Culture Change and the Church

This is my first blog this year and I have been really quit for a while. But I guess I want to express my opinion. I have been seeing a big culture change in the past 10 years. I am sure it’s been going on longer, but for me I am noticing it now. The big topics are to removing Jesus from any public/government places, homosexuality, and the only way I know how to put it is a move of Godless people. From the book “A heart Ablaze” by John Bevere we are being changed by the culture and not changing the culture.

The word holiness has been thrown around a lot and there are a lot of Christians that are afraid of that word. The reason is because it was abuse and a number of people have been burned. The word holiness means to be clean and pure, and the church word is separated from the world (2 Corinthians 6:17). Did you know that there are more mentions of God being Holy than God being Love? Now, I know that God is love and love covers us all, but the point I want to get across is that God is holy and it’s only through the blood that you can even approach him, because he is holy. We are fallen creation, because of sin and there is only one way to God the father and that is through Jesus. The bible says we are to turn from the sin, which was our old self. That means sin is oppose of who God is and his character.

To the point: Just because culture says it right doesn’t mean its right. God has not changed nor will he; God is still holy and he will not accept sin. The bible is very clear about sin (1 Corinthians 6:9-10); I didn’t make these up God did. Topic 1: As I stated earlier there is only one way to God and that is through Jesus Christ, he is the son of God. Topic 2: It’s sin, no matter what people say. It is wrong just like adultery, drunkenness, and greed. We are to love people and not the sin no matter what the sin is, but we cannot make any sin look like its ok. That is not judging a person that is speaking the truth of God. Just remember to love people, pray for them, and let God change them (you can’t change people). Last Topic: The last topic: We have left our first love and that is Jesus. This is the reason for the first two topics. So many churches are not preaching truth and they are more worried about entertainment. People need to hear the word of God. They need to see the power of the Holy Spirit fall. We need to listen more to the Holy Spirit and get back to the truth than worried about what Facebook says or what movies that are coming out. This next generation needs the word of God to stick to them, because it’s apparent the message from the church isn’t doing the job. What will it take for the church to change the culture and not the culture change the church? Prayer and getting back to our first love Jesus Christ.

BeingHumble

It’s been a while since I blogged, so I really want to make it a good one. I want to talk about being humble. As a human it’s a struggle and I do want to be honest. I believe when you do things for the Lord you can find yourself being prideful of different things. Sure it’s great to feel good about something. You just need to keep yourself in check and understand that there is someone out there is better than you, who know more than you, or that is in a higher position than you. But that is when you show respect and soak up as much wisdom from people that you can. We are always growing and learning. I believe that God expects us to continue to learn from things and to read the word. Just as Elisha trained under Elijah and mentored, I want to soak up as much wisdom as I can. Because I know I don’t have everything figured out. But I am learning every day.
This is a short blog, but I hope to jump back on this and write more about my next series of sermons.

Coke Ministry

What a day!!!!! We had our first ever coke ministry day at Wal-Mart….. You ask what is a coke ministry? Well you hand out drinks in front of a store with no strings attached (of course we were doing it in Jesus name). It was an interesting day and we had a great time with some great stories. However it’s so amazing when you tell people that we were giving away stuff and not asking for a donation. The quotes of the day was “Why are you just giving these away?” and “What are you doing it for?”
This tells me a couple of things.
1. We have way too many groups asking for money, for many different things and people expect to give money for something.
2. People now days don’t expect anything for free.
I pose this question for any ministry out there, what have you done in the name of Jesus and not expected nothing in return? The bible says: And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward." Matthew 10:42.
The reason I ask is, why we aren’t we doing more ministry stuff like this. One thing is we are so worried about going and doing things for the kids, like taking them on youth retreats, summer camps, and fun stuff for them. Don’t get me wrong all these things are good, but we stretch ourselves too thin and we forget about doing ministry.
Again I challenge ever ministry, do something for the community, city, and so on and don’t expect anything in return. I believe you will get a better blessing. Do in Jesus name and let the Holy Spirit do the rest.

I am Second!!!!

What or who have you put first in your life. Is it you, someone, or even something? I posed a question to our teenagers tonight about who is first in their life. It really hit home, because it made me think about whom or what I have first in my life. I always want to have God number one in my life no matter what. We get so caught up into the things of this world, but we get so busy that life becomes number one. When are we going to let God be number and guide our life then letting life guide us?

Some of My Thoughts

Wow, it’s been a while since I have posted something, but I thought that I would write some of my thoughts down. For the past 4 to 5 months it’s been a rough ride, being in the ministry and being called. But the message on Sunday morning touched my heart, because when has the last time I that I cried before the Lord. When has been the last time I truly sought him. My prayer is for our teenagers in our church to give up the things of this world and follow Christ.

Commitment

Sunday I spoke on commitment and the message touched me. Because it made me think... What am I committed too. If we are to be Disciples of Christ, then we have to be committed to him. We can't just go through the motions. That doesn't cut it. When you are saved, you have to committ and know that he is Lord. You have to know who Jesus is, because Jesus is our life. We gave it up when we accepted him as our savior, because he gave his life up for us to forgive us of a sin debt that we couldn't pay. So the next time you are watching TV, playing on the computer, or doing something else and God speaks to you to read or prayer, are you committed enough to stop and do what God has asked you to do?

Love

We had Valentines a few weeks ago and I am now engaged to the most wonder girl in the world. But I want to just talk for a few minutes about love. I hear the term “I love you,” and I hear it so much and wonder if people really know what it means to love. To truly love someone you have to have the love of God. It you don’t know God; then you don’t know the true meaning of love. I know that I love God and God shows his love back to me. What greater love, is for someone to lay down their life for me and that’s what Jesus did. We don’t deserve it and can never repay it, but he loved us so much that he gave his life for us.