Speaking with Boldness

²² “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. ²³ I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. ²⁴ However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.

²⁵ “Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. ²⁶ Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you. ²⁷ For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God.
Acts 20:22-27

These words that Paul spoke to the Ephesians as he was leaving convict me so much because I know that I don't live this way at all. Paul declares to them that he has no regrets and that he is innocent of their blood because he has spoken to them boldly of the will of God. This is a guy that is crazy about God. A man that was willing to give up his whole life for Him, to leave everything behind, including his sin, so that he can take the Gospel to the ends of the earth because thats what God asked of him! Thats incredible to me that he heard God's calling and was so obedient and bold.

When I look at how Paul preached with such an urgency, it makes hell so real to me. You can tell that he just wanted people to believe. He wanted them to know the truth and to be satisfied. He preached with such a boldness and confidence because he believed what he was saying. But then I think about myself and I'm forced to think, do I really fear hell the way Paul did? If I did, the Gospel would be shared a lot more, not out of obligation but out of need!

In verses 25-27, it makes me think of all of the conversations I have with people on campus and all of the times I ignore the Holy Spirit's guidance. I know that the majority of these people I'll never see again, but I refuse to even bring up the topic of God out of fear and I hate to say it but shame. What will this person think of me? How will they react? Will they judge me? My lack of trust in God's sovereignty in my conversations is disgusting to Him and proves how I place my trust in myself and not in Him. I fear losing my reputation and being rejected by others but in turn, it results in disapproval from the only one that matters. I fear this rejection but did it ever occur to me that the very word rejected pretty much summed up Jesus' life spent on earth.

"He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not."
Isaiah 53:3

If we are going to take the path Jesus took, we need to be reminded of what Jesus endured while he traveled it. We oftentimes get sucked into this trap that the world sets that makes us think that different is bad, but he didn't come to be accepted and neither did we. We are here to speak boldly, correct gently, and live courageously.

Then, Come Follow Me!

         I was talking to a friend today about Christmas-time and presents today and the frustration in me just came out... why do we put so much worth in the things that don't matter?! The things that I'm referring to are that name brand shirt, or that 57th pair of shoes, or that newest version of a video game because the first 3 editions are outdated. I sound psychotic but when I think of this mad world around me and everyone around me constantly "needing" more, I can't help but wonder am I mad or are they?

       As I sat in the car at the mall today 3 days before Christmas and watched the chaos around me, people yelling, horns being honked, cars cutting each other off for parking spots, I couldn't help but feel a deep saddness. As gifts were being bought, the greatest gift of all was being forgotten. It was as if God's gift was not sufficient enough. How could these people be happy? How could they sing of it being the most wonderful time of the year when they were leaving out the best part! They're searching high and low for that "perfect" gift, that great deal, the best bargain, but the most PERFECT gift of all is right in front of them and costs NOTHING and they're just passing it up!!!

        No matter how hard we try to please everyone and fulfill all of these Christmas wishlists, someone always walks away sad or unfulfilled because the world doesn't satisfy! This world cannot, does not, and will not EVER satisfy. Have you ever been unhappy and thought that if you just get the one thing, it will solve the problem? Have you ever realized that time and time again you were wrong? I fall victim to this trap that the world offers way too often. I think that if I just get that t-shirt or that sweater that it will somehow feel this void that I have deep inside of me. But once I get it, I walk away feeling unchanged. My problem is that I'm putting my hope in a t-shirt to solve my problems instead of my savior!!! There is a very clear difference between the two. When I think of all that Jesus has to offer and all that He has gone through for my sin, how could I not choose him? Lord, help me overcome these worldy desires!

       This break, the verse that has continously stuck with me is “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." (Matthew 5:5) Jesus constantly warns of how hard it is to enter the kingdom of heaven if you are rich, and lately this is beginning to make more and more sense to me. I used to always think, times aren't the same as they were back then. I'm sure that passage doesn't apply as much but it couldn't be more true. When I think of the meek that Jesus was talking about, I think of how much they have to rely on God to provide and how much of a presence He is in their life. Those who have a little in todays society end up having so much more spiritually and those who are "physically" rich are so spiritually poor and lacking heavenly riches. I think of the verse in Matthew 6:24 when Jesus says “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money." Money is something that man created, it is of the world. God is not created. He always was and always will be! He existed before creation! He existed before time! He is infinite! When I think of this verse I think of how you can't have a divided heart between the two... either your heart is surrendered to man and the world, or your heart is wholly surrendered to God and His infinince. There is no way to have them both because they are both such opposites and like the verse says they are impossible to balance.

“But woe to you who are rich,
for you have already received your comfort." Luke 6:24

        I'd rather be poor in this life and rich in the next life any day! This life is gone in the blink of an eye so why waste it storing up all of these riches when all they do is waste away and waste your time? Instead, I'll fix my eyes on eternity and what is to come and the promises we have in Christ!

         When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." Luke 18:22
AMEN!

12-19

      Knowing you don't know anything... the reason I picked that title is because this year I have truly come to the point where I've realized that I know nothing. After encountering God and all of his holiness, after having just the smallest taste of all of his power and knowledge and majesty, how could I even claim to know anything? Being before a God so big makes me realize how truly small I am. Every time I learn something new, whether its in church or at a Bible study and I think that I finally get it, that I finally understand God, I find myself quickly brought back to reality by my sin and by the sheer fact that God is God, and I am just human. In the words of my high school math teacher, you can't add apples and oranges, and its so true because how can we even try to compare our sinful selves with a holy God?? But thats the thing that completely blows my mind, that this righteous God would want to hang out with a sinner like me, that His thoughts about me, a sinner, are too numerous to even count! A love like that I will never even be able to begin to understand other than to look at the love his son had for us when he freely (asking for NOTHING in return) gave his life, so that we might gain life.

      So how does someone respond to this beautiful exchange... to Jesus taking the penalty I deserved and paying it all for me so that I can one day have eternal life, to him choosing to die for me even though I have rejected him more times than I can count! When I think of how I should react, I picture myself giving him eternal praise and gratitude but in reality how do I actually react? In my relations with others and just my attitude alone reflects that I act in way thinking that I deserve all of the praise. How often do I get frustrated when I do something and I don't receive credit for it, or how mad does it make me when I'm "underappreciated". These attitudes of mine reflect a state of my heart that is prideful and entitled.

      Its so easy to lose focus, or even to place our focus in a place where it doesn't belong (ourselves). God, I pray that you would become my focus again. This life doesn't and isn't supposed to make sense unless youre in the center of it. I lift up this sinful heart to you and ask that you would refine it not to worship myself, but instead worship you who is so worthy of praise! God, Im frustrated, frustrated that I'm corrupt and that my heart has this tendency to make things about myself when I so badly want them to be about you. Please strip me of this ego and pride and replace these things that are of me with things that are of you! I pray that my response to your sons sacrifice would be a response of humbleness and eagerness to serve, that I would respond in a way fit for the one who gave it ALL! God, you are so gracious to someone who is so undeserving and I pray that my love for you would grow in response to your great love for me!

When Satan entices us...

         Why does sin look so appealing? If doing the “right thing” is so right, then why do we struggle with it so much? In my humble opinion, we are far too easily satisfied. As human beings we have basic needs and we’ll do whatever it takes to meet those needs, whether it’s right or not. We are always seeking pleasure and although God promises eternal satisfaction through Him, we constantly return to the world to meet that need, which time and time again leaves us feeling empty and unfulfilled.

Whenever the first solution comes along, whether it is good for us or not, we jump at the chance to be filled by the satisfaction that it claims to give us.  I often feel like a victim to these empty promises that the world offers. I’m waiting and searching for something to satisfy and as soon as something presents itself, I take it. But I’m selling myself short and so are you. You deserve everything. All of these things that we are so desperately using to fill these voids that we have are just temporary fixes. I think we get so exhausted waiting for answers that we take the first solution that comes our way, but there’s no need to settle for less for fear of not being able to make the whole journey. God promises endurance to face every trial and tribulation that we’ll ever face. Nothing can faze us.

“But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." -Isaiah 40:31

Let’s go back to my original question, why does sin look so appealing? A great analogy that Francis Chan uses is to think of ourselves as fish and Satan waiting to snatch us up with a hook. It seems silly but when you think of it, it makes so much sense. Think back to any fishing trip that you’ve been on, have you ever tried to catch a fish with just a hook. No, a fish won’t just bite on the hook by itself. It needs to be enticed, so you disguise the hook and cover it up with bait so that it will be more appealing to the fish and lure them in. The same is true with sin and Satan’s lies. He knows that we won’t go for the lie itself, so he makes them look more appealing to us. He disguises them with promises of wealth and pleasure and instant gratification, but underneath it all is misery and displeasure and hopelessness. 

The beauty of Francis Chan’s analogy is that it helped me see how damaging giving in to sin really is. Once we get hooked, we’re trapped and it’s hard to break free of Satan’s lies. But if we avoid temptation and don’t even nibble at the bait Satan throws at us, if we recognize the lures and false promises that Satan so commonly offers, we will begin to seek satisfaction in the only one who can give it.

 “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” -1 Corinthians 10:13

 “ For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” -Hebrews 2:18

God's Divine Sovereignty

        We often hear the phrase used "God is sovereign" and I find myself constantly saying it but having such a hard time believing it. God I know you're sovereign over my life, but I still want to do things my way. Truly believing God is sovereign is believing in His plans for you and forfeiting all of the plans you have for yourself. Its knowing that He will work all things out for your good although you might be having a hard time seeing it at the time. As I listened to David Platt's sermon tonight about the Divine Sovereignty of God, my beliefs about it were really challenged. I was forced to ask myself, do I really believe God's plans for my life are better than my own? And I find myself saying well of course they are! He's God and He knows everything... but then why do I continue to do things my way? Do you see what I mean.. if God is truly sovereign over your life He is in control of it ALL, not just what you pick and choose. But as much as we want to believe we might have just a little bit of control, the truth is, we don't. When we say God is sovereign over everything, it means EVERYTHING.

Revelation 4:11, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

       The key words there are "by your will": everything exists because God lets it! Satan is powerful because God allows it! People have free will because God lets us! Nothing is done outside of God's power because there is no power other than God's.

As David puts it:

    "Our sovereign God holds the destiny of the world in the palm of his hand. The palm of his hand contains God’s sovereign decrees for the final glorification of all believers and damnation of all unbelievers. It is all in the palm of his hand. Nature, the sun, the stars—he is sovereign over all. There is NOT a speck of dust that exists apart from the sovereignty of God. Our God charts the course of countries. He holds rulers in the palm of his hand. Our God is sovereign over every single world leader—over you, me, the president, everyone.
He creates all things, knows all things, has authority over all things. He has all the rights! Christian, you have no rights. God alone has all rights. He has the right to save sinners and he has the right to damn sinners.
What about human responsibility? Man makes decisions, but God is sovereign over them."

        God knows every decision before you make it, He knows every sin you will commit before you commit it, and He knows every thought you will ever think before you've even thought it. There is none more powerful than our God. But with all of this power is a God more merciful than you could ever imagine. A God waiting to forgive you for those sins you commit and a loving father waiting to embrace his child -you! There is no one like our God! He is sovereign and He is worthy of all praise.
    Lord I pray that these words would glorify your name and for those who are led here to know your life changing love. I ask this humbly in your name Amen.

The Wisdom of God -The Foolishness of Man

Our society is one of constant change. We are always seeking new innovations and new ideas of thinking. We are surrounded by electronic books, iPod models that change so fast we can't keep up with them, and computers that are smarter than we are. We attribute these advances to the intelligence and skill of man and thinking about all of this blows my mind, but today God enabled me to think of it in a new light. A person who is intelligent enough to invent something revolutionary, publish the newest research on gene therapy, who can know everything there is to know about physics and quantum mechanics, could in fact, know nothing. This person could die without ever knowing the power of God, who is everything.

 I'm not in any way saying that all scientists don’t know God, those aren’t my intentions and I’m not trying to speak for all scientists or inventors, because I don’t have the authority to do so. But today when I read in 1 Corinthians 1, the people I just mentioned were comparable to the groups of people Paul was talking about. In verse 19 he says, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.” He directed this towards all of the philosophers, scholars, and brilliant debaters of the day. Paul tells them in verses 20 and 21, “God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom.” The point that Paul was really trying to get across here is how seeking worldly knowledge could never lead someone to God. You can never know God through the world, because God is not of the world. God’s way of thinking is not the world’s way of thinking. We can spend a lifetime accumulating wisdom and yet never learn how to have a personal relationship with God.

A man who is brilliant by the world’s standards, could be completely poor by heaven’s standards. “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” (1 Cor 1:25) We can never even begin to compare to God. Our efforts are useless! I find myself frustrated, how can all of these brilliant people just not get it! Verse 27 says, “Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.” God wants us to submit to Him and His power. Not our own. That means admitting that we know nothing and that we are absolutely weak without Him. It is through this humbling obedience that we begin a relationship with our Creator. The message of Christ’s death seems foolish to those who don’t believe. The idea of receiving everlasting life by trusting Him as Savior sounds too simple for many, and it goes against their rational thinking. But Paul makes it clear that skill and wisdom do not get a person into God’s Kingdom, simple faith alone does. Let us rejoice that we don’t need to earn salvation, we only need to accept what Jesus has already done!

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith

—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God

— not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Ephesians 2:8-9

Finding Time for God

When you read that title, doesn’t it strike you as a little bit odd? But the reality of it is that we all do this. We all have God on a schedule, whether we realize it or not. When I think of myself trying to “make time” for the creator of time, it just seems so wrong. When did we get the authority to tell our Creator when we would worship him? In Colossians 1:16 it says “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.”

In Revelation  4:11 it says “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” God is definitely worthy and in control for he created all things, including time!

Something that I’ve been convicted of a lot this summer is how poorly I spend my time. I can go through 3 episodes of Grey’s Anatomy with no problem but finding the motivation to pick up my bible is so difficult for me. When I think of the root of the problem, it comes down to what do I really put my faith in? Is this tv series, relationship, phone conversation, whatever it may be, more glorifying to God than spending time with God Himself?

“ Blessed is the man who listens to me,

Watching daily at my gates,

Waiting at my doorposts.”

Proverbs 8:34

Although we think our plans are more important, we have to remind ourselves who we’re up against. Nothing we do will ever matter apart from Him.