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Thursday, November 14, 2013

Amazing Grace

So at youth one night we sang the song "Amazing Grace My Chains Are Gone," and I finally realized w
hat that song truly means. Before that night though, I only thought that it was a good song and God's grace is pretty amazing. Which it is. But then I thought about it, because of God's grace, I'm made new. Because of God's grace I can see, because of God's grace I am free. The song is praising God for his grace.
The first part of the song goes like this:
"Amazing grace
How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I'm found
Was blind but now I see"
The first few words are "Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me," It saved us! We wouldn't be who we are without God's grace . We were lost. We were lost sheep but then by God's grace he found us. He found his sheep. He found YOU and he found ME. Before we were saved we didn't see the truth and stuff that he sees, but because of his Grace we can see.
I am going to skip a verse and jump right into the next line.
"My chains are gone
I've been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy reigns
Unending love, amazing grace"
This line is really important to us as Christians . Our chains are gone. Not because we deserve it but because God loves us. We have been set free by the Ultimate sacrifice. God has ransomed us by giving up his one and only son to die on a cross for us. He has unending love and awesome, amazing grace.
Although there is more to this song I am going to stop there.
Here is the Song
Amazing Grace (Chris Tomlin)

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Who Said?









Right now I'm going through a tough time right now and going to begin a major transition  in my life. I keep finding myself thinking "Why God? Why?" I also keep thinking "why did you have to screw up my life and family?" But then I realized something. Who said life was going to be easy? Who said you won't have any tough times? The bible never tells us that if you follow Jesus it's going to be easy.
In fact John 15:18-21 it says "18 "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20 Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me." We will be hated, we will be persecuted, we will be treated horribly because we are disciples of Jesus. They hated Jesus, they persecuted him and they treated him horribly too. Our life won't be easy. Jesus says "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." He basically said you must DIE daily. You must lay down your life so that you can live through and for him. Die to yourself and live for him.
When God changes something in our lives it usually seems unfair and we sometimes get mad at him (trust me I know how it feels) but the truth is he doesn't ask us for advice or our opinions.   It's all about faith. You need faith to walk through the opened door and step on the next stepping stone. you need faith to follow Jesus through the valley you are in. We just have to wait upon the Lord. He will make everything new and beautiful.
Remember Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future." 

Thursday, July 18, 2013

The American Church








78% of Americans call them Christians. But how many are actual Christians? But before we begin let's first discuss what a Christian is.A Christian is someone who loves. that's what's Christianity is all about. If we want to be more like Jesus then we need to love everybody. That's what Jesus did! He didn't say one hateful word while he was on this Earth! But yet most of the American "Christians" don't love their enemies. They say so many hateful things about atheists and Muslims on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Myspace and any other social media sights.
These Christians are Hippocrates. They say they are Christians but they don't love. How does that work? I believe that the main reason that America is falling is because the church is not what it was. We don't love each other. We say things like "go to Hell," and "go kill yourself."We hate Muslims and yet we say we are Christians? We are supposed to be God fearing, loving people. But we are not. Now I am not saying all Christians are like that but a lot of them are. When the day comes and we go home there will be a lot of surprised people that day when they don't go to heaven. We need to repent and seek God's mercy.
We need to go back to the roots of Christianity and start over. We need to begin to love people who are our enemies. We, my self included, need to seek God's forgiveness and learn how to love again.

Sunday, June 23, 2013

LFTL (Living for the Lord)





What does Living for the Lord mean to you? Well, to me it means loving each other, worshiping him, doing what God wants you to do, and becoming less so that God can become more.
Becoming less so that God can become more. That seems weird right? I mean the American dream is to become rich, be famous, have a nice car, be on TV, and have a cute husband or wife, right? So, why do we need to be less? What does that even mean? Do you have to get rid of all of your money, sell your car and go away from all the fame that you worked so hard to achieve? No, not necessarily. That is a little extreme  but it's not bad. What you could do is use that fame and promote God and not demote him. Don't try to draw a bunch of attention to yourself but draw attention to God. Use your money  for God.
But if you don't have fame or money no big deal. You can still become less so God becomes more. What you can do is go out of your way and help a homeless person or sit or talk to someone that is not "popular" or is a "looser." People might make fun of you or look at you funny, but don't get sad or embarrassed because it's the right thing to do. Everyone can do something to promote God.
If you are an athlete like myself,do your best and show God's love to everyone. The light inside you will shine  through the darkness and touch people's lives.
If you live for the Lord, people will see that you are different and some will mock you and ridicule you. (John 18:1& 20,) while others will want what you have.These people will need someone to tell them about Jesus Christ. You need to tell all who will hear the good news. There is a quote by Penn Jillette. This is what he said "How much do you have to hate someone not to tell them about your faith?"
Here is the link to the Penn Jillette video that he says it in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=fa9JE_ZVL88

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Faith





In a previous post I just talked about faith a little bit. But now I am going to go in depth about it. Faith is believing in the unseen. With faith you do not need so called proof because you some how know that what or who you believe in is real and existing. I have faith in God, my dad has faith in him, my pastor has faith in him. And we don't have to ask for proof that he is real. If you want proof that God is real get a personal relationship with him and he will make himself known to you. If you do not have faith you don't know God.
Faith is very powerful. In Mathew 17:20 it says, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. NOTHING will be impossible for you." See if we have faith the size of a MUSTERED SEED we can say to a mountain move and it will! If you don't know how big mustard seeds are they are really, really small. Imagine what we could do if we had faith as BIG as a mountain.
The ones who remain faithful to the very end shall be taken up to heaven to be with God for 10,000 years and forever more.


So to bring this to an end if you don't have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and you want one you can do something called the ABC's of Christianity.
It is:


Giving your life to Christ is as easy as A-B-C:

Admit that you are a sinner and need forgiveness.
Believe that Jesus Christ died for you on the cross and rose from the grave to bring you to God.
Confess, through prayer, that Jesus Christ is the only way to God, and commit to live for Him the rest of your life.

1.      God loves you and wants a personal relationship with you. "" (John 3:16 NIV)

2.      Our sin keeps us from having a personal relationship with God. "" (Romans 3:23 NIV)

3.      Jesus Christ is the only answer to this problem. He’s the only one who can bring us back to God. "" (1 Peter 3:18 NIV)

4.      You must personally trust Jesus Christ to forgive your sins and determine to obey Him for the rest of your life. (John 1:12 NIV)

Read these words as a prayer to God and mean them in your heart:

Dear Lord Jesus,

I know I am a sinner and need your forgiveness. I believe that you died on the cross for my sins and rose from the grave to give me life. I know You are the only way to God, so help me to quit disobeying You and to start living for You. Please forgive me, change my life, and make yourself real to me. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

I got this information about the ABC's of Christianity (becoming a Christian) from http://www.trettel.com/ccrc/christian/abc.html 



If you prayed this prayer that's above, congratulations on becoming part of God's family and also, this is what you need to do now. You need find a local church and you need to tell someone about you choice. Also keep your faith and remain in him. You need to find a bible and use it. Here is a website to find a local church. I would recommend after plugging in your state and city that you live in to scroll down to where it says "Spirit Filled" because that means that the Holy Spirit is in that church and is moving in it.
http://www.churchfinder.com/




Stay faithful my friends.
 

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

The Godhead Three in One




There are a lot of people who don't believe in the trinity, and frankly it's hard to explain. The best way to explain it is like how Jack Sparrow explains his actions. He says "Pirate" when someone says that he can't do something. That's the same thing as with God. He is God! He can do things that are impossible! Another way to explain it is with  John 1:1 and 14, "In the beginning there was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God.The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." If you think about it the Word is Jesus. A clue that the Word is him is when it says the Word became flesh. Since the Word is Jesus and the Word is God, that would mean that Jesus is God. In Luke 24:49, Jesus say's that he will send us what God has promised. In the Greek translation they use the word identical. So that means that Jesus will send them an identical being to help them. That being is called the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the Holy Spirit is identical to Jesus, and Jesus is God, so that would mean the Holy Spirit is God.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

What If....

 



What if the world's going to end right here, right now? Where would you go? Would you go to Paradise, or would you go to Hell? What about your best friend? Would he go to Heaven or would he go to Hell? All these questions are both good and bad.
I find myself thinking "What if the world ended today would I be to far gone and not go to Heaven because of all the sins I committed?" That is not a good question. It's not a good thought because I have seeked forgiveness and salvation from the Lord. I am His son and I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.
This thought comes because of doubt. Satan uses doubt as a weapon of mass destruction. He tries to trick you, fool you, twist you and a lot more things. He can use doubt as a tool for that. He plays with your mind and uses it for his purpose. When that happens, we need to drop on our knees and cry out to God. Just cry out to God is what it takes.
But sometimes asking what if is a good thing to do. What if your friend doesn't know Jesus? He needs to know! That's when you ask what if. He could drop dead and never hear the Word of God. There would have been no hope for him if no one ever told him about God's love. So what if your friend died today? Did he know God? If he didn't what will you do about it? Are you going to tell him? Or are you going to wait for tomorrow? Don't wait! Tomorrow could be to late. Tomorrow may never come. What if? Right now there are more than 7 billion people on this Earth, and only about 33% of them are Christians! That's a problem. We as the American Church of Christ need to get out of our comfort zones, stop slacking off and fix it. What if the world would end? How many hopeless people would go to Hell? It's not a happy thought, but it's a thought that must be fresh in our minds. 67% of the world are not Christians. That's 67% of the population that don't know God. If the world would end right now about 10,886,997,537 people would go to Hell.
So what are you going to do about it? Are you going to do your best to give people a hope? Are you going to step up and be some one's hero?
What if?

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Faith, Love, Peace


 
 

I am deeply sorry for not posting anything for a while and I feel like it's time to start. If you haven't noticed, the title of this post is "Faith, Love, Peace," but why? Well, I will define and describe these three traits.
The first one is Faith. What is faith? According to Hebrews 11:1 "Now Faith is being sure of what we hope for and being certain of what we do not see" For example I have faith in God that he will provide. This means that I hope for God's provision and I know God. I may not see Him but I have faith in Him. A biblical example we can look at is Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the God, who loved me and gave himself for me." That's powerful. This means that I am new and I live through Christ. The life that I life I live with faith of God. I will get to the last part later. I live because of my faith in God, because I have faith that there is something better for me. That is what faith is.
Love is patient, kind, gentle, something that does not boast or envies, it's a gift from God. We all know that we were created from God's image. He gave us laughter, a smile, happiness, guilt, faith, fright, anger and love. Love is a reflection of God himself. He loved us enough to send his son to die on a tree so we don't have to. Out of love, he gives us a second, third, fourth, thousands of chances. God loved us enough to pay the price so we don't have to. Loved us so much that he's coming back for you, me and everyone who believes. What is love? I'll tell you what love is. It's a mom who takes care of her 9 month old baby. It's a dad holding his children tight in his arms during a thunder storm. Love is a big brother helping his little sister get a drink of water from the drinking fountain. It's a little baby girl that was just born. Love is a bride and groom getting married, it's the Bible. That's what love is.
What is peace? Peace is being in God's gigantic wings. Peace is being held up by God. It's when the storms are calm and Jesus is with you. Peace is no worries. That's what peace is.