Who do you say God is

Working for a larger Christian ministry I hear statistics thrown around at an amazing pace. Things like when children decide to put their faith on the shelves (middle school?!) to the reasons people give for walking away from their faith. One that continually befuddles me is the fact that a large majority say that they believe in God.

What I want to know is who these people think that God is.

In Joshua, the Old Testament prophet talks a lot about serving God, and serving gods. The way it's described it is almost like you're looking at modern day America.

If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you. Joshua 24:20

God has been good to us, our country is one of the most profitable nations in the world, and at the rate we're going and leaving our morals, and wiping them under the rug, I'm afraid we're going to be seeing the disaster and end of us quicker than we think. The upheavals and turmoil that we are seeing within our own nation today is just the birthing pains of what is to come.


Unfortunately we have a president who Christians praised, but now claims that there is more than one right way to salvation. Whether being PC or not, who is he saying God is? You walk down the street and ask someone who God is and you'll get hundreds of responses. He's Allah, he's buddah, he's the God you put on your shelf and ask requests of, he's the one you blame for everything bad in your life, or he's the one you give credit for when everything goes right, he's the genie in the bottle for all your wishes, he's the dusty bible on your shelf that you only bring out on holidays, he's an after thought, he's distant and just watching things play out, he never existed to begin with, he's just there so we have something to hope in.

But you have forsaken me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you. Judges 10:13

Do you want God to say welcome into my presence good and faithful servant, or depart from me I never knew you?

Who do you say God is? Is he your savior, is he real to you?
Or are you putting him on your shelf until it's convenient for you?

Do you believe in a God, or do you believe IN God.

throw in the towel

There are some times in life where you're ready to throw in the towel. You can't stand the way things are going.

I think God brings you to that point sometimes just to show you whose boss.
Saturday I read this while I was at work and frustrated with things.

Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I realized at this point when i read it, that I was anxious about my life, and about what I'm supposed to be doing. Wondering if what I see as my God given passion and desire is really what He wants. and this was causing frustration and a lack of peace.

At that point I read that I had to stop in my tracks and pray that God take away the anxiousness, praise him for being active in my life and bring my petitions before him.

When I stopped and gave it to him I got a peace I couldn't understand. I'm still frustrated, and am realizing that like the Cross I have to pick up daily I have to give this to him daily until he takes it completely.

He knows what I can bear. I praise him for his control and for his timing. Patience is something that must be worked into me (into you) and unfortunately it's a painful growing process.

Something Simple

Last night as I was driving home, I passed a hospital.

The first thing that struck me was the lit up cross on the side of the building, and then right after that the word MERCY lit up beside it. If people only knew how true that was. Yes the hospital is named Mercy, yes you can find some extent of mercy at this hospital, but oh how much more mercy you can find at the cross. Mercy that will forgive every sin you've committed, every sin you're going to commit. Mercy that will never abandon you, grow tired of you, stop loving you, give up on you, run out for you. There is so much mercy at the cross of Jesus that sometimes we fail to comprehend it.

We go through life acting as if there is nothing we can do to be clean enough. There is nothing that we can do to make it in God's eyes, that we've done to much wrong to deserve the mercy of Christ.

But that is just it, we have done to much. There is nothing we could ever do to make us deserving. We deserve hell, that is the penalty everyone has hanging over our heads. Each of us know deep down that we deserve nothing, we all deserve to die horrible deaths for everything we've done...yeah even for the little things.

God stepped in, stepped down, died a horrible death so we wouldn't have to. Became the perfect sacrifice so that we can be covered, paid for, extended mercy and grace to.

So even when I fail, mercy covers me.

It can cover you.

At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light.

At The Cross - Hillsong

Oh Lord You’ve searched me
You know my way
Even when I fail You
I know You love me


Your holy presence
Surrounding me
In every season
I know You love me
I know You love me


At the cross I bow my knee
Where Your blood was shed for me
There’s no greater love than this
You have overcome the grave
Your glory fills the highest place
What can separate me now


You go before me
You shield my way
Your hand upholds me
I know You love me


You tore the veil
You made a way
When You said that it is done


And when the earth fades
Falls from my eyes
And You stand before me
I know You love me
I know You love me


Healer - Ten Shekel Shirt

Healer heal me
Savior save me
Maker change me
Lover love me
Cuz I'm so tired of living for
The kind of love
That only lasts for a while
The pain, the shame
Tear me up inside

So I fall on my knees
To get back on my feet again
And I cry out for You
Would You please speak to me

they will know us by our love

Since I haven't blogged in a bit I'll start off with a few recent things.

I bought plane tickets for Orlando next month and will be going down to the Hillsong Conference. Boy am I looking forward to this fellowship with other believers.

Today I walked into the men's restroom at work and couldn't help but notice that someone had picked their nose and wiped it on the wall in front of the urinal. How old are we?!?!

I am sitting in Panera right now and some rude lady cut me off in line and everyone around me got mad. It was kind of funny.


I read this in Hebrews 10 today. (the message)

19-21So, friends, we can now—without hesitation—walk right up to God, into "the Holy Place." Jesus has cleared the way by the blood of his sacrifice, acting as our priest before God. The "curtain" into God's presence is his body.

22-25So let's do it—full of belief, confident that we're presentable inside and out. Let's keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let's see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.

Earlier in the chapter Paul describes the sacrificial system given to Moses and Israel for redemption. How year in and year out a man had to go before God and plead that these people's sin would be taken away. That the same thing had to be done time and time again.

Now there is a new system. Christ came as the only sacrifice ever needed from this point forward, for those who claim him.

Now we can go before God and talk with him. Jesus' blood gives us this open access to God, frankly it is kind of part of the whole redemption of man that we will see when Christ comes back. It is a part of righting creation, because this communion with the almighty creator is in part how it was with Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve had pure unadulterated access to God's throne, they not only had his ear, but he had theirs, an AUDIBLE voice. While we don't have that exact access right now, we still have it in part. We can talk to God and we can be so in tune with him we can feel his leading in our lives, and be spoken to through his word and through his people.

I really like how the message put this piece of the scripture "Let's see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching."

I am a creative person, I like seeing things done in new ways, and coming up with new approaches to things. What hurts my heart and what passion God has given me is for the church and trying to help people understand that tradition (while having a place) does not necessarily mean that something is right or wrong, that is for Christ and the scriptures. So when it says, let's see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, that speaks volumes as to what the church needs to be doing. Does that mean we need to be going into the bars, clubs, porn shops, etc. No, but it means that we need to be sitting down and concentrating on how we can reach the people who's lives are ripped apart by these things instead of pointing out their sins.

How can we reach out to them, and show them Christ's love, Christ's intervention, and healing power. Tradition and legalism is not something that will ever appeal to these people, in fact it is more than likely one huge reason that they are lost. Christians are known for their legalism, tradition, and bickering (how many baptists does it take to change a light bulb....wait a second we'll hold a committee). We need to involve ourselves with making Christ easily accessible to those who don't know or don't understand what Christ is really about. Hold a committee about what really matters, how to reach people. Knocking on doors and singing hymns may be good for the ones who know and grew up with that, but that doesn't happen much any more.

What can I do.

they will know us by our love

skin on

From the Prophet Isaiah 7:9 (b)

If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.

From the Epistle Paul, Hebrews 9:14

How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleans our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

Two statements, both equally as powerful. One a statement of hope, one a statement of warning.

I enjoy taking a look at contrasting statements in the Bible, because most people see these as contradictions, or out right heresies. How can God be love and judgmental.

Let's take a look at the first verse from Isaiah. The warning, that statement that engulfs much of what *gag* religion has become today. If, this word is part of an if then clause, signifying cause and effect, signifying a choice to be made. So all you Calvinists out there get over it, we have a choice. If you do NOT stand firm in your faith. There is the cause, you don't stand firm in your faith, not the faith of your mother or father, not the faith of your pastor or teacher, YOUR faith. This means that at some point you had to make this faith your own, if you've never done that you can stop reading. Go sit down with the Bible and start asking yourself and God if your faith is your own. Standing firm on something means that there was some kind of foundational truth, meaning the word of God. Yes the word of God is true, unfailing, and unchanged despite what some people may try to force you to believe. So if you do not stand on the word of God, the faith that you have claimed as your own, THEN (here is the effect) you will not stand at all.

Ouch.
If you have no basis for your faith, if you do not believe the word of God for what it is, then you basically have no reason to stand for Christ, others will walk all over you, and you're going to look like the biggest moron this side of the Mississippi.

Welcome to modern religion.

The second statement I don't need to brake down quite as much. God, came to this earth to eradicate the old covenant that he made with Israel. He determined that it became obsolete because they did not obey it in the first place, and that it was time as creator to come down and take care of not just Israel but all of his creation. The hope that we have in Christ is this, that once we have accepted his blood we are washed of sins, past present and future.

Don't stop there. Your fluffy messages of peace love and joy and the Christian faith need to stop. Christianity is not some fluffy pie in the sky, in the sweet bye and bye, when we all die we'll fly with wings like angels.

There's work to be done son. The gospel is that of a commission, once you have found Christ get out there and share it, work it, flesh it out. Wrestle with it, build your foundations. Church isn't about a meeting come Sunday, love it and leave it. I see Christians come into church each week like that. I see them leave each week like that too.

What are we doing to make a difference, what are we doing to stand firm in our faith so that we're not lying on the side of the road like a poor beggar. Once we accepted the blood of Christ our consciences were cleaned of all sin so that we can claim the riches of Christ, stop begging on the side of the road and start working out our faith in him.

Oh yeah, I kind of forgot to mention the last part in that verse in Hebrews...THAT WE MAY SERVE THE LIVING GOD!

First of all we are supposed to SERVE, not sit on our butts. Second of all the God that we serve, he didn't die and stay buried. You see the discovery channel got it wrong kids, Christ rose out of that grave and left nothing but the burial clothes in the grave. People witnessed this resurrection, people testified to this resurrection. Why? so that we can claim the hope we have in Christ.

That's why I love and identify with Paul so much. I love service, I love the fact that Paul is blunt about the fact that Christians are downright terrible people most of the time and that they are the ones that unfortunately need a lesson. You can't expect lost people to act godly. They're lost, expect them to act how they act. Stop wallowing in it. It's a done deal they're heading to hell unless you do something about it. You can't do something about it until you get the beam out of your eye and start putting some work into your faith.

Faith.Work.Love.Service.Life

I wonder

I was driving to work today.
Apparently there was an accident. Traffic was backed up for a good 15-20 minutes.
I didn't really care, I was running early. I turned up my music.
Some people did care though. One lady got extremely aggitated, and did something rash/stupid.
She decided to turn around in the grass median on 275 nearing the 74/275 split.
For those of you that know the area you know that the median kind of looks like this _/ (only not quite that steep).

She was frustrated enough that she decided this was as good a spot as any to make a U turn and so she took off, and because she was in a front wheel drive car she became majorly stuck as her front wheels went up and hung over the edge of the median, not quite meeting the pavement. There they spun and there you could see her gesturing wildly.

I laughed.
Because the second she did that traffic broke up and everyone moved pretty quickly down the highway.

Then I caught myself and wondered why Iwas laughing at someone else's misfortune.
Deffinately not Christ like. How often do I do things like that?

The finished product

The CD Imprint












The Track Sheet (cue/que sheet)