The Christmas Story

This is an actual manger of that time. Not made like we depict them, but a clay feeding trough our Savior was placed in.

Some of this is pulled from Louie Giglio's sermon tonight at PCC. Some from me.

Do you realize what we got for Christmas those thousand years ago? Man was forced to live under strict laws. The deliverance of a baby released our need for pressure and struggle and gave us freedom and a child named Emmanuel.

I know my life is a mess honestly. I don't have things right or completely figured out and honestly never will. I know a lot of you are on the same page as me too. Its amazing to think though that God knew the mess we would go through even back then when Jesus was born into a manger. God didn't choose the Hilton, a Tabernacle or temple of sorts to birth Jesus, he chose a manger. Why? Because God knew and understood the mess we were in and He didn't mind saying He understood by making the Savior of the planet be born into a mess either. That wasn't clean or sanitary but are our lives honestly clean or sanitary either? We put up with a lot of mess everyday and that's what God was trying to say by birthing Jesus into what we can relate to. He made an infant baby of immaculate importance fit right into what we are used to.

So just remember this on this Christmas. Whatever mess your going through in your life, God is bigger than that. He doesn't want us to make our lives perfect and then turn to Him, He wants us to admit we are imperfect and turn to Him before we try and figure things out on our own. You know Joseph tried to figure things out on his own with Mary before the Angel of the Lord appeared to set things straight. Joe was calling up his buddy Bill and saying look, I don't know what to do with this woman, she is pregnant and I am an upstanding man and I just think I need to separate myself from her quietly as to not humiliate her. Then the Angel of the Lord came in and basically told Joseph that what he was thinking was wrong and that by a mere whisper the savior of the world was placed into his young lady's stomach, a virgin still, to be birthed and his name will be called Jesus. I bet Joseph apologized for the phone call to Bill and hushed up real quick after that visit! It's when we are like Joseph we get in trouble. It is when we try to figure out everything on our own and have all the answers God steps in and says "Woah, don't you realize there are no answers outside of me?" You have to follow God and things may seem messed up right now, but when you may be crying, someone a house over may be getting saved. So just remember God is at work in your life even if you don't see it. If things aren't clear to you right now, don't fret like Joseph, just wait it out and with prayer all things will be revealed and God will reward those who humble themselves and pray. Remember this on this Christmas day.

Jealousy....Among Other Things Too

Pulled from Google Image Search: Jealousy

So this blog post will be short sweet and to the point...
(main ideas pulled from Louie Gigilio's message tonight, but not everything)

You know that song.. "Jealousy, turning saints into the sea..."

Well that is such a true song in our instance as humans. Jealousy can turn the utmost saint into a sinking ship of wrongful emotions. Everyone knows that feeling. Its that feeling when you see your significant other talking to someone else, even if it is purely innocent, or maybe isn't. I don't believe I need to describe what the feeling of jealousy...well...feels like. We have all felt it in some aspect of our journey down the road of life.

But what people don't get is that God is jealous for you too!

Ehh?.....

Yeah I know, its really hard to think about. It really doesn't make a whole lot of philosophical sense until you really think about it. God created you and you are His. We are called to live a life for Christ and put him first in every walk of our lives. He knows this, He spoke to the authors of the book of His which tells us this good news. BUT...there's always a but!

The flesh>God. The flesh tempts us more than God does because that is just what living in the Here and Now does to us. It sets us up for failure. I'm telling you the world can offer some great things in the Here and Now! Drinking, sex, lust, anger, possessions, and the list can go on and on, but there will come a time when everything will be stripped away, and what will you have left? The thing is that God calls us not to live in the Here and Now but in the Now and Forever. He wants us to see that the world can only offer so much, science can only answer so many questions and only offer so much fulfillment until we have to embrace that fact there is something beyond this world, and someONE beyond this consuming disappointing world of ours.

So relating that back to jealousy. When the world offers us this Here and Now package and we pursue that direction, we are turning our backs on God. God wants us, He wants to love us and for us to be in a relationship with Him, and when we turn away from Him, when we metaphorically "sleep with the other woman[fleshly, worldly thing]" then we let God down. He is a jealous God too. He created us and wants us to love Him out of our own free will. He doesn't have us on strings, we can go be with the devil whenever we want to. But He loves us and wants us as His and when we forsake Him, He is jealous for us and wants us back. Just like that feeling in a relationship, that feeling of betrayal, any time we choose something outside of God, He feels that!!!

So as Christians we need to not be so concerned about the Do Not's but be more concerned about the Do's. Like when Jesus comes back and we stand before God and we say:

"Hey God! Look what I didn't do! I didn't murder anyone! I didn't steal anything! I didn't commit adultery! [Laundry list of things...]"
" Thats great and all son....but I am more concerned of what you did DO then what you DIDNT do. I am more concerned about what you did with Me in your life. You know that one thing that I was pushing you towards your whole life? And how you got caught up in the Do Nots of being a Christian and not the Do's of following Me. That's what matters more."

And that's crazy when you think about it like that but its so true! People don't need to look at us as Christians and think that we claim all of these do nots but do them anyways! That's called sin, so yes we do those things and that's just how it is. But instead people need to say look at what that follower of God IS DOING!

So relating back to jealousy finally. God is jealous for you. He loves you and He created you and He wants you to see that He is the only thing that can fill your cup completely to the top. To live a life of "Do's" for Him is what He desires. And He gets jealous when we turn to the Here and Now and "sleep with the other woman". He wants us to see for ourselves and make our own decisions but when those decisions are apart from Him, He frowns because He is jealous for his creation!

Be Careful Where Your Pendulum Swings

From Google Images

There are two sides to every believer. Let's use the symbolism of a pendulum to look at both sides.

The Far Left Side of the Pendulum Swing.

         On this side are the Law extremists. This is the side where the DO NOTTERS sit happily and they love telling you exactly what you cannot do as a Christian. Your NOT supposed to do this, or NOT supposed to do that as a Christian. If you DO this or if you DO that you are sure to burn in hell! If you ever mess up and say a cuss word, your going to HELL! If you have a tattoo, your GOING TO HELL! I have this extremely long laundry list of things you cannot do, and I will judge you if you do them and if you do, then your going to hell! Your life needs to be perfect ALL OF THE TIME!!! These are the people of what we do not like which is what we call "Legalism". Nobody likes all that legalism. You can't watch these movies, you can't listen to that music, you can't wear that kind of makeup its too much, you can't drive that kind of car. And these people love boasting about how they came into their relationship with God and that everyone else's coming forth needs to be just like theirs, magical and full of me showing off MY list of "Can't Do's" that I didn't ever do.

....See those people before? Haven't we all?

But also, the far right side can be just as dangerous.

The Far Right Side of the Pendulum Swing.

          This side can be just as dangerous as the other side. This side consists of the Grace extremists. Yes it is true that God sent his only son Jesus to die for our sins, so that by his grace (n.-a special favor or privilege) that He sent His son so we can live in the faith (a belief with a strong conviction) that God provided us with. Okay yes that is right but also these people who are the extremists of this case believe that they have a "license to sin". Whatever I do is justified because I am saved, Jesus will forgive me, all is okay so I will keep on doing it. These are the people that say they are Christians, they believe it fully, but their lives do not reflect their beliefs. And if your life does not reflect your beliefs, then aren't you wasting your time proclaiming you believe them?


What to do?

It is living in the tension of the two that is what is required of us. I could explain it first but I will just lay out a verse that does it much better than I can and then explain the verse.

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works,which God prepared in advance for us to do" -Ephesians 2:8-10

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-"
         Okay, we like that. We see that and we know that. We know that by a special favor or sacrifice sent from God that we can be saved, and through a special and strong conviction in what the History Book and God himself says, we can be saved. And that this salvation of sorts is from none other than God. It is a gift from him. Alcohol, drugs, sex, Oprah, Obama, Romney, Kim Kardashian, or any other idol cannot do it, it is a gift from God. We get that, okay, next.

"not by works, so that no one can boast."

        I love this part of the verse. So many people boast about the works that they did or do in their lives. Some say I ran across the Sahara desert to feed every child in India, look at meeee! Loooook at meeee! ME ME ME! People who are like this love boasting about their good works. Its funny though because God says right there that it is not about how much you have done, so that no one can boast, the promise is what you do through God.

"For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus"

       PREACH ON!

"to do good works. Which God prepared in advance for us to do."

        Gulp....uh oh. But I thought it wasn't about good works? Well, it is about works that you do in God, the works in His name yes, but it is not about BOASTING in those works. You are no better than your neighbor so telling your neighbor that you are will only make your neighbor despise you. We all sin and that is just it. We will never be perfect but we try our hardest to glorify the name of God in our everyday lives. It is so hard but we are called to do it. God did this for us, we are His creation, we can live our lives for Him. It is the hardest thing to do in today's society, oh we know that, but we are still called to do it. So we have to just try our best is all we can do. We are not called to boast about our works, just do them in the name of God alone. We are not to boast about how we came to God and what he did or how magical it was because some people's coming forth to God could actually be scary and very life altering and maybe not so magical for them. Whether magical or not, it is still beautiful so don't be scared to share it, just do not boast loud about yourself because when you do that God frowns upon it and trust me, so does everyone around you. In this world today it is a battlefield and all we can do is try our best to live by the Word and by God, and if we really do that, if we really try, God will smile down on us, if we are humble about it though and do not boast.

A Bondservant: What is it?

http://braulerson.blogspot.com/2009/04/slave-to-christ.html

A "doulos", or bondservant is a servant who serves without wages, or out of his or her own free will. A little history. Back in the common time of bondservants, individuals would approach a home and decide they want to serve that house and its family for the rest of their life without receiving wages, but just because. For whatever reason, a family debt owed, the spirit of volunteering, or some other reason unknown, a family, man, or woman even would just decide to become a slave to the household out of their own choice. So to make the agreement a little more permanent, the owner of the house would take the man, woman or family and hold their head up to the door of their house and pierce their ear with some sort of ornament piercing that represented that they belonged to that home. So, how does that relate to us at all?

James 1:1

"James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,

To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings."

Let's just look at this piece of scripture from James. It describes the ordinary man named James, the half-brother of Jesus, as a bond servant of Christ. This means that James was called out to be a servant of Christ. He decided with his own will to pierce his ear to the door of God. He decided to whole heartedly follow his half-brother Jesus, after the revelation that He was God. This was during the Roman oppression time period, that made all of the tribes scatter because of how strict the rule was. James still stood up and took the role he was divinely called to do. He was called to be that bond servant. He was called to pierce his ear to the door of heaven and live his life as a servant, in times of extreme pressure and hardships, of Christ and to follow Him on his own free will.

That is what we are called to do. We are called to be a bond servant like James was. We can't just "believe" in God. Those people that say:

"Oh yeah, I believe in God. Oh yeah, the Bible's great, its really cool. Yeah I believe in the cross, and I believe in Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Yeah I believe it, I do, I really do believe..."

Well congratulations! You took the first step, now go scatter and live that belief out. Jesus calls us to live in a love relationship with Him. It is more then just believing it is living. And to live in God, to live in that life walking with Jesus is exactly what we are called to do whole heartedly, and on our own free will. God did not create us as a slave forced to follow Him. We have free will to choose to serve Him or not. But...if we take that initiative. If we choose the first step to believe in Him, it is then our duty as believers to become followers. We are called to be that bond servant. Here is my prayer and maybe yours too:

" Lord I want to serve your house. I want to be the light of the world that you called me to be. I am ready to have myself 'pierced' with your word on your lips and your fire in my heart. I want to serve your house like you have called me to, for the rest of my life here on earth and forever in my heavenly home as well."

Its a hard prayer but if we choose this road, it has to be our prayer. If it isn't, if we choose not to live what we believe, then why even believe in something you won't live by? Just don't go around proclaiming it if you don't live it. Don't waste your time. We have to be a bond servant for Christ and it may be and feel near impossible and you better believe it is hard to do, but it is a necessary goal in our Christian walk. So, join me in trying to make that a reality? I know I won't regret it when I get to that point. Hopefully you won't either.

The Trinity? Okay, I Don't Get It.

Gooooood morning everyone. I thought I would start out your day with a thinker this Sunday morning. Have you ever wondered what the Trinity really is? How can God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit all be one? If it doesn't make sense to you then well, guess what? It doesn't to anybody so your not alone! It's one of those unanswerable questions like the one I posted about previously on my Fishbowl Theory. In our minds, it is impossible to really know or understand the concept of the Trinity.

Here are the three parts pulled from the website Christianitytoday.com in an article where a user asks that same question. Here is the three parts broken down simply from that website's article:

• God the Father's role is to generate things. Things originate with him and flow from him. God the Father is equal with the Son and the Holy Spirit, but things start with him. The Father sent both the Son (John 3:16-17) and Holy Spirit (John 14:26) into the world.
• God the Son's role is to pay for our sins with his blood, which he did on the cross (Romans 5:9). The Son also acts as a lawyer for us before God, acting as a "mediator" between us and God (1 Timothy 2:5), and speaking "to the Father in our defense" (1 John 2:1).
• God the Holy Spirit has many roles. The Spirit helps us pray (Romans 8:26-27). He gives us new life (John 3:3-6). He is our Comforter, and he helps us understand God's word (John 14:26). He lifts up Christ (John 15:26). He convicts us of sin (John 16:7-11). He helps us to live holy lives (Romans 15:16). He gives us love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). He helps us share our faith (Acts 1:8). And he lives inside us (Romans 8:11).

Okay so now you know the roles, I'm sure that helps you get it right? Nope, still not? Okay well I only have one thing to say to you.....your still normal! Yayyy! We aren't supposed to get it, or really it should be said that our human brains just cannot comprehend it rather. When we think of something in our minds, in this world, we think okay how can one thing really be three things, but all three at the same time existing simultaneously? That's the point where we start to drool because we don't understand it. All I can leave you with is this which may or may not help. It started with God, then he created a human being, but also that human was God himself in human form. He came to be a visual representation of God in a human form for the world to see. Then, after the ultimate sacrifice on the cross, Jesus died and returned into God's presence in heaven. Now, there is the third part that works in our lives personally today, in our lives after the death of the human form of God that was Jesus and that is the Holy Spirit. How I know to describe it is a soul for our soul. A personal decision and also spiritual entity that lives within us, by choice, for us to live and carry out our lives.

God- The creator and originator
Jesus- God in human form for the world to know and see and record in a history book as a physical being

Holy Spirit- What exists today on this Earth, a spiritual entity directly intertwined with our lives.

I know that doesn't answer much really, but it sort of helps me to get it a little better. But overall, we cannot understand God and he means for it to be that way. We have to keep that awe and wonder about Him or else He would just be another "thing". So we as humans can't get it, maybe we will one day in heaven, but for now we just have to realize that's what God told us is true, and that's just how it is. Don't over complicate it, just embrace it.

Anxiety: You are Not Alone! Your God is with you!

                                                            Picture from CreativeCommons:  Alaina Abplanalp Photography 

    I heard a story from a preacher last Sunday about his problems with anxiety. He said he used to lay awake at night with a dark cloud over his head, in a cold sweat, every thought being amplified ten fold blasting in his head. He said to combat the cloud he would worship God, he created a song to sing just during the cloud. Every night when 2:30 am came, he would sing "Let faith arise....Let faith arise....Be still there is a healer, His love is deeper then the sea, His mercy is unfailing, His arms a fortress for the weak." He would sing this over and over. He said it still went on and still lasted. He said wouldn't it be great if he woke up the next morning and God had completely healed him? Well that didn't happen. He said the miracle isn't that God jumps when we say jump. It is not that God heals right when we ask him to. No, the miracle is that through it all, through all the hardships we sustain ourselves and still worship God at the end of the day. Isn't that powerful? So he then said that it became at night Cloud...Song...Cloud....Song... But before long he started singing the song even before the cloud came. He said it was Song.....Song...Cloud......Song....Song....Song....Cloud. It became gradually longer until he rarely gets them any longer. So who is this pastor?

His name is Louie Giglio. He is the leader of Passion City Church and the Passion movement. The worship leader Chris Tomlin made the song "Let Faith Arise" out of Louie's song he sang every night while he laid awake having anxiety attacks. So, if a pastor and leader of hundreds of Christians struggles with anxiety like every other human, does that show you your not alone?

I am blessed to not be an outward worrier. I don't fret and stress about things, but on the inside I am eat up with it. It affects my digestion and stomach. It also affects my skin with breakouts. I know I am being vulnerable here and some of this stuff you don't want to hear, but I need you to realize that your not alone. I want you to know these two things to start with:

You are NOT crazy.
Your are NOT alone.

When you lay up at night stressing out, when you go to the hospital with anxiety attacks, or when you overly stress about anything just know you are not alone. Maybe our situation wasn't as bad as Louie Giglio's where he would go to every doctor because he suffered and they could never tell him what was wrong. But we all experience anxiety on some level. So this is what I really want you to get from this:

You may struggle with anxiety but God is BIGGER than anxiety.

   We are told to lay all of our burdens on Him. That is what we are supposed to do. We are supposed to give Him all of our burdens and walk away joyful. That is hard though isn't it? It is extremely hard to give up our burdens and exchange them for joy. But that is exactly what we are called to do though.

Also, know that God is YOUR God.

"Do not fear, for I am with you;
Do not anxiously look about you, for I am YOUR God.
I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,
Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand."

Guess what? God isn't just God, he is YOUR God. He loves YOU. So when your stressed out and freaking out, He knows you! He knows exactly what your going through! He knows it, He just wants you to acknowledge it and give it up to Him personally. So, from this post I want you to get three things in conclusion.

1. If your stressed, your not alone and your not crazy.
2. God is bigger than your anxiety and stress, all you have to do is give your burdens up and Believe!
3. God is YOUR God, He is here for YOU. Just embrace that and live it, and your on your way to becoming a warrior for the word. Combat fear with worship.

Where did God Come From?: The Fishbowl Theory

 
     So, I used to lay awake at night at my dad's old house and think and worry about this question. My mind could never comprehend that if we were created, if everything was created, by God, then where did God come from? I mean, how can God just appear from nothing? Where did he come from? So I sat and thought about it and thought about it. I did some research, created my own theory, and then I decided to put it together to share. So after a lot of decisive thinking, and suggestions from multiple review boards and scholars, I decided to brilliantly name my theory The Fishbowl Theory......

Okay, so not that impressed. I understand, but don't worry I'll explain! Let me start it out by saying this. Our minds cannot comprehend this question whatsoever. Yep, so just by asking this question, it is unanswerable by our minds. You see, God exists outside of space, time and matter because He created space, time and matter! When you ask that question, the first word of the question automatically puts limitations on God.

"Where" and "When"
     When you say where, or where you say when, you get the same meaning. The words "When" and "Where" are words that put a limit on whatever follows or comes before them. Those words set limits of time when they are used. When are you coming? Where are you going? Where did you go? When will he be here? Where did God come from? When did God appear here? The last two questions we cannot comprehend because they exist in a human's mind, not a mind as complex as God's. The limitations do rather.

The Fishbowl
   Okay, in a normal fishbowl you have fish, and us humans can interact with those fish. We can feed the fish, remove them from their world after death, cleanse their living environment of sickness by cleaning their tank. Those fish cannot understand us. They know we are standing there, something is standing there rather, and they are intrigued.

We Are the Fish!
     If you didn't figure it out already let me explain. In my analogy, we are those fish. God can clean out our sickness, He can feed us (with the Word), he can remove us from this world when we die. We know He is there, that something is there, but we can in no way comprehend how He thinks.

So when we find ourselves asking unanswerable questions that lead to circular reasoning, then we know we should just stop. We need to get off of our high horses and just remember that God has laid out his promises simply, and nothing near as complex as we make it. Follow Him, or not? Its that simple. No, we are not suppressed to think only on the level of someone with a low IQ, that isn't what I'm saying. What I am saying is that we are not to question God, we can't sit here and ask unanswerable questions because our minds are not near as complex as the One who created our minds. Just remember that next time you start to question God and His plan.

Suffering: What Can We Do to Help?

    

 Wow, such a big topic. In every country of this world there are suffering men, women and children. How can an individual suffer and also think God is there for Him, that He sent a Savior for their life, and is Almighty when they can't even keep a relationship, keep food on the table, or keep their head on straight? You know, God only has one plan to deliver hope to individuals. He only has one plan to let people that are suffering know that He is good. It's us. There is no backup plan in God's back pocket, we are THE only plan of hope to EVERY man, woman and child on this entire planet. Did you think about that? The woman at your work that is suffering with her child and abusive husband, you are the light for her. The man who cries at night wondering why he can't amount to anything in the eyes of anyone, you are the hope for that man. For the children that can't keep enough food on the table, you are the hope for them. By offering up yourself to act like Jesus in someone's eyes, then that shows them what being a child of God is about, and how it can change their life too.

    Unfortunately, I have only led one person to Christ so far that I know of. Maybe and hopefully more but only one that I know of. This individual came up to me at church on a Wednesday night after service crying a few years ago and said something along the lines of "How can I feel what your feeling?". I explained that it's incredibly easy. God created you for a reason, to live your life out as a warrior for His word. All you have to do is to make a conscious decision to decide to believe in Him. Our minds sometimes over complicate this world, and think so many things higher than what our minds can comprehend and we try to act like gods ourselves, which causes us to question even the existence of the God. We have to rid ourselves of that problem we have, and just embrace God and let Him embrace us. Open our lives to Him and then you will see His work in yours. It's seriously that easy. I experienced a guy broken, but you know what touched me the most? The fact that I touched his life. I didn't just touch it, I CHANGED it. If I can do that to my American neighbor, one that possesses the luxuries that I have, in the same culture as me, what can you do to someone less fortunate? His curiosity was sparked, but some people need Jesus to survive for the next day. They need the water that can make them never thirst again and its so easy, its SO easy to tell them about Jesus. They NEED Jesus. If you give someone food, that's the first step, but to give them hope, that is an over abundance of satisfaction that will change their life forever. So BE the change, go be who God made you to be. Start small if you have to, just by letting that person who is suffering know you are there for them, but telling them about God and what He can do to make it that much better is what will complete their satisfaction. Once they've been there, and told about Christ, and brought out of it by Him alone, then they will join our army too. Happens almost every time.