Grow Up!

Have you thought about what it means to be a grown up? What makes someone mature, is it a particular number, such as being 18 to 21 years old? In my case turning 21 certainly did not grow me up. Is it getting married? Having children? Maybe, but not likely.

What is the difference between growing up and growing older? More importantly as Christians, how do we “grow up” in Christ? I like the msg translation of Eph 4:15 which says “God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love - like Christ in everything. Ephesians 4:15 (MSG)A lot of us get saved at a young age, and a lot of us come to know Christ later in life. Sadly the situation I see around me is that people take refuge in the fact they are saved and continue to go on with their daily lives. We are all sinners, me included, however, I feel that that does not satisfy God. We need to make the choice to be disciples of Christ from the moment we are saved. We are to learn to be Christ like in every inch of our Christian walk. That is the difference between growing older and growing up as far as Christians are concerned.

One great example of growing up and choosing discipleship was Matthew. This guy was a tax collector..in a booth…and Jesus said “come with me” Matthew left right there. Left his booth, his belongings, the life he knew to follow Christ. Guys that has to be us, God yearns for us to grow up, to become close to him.

How do we do that? Isn’t life dull when we give up all the luxuries of a secular life? I’m here to tell you that when you die to self is when you really start to live. Great, but how do we even come close to the standard of becoming Christ like?

We begin by making the conscious decision to do it. Renew your mind, get rid of everything that may distract you from becoming close to God. Phil 2:5 “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” I thought giving up things like Nip Tuck and Budlight would be hard, as well as some musical choices I liked to crank up in my car, however once I made the conscious decision to pursue Christ, none of that mattered anymore. 5 minutes into watching Nip Tuck I felt…an uncomfortable conviction, it was fabulous. Its not all sunshine all the time, but its something you have to discipline yourself to do.

Stay in fellowship with God. I have a journal, I do a bible study every night, and track my prayer requests. Some of you, this may not work for, but small things like listening to Christian music, watching a good spiritual movie, etc, praying to God on your way to work, its all fellowship and you will find you begin to thirst for it. That’s when the Holy Spirit takes over and begins to transform you and your life will never be the same. Its amazing.

To become like Christ we must learn humility, love, and forgiveness. Christ washed feet! The Son of God taking himself down to the lowest level possible, washing the feet of those who should be serving him! We must love, even our enemies, and forgive those who have hurt us, because we ultimately put Christ on the cross for our sins, yet he was willing to pay the price. We are no better than the next person, and forgiveness isn’t pleasant all the time, but it is necessary if we want to grow. Remember 70 times 7 and how Christ took the flack for all our screw ups.

Guys make the conscious to get to know God. Lets get out there and tell others because we might be the only chance at hearing the good news people get. Lets get out of the bars and into the sanctuary. Its time guys, the time is now…

The Blessing of Surrender

The Blessing of Surrender
by Rick Warren

Quit quarreling with God! Agree with him and you will have peace at last! His favor will surround you if you will only admit that you were wrong. Job 22:21 (LB)

*** *** *** ***

The Bible is very clear about how we benefit when we worship God through surrender: “Agree with him and you will have peace at last! His favor will surround you if you will only admit that you were wrong” (Job 22:21 LB).

In surrender, you begin to really live the life God intended: “Only those who throw away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live” (Mark 8:35 LB).

You are set free, liberated from self-preoccupation: “But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. All your lives you’ve let sin tell you what to do. But thank God you’ve started listening to a new master, one whose commands set you free to live openly in his freedom!” (Romans 6:16-18 MSG).

God is able to use you in great ways.

Why did God choose Mary, of all women, to be the mother of Jesus? It was because she was totally surrendered to God. When the angel explained God’s improbable plan, she humbly responded, “I am the Lord’s servant! Let it happen as you have said” (Luke 1:38 CEV).

Nothing is more powerful than a surrendered life in the hands of God.

© 2008 Purpose Driven Life. All rights reserved. Rick Warren is the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., one of America's largest and best-known churches. In addition, Rick is author of the New York Times bestseller The Purpose Driven Life and The Purpose Driven Church, which was named one of the 100 Christian books that changed the 20th Century. He is also founder of Pastors.com, a global Internet community for ministers.

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Jesus is our Savior...but is he our Lord?

God raised Jesus from the dead and "seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet" (Ephesians 1:20-23 NIV).


C. S. Lewis said that there are basically 3 kinds of people in the world: those
who don’t want to obey and so don’t, those that don’t want to obey but do it
out of fear or pride, and those who want to obey

I would hope you would know that Jesus came down to earth and died on the cross for our sins. If not, e-mail me and we will talk. Great, Jesus saved us from the pits of hell...I don't think there is anything we can be more grateful for or thankful for in our lives. When we accept Jesus as our Savior, he is also our Lord, but do we distinguish the two at all?

According to Dictionary.com, Lord is defined as "a person who has general authority over others" so the question is, does God have authority over our lives? Sundays are great, going to church, great, but have you ever thought about if God is involved in every single aspect of your life? When we are driving down the street, jamming out to our favorite song, is it a song that would honor God. Does the way we dress reflect Him? What about the TV shows we are filling our minds with, would we be watching them if Jesus was in our living rooms?

It all comes down to this, you never know who is watching you and who sees Christ in you. We should involve God in all our decisions from our finances, to our tv, to our clothes, every part of our lives. Let him be Lord of your life and you will find that life is much simpler, and much more fulfilling.

I would urge you to make a commitment today to surrender yourselves to God. Make a conscious effort to obey him in every part of your life, from your thoughts, to your TV, wake up each day and surrender that day to God.

So then, my friends, because of God’s great mercy to us I appeal to you: Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. This is the true worship that you should offer. Romans 12:1-2

Chelsi

Faith Like that Jonah 33

Faith Like That lyrics

Jonah 33

I have read about the days of old

About the men who followed You

And how they saw the supernaturalAnd became the chosen few

So I come before You now

Tearing off my earthly crowns

For this one thing I have found

[CHORUS:]I want a faith like that

To see the dead rise or to see

You pass by, oh,

II want a faith like that

Whatever the cost, I'll suffer the loss,

oh, I

I want a faith like that

I'm not looking for a miracle Signs and wonders or things thereofI

caught a glimpse of what You want for me

And what I have is not enough

I read the story one more timeOf those who gave to You their lives

With no fear or compromise

[CHORUS]

I want a faith that can move any mountain

And send them to the seas

I want a faith that can break every stronghold

That keeps You, that keeps from me

And I want a faith like that

To see the dead rise or to see

You pass by, oh, I

I want a faith like that A faith like that

When do Black and White turn into Gray?

I think its safe to say that Gray is probably my favorite color. I ended up with my Martin guitar because I was looking for a "gray guitar" as said in the song "Mr. Jones" because I wanted to BE Bob Dylan.  In our society however, gray is overtaking the world, sending kind of an overcast on our moral code. The things to think about are how are we as Christians to avoid the gray areas of life, and second how do we do it without seeming like "judgemental bible thumpers" as so many non-christians like to point out.

What got me thinking about this was as I was reading Isaiah 5 tonight. God led me to verse 20 which simply stated:

20 Woe to those who call evil good 
       and good evil, 
       who put darkness for light 
       and light for darkness, 
       who put bitter for sweet 
       and sweet for bitter.

 21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes 
       and clever in their own sight.

 22 Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine 
       and champions at mixing drinks,

 23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe, 
       but deny justice to the innocent.

 24 Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw 
       and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, 
       so their roots will decay 
       and their flowers blow away like dust; 
       for they have rejected the law of the LORD Almighty 
       and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel.

So what does this mean exactly? First of all I believe we are learning in verse 20 that Isaiah was almost feeling sorry in a sense for people who start to become lax in their own standards because our standards should be God's standards. When we start to decide what is right and wrong, God definitely shows up. He is saying he feels sorry for those who say evil is good and good is evil...I can relate to that. For a long time I had the "as long as it's not hurting anybody else" or the "to each their own" mentality. I noticed that one drink every now and then became a drink pretty much every day, and the drinking led to other bad choices, I started to accept things around me, pot smoking, tv shows, music, whoever sleeping with whoever...etc...It was all the norm to me. I was learning to live in the gray area. My mind was filled with so much immorality that nothing really seemed wrong to me anymore. I became one of those who would roll my eyes at the "goodie goodies" but what I was finding that my life was empty. Even though I ran from the good, I longed for it. 

I'm not by any means saying I am holier than thou, or better by any means. I sin every day many many times. Its great to be accepted by the world isnt it? It certainly is easier. Thats probably why I let go of my biblical standards. When I was having fun with the world I was avoiding the persecution that I had dealt so much with before in my earlier years. I was having fun with my friends, involved in the drama, screwing up left and right, drinking, smoking, being hungover, depending on others, it was a vicious repetitive cycle,  and in the end, I was pretty much always let down.

Thats why I say I never REALLY knew what it was to have a relationship with Christ until my late 20's when I truly died to self and GAVE my life over to Christ. I'm not saying it was easy to give up my favorite tv shows, but as my mind became more Christ filled, the less interest I had in them. Its not like I just stopped watching things cold turkey because I was super Christian now, no way, I just let the Holy Spirit work in me, and all the sudden, I didn't care about the things I did before. Same with music, drinking, I just...stopped I had no more interest...the Holy Spirit is awesome...

I'm not saying everyone should do this, no-one is going to hell because they watch TV...I would just ask that you look at your moral code. Are we in the black and white? Our standards should be God's standards. What are we filling our minds with? Are we blind to the sex on tv now because its just the norm? What about our movies? Our books? We know what is right and wrong by reading the Word. Immersing ourselves in it. I guarantee that there is not an issue the Bible doesn't deal with. Let the Holy Spirit work in you. Love everybody. You don't have to agree with somebody, but you don't have to judge them either. Let God do the judging, love all, which is the greatest commandment. 

There are also great resources online, if you are struggling with something and you don't know if its right or wrong, or you are wondering God's standpoint. My favorite is www.gotquestions.org which provides Biblical basis for basically any question you can imagine.

 In closing just remember in developing and growing, in keeping our moral code remember to:

Obey God's commands

Stay in God's word

Remember SOLD

and PRAY PRAY PRAY

Die to yourself, and let God work in you because once he is in control its AWESOME. I can absolutely guarantee it because I am living proof.

Sold Out

I started out innocently enough, doing my nightly Bible study, because I'm trying to grow as a Christian, a person, and really connect with God. I've felt out of sorts lately, like even though I know God is there, I don't have those feel good fuzzy wuzzy jump up and down feelings. I started out tonight deciding to seek an answer, God how do I grow? I feel like i'm reading the same things, and they are going in one ear and out the other. Sure, I've changed my habits, changed my TV and Music, amongst other things, but intellectually and spiritually, what am I doing to grow closer to God? Then I came across Hebrews 5:13-14

Hebrews 5:13-14 states:

Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness, but solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

At this point baby Jack, my nephew for those of you that don't know, crawled right by me. He is on baby food, great selections such as sweet potato and salmon, or turkey and applesauce, but the thing is is that he has graduated to these foods, baby steps if you will, he's not eating a real sweet potato off the grill for a reason, he would choke, he's not ready, he's a baby, but in 3 years or even later, if he is still eating mashed combos of things, there would be a problem. You don't see a lot of adults living on a diet of sole baby food, especially because they don't know or can't eat solid food. 

Its the same with our spiritual lives. When we are new christians, we learn the basics, faith, salvation, the love of Jesus, David and Golaith, etc...but when do we graduate to solid food? We must continually train, study, learn, grow, develop a relationship with God. Great, I thought, but HOW?

God spoke to me. He gave me an acronym, being a veteran, He knows how much the Army and myself LOVES acronyms. So I have learned how to grow up by becoming SOLD out. 

S--Seek

O--Obedience

L-Love

D-Diligence

We are to live a life of Seeking Christ. Matt 6:33 says seek ye first the Kingdom of God. To seek is to turn to God FIRST for help, in ALL aspects of our lives. Fill your thoughts with his desires, take his character for your pattern and to serve and obey Him in everything. What is truly important?

We are also to be Obedient to God's commands. 1 John 3:22-24 says that "And recieve from him anything we ask because we OBEY His commands and do what pleases HIM and this is HIS command: to believe in the name of HIS son, Jesus and to love one another as he commanded us. Those who obey his commands live within Him and He in them. Be obedient, its not easy, sometimes we are like a kid ya know? I more often than not say "but I dont wanna God!!!" etc, but when we are in His will, life is so much more solid.

Love: The greatest commandment. What does this have to do with character development? We should love each other, its obvious, love our parents, our children, those around us..but the purest way to love, I think is to marinate EVERYTHING in God's love. Deuteronomy 6:5 is my new favorite verse, which until the other day I didn't even know it existed. 

5 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. 6And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today.7 Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. 8 Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Seriously when I read this it brought tears to my eyes. Its about loving God with all of your being, and teaching your children to love God. Never ceasing, just letting God seep from our pores. Its a total commitment, an immersion, that becomes infectious, spreading the love and passion of Christ to your families and to those around you. 

Finally we must be diligent about growth. We can't just commit and then falter, we need to grow, we need to become solid, we need to learn, memorize, serve, love, and most importantly have a relationship with God, and let Him work within us. The best example of this is found in 2 Peter 1:1-10

3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

 5 In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, 7and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.

 8 The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins.

 10 So, dear brothers and sisters,^[c] work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away.

God loves us, he chose us, he sent His Son, his perfect, blameless, innocent Son to die for us, and time is to sell out now. We need to get excited, get on fire, and grow. I'm tired of being on baby food, i'm ready for some steak..I'm definitely selling out to Christ, and I look forward to journaling my ups and my downs, and my growth with whoever wants to hear about it...

Its time to for bed but thanks for checking out my first blog. Many more to come!

God Bless!

Chelsi