Losing My Life

   When you think of "church goers" what comes to mind? I imagine the quintessential goody-two-shoes who has never broken a rule in his or her life. Isn't that how most church goers try to come off when they're around other "church people"? We put on our Sunday best and tell everyone how much we love God, and then we go home to our regular lives and leave Jesus for next service. Well, this view of church is totally warped from the entire point of the church!     The people who most would turn away from a church, are those who need it most. Jesus didn't come here and hang out with the people who made it look like they had it all together. He spent His time with the lowliest of sinners and evildoers around! Who of us can say that we have never struggled with sin or turned away from Jesus at some point in our life? We all know what it's like to be on the other side.  Wouldn't you have wanted to know Jesus at those points?     The church was neve...

    Do you remember when you first met Jesus? What a magical time it was for us all. It was like the thrill of falling in love. Your spirits are lifted, you can't stop smiling, and you can't wait to tell everyone else all about it! Are you still like that now? Why does our love for Jesus change over time? Shouldn't following Jesus be even more exciting and wonderful than it was then?     In the book of Revelation, Jesus used John to tell the church of Ephesus that they had lost the love that they had for Him at first and that He is holding it against them. We should know better than to make the same mistake, yet we all find our love for the Lord slipping at times. Maybe its because we forget to thank Him for the blessings in difficult circumstances, because we stop seeking Him, or because He becomes too familiar. Nothing is a valid excuse, however, for us to stop fervently loving Jesus.     Like a great marriage, our flame for Him should never go out. W...

    What do we have when we have Jesus? Everything. Nothing good comes from this world at all. Satan stole the lease on the world from Adam in the garden. When he gained control, he decided to mess up everything God intended for good. However now, we are given Jesus' name to take back that authority and cast Satan out of our territory. But the fact remains that the world is currently under his reign.     That being said, we know that nothing good could come from the devil. Yet many people think that they can have a perfectly happy life without Jesus. Remember that only when you have Jesus can you have the perfect gifts of His Spirit: true, unconditional love, peace that transcends all understanding and circumstances, joy, and so much more! Without Jesus, all we have are the momentary pleasures of the flesh that leave us empty and unfulfilled. But with Him we have everything.     Where would we be without Jesus? He is the way, the truth, and the life. Ev...

Ephesians 4:29-32   Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. (NLT)     I loved the way the New Living Translation phrased this scripture. It is yet another reminder of the lifestyle that we should be leading as followers of Jesus Christ. Sometimes we forget what we stand for and what the whole point of life is. We are to be emulating Jesus and spreading the news of Him to those who have yet to experience it.     Part of looking like Jesus is our words. We shouldn't be ...

    Sometimes as Christians we get worn down. We lose our faith in God and begin to doubt Him when our promises don't seem like they will ever happen. We get mad because our life doesn't look the way we wanted it to. I believe that the source of these frustrations is that we have placed God's plans within the confines of our own plans and ideas for our life.     When we expect God to fit into our box, we make ourselves the God. We make Him a means to our end and say that it was all done in His "honor." Far too many "Christ followers" have their own detailed plan for what their future looks like-- their spouse, their occupation, their role in the church, their finances, etc. Why do we think that we have got it all figured out? We say to Jesus, "If you could just ok my plan that would be great." We make it all about ourselves. I believe that truly being a disciple of Christ is laying YOUR plans for your life aside to leave room for Jesus'. ...

    As I've said before, our time is a precious commodity. We only have a certain amount of time to spend here on earth. How do I want to spend mine and how have I been? Too often, I have made the mistake of spending my time and efforts on things I cannot change instead of things I can. No longer! I have elected to spend time on the things that make an eternal difference. I want to fulfill the great commission that Jesus called us all to.     Jesus has told us to go to the ends of the earth to ensure the whole world hears about Him. I don't know why we waste our time trying to tell the same people, over and over again, about Jesus. If we are able to share the good news with someone and they reject it, move on. Bring Jesus to those who don't yet know Him and who haven't had their opportunity to say "yes." There are plenty out there.     It starts with where He has placed you today. Look around you and see who Jesus wants you to introduce Him to. Start ge...

    Before you execute any action, sinful or righteous, you have to make the conscious decision to do so. Neither Satan nor Jesus suddenly takes over us and makes us do something without us first saying yes, then doing. Sometimes people say yes to Satan and he does take over, but Jesus never will. He always gives us the freedom to choose what we will do and when. Will we listen to His leading, or choose otherwise?     The reality of freedom is both a relief, and quite frightening. Our lives are completely left in our hands. What if we mess up? Well, thankfully, Jesus has provided us with grace and forgiveness for those times because they will come along. He even turns things back around in our favor in those instances. But what really is amazing is that He lets us choose Him or not. He has already chosen us, but we get the freedom to choose what we want. Those of us that have made that decision know that He is both the right choice and the best choice, but He let u...

     We have now gone over me time and we time, so today I want to address He time. It's a pretty simple concept-- that we have to spend time with Jesus to grow our faith. Just like anything else we want to get better at, you have to spend time doing it. In the case of Christianity, we are changed into the image of Jesus as we spend time with Him. 2 Corinthians 3:18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (ESV)     My message is as simple as this-- make sure that you are setting time aside for Christ. You will never change if you don't continually immerse yourself into His presence. We need to be spending time in His word so we know His promises and guidelines for our life, in prayer to speak to Him for individual direction in our circumstances, and worshipping Him for His goodness.     Do not le...

    Yesterday I talked about the importance of "me time," today I want to go over what I will affectionately call, "we time." That is, the time spent with others. There are two parts to this: time spent with those in your church community, and time spent with nonbelievers. Both are essential parts to our Christian lifestyle.     When we spend time with our brothers and sisters in Christ, we are strengthened in our own faith. When we are down, our Jesus family lifts us up and reminds us of who we are in Him and where we are going. We learn from each other and share in each other's suffering. We have people to go to who we can talk to about our lives and get solid, godly advice from. We have people who will love us unconditionally as Christ loves us. We are built up by the Jesus that is in one another. That is ridiculously important. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up...

    I have been thinking a lot lately on the topic of time management. How do we divide our time between the different elements of our life and where does Jesus fit into all of it? Where would He have us devote our time? I have come up with three elements that I believe we need to keep in mind when we are choosing where to spend our time and I will be sharing them the next couple days. We have to divide time between our me time, we time, and He time.     Many people talk about the importance of their "me time." It is sacred to many to have time to spend alone with themselves. I would agree that this time is important for us all. It is crucial to have time to reflect on our lives and actions. To think about things like where Jesus is taking us, if we are walking out the gospel, what has Jesus blessed us with, etc. It's important to chew things over and to pray about them. And it is equally important to have time just simply to relax and do things we enjoy!   ...

    The Pharisees in Jesus day were known to make a big deal about how "righteous" they were. They would put on a show so that others could see how great they are and admire them. This is exactly what Jesus says we are not supposed to do. When we don't make a show of our faith is when it is truly genuine and He rewards us.      We are never supposed to make much of ourselves, but to make much of our God. When we start promoting our own "holiness" is when we are in the wrong. We should always be living with the knowledge that everything good in us comes from Him. There is nothing good that comes from our flesh. Remember to promote Jesus and not your own actions today. The righteous acts you do in secret will be rewarded. Matthew 6:1-4 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the...

    It's a well known fact that humanity tends to take things for granted. Sometimes we get in this bad habit and forget how much we are blessed! Our families, homes, jobs, friends, etc. are just things of everyday life, yet many people do not have even that much. Regardless of how many people do share in the same blessings, we should always recognize that we have what we do because Jesus gave it to us.     The Bible says repeatedly to keep a thankful heart. Without it, I believe that we start to think that we don't need Jesus. Whether we realize it or not, we can start to rely on ourselves and our plans instead of His and before you know it you've become your own god. We are to stay in a constant state of thankfulness and recognition of our need for Jesus. Without Him, what are we? If we are governing our own life it can go nowhere good.     Remember today the One who gives and takes away. Thank Him for the things He has blessed you with instead of com...

    It is in our nature to want to be loved. We all crave that love that is only fulfilled by Jesus and His people. Sadly enough, when we get closer to Jesus the world catches on. There are seasons in our lives where we are loved by many, and seasons where we are loved by few. How do we react in the latter seasons of persecution?     The love we get from Jesus is all the love we will ever need, but sometimes it doesn't feel like it. Most of the time we find ourselves longing the love of others as well. That isn't a bad thing at all. The problem is if we are sacrificing our values to be loved. The Bible tells us that if we are just like the world, it will love us. But when we grow closer to Jesus and are transformed into His image, we begin to get persecuted. Satan runs this world and He doesn't like when we reflect his enemy so he likes to throw things in our paths to mess us up.     We need to be careful about desiring love from the world. It leads us ...

    The true mark of a Christian lifestyle is love. Jesus wanted us to be known by the love we have for one another! We are called to a life of loving those He loves. It sounds like it's simple and easy, but it isn't. The problem is that our definition of love is conditional. We think that we will simply love those that love us back and only when they've earned it. If someone betrays us, they lose our love. Sorry to break it to you, but that isn't how Jesus views it.     We are not only told to love others, but love them like He loves them. That's pretty incredible. 1 Corinthians 13 and other places in the Bible give us the outline of what a Jesus love truly looks like. There are a few things to note. Jesus' love is sacrificial, unconditional, and unrelenting. We go above and beyond to love people when we see them through His eyes. We love those who hate us, we love those who have betrayed us, when they slap one cheek we turn and offer them the other. This is ...

    There are several phases of the way that we relate to God. How does it work and how do we relate to Him now? I like to think of it in three phases-- Before Christ (BC), during Jesus' time on earth (JC), and after His death/ascension (AD).     When God created the earth, He made Adam and Eve spiritually connected to Him. They walked and talked with Him in the garden face to face. But when sin entered the world, it separated us from God. It made us spiritually dead, or disconnected from Him. So God had to find a way out of that. At first, He made the old covenant with Abraham. He chose the Jewish people and separated them from the world that they would be purified and led by God. This involved a sacrificial and purification process just so that the mess of their sin wouldn't stand in the way of God. He hated the sin, not the sinners just as it is today. So God appointed a priest to be the one to speak with Him. The priest would meet with the presence of God, neve...