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