Jesus, sunsets and cigars.

1 Corinthians 7:17. "only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him."

these words echo in my mind, engaging my will, struggling with my emotions. Every part of my heart has been impacted by these words written so long ago.

1 Corinthians 5:9 "i wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people, not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world."

i sat on my back porch yesterday, enjoying a fall sunset, the wind came and went in violent gusts, but it wasn't cold wind, just the perfect combination of fall chill and warmth. pulling out a cigar, i neatly clipped the end off (i enjoy a good cigar once in awhile, and today was the perfect day for one), flipped open my zippo, and held the flame to the end of the cigar. the smell was sweet, the taste and after taste was sweet, the barcar burned slowly, by far the best one i've had. i tilted back in my porch rocker and let the painted sky fill my vision, smells of dead leaves, november air and the sweet smelling cigar filled my senses. i think moments like these in our lives are few, where everything is as it should be, i drank it up.

somewhere, in the middle of all this, i let my thoughts drift back into the deeper files of my mind, pulling up and going over again why i was here, why i existed, and what i was investing my life in. my focus this whole last week seemed to have been lost somehow, and i was determined to get it back. my time spent on the streets, the people that God placed in my path, and used me to speak to all came rushing back. i heard Jesus say "this is the style of life, the calling I've called you to live, wherever I lead you." called to love the un-lovable. this may seem like a broad statement, but it brought back to me as what my life was about. its about, others. we are to be friends, literal friends with the "sexually immoral" people, with the "swindlers"and ""idolaters" with the "un-touchable's" of this messed up world.

the very people, situations and circumstances that i was raised and taught to stay away from, are the very heart of where Jesus calls me. this "World Race" that i will be a part of, is the next step in following Jesus' call on my life. while others go through college, my team and i will be traveling the world bringing hope to hopeless people, showing the hated and abused what it means to be loved and to love. while others get married and have kids, i'll be chasing hard after Jesus, while people are making their fortunes and stashing away money, God's kingdom will be advanced by an army of selfless people who have experienced the love of Jesus.

a lifetime of knowing and following Jesus is not marked by what you have or got from others, but what you gave after you had been given everything by God Himself.

God has given us everything ....

Ephesians 1:3-10

"blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

1 Peter 1:3

"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence."

Now we are called to give, not because we have to, but because we can.

Romans 12:1-2

"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

John 12 25-26

Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow after me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

Mark 8:34-36

'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wold save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul."

i've been discovering lately just how much of the society around us dictates to us who we are, how we should act, how we should live, what we should say and not say. to talk about society is to talk about yourself. what makes up society? people. who are those people? me, you, and everyone else that lives around us. giving into society is something that is bred into us by people, parents and peers that are followers of a society. is all of society bad? no, I wouldn't say that, cause it wouldn't be true. but all it takes is a quick look at yourself to realize that more likely then not, eighty percent of what you do is not based on what you like, but a twisted combination of what you want people to think, how you want them to view you and how you want to be accepted by them.

dumb? yes. why we do it? another combination of wanting acceptance, being people pleaseers and the last third of our decision making is just simply not even knowing why we do it. to stop and think about it is dangerous, because it brings to the light a reality that we are guided by others and their reasoning which leaves us in a place of discomfort knowing that we are not as strong of an individual as we commonly like to think of ourselves. most of us are individuals stuck within the confines of what society has said makes someone an individual. rarely do we do anything that wold be leave people questioning our social skills. we were raised to be people pleasers, people who blend in, who live just like the "normal" society.

yet we are society, we make up society, we help set the standard for the quote "norm" of what life should look like. my first girlfriend Teylor used to say something to me that has stuck with me. "normal is just a setting on a washing machine" she would say. it's true. underneath all of our clothes, makeup, cars, houses, careful language, social behavior, public images and so called "families that have it together" are a bunch of people chained by a society that they have created, and they don't even realize it. we are a people so drastically diverse in likes, interests, communication, backgrounds and circumstances that are only ever partly shown through how we build our homes, or what we drive. rarely do you meet someone who is truly knowledgeable of who they really are and what they like. they are the people who we don't care to really be around, because they cause us to start looking at our true selves, and that simply scares us to death, that we might step outside of the "guidelines" of society, stepping outside of our own self made cages, looking beyond ourselves.

step out, be real about who you are, be real and honest with others, know what you like, what you don't like, what your are pursuing, what you stand for and why. but remember, confidence about yourself doesn't come from inside of you, it has to come from someone bigger then you. because after all, once you understand yourself, you understand that life is not. about. you.

Zombie stuff.

So I admit it, I am very intrigued by Zombies. I currently started watching "The Walking Dead" every now and then when I have time. I wonder sometimes to myself what would happen if something like a Zombie epidemic were to actually happen . What would I do, how would I survive, who would I go looking for to join me in my fight for survival? Things like that. Within my mind I have a plan of what I would do, but here's an interesting reality. Something I've found out over time is, every dude I know has already though of a plan (regardless of how simple or complex) of action they would take in case something like "Zombies" suddenly became a reality among us. On the flip side, maybe 5% of women have ever given that subject a single though.

Something else I've also discovered. Most dudes actually think that a Zombie world might actually be fun to live in as long as the right survival tools were available to them. The number one tool that pretty much all dudes agree is the most needed survival tool for such an occasion, is a gun. The reality is that men enjoy shooting things, we really do. And the thought of being able to walk around and shoot Zombies knowing that their already dead, is actually a really fun thought. Personally, a gun would be my first choice. Water would be my second choice, and a machete would be my third. Fourth item would be a big truck, 4x4 with big tires and a nice big grill on the front. Most women that read this will think that this is juvenile and childish. I would have to agree and disagree with them. If you are referring to the guy's that completely take it to far and let it consume them by becoming Zombie nerds, then yes I would agree with you, very childish. But if you talking about the dudes who have thought through a plan just in case, and then moved on with their lives, I disagree with you. It's good to take into account the "what if's" in your life at some point in your life, but not let them control you.

Of course there are ton of different things that come into play with the idea of a Zombie epidemic. The massive loss of life as millions of people are infected, a whole culture collapsing, and a whole mass of other things.

But you gotta admit, the idea of living in a world that doesn't revolve around money and politics, where you can carry gun's wherever you go, sounds pretty awesome to me.

Questions.

I've often wondered what the key component for growing and maturing is. While I've found that there are many components that go into how and why we grow, I recently heard one of the most profound statements that helped the missing piece fall into place. I don't remember exactly what He said because I was so taken by it, I forgot to write it down. It went something like this. A true disciple is not defined by the complexity of his answers, but by the quality of his questions. I've thought about this a TON since I heard it and damn, it's so true.

I used to think that a mature person was someone who knew their stuff, someone who could confidently tell you why he/she believed what they believed. But then I noticed another observation, most of the people that I have known and respected as "mature" people in my life had one thing in common. They all "knew" the answers to most things that I would ask questions about. Most of them had reached a certain point in their life where they stopped growing, stopped maturing. I've wondered so many times over the last few years why this happens. I would say the answer to this question is simple. People have forgot how to ask questions. We as people are prone to get to a place in our lives where we answer all of the questions that we have though were important, we become content with the answers. And instead of continuing to ask questions and find answers, we simply sit back and make the simple answers that we found for our questions painfully complex.

We lose out wonder, we forget to ask ourselves questions about ourselves and life. The way to continue to grow and mature is to ask quality questions.

Mike

New.

My Dad's house is empty of everyone but me and the lonely cricket that I can hear somewhere. Today has been such a slow day for me it seems. I have so much to do, but I've been in one of those mindsets of not being sure where to start. So, I sat down and decided to see what I could do on my WR stuff, saw that I hadn't blogged yet, so I decided to do that.

Actually having a WR blog is a kinda crazy. I've read tons of other WR blogs from other people, but now I actually have one. I cannot wait for July to get here and the traveling to start. The ministries that God has led me to and taken me through this last summer have been the hardest and best season of my life, I know that as I continue to follow Him, it will continue to get better. I'm really not sure what to expect in this coming season of life with the World Race. And I think it's good not to have expectations, but at the same time have the right expectations. Here's what I mean. The right expectations would be; expecting God to completely change me top to bottom, expecting God to do great things through my team and myself, expect God to lead with His Spirit and expect life to be nothing I've experienced before. The wrong expectations; Planning out what I think God should do, and expecting Him to unfold events the way I imagined, expecting to be able to guess how God will do things.

Two different kinds of expectations. There is the right kind and the wrong kind.

Learning to embrace whatever He brings into my life, knowing that God has my good in mind, and that He is using me to further His Kingdom.
Romans 8:28
Mike

Accepting the not understanding part of life.....

How God works things out in life is, and always will be a mystery to me. A line from the movie "Batman Begins" has always stood out to me, and just recently I've realized the truth behind it.

"You always fear, what you don't understand."

Fear I think is one, if not THE biggest paralyzer in the life of human beings. It's so true, we always fear what we don't understand. If we don't know what the next day is going to hold, we start to get anxious. If we don't have some kind of "projection" of what out next week will hold on our planners and smart phones, we can hardly function. When people ask us "what are you doing next week", it's like we're afraid to answer....I don't know. We are afraid of the unknown.

This has really been something that's I've struggled with as God has began to work things out in my life. As I've emptied my schedule and He has began to fill it up, more often then not, it's been on an as I go basis. Hard to accept? Yes. It has completely brought to the surface just how much I don't trust God, in return shown me how distorted my view of God is. We say that God is all powerful, completely loving to His children and the provider for your needs. We say our "God greater, out God is stronger, God you are higher then any other!" But when it comes right down to it, when we're in the fiery trial, we see that we don't truly believe like we tell everyone we do. Someone cannot follow God and have a small unbelieving view of God and His power. They have to see God as He is. HUGE, completely powerful, completely loving to His children, and a keeper of His promises. God has been walking me through this all summer this year, crushing false ideas and views of Himself and instilling in my mind will and emotions the truth about Himself. Instilling in me the ability to trust Him with the things in life that I don't understand.

Growing to understand His love,

Mike

Aching for more then this.....

It's like something has been eating away at me for a long time now. It's a whisper inside of me that is constant, persistent and grows in volume every day it seems. I'm no longer satisfied with existing, the thought of living the rest of my life making money only to die in retirement )which is the "American dream") is a suffocating thought to my mind. That's not what I was made for. I wasn't made to save my money and live comfortably. I have a longing to just be free from myself, free from expectations. Free from the empty fb statuses that flood my computer screen. I want to live, wild full and free. But most of all, I want more of my Jesus. It's a longing, and ache inside me that I cannot get rid of. It's a longing to be with Him, to leave this messed up world, to see Him in all His glory.

But I have to wait.Tthis is not easy. It's difficult to be so close and yet so far from the one person that you know you were made to be with. Nothing satisfies you. Not money, food, cars, music, abilities, not even popularity. Nothing satisfies my want to have the most of Him that I can, except Him. I don't think it's selfish to want the best thing in life........I know it's not.

Aching for more of Him......

Mike

Falling off the radar.....

By myself down at the point, a place on camp where the sandy soil turns to rocks, and the rocks reach a good ways out into the Kezar Lake finally coming to a point before slowly submerging and finally disappearing under water. This is where I was, alone. Camp fire had started, but something inside me pulled me away from it, away from the excitement, music, comedy and noise. I was alone, as far as no people being around me was concerned. Silent, reflecting on the past weeks, marveling at God's work in the lives of the campers and also in my own life. It's past sunset already, and except for the occasional passing boat creating a wake, Kezar is still and quiet. The small waves lapped against the lakes edge, such a soothing sound to me. Then almost as if someone flipped a switch, out came the annoying bugs of the night, whining in my ears, mosquitoes trying their best to treat themselves to my blood.

Standing up I walked back to the Crows Nest, "Mike's fortress of Solitude" as lot of guys on camp had named it. There were no lights on when I went up, so I laid back in the old beat up chair in front of my desk, propped my feet up, and the thoughts began to flow again. However this time, I thought through them as I spoke them out loud in prayer to God. As we talked, I realized that this is what had pulled me away from campfire. God wanted to spend some time alone with me. That just made me want to be there all the more with Him. Sitting there in the dark, I'd fallen off the radar for awhile, and it was a good thing. I don't do it enough. In the business of ministry it's something I have to literally fight for. I'm bad at letting God's work replace God at times, but He is teaching me.

The lights on my laptop blink on and off showing their activity, no sounds, except my voice as I talk to God, and the fan in the window quietly humming. These are the times I love. Apparently though my desires for God are still pitifully weak seeing as He has to draw me so often, rather then me just wanting Him enough to remember to pursue Him all the time. So part of my prayer is that He will instill in me an awe factor that will not die. Then I realize He already has. The gospel!

Mike

Learning.

Learning is a constant in my life. I am always learning. But this summer has been a while new experience for me. If we go back a few months, I'm working at starbucks, fighting with everything I have to not get "sucked" back into the everyday drag of life, to not loose my focus on who I am in Christ, what my mission is, what my purpose is. This was my struggle for months. Every morning I would wake up and get ready for work, arming myself against the day that was coming. Preparing for battle with my flesh, and finding ways to make work different every day, to make it fun. This was all good, but I forgot a few things. I forgot that I was sent here to love the world as well. Part of my preparation should have been praying for God to show me how to love people, my co-workers, my boss. the customers. I think we as christians over emphasize the fact that we are at war and always need to be on guard, and forget that we also weapons of life being used by God to bring His life into people and His kingdom all around us. We will be called to do some crazy things that the world wont understand, they can't understand.

I found this out in my life. On top of the struggles, I was also dealing with a past relationship, hurts, pain, bitterness and self pity. It was an everyday struggle to get up, and keep moving. But each day God gave me the strength, day by day, moment by moment. After a few months of this, I began to see that through all of it, God was working in me, changing my desires, bringing healing and restoration that I needed so much. But also He put the desire into my heart to go. I wasn't sure where, but I knew I needed to go. I wish I could say that I instantly started praying about it, but I didn't. Instead, in my pride, I tried to figure out on my own where God wanted me. God is so awesome, because even in our stupidity, He still loves us and gives us good things.

The person that God put in my life to show me where I was supposed to go was my sister Beka. It had been a long time since we had hung out, and she was back from her traveling for couple weeks, and so we had a chance to talk and get caught up on what was happening in our lives, what Jesus was doing, and how we have been changed and how we are changing. I don't have time to tell you everything she said, but the one phrase that stuck in my head was this. "I am the biggest stumbling to doing what I know God wants me to do." I repeat that phrase all the time to myself. How many times do we want to do something for God that we know He wants us to do, but when if comes right down to it, we are to attached to ourselves and things. After we talked I spent some time alone in prayer out on our garage roof, and surrendered to God my life and time. Right away I knew what He wanted me to do. Quite your job and go work with the guy's at NEFC. So I did. I put in my two weeks and then hit the road for Maine.

This summer has been the craziest hardest amazing season of my life, but it's been the most rewarding. I can't wait to see where else Jesus leads. I've come to know Jesus more, and continue to. I've been able to make an impact on the lives of young men that will last into eternity for the praise of Christ, because of Christ. The best times in my life have been the most confusing and hardest times, because in them, Jesus is closest to me. Embrace the hard times and challenges, and look for Jesus, because He is looking for you.

Thank you all for your prayers, I couldn't do this without your encouragement.

Mike

God is most glorified, when we are most satisfied with Him.

p.s. I've been accepted by the World Race, and I leave in July 2012!!!!!

Exercising The Faith Given To Me

Surrender.

It's the summer of 2011, and so many thing have happened over the last few months. Things that have forever changed me, things that have made me into a stronger more independent person as I have come to learn to fully depend on Christ. Life is such and interesting thing. Have you ever questioned why you live the way you do? Have you ever asked yourself why you think the things that matter in your life matter to you? Does the question linger in the back of your mind, "is there more to life then this repeating of work, and working hard to have a "better life" for myself?" These thoughts cross my mind frequently.

If what I read in the Bible is true, and I am to be like Christ in denying myself and giving my life to others in a radical way that is hard for my brain to conceive, what am I doing here? If I am truly loved like God says I am, that love should change me, in every way, including outward action. But the reality has been that I am very good at saying things, but not understanding what I've been saying, on a heart level. And the main reason for not understanding these truths, has been because of myself.

My self focus, self pity, and laziness have been paralyzing factor in my apathy for God, and pursuing the path that God has for me. Psalm 139:16 ......"The days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them." Literally, He already has a path set for me, and He formed the days that I will live out as I travel that path. And He formed them while there was none of them. This gives me security in following Jesus, wherever, wherever and for what ever reason He leads. I would encourage anyone who wants to know just how much God knows about them to read Psalm 139. And let what you read give you confidence that God does know what is best for you, all the time.

Fully following God means accepting His perfect control over everything in your life.

All your ways are good
All your ways are sure
I will trust in you alone
Higher than my sight
High above my life
I will trust in you alone
(Chorus)
Where you go, I'll go
Where you stay, I'll stay
When you move, I'll move
I will follow you
Who you love, I'll love
How you serve I'll serve
If this life I lose, I will follow you
I will follow you

Light unto the world
Light unto my life
I will live for you alone
You're the one I seek
Knowing I will find
All I need in you alone, in you alone
(bridge)
In you there's life everlasting
In you there's freedom for my soul
In you there joy, unending joy
and I will follow

(Chris Tomlin)

Surrendered and sold.

Mike

ooops....

I followed myself by accident.....

reality Check...

Sitting in the drive-through window of my Starbucks store where I would otherwise be handing out coffee and chatting with customers, I sat enjoying the fresh evening air. The sounds of the cafe music just audible from my seat, the smells of coffee and the hum of the chatter of customers all blended together to make quite a sensation for all of my senses to take it. In the middle of all this, my mind drifted out to a third person view of myself sitting in the window, and I suddenly had this thought "what if there is no God." "Weird thought for me to think just then" I thought to myself. But yet there it was, and almost instantly I recognized it's accusing tone, satan. But in that moment the very fact that I was living my life based on a God that I'd never seen, and that I was pursuing things in life totally contrary to everyone around me, for the sake of this God seemed so surreal, very surreal. As I thought about this, the Holy Spirit came to battle for me, reassuring my mind will and emotions that yes, He was real, very real.

As instantly as it had begun, the Spirit won the battle in my mind, bringing comfort to me, assurance of His work in me, that He was real and that He would finish His work. A boldness that I could not explain that was not of myself came to me to continue to follow as He led even if people didn't understand. God's words once again coming to life in 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 "Blessed be the God an Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." Affliction can come in many different forms. Mental affliction is sometimes one I struggle with on a large scale. Weather it be doubt or fear. But yet I am comforted in ALL my afflictions. "We don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against cosmic powers, 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" Ephesians 6 reads. I've seen this truth come alive in a very real sense as I've began praying for people, for myself that God would make me more like Him, and work through me however He sees fit, for His glory. And so the attacks come, strong and swift, sometimes relentless for hours, often days. Guilt, fears, memories, old desires, temptation to lust, temptation to trust in myself, idolatry, jealousy, self pity, and the list goes on. Sometimes all of these things are thrown at me all at once and my mind feels overwhelmed, and I don't see a way to escape. But in the midst of it all, Jesus comes, and instead of letting my attention be consumed with all the things that I used to do, or have done, or the person that I no longer am, by God's grace I zero in on the cross, and meditate on the gospel. And all of a sudden you realize, the battle has already been won.

The gospel saved us, it is saving us, and it will finally save us.

1 Corinthians 15:1

"Now I would remind you brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, IF you hold fast to the word I preached to you-unless you believed in vain."

The cross says:

I am forgiven of sin. Past, present and future.

I am a new creature, and all things (EVERYTHING) have become new.

My old man is dead, slain, destroyed. But I now live fully alive in Christ, for God, by God, being risen with Him in His resurrection.

I am free to struggle with my sin, because it no longer has power over me, I am not it's slave.

I am free from myself so that I can live for God.

I am free from sin to do the good works that God for-ordained me to do, and live the righteousness, that God has clothed me with.

All my good works are as filthy rags to God. (the greek translation there for filthy rags is, used minstrel cloths. Or, in current culture, used tampons) God alone is my righteousness.

I was saved not because of myself or what I've done, but by grace (God's grace) through faith.

There is no more guilt because of sin, Jesus bore my condemnation on the cross.

And the list continues....

The Gospel should never ever get old to us. It's the foundation on which we stand, because its about Jesus, our only solid ground and sure hope.

Loving and pursuing God, and loving His gospel more everyday.

Life.

"A Chris Tomlin Concert" is what they called it. But it was anything but that. It wasn't a concert, or a show to entertain the minds of people. It was the complete opposite, it was an act of worship. Chris Tomlin has the hand of God on him, and is being used of God to unify people to worship Him, together as one body. It was as if the ceiling on the stadium wasn't there, you could feel the presence of God moving in power, empowering, changing hearts, bringing wonder into the hearts of everyone there. God was there without a doubt. It wasn't an emotional hype, or a fuzzy woohoo time, God's power, greatness and love was shown in a very real way to us that Saturday night. God brought me out of state of depression and bitterness, and brought life, healing and forgiveness to life through His Spirit. I'm a walking breathing example of God's healing powers.

It spilled over to the next day as I was out with a friend of mine. I had this overwhelming sense of God's awesomeness and power, mercy and grace. In response to it, I pulled out my guitar, and began singing song after song after song. I don't know how long we were there worshiping God, but it doesn't matter, He is worthy of far more pa raise then we could ever give Him.

People say that they need counseling to work through bitterness, fear, anxiety, anger, heartbreak. I don't know. I think that with enough time spent with God, and prayerful reading through scripture, God will heal that person Himself, after all, He is God.

Life is sometimes freakin hell all around. But God has been far better to me then I could ever deserve, and I'll gladly go through any fire or trial for the sake of Christ, because I know that it is not death to die. Death of my flesh means the life of God working in me. Death to bitterness, hatred, jealousy, anger, lust, greed, pride, selfishness and whatever else, means life with love, joy peace, longsuffering, gentleness, patience, meekness and faith. The death of my physical body, means immortality and life in the presence of God, Jesus, my Lord, my Saviour.

All my fountains are in You......Jesus.

Mike

True things.

I believe that part of my responsibility in the body of Christ is to help set the pace for the church by listening and obeying and living Christ. Knowing that God has called us each to live a faithful and devoted life before Him, by the power of His Holy Spirit. You do not need to preach to your pastor or congregation; you simply need to live out in your daily life the love and obedience that Christ has asked of you.

Francis Chan

I took a sharpie marker, and wrote that in the front of my Bible. It's not something I ever want to forget....ever. I don't think I have ever been punched so hard spiritually by such completely simple, but life changing profound words from a person, other then when I heard the Gospel and was saved.

I've thought of this often as I've gone about serving my church the last few months. No one will ever fully agree with everything a church does, no matter what church it is. And my church is no exception. There are things that I don't agree with, things I don't think are handled in a scriptural way, things I think need to change. And for awhile, I tried to change them. But it didn't work. So then I tried going to other churches to find one that "I" liked. But even that didn't do anything for me. Sure, the excitement of a new church, with new people, a new pastor, that did things differently was something that I liked. However, as the layers kept being peeled back, I soon discovered that the problem wasn't with my church, the pastor, that I wasn't "getting fed". It wasn't that they were doing things that I didn't think were scriptural....it was my own heart.

And God used the above quote by Francis, to help me see that. My problem was my dis-satisfaction with God, my misunderstanding of the Gospel, and what I was living my life for and around. When I began to understand that I was not in the church to be fed, that I wasn't there to be a taker, but in fact, I was supposed to be there to be a giver. Encouragement of others is in my estimation from what I've seen, basically a lost function of a true Follower of Christ. Yes I said "Follower of Christ" instead of Christian. Everyone is a "christian", few follow Christ. But back to the current subject. Few people are true encourager's. I realized this was something that I wasn't. When I say encourager, I don't mean someone that's always patting you on the back telling you how good you are, my term for those people is generally this, "suck ups". I'm talking about encouragement that is centered around building someone up as you magnify the complete awesomeness of God.

To be more specific, you encourage them with Christ, and His word. Knowing how to apply the Word of God to different situations that people may be in, resulting the Christ being magnified in the eye's of the person whoever it may be, and them that person living in the truth, freedom and power that is theirs in Christ Jesus.

However, to do this, we ourselves must be walking with God on our own, in our private lives apart from everyone else. People need to be fed in their church, because they have no real relationship with Christ, because of this, they don't get the strength and energy they need, the food they need. I believe that the pastor of a church is supposed to lead his people and feed them from the word. But that is not supposed to be our main source of food. Our main source is to be in our one on one relationship with God throughout the week. Some people just simply want a "more skilled Pastor". Ak.a. someone who can give me a lot of cool information about the Bible, and they think that that is the measure of a good pastor. I'd have to say wrong again. I would rather be in a church where the pastor was not the best speaker/preacher, but loved the Lord, and loved his neighbor as himself, then to be in a church where the pastor could exposit scripture like no one's business, yet his life didn't back it up.

Those of us who don't have that relationship with God, wont get fed like we need to. We will become dis-satisfied with our church, with the people of our church, with the pastors, elders, carpet or whatever else it may be. To simply know alot about God, about the Bible, is not enough. But knowing God, and God knowing you, and having that real relationship is what makes all the difference.

So here is the quote one again.

I believe that part of my responsibility in the body of Christ is to help set the pace for the church by listening and obeying and living Christ. Knowing that God has called us each to live a faithful and devoted life before Him, by the power of His Holy Spirit. You do not need to preach to your pastor or congregation; you simply need to live out in your daily life the love and obedience that Christ has asked of you.

Francis Chan

I say to you, the person that is considering going to another church, check your hear and your motives. Here's how.

1. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength.

2. Love your neighbor as yourself. (treat your neighbor (the people in your church) the way you treat yourself.)

If your following these, You'll know if God is leading you to another church, or if it's just your selfish deceitful heart, because you'll be following God. I ask you to search your heart before God.

Mike

Continuing...

It's been sometime since I've started blogging. I started a few years ago, but never really had anything worth saying as I read back over all my old posts (which still exist on xanga). Growing up has been quite the experience for me, and for anyone who has done it, and I find that it's good to sometimes look back on the past, and look for the ways that God has moved in your life, lessons you have learned, friends you made, friendships that are still very much in contact even though they may have moved away. Once you hit 23, you actually have a bit of time under your belt. I personally feel old at times when I am able to tell someone, "Oh, I read that book series when I was 15....).

God has done more amazing things in my life then I could write on here for sure. But the No. 1 things He did within the last two years was to save me. Save me from myself, from sin. A lot of you who grew up watching me might be kinda shocked to hear that, but that's ok. I'm a living example of someone who grew up in the church, was know as the "good kid", but in actuality, inside was a nasty sinner. And getting me to a point where I came to realize that took awhile. I had been brought up in a legalistic church, where the exterior was the deciding factor of weather or not you were a "christian", weather or not you were "holy".

If there is one word that could define my life, and way our church functioned on many different levels, if would be this. Hypocrite.

My church has changed drastically for the better since that time, and I love my church! But growing up the a church that didn't really care that much about the heart had it's impact on a lot of the young people at my church, including myself. And one of those things was growing up, without ever hearing the whole gospel preached. All I heard growing up was this. Confession + belief = forgiveness and salvation from hell. At face value that doesn't seem bad. Look at it though through scripture, and you see that salvation is this. Confession + repentance + belief = forgiveness and salvation from sin.

I grew up hearing preaching that scared me into wanting to accepting Christ because of hell. It was a nasty horrible place that I didn't want to go, and so I asked Jesus into my heart so that I would be safe. But that's all it was. Then just before I was about to turn 21, I heard Paul Washer preach a sermon. He brought to life the reality that it wasn't hell that Jesus came to save us from primarily, but He came to save us from our sin, and ourselves. Sin resided in our flesh, and sin rules our lives. We love it, and want it, and will do anything to keep it. But when you hear the true gospel preached in light of what you really are, and how gross your sin is, the Holy Spirit moves, opens your eyes, and you see yourself as nothing, and Jesus as everything. Jesus become the only hope you have, because He is the only hope you have.

Realizing this, I repented from my sin, and received the gift that God had granted to me, salvation. And I'll tell you, it was night and day for this guy. Seriously, everything was viewed in a new light, Jesus was precious, wanted and completely needed in my life every moment of every day, and it is still that way. When I fall yo sin, I know I am saved, because He will not let me rest until it is dealt with. When the hardest things in life happen, such my parents divorce this last year, He is there guarding, guiding, giving life, comforting, giving purpose and reason in the middle of chaos, bringing peace to otherwise out of control emotions.

I look back on the two years of truly walking with Jesus. I know I am a young Christian, but God is moving in such ways and empowering me to do things I never thought I'd be doing. Being in charge of the Uprising Youth Group at my church is something I never thought I would be doing. But I am, and I'll always admit that it's by God's grace alone, and not myself. I know this man, and on his own only evil would come out. It is the Spirit of God working in me to will and to do His good pleasure, and I praise Him so much for it!

Think about it everyone. Do you really know Christ, more importantly, does He know you?

Find Him if you don't know Him, He is the only life that actually gives life, and that is worth pursuing.

Mike

Finding God, in everything.

Life can be a million different things, and can happen in a million different ways. So how do you know which way is the right way, which choice is the right choice. Some have said "pray and ask God to show You what His will is". But I have to think, that God already has shown us what His will is. His will is that He be glorified and magnified in the life of the believer that He resides in, and the we go and make disciples of every nation.

These things are God's will. We have so taken "what is the will of God" I think to a dangerous extreme. Applying it to everything. Yet we don't realize that no matter what we do, in the end, everything is going to work out, just the way God wants it to. His Will will be done. There's nothing we can do to stop it, and all to often we think that God for some reason "needs" us to accomplish His work. The reality, He doesn't. Never did, and never will. But graciously He has decided to let us be used by Him, to accomplish His plans. Mind blowing.

So here's what I getting at. Don't worry about weather or not your going to choose the right college, or the right person for marriage. Let it all go. Fix your eyes alone of Christ, and obey what He tells you to do. Glorify Him in everything you do, and make disciples. I promise you, decision making will come quite easily as you begin to see the decisions that will glorify God (even if it costs you something) and the decisions that glorify you.

Sitting at the feet of Jesus,

Mike