Faith Like A Child

This morning in worship there was a little boy across the worship center on the front row and The Lord spoke to me through this little boy. This kid worshipped like I've never seen a kid worship before. He was probably 4 or 5 years old, normally you would think a kid of that age would be sitting playing a game or coloring, but this kid was different, he was singing his heart out and watching how other people worshipped and would copy them. Now most people would say well he wasn't worshipping he was just copying what he saw, but I will tell you this he may have been copying what he saw but that's how we learn. When we learn to speak we copy what our parents say, when we learn to crawl and walk we copy what our parents do, so naturally when we learn to worship we copy what other people do in worship. I am reminded of the passage in Luke 18 verses 16-17 But Jesus called for them, saying, "Permit the children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all. " The little boy this morning worshipped and sang his heart out like it didn't mater who was around him, it was just him and the worship. The thought The Lord put in my mind was this, what if we all worshipped as this child, with reckless abandoned and like we didn't care what anybody thought except Jesus, the only one that our worship should be consumed with. So next time you are in a worship service try having faith like a child and worship with reckless abandoned. 

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And Remember, We're Always

Living In Worship

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.

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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.

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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."


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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.