I'm off to battle...

Well, I'm off to battle....sort of. In a little over an hour, I'm off to Camp Joy-El to begin training as a Senior Counselor, where I'll serve all Summer. I am very excited! I can not wait to serve my King!

Can you pray for me this summer? Pray that I will be able to set a good example, speak boldly the message God has given me, that I do not back down in service to my King, that I will lean on Him, and that He will fill me with His Grace, Strength, Boldness, Spirit, and Power. Pray that God will be able to use me, that I will proclaim His name boldly, as I should. Pray that I will be able to impart to my campers the importance of being a man of God and that I live it out as well.

Again, I am very excited for this summer! I know God will do some great things this summer, and I can't wait to see what He will do. Pray also that we guard against Satan and His schemes, for he will stop at nothing to try and disrupt God's Work. Pray also that I give myself fully to God, and submit to Him, rather than let my self control me. I pray that I will be able to live out what I have written here. (In case you haven't figured it out, it will be a little bit before I will be back on to blog...feel free to check out my older post though if you haven't yet!)

Well, I'm off to battle for my King and His Kingdom!

For Christ's Glory!

Taking a lesson from the Bereans...

There is a lot of different ideas and doctrines floating around in Christianity today. It can get confusing, and can leave you wondering what is true and what isn't. There seems to be a common myth that anything with the label "Christian" on it is A-Okay, and kosher. We assume that everything considered "Christian" has to be; that it was checked out by some mysterious, wise council or something. However, not everything with the label "Christian" on it contains ideas that are actually "Christian". How do you know what is good and what isn't? I believe we can take some lessons from the Bereans...

"Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." (Acts 17:11, NIV) Now that is good stuff! I suggest we take some lessons from them.

Now, I firmly believe that God's Word is absolutely true. Therefore, if we come across any new idea or ideology, we take it and examine it, and compare it to the unchanging truth of the Scripture, looking to see if the "new teaching" is actually true. You'd be surprised how many "Christian" books contain ideas that don't line up with Scripture.

Now, I heard somewhere that the way that people at banks train to identify counterfeit bills is not by studying counterfeits, as you might think. Actually, they examine real bills and study them. They acquaint themselves with the real thing, so as to better see the fake. In Scripture, we are told to guard against false teachings, to watch out for false prophets. We need to discern what is right, and the way to do that is to be like the Bereans. Acquaint yourself with Scripture, study it, get to know it in and out so you can see what is true and what is not.

We need to be more like Bereans, studying the scriptures to see if what we are taking in is really true. His word is truth; don't be led astray.

For Christ's Glory!

Being filled with the Holy Spirit- More thoughts on Acts...

As I spend more time in the book of Acts, I am amazed at the power of the Church and how filled they were with the Holy Spirit. The power of the Holy Spirit was evident in their lives. It is obvious that they are filled with the Holy Spirit.

However, we don't really see much of that anymore. No one really seems to take seriously the command in Ephesians 5:18 to "be filled with the Spirit" (NIV) We look at the early church and shake our heads, thinking that it isn't realistic....we can't be filled with the Spirit.

I don't know about you, but I desire to see the Spirit fill my life. I read verses like Acts 4:31, "After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly." (NIV) and it makes me deeply desire to be filled with the Spirit.

Let's take a look at Galatians 5: "16 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 17 For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other." (NIV)

We need to be filled with the Spirit. I believe that the Spirit desires to fill us like the believers of old. We need more people to be filled with and live by the Spirit. If we live by the Spirit, we won't satisfy our sinful nature. Will you dare to be filled with the Spirit?

For Christ's Glory!

Contra Mundum

Anyone else notice that the church has been acting more and more like the world around it? Our services are more "seeker friendly", we have more "culturally relevant" messages, our favorite Christian artists dress and music is almost identical to the secular artists, we wear "cool" t-shirts that "share" our faith, while looking like the latest and coolest styles. It seems as though our modern church as we know it is enamored with identifying itself with the world's ways and ideals, and "coolness"

Has anyone else also noticed that the modern Church is basically powerless, ineffective, and dying. I've heard somewhere that close to 80% of the "christian" high schoolers in the church leave the faith after they graduate. This year's graduation of '09 is upon us. How many of them have we lost?

I happen to like a certain Latin phrase which I think sums up what we should be. It's "Contra Mundum", and it basically means "Against the World". That phrase sums up what our church, and us as Christians should be. Are we trying to please men or God?

For most, the idea of going against the world seems ludicrous. "What will happen to our numbers if we aren't culturally relevant?" "If we don't seem like the world, and are as cool as can be, we won't attract people to the church..." However, I believe that we need to go "Contra Mundum" This business of being just like the world to draw people has to stop. "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but instead be transformed by the renewing of your mind..." (Romans 12:2, NIV)

We have forgotten what Christianity is: A radical call of abandon to self, the taking up of our cross daily, and follow Him, our King! We need to die to self, and follow, against the flow of the world. James 4:4: "You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God." (NIV) "He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters." (Matthew 12:30, NIV) As I shared earlier in my previous post, (http://becomingawarriorpoet.blogspot.com/2009/05/for-king-and-kingdom.html) We are either on one side or another. We need to be fully over for God.

What's with the focus on being "cool"? Why is our church focusing on being "seeker friendly", being "culturally relevant"? Have we forgotten that Jesus said "All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved."? (Matthew 10:22, NIV) Or, that "anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me." (Matthew 10:38, NIV) Historically, being a follower of Christ means to be "Contra Mundum", and to be hated and persecuted.

We need to have the same attitude as the apostles, who after being beaten, and warned severely not to preach in His name, left "...rejoicing because they were counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name." (Acts 5:41, NIV). They knew what it meant what it meant ot be "Contra Mundum". Do we?

For Christ's Glory!

For King and Kingdom!

I apologize for the lateness of this post...it has been a little busy

We are in a battle. This is not a time of peace, waiting for Christ to return. We are in the middle of an epic battle for ownership of the soul; one that has gone on since the Garden. A battle between two kingdoms: The Kingdom of Light, God's eternal Kingdom, and the kingdom of darkness.

Now I have to admit that as a guy, this is exciting. I guess, as a guy, I have this deep, innate desire to stand up and fight for my King and Kingdom. While it is "exciting" for me, it is also serious stuff. The truth is, all of us, guys and girls, need to take a stand in this battle.

To take a stand means you need to be fully on one side or another. Either your all in or you are not in at all. We need to decide.

Our self fights against us. Historically, our self, our flesh, our sin nature, fights against the things of God. Our self doesn't want us to be all in, placing our all on the line for our King and His Kingdom. It resists a life of submitting everything to Christ, because it knows that giving our all for Christ, going completely on His side, means to deny self and its desires.

Our self, or flesh, will do any thing to stop us from giving our all to Christ. It will try and distract us, attack we least expect. It enjoys being comfortable, coddled. We need to realize that in order to be all in for our King, to be a servant of His Kingdom fully means to deny self, showing no quarter to the flesh, putting to death our sin nature.

The problem is that it is easier to say than to do it. Humanly speaking, we are stuck under sin's control, under the thumb of self. It seems that when we try to throw off the old self or deepen our relationship with Christ, our self goes into overdrive. It fights even harder, it seems. It is time to dig in our boots and decide to fight for our King and Kingdom.

There is a line in the sand. We have to decide to either be king of our lives and consequently be an ally of the kingdom of darkness, or to submit to the King, and His rule and ultimately let Him be in charge, making us a citizen of the Kingdom of Light.

Our self doesn't want to submit. It enjoys calling the shots. Even when we start to cede more to our King, it tries to sneak back onto the thrones of our lives. I know from experience. This past month, I have been wrestling with my self, and more times than not, it has come on top. We are in a battle. A battle of ownership.

It seems that when the harder we try, the harder it fights. It gets so frustrating...you try your hardest, commit your self to His Kingdom.....and you fall on your face. Your flesh manages to squeeze itself in, trips you up, pushes you back to that line in the sand...trying to get you on the other side, let it rule you.

But, through Christ, we are "more than conquerors through him who loved us" (Romans 8:37)We need to rely on Him, His strength, His grace. It's when we realize that we can't kick our flesh out on our own, and yield to His power, and Authority. Only He can fully, by His grace, give a holy kick to the pants of our self, booting it out of our soul, and allowing Him to fully establish His Kingship in our soul.

Now this isn't as easy as it sounds. It hurts. It is almost as if the flesh digs in its claws as Christ removes it. But, it is only through Christ that we can throw off our old self, and fully commit ourselves for our King, and Kingdom!


For King and Kingdom!

Fools for Christ...

Fanatics. They're everywhere. Football fanatics, car fanatics, hunting fanatics (At least in my area!), sports fanatics, video game fanatics...etc. We see them in the grocery store, we see them in town, we see them pass us on the highway (Mostly the car fanatics), we see them in school. We even see them in church, and sometimes, we even see them in ourselves.

We all know what they look like: Obsessed with a certain thing, almost always wearing some type of paraphernalia or hat that shouts their devotion to their obsession. They talk about it all the time, are consumed by it. They are not ashamed (mostly) of their obsession; instead they wear or drive or read or talk whatever they are fanatical about. They are not afraid to be a fool for the object of their obsession.

Even many in the church are fanatics like this. They are Christians, but are quiet about it 6 days of the week, and are not quiet about the things they love for more than an 6 hours a day (Okay so I am exaggerating... a little)

The point is that most of us don't give a second thought about our obsession for things. We aren't ashamed of it and will share it. If our favorite team wins the Super Bowl, or the World Series, we are screaming and jumping up and down, and are proudly announcing to the world that our favorite team has won! Or, we buy and conquer the latest video game, and go crazy over it and tell everyone how great the game was. Or, we buy the newest of the new cars, or restore an old classic car, and we tell everyone about it, and drive the metal monstrosity down main street.

The point is that we can get so excited and fanatical for stuff...and we aren't ashamed of it Why don't we have this mindset for Christ? Now, please understand that I am not promoting being fanatical to stuff...not at all! (I've talked on that before: http://becomingawarriorpoet.blogspot.com/2009/04/garbage-everywhere.html) Instead I am suggesting that we take that mindset of being unashamed and absolutely fanatical and apply it to our spiritual walk.

How many of us are willing to be a fool for Christ? How many of us are willing to lay it all on the line, be made fun of, mocked, scorned persecuted, rejected? How many of us are willing to appear foolish? Are we ashamed of the Gospel?

Paul was not ashamed of the Gospel (Romans 1:16), but preached to everyone, and devoted his life to it. He was fanatical for Christ's Glory, Kingdom, and Gospel! How many of us can say that?

We should not be afraid of looking the fool. God isn't.

"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate." Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength. " (1 Corinthians 1:18-25, NIV)

The Church tries to dress up the Gospel, make it "culturally relevant". This should not be. God's message will appear to be foolishness, and we should be willing to appear as fools for Him so that He may be glorified and seen all the more.

Though the world may mock us and the gospel, because it appears to be foolishness, we should not waver. Because, God's "foolishness" is greater than man's wisdom. The foolishness of the Cross puts the attention fully on God, and not on us, because we all know that it were about us, or it was our message, we would not make it appear "foolish" in man's eyes. The "foolishness" of the Gospel showcases God's greatness. Instead of focusing on pleasing the world, we should focus on pleasing God, even if it makes us appear to be a fool before the world

I don't know about you, but I would rather be seen as a fool for my King, than a fool before Him.

For Christ's Glory!

Amazing Grace...(More thoughts on Acts...)

Most of you are familiar with the old hymn Amazing Grace. Some of you might even be humming it to yourself as you read this...and some of you might be wondering what grace has to do with Acts, or why talk about it....After all, don't we all know what Grace is and that we have been saved by Grace? Why revisit something we all know and hold dear? What more could be said? With all due respect, quite a bit more needs said and hasn't been said much, if at all.

Most of us would define grace as "unmerited favor", and most see it as more or less the same thing as mercy. While this is definitely a big part of grace, and certainly the most well known, it is not the whole picture.

Most of you might be thinking "what does he mean?", "What does this have to do with Acts?", and some of you just might be still humming that old hymn and might be wondering why you still are!

All questions and jokes aside, let's take a look at Acts 4:33..."With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all." (NIV)

Also in Ephesians 3:7, it says "I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power."(NIV)

In Romans 15:15 it says "I have written you quite boldly on some points, as if to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me"(NIV)

John 1:16 says "From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another."(NIV)

It becomes obvious that grace as mentioned here means more than just mercy or unmerited favor. It is the very power of God to shape and move us. It is God's power to use us. It is not us, but Him.

Part of this is realizing that we can't, but He can. We on our own can not be perfect or holy. We are a mess, despite our best efforts. Don't think I am excluding myself from this. I am all too aware of my own failings. I am a mess on my own spiritually, bogged down in sin. When I try and do my own thing or get in front of God and try and do things my way, I fall and fail terribly. Even when I try and do great things for God, and do my best for Him and rely on my efforts and still during it rely on me, I find that I fall, and even fall into sin, into pride.

In Romans 7, Paul had a similar problem as I do, and as all of us do. "I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing." (Romans 7:18-19, NIV)

How many of us can join with Paul in saying that? How many hands raised? I find that even when I desire to do what is good, I end up in sin, and hurting others. Our sin nature is pretty tricky...

But, Paul continues: (Verse 22, 24) "For my inner being, I delight in God's law...." but then he says "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" Verse 25: "Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!" And then He continues in chapter 8 by saying that "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, who do not live according to the sin nature but according to the Spirit. because through Christ Jesus the law of Christ set me free from the law of sin and death." (8:1-2, NIV)

Now many in our modern church take a look at this passage, particularly in chapter 7 and conclude that it provides evidence that we can never truly be living holy lives, that we will be stuck in sin until Christ comes again. We use this scripture to justify being stuck in sin.

That is not what Paul is saying here. He is telling of how sin reigned in his body, and he was powerless to fight it...until he has set free by the Grace of God. (I talk more on this in a previous post: http://becomingawarriorpoet.blogspot.com/2009/05/time-to-kill-horse.html)

Here is the point that I am trying to make. We are saved by grace (Ephesians 2:8), but Grace is so much more than that. It is more than unmerited favor; it is God's power. We are wretched and sinful. We've established that. I, my sinful, selfish self can never accomplish any thing for God, nor have victory over sin (Romans 6:4-11). It is only by the power of His Grace that we can do anything. We can't do anything on our own, Only God can through us.

To live by Grace means to submit everything to Him, and rely on Him. His grace is more than mercy...it is the power to overcome sin, to be a follower for Him, the power to be bold for Him, and to have words to defend the gospel...that is what His grace does. By the power of His Grace we have victory over sin. By His Grace and the power of it, can we dare to live as He did. It is by His grace that we can be holy.

We can't do it on our own. We need His Grace. Jesus lived just as we did, but by God's grace, lived such a life that the world has been turned upside down, and we have been offered forgiveness and Grace. Jesus lived the ultimate life by and of Grace, and He beckons us to come and follow. It is only by His Grace that we can dare try.

I've only scratched the surface on God's Grace; none of us can ever truly comprehend all that it is and its power. The early church in Acts lived by Grace. I mentioned in the my title that I would dig a little deeper in Acts, and so I shall, before I forget! (I have a tendency to get carried away when I write and I don't always finish all that I mean to say.)

When we look at Acts and see how the church was and how we are now, we see a big difference. I had mentioned this earlier. One other thing that the Early church did that we don't is live by Grace. They lived by the power of God's Grace. It was by His grace that they did what they did and had the impact that they had.

Nowadays, Grace is seen as mercy. We are "just forgiven". We are stuck in the mire of sin and self. We don't realize the power of God's grace. We try and do things on our own. We see God's Grace as a "get out of jail free card". We are under God's grace; we can do what we want.

This is not how it is supposed to be! God's Grace can and will deliver us from that, if we let Him. We can't...But He can. We need more of that powerful side of Grace in the church. For more on this, check out this site: http://www.ericludy.com/ericludy.com/What_is_Grace.html.

To conclude this rather lengthy post, let me say that I have decided to live by His Grace. I can't do it on my own. I do not want to be mired in my sin and selfishness. I've seen what it has done to my life. It is only by His Grace that I can follow Him, and be holy. That is why His Grace is so Amazing!

For Christ's Glory!