized that is what I was thinking! It was horrible because I was sitting there writing and ranting about Moses, when I realized that I had been looking up periodically and saw this guy that was sitting alone at a table in front of me. So I bowed my head in a quick prayer, and when I looked up again... he was leaving. Immediately, I felt ashamed that I had NOT been bold for God. However, God being the God that He is immediately pointed my gaze to another guy who was alone.

I quickly shot up another quick prayer (without taking my gaze from the guy this time... fool me once kinda thing), and got up with the expectation that I was going to be used by the Lord somehow. It turned out that this guy just came from Punjab, India and couldn't understand a thing I was saying. However, he did understand when I asked if I could pray with him (with hand motions, of course) and so I prayed for him there. 

I got a couple things out of this experience. First, I pray that I will respond quicker to the Spirit's promptings instead of not trusting in what God can do. Second, I cannot hate on a man who spoke directly to God and didn't trust Him sometimes, when I have God inside ME and still don't trust Him sometimes. Floored.

The Exordium of the Steadfast

It has come to my attention that I have not been lining up with the actual title of my blog. I have NOT been steadfast in blogging. Not that it has been an entirely bad thing in itself to stop this; however, one of my terrible habits is that I start something and rarely follow through to finish it. I've decided after some prayer and reflection on what this actually means that I will commit to posting a new blog with no more than two weeks in between posts (foregoing tragedy or unforeseen circumstance of course).

I have come upon this decision in light of some recent challenges and verses I have come across. To let you into my mind a bit, here is a little of what I am thinking: I have seen a good many of my brothers and sisters rise up and take on the glorious challenge to live a life worthy of the calling of Jesus Christ. I am truly excited and encouraged to see their commitment. It hit me, though, that I am a man who lacks commitment and resolve in a few important areas of my life (Don't worry, you'll hear of all my downfalls here soon enough [ooooh! a tasty ploy to get you to read future posts]). To change that, I am trusting that Jesus will change me and I will cling to what He says in Luke 16:10 "One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much." Yeah, I just red lettered that jams!

Anywho, I figure that if I can commit to writing down my thoughts in a public avenue and somehow make my Saviour known even more here, then I will be more compelled to actually GO and make His love known to those I see everyday. So there you have it; my commitment to be better at writing my thoughts down at the very least, and prayerfully God will use this venue to talk to you in His own way in His own time.

In the meantime, I will be clinging to this 1 Corinthians 15:58 "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord." I will be especially praying this one: Psalm 51:10 "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me."

With those things in mind, if you know me, you know how to get in contact with me. If you do not, then feel free to comment and ask any questions or complain or what have you.