Today is a new day

Today, I decided to open up the book of Romans and start from the beginning. As I started reading the opening part of the letter, I found myself experiencing a fresh fire to the purpose that God bestowed in me. Going to college and finishing my master's degree was something that I wanted to do ever since I started my undergrad degree. Long before that I knew that God called me to some form of ministry, which come to find out in the early years was student ministry. But even before that, I made a decision to let Christ control my life, my desires, my plans and in return I would have the privilege to spend eternity with Him. While I was reading verse 5: "Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name"I started to think about the way the church views this. How I view this. I feel that many people have forgotten that in our lives, new lives in Christ, that we have been given the privilege and authority to speak the love of Christ anywhere. So why is it so hard to do this? I personally believe it's pride. We are a society that holds dear to things that mean something to us. We hate sharing, we hate opening up to others in fear that people will judge us, we hate the fact that we have to speak to other people. I kept reading on and came across verse 14: "For I have a great sense of obligation to people in our culture and to people in other cultures, to the educated and uneducated alike." Wow....coming from a man who hated Christians to a man who loves Christ now, this was his desire! His whole life's purpose, Christ's purpose for all who call him Lord, is to have a sense of obligation, desire or passion to tell others about Christ so that they can have an opportunity to believe and obey the Risen King. What if this was our attitude every morning? I am obligated because Christ has given me the power and strength (privilege) and authority to tell of His great love! IF this could be our attitude then we could easily say this: verse 16: "For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ." 

Just something to think about as we get closer to Passion Week. Will you do whatever it takes?

A

What Matter More To You....

So recently I purchased Derek Webb's cd and there is a song that has been deemed by critics to be controversial. Now I find this very funny because, i-Tunes didn't sell this song with the cd because one song had two "cuss" words in the song. I find this funny cause i-Tunes has countless songs that have way more profanity in them. But anywho, the song that is causing so much controversy is "What matters more to you." Now, please let me say this first if you have heard the song and disagree with the language. Before you go all hypocritical on the song, have you ever stubbed your toe and something come out that wasn't nice? Ok, let's move on. But you might say, well he said those words on purpose and that warrants a different argument. Ok, can someone please tell me when saying particular words were deemed wrong? When did cussing become such a heated argument? I guess it was from the sailors back in the day, who knows, but I can't help to agree with the attitude in which the song was written. While Jesus didn't cuss around the disciples, I think this song is a wake-up for all of us Christ-followers who have become lazy and calloused in our way of living out the Gospel. To answer the question, what matters more to me? If I were truly honest, I don't think that I am doing enough to let people know the love of God. It is so easy to give money, it is so easy to say the right words, it is easy to portray a life on the outside that doesn't match up with the private life, but does it really matter to me to make a change or just go with the status quo? But is this really making a difference? Am I really breaking free of the comfort zone that I am enclosed in? I know this may sound like a bunch of rambling but do we even care? If you want to view the video go to www.youtube.com and search Derek Webb and it will be the first song that comes up. I have already warned you about the words but are we looking for the words or do we actually listen to the meaning of the song? So you are warned, but you may hear the song and feel the same way I do.

Aaron

Crazy thoughts....at 11:48pm

Over the past few weeks of studying, preparing for messages for students and learning more and more as I go, I find myself tonight wondering....wondering about the precious words of the Bible. You are probably wondering where I am going with this. As a Christ-follower, my source of strength and purpose comes from knowing Christ but also I get that strength from a powerful book called the Bible. Tonight, let's just say I laid everything down that I thought I knew about the Bible and started over. No preconceived ideas about this or that but I could open and read the love letters how they were intended to be read. You are probably going, you are weird and yes, I have been called that a time or two...but the point I am getting at is I think that myself, along with many others, we have become calloused in our thinking of how the words of the Bible can truly impact our lives if we could just hold true to them. We become quick to overlook and say "eh, I know the outcome" and so therefore we have lost the true, live changing message that Bible offers. This whole series of prayer that I have been studying has really opened my eyes to look for the amazing details that are embedded within the words of Scripture. No, there is no secret Da Vinci code if you read John 3:16 and 1 John 3:16 together standing on your head in a corner. Sorry. But the beauty of the words and poetry that makes the pages come alive I feel at times I have passed them by. I will be the first to say that I have overlooked Scripture many times to say "yep, got it covered"....oh you Pharisee! So I ask a few questions to whomever reads this: would we be willing to start over? Could we take everyday as if we were starting from the very first time we opened the Word of God? To come with a passion and eagerness to allow the Spirit to speak to our hearts in that moment? I know it might be a stretch for some of us, but I think that if we can come with a passion to understand the truth of what the Bible has to say to us, then we might, just might, fall deeper in love with Christ!

Philippians 3:12