Superman

Everybody wants to be a superhero when they're a kid whether its superman or batman or Wonder Woman for the girls (Nobody ever wanted to be aquaman though lol). People think they grow out of that as they get older but if we truly take a look at it I think we actually try to become a superhero without even knowing it. For me it's full time schooling with a part time job in ministry which is really full time because ministry never stops, and trying to have a social life as well. My motto has always been "I have to keep moving or I will crash" that's just how I have always been people are like how do you do it and I'm like I just keep moving. If we look at what God's word says that is not how we're supposed to live our lives, yes we're supposed to live our lives for Christ but I think God wants us to do our best at a few things than to wear ourselves thin by doing a bunch of stuff halfway. God's word tells us in Pslam 46:10 to "be still" and in Matthew 28:11 He tells us to come to Him all who are weary and burdened and He will give us rest. Now don't get me wrong this is not an excuse to take the easy way out and just do the minimum, as it says in Psalm 55:22 "Cast all your cares on The Lord and He will sustain you". The Lord doesn't want you to live life alone He wants to be in your life to help you. You don't have to be superman because you have the greatest man on your side and with him you can do all things Philippians 4:13.

Thanks for reading
Remember we're always
Living In Worship

Love Never Dies

I saw this phrase today and it got me thinking, does love really never die? Take a look at John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." The first four words of this verse state for God so loved, God loved us so much that he gave his son to die for us, and Jesus Christ loved us so much that he came to the earth in human form, was put to death, took all of our sins on his shoulders and then rose from the dead and defeated sin. He loved us so much that He defeated death! It says in 1 Corinthians 13:13 "And now these three remain: Faith, Hope and Love, but the greatest of these is love." Chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians speaks on the power of love, the first three words of verse 8 say "Love never fails." So as I read all of that and look at this statement again I have to say yes, love never dies because the true form of love came to earth, died for us and then defeated death by raising from the dead. So tell someone you love them today because love never dies.

Thanks for reading

Remember we're always
Living In Worship

My Daddy Loves Me And Everything Is Going To Be Ok

I heard this saying on a tv show I was watching the other day "My daddy loves me and everything is going to be ok." The scene was set up with a little girl and her dad, the little girl was scared because her dad was leaving for a little while and he told her that every time she was scared to say "my daddy loves me and everything is going to be ok." When we look at this statement we're like "oh how sweet" but when he said that God really spoke to me trough this show, this is how we should be living our lives as Christians, knowing that your daddy loves you and everything is going to be ok. That doesn't mean that everything is going to work out just like we planned it or that everything is going to be perfect in our lives but we need to know that God is in control, He loves us and everything will be ok. The best part about this statement is that it is all over scripture. We see in Hebrews 13:5 it says at the end of the verse that "He will never leave or forsake us," also we see in Deuteronomy 31:6 it says "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." How great is it to know that God loves you, He will never leave you, He is with us wherever we go. So next time you're feeling down and you're not sure how you're going to get through the situation you're facing remember that it may be big but your God is bigger and say to yourself "My daddy loves me and everything is going to be ok."


Thanks for reading


Remember we're always


Living In Worship

Narrow-Minded

Narrow-Minded according to the world is having or showing a prejudiced mind, as persons or opinions; biased. It can also be interpreted as not receptive to new ideas; having a closed mind.

As I look at this I think to myself Christians ought to be "Narrow-Minded" although I wouldn't call it "Narrow-Minded" because we are not to be prejudiced, I would call it being Biblically-Minded. We are to read the bible and do what it says. Being Biblically-Minded will often look to the world as closed-mindedness, but as it tells us in Matthew 10:22 "All men will hate you because of Me." We are told here to expect hatred from the world. If I'm going to be hated for being Biblically-Minded then bring it on world I have the one person on my side that always wins!

The world right now is telling us that homosexuality is an ok lifestyle, celebrities people look up to are supporting it, we see it being condoned on TV more and more, I am waiting for the day that it will be illegal to say that homosexuality is wrong...well guess what, I'm ready to be like Paul. Some may call me homophobic well I guess I am, but I also have a cussing phobia, I'm living together before marriage phobic, I have a sin phobia. I will never ever change my stance on sin. Sin is wrong we all do it and there is no excuse for it. Now that does not mean we can go on sinning just because we can't be perfect. As Paul tells us in Romans 6:1-4, "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? ² By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? ³ Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life." I understand that there was only one perfect person and that was Jesus Christ but that perfect person died so that we may have life and have it abundantly as it says in John 10:10. 


I want to issue a challenge to anyone reading this, don't ever hold back! whether that is sharing your faith or letting someone know that what they are doing is wrong and being willing to help and pray with them through that situation. I'm reading a book right now called Erasing Hell by Francis Chan, in the beginning of the book it says that "When it comes to hell, we can't afford to be wrong." I believe that hell is a very real place that you will spend eternity if you do not know God as your personal Lord and Savior. I have become very burdened over lost people I couldn't stand to see someone I know closely die and know that they're going to hell, even if we don't know them we should still be burdened for them. I'm sure you're asking what does this have to do with being Narrow-Minded, I'll tell you. When it comes to sin we should be very Narrow-Minded, sin is sin and sin is wrong it's that simple. When it comes to hell we should be very Narrow-Minded, hell is a real place where non-believers will go if we don't take a stand and share our faith. Christianity is simple but it's not easy, salvation is free, but it will cost you everything. Don't be a lukewarm Christian, take a stand and be Biblically-Minded.


My prayer is to be more and more Biblically-Minded everyday.


Thanks for reading, 
Remember, we're always,
Living In Worship

Wrath, Love, And Speaking Of What You Know

This post was inspired by a message given by Jay Lowder at Beach Week 2012

God is equally wrath and love.
Most of the time we like to hear how much God loves us and how God could never do that to us because He is a God of love. I'm hear to tell you that yes that is true He is a God of love but He is also a God of wrath. Let's take a look at John 3:16 and break it down, "For God so loved the world" right here we see that God loved the world this shows His love for us, as we continue to read we see "That He gave his only Son" now I'm sure most of you are thinking how are you going to use this verse to display the wrath of God? Well let's take a look, "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son" God loved the world so much He sent His Son to die for it, but He hated sin so much that He sent His Son to be murdered for it. So yes he loves the world but He also hates sin. God's wrath was so strong against son that He couldn't even look at His Son while the sin of the world that He loves was on His shoulders. I don't think that there is anything in this world that I hate so much that I would be willing to give up a family members life for it. Romans 1:18 says "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth." We see here is Romans that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven on ungodliness. As we continue to look at Romans 1 I see a very scary pattern in three verses, Romans 1:24 says "Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves." Again in verse 26 we see that it says "For this reason God Gave them up to dishonorable passions. For women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature." And in verse 28 it says "And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done." The scariest part of these three verses are that it says "God Gave Them Up" let me set the record straight, I do not believe this means that you can lose your salvation, what I do think this means is that God will not force himself upon you but I believe that God will only call so much, eventually God will say if you don't want Me I will give you up into your sinful ways. This absolutely breaks my heart to think that God could give someone up, but it also fires me up to get out there and share God with every single person I come into contact with. I don't want anyone given up on so I'm not gonna stop sharing my faith until the Lord comes back. I know the first part of this is a little down and negative, but let me give you some encouragement. Acts 4:18-20 says "So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard." Peter and John say "We cannot speak but of what we have seen and heard." As it says in Revelation 12:11 "And they have conquered him (The Devil) by the blood of the Lamb by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death." Did you catch that? They conquered the devil by the word of their testimony, we can conquer the devil by the words of our testimony! There is a song that says "We will overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony everyone overcome." Don't ever forget that Everyone Overcome! If you have the blood of the Lamb you have a testimony and you can overcome!

Thanks for reading,
Remember, We're Always,
Living In Worship.

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Biblically Correct, Not Politically Correct

Over the past couple days a lot has happened in our country, our president has come out and supported gay marriage and North Carolina has passed their amendment that states that marriage between one man and one woman will be the only domestic legal union recognized and valid in the state.
We always focus on the six states that have legalized same-sex marriage, these states are, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont and New Hampshire. That's six out of 50. We never focus on the 26 states that have banned same-sex marriage in their states, these states include, Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Virginia. I saw a friend's status the other day that weighed in on this subject and this is what he had to say "I don't think people are born gay. However, even if they were, what difference would that make? I was born with a desire to lust after certain things that are contrary to God's laws, and I rebelled against Him. Therefore, because He chose to forgive me, I choose to "deny myself" and follow/obey Him. This is not rocket science. Homosexuality is a sin."
God did not call me to give my opinion, He called me to speak what His word says. 
As it states in Romans 1:21-27 "For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
²⁴ Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. ²⁵ They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
²⁶ Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. ²⁷ In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion."
As it also states in 1 Corinthians 6:9-12 it says, ^{9 "}Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders ¹⁰ nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. ¹² Everything is permissible for me”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me”—but I will not be mastered by anything."


I'm just saying what His word states, if you don't like it don't get mad at me, take it up with the writer...I'm guessing He'll probably listen.


Thanks for reading


Remember,


We're always Living In Worship.

Leaving The 99

I know that we all know someone who is not where they need to be, or maybe they don't realize the position they're in at the moment, maybe they have strayed off the path, but I encourage you to read Luke 15:4-7, which says, "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep. I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent." This parable talks about the lost sheep, it talks about the shepherd (God) going out to find this sheep. I have heard this story many times but it finally sunk in this morning. The shepherd goes to find the lost sheep, not the other sheep. What I'm trying to say here is that we all know that person out there, let God do what God does, we just need to continue to pray that God's will be done. If he uses us in that, great, if not, we just need to sit back and watch God work. It has been said that in the days of Jesus that the shepherd would find the lost sheep and break its back leg, carry it home, and then hand feed it and keep it close so that it would know who its shepherd was. Sometimes God may need to "break the leg" so that they understand who their shepherd is. It will hurt for a little while, but God will be there to hand feed you and nurture you back to full health. Don't ever forget who your shepherd is. So as I end this post I encourage you to keep praying for whoever it is in your life, and don't ever give up because God is always working. God will find that lost sheep, that's why He's called The Good Shepherd.

Thanks for reading, and remember,
We're always,
Living In Worship.

Waiting On The World To Change?

I was in the car today, when the song Waiting On The World To Change came on the radio, and it hit me, if we sit back and wait on the world to change, it may change but we will not be a  part of it...We can't just simply sit back and wait for our world to change itself, we have to get out there and change it. As it says in Matthew 28:19 "Go into all nations making disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." As it also says in Romans 10:14 "How then can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" Jesus tells his disciples to go out and make more disciples, and in Romans Paul says, how can anyone hear without us going and telling them? I know whatever God wants to happen will happen if we do what we are told or not, but if we sit around and do nothing we will not get that blessing that God has planned for us if we were to go out and change the world. I know one thing and it's that I want to be a part of changing the world! So for all of you reading this, I have a challenge for you. If you are going on mission this year awesome! If you are not going on mission this year I ask you to prayerfully consider it. That doesn't mean that you have to leave the country, that doesn't even mean you have to leave the state. I'm sure that there is plenty of stuff to do in your area, whether that is helping your neighbor mow their lawn, or going to your local laundry mat and just paying for peoples laundry. Whatever you decide to do make sure God is the center of why you are doing what you do and share that with whoever you help. Here's one more thought to think about as I end. Eternity is too long to be wrong about and not share what you know about it, so get out there and share!


Thanks for reading, and remember,
We're always,
Living In Worship

Worshiping The Worship

I feel like sometimes we get so caught up in the service itself that we lose sight of what worship is actually intended for. Take a moment to read over this and truly seek where your heart is in worship.

The Music: I believe sometimes we get so caught up in what we’re listening to we begin to worship the music rather than worship the almighty God, worship is not about music at all.

Worship was created as part of our relationship with God; He wants us to worship Him continually.

If you listen to the words of Matt Redman’s song Heart of Worship, it says “When the music fades and all is stripped away” when the music fades…it’s not about the music at all. The chorus it says “I’m coming back to the heart of worship, and it’s all about you” the heart of worship is all about Christ.

Don’t get me wrong worship music is not a bad thing. You just have to make sure you’re using the music as a form of worship, not as the worship. We use music as one of our tangible forms of worship, music is part of our corporate worship.

The Leader: Maybe sometimes we begin to worship the worship leader.

The song Heart of Worship came from Matt Redman when he was beginning to become a well recognized worship leader and people were coming to the church just to hear him lead. The pastor decided to get rid of the sound system and the band for a little while and just gather to worship with their voices.

The point is that sometimes we lose our way in worship and the way to get back is through the heart of worship and to strip everything away. A worship leader is just someone who has been given the gift of leadership, and they are placed in that position to lead you into a state of worship. They are no different than anyone else. As a worship leader I can personally tell you that I could care less what people think about me when I’m leading. I’m just there to worship with everyone else, yes I’m up on stage but I’m no different than the people in the audience. Worship should not be about me at all.

The Feeling: If our worship is based just on the “feeling” we get when we worship, then we are not truly worshiping. Worship is not about how we feel at all, it’s about praising the Almighty King.

As Paul says in Romans 12:1, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God-this is your true and proper worship.”

Offering ourselves as living sacrifices is our true act of worship. A living sacrifice is an oxymoron. You can’t have a living sacrifice. Paul knew that, he wasn’t crazy when he wrote this. He’s saying that we are supposed to live as sacrifices to Christ. Emotions in worship are not a bad thing. Feeling the Holy Spirit move throughout worship is a good thing, but if we come into worship just expecting that feeling than we’re not coming in with the right intentions. Don’t be a “worship junkie” which I will touch on later.

A great friend of mine once said to me “A living sacrifice can get down off the alter.”

We have to offer ourselves daily as sacrifices to the Lord.

David's Journal (Part 1)

Have you ever thought about people in the Bible journaling? What if some of the books in the Bible are prophets journal...I think if we take a close look at some of the books we will find that more often then not the prophets and writers were journaling. I believe that Psalms was mostly David's journal to the Lord. If you journal then you know that you're writing down your prayers and your thoughts to the Lord, that's what David is doing in Psalms. If we take a look at Psalms 3 we see David crying out to God. Verse 1 & 2 says, "O Lord, how many are my foes! Many are rising up against me; many are saying of my soul, there is no salvation for him in God." If we read this out of context it looks like David is defeated here but if we take a look at verse 3 & 4 it says, "But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head." "I cried aloud to the Lord, and He answered me from His holy hill." We see here that David is crying out to the Lord, saying that his foes are rising up against him, but he knows that the Lord is there for him, he just has to trust in the Lord and he will deliver him. How many times have we cried out to God in our time of weakness? When we feel like our like enemies are rising against us, but just as David did we just need to trust that the Lord can carry us through any situation. I am constantly reminded that there is no problem to big for God to handle, cast all your cares upon Him and he will take care of you every time.

Thanks for reading, and remember,
We're always,
Living In Worship.

Worship Is a Gift

I was having coffee with a friend of mine last week when we began to talk about worship, and how sometimes it can be discouraging when you are leading and everybody just has their hands at their sides, or in their pockets. Then it hit me, worship is our way of surrendering to God, in other words it is our gift to God. If you really think about it there is no wrong way to give a gift, when you get a gift from someone you're not going to criticize them on how they give it, right? So why should we have any right to criticize how others give their "gift" of worship to God. In fact if you are truly worshiping, it shouldn't matter how the people around you worship. I am constantly reminding myself that, who am I to judge someone on how they give their gift of worship, all I should be focusing on is giving my best at all times. So if you ever catch yourself criticizing in worship, just remember, if that's how they want to give their gift, it's not our place to tell them their wrong.

Thanks for reading, and remember,
We're always,
Living In Worship