Jesus didn't come to create a nation of close minded churchy people. We burn to share our joy with others who're out in the cold.

Me: 'Is that a chick driving that Cougar?' 'It is a chicky chiiiick chiiiiiiick' -Matt

THE BURNING HELL

So yeah. The sermon on Hell was really good and I enjoyed the beginning video. I will say that I definitely didn't process it like you guys did at small group, though. Very good points you had.

I think if we really believed in Hell, we would act more out of compassion than obligation.

Back in my early days, I had a belief in God, but was that belief in His existence enough? No. Similarly, just because I believe factually that there is a Hell, that doesn't mean this weak grasp of a distant concept was enough to convict me of just what it is and HOW I should live as a result. I think I need to dive into this concept more and explore it instead of tucking it into the back of my mind where I put all the bad things about myself.

NOTICE ONE MISCONCEPTION in the above pro King-James pamphlet. Satan is standing by, dominating the scene cause he's bigger than the other people, and he's obviously not in pain. This is NOT true or Biblical. Satan right now is on earth, and he will one day be cast into Hell, which is run by God, not Satan. Hell was prepared specifically for Satan and his angels (Matthew 25:41).

So when you listen to the song American Pie, remember that Satan won't be "laughing with delight" and it's a lie that "fire is the devil's only friend".

In everything you do, be real. I go to church listening to Billy Joel in the car.

On tenth. This marks the first time i've ever seen a black person run across the street!

Doing great, thanks to God

Just wanna say that God has really done so much for me this summer and I've changed a lot. I realize where I need to change and I've let go of my past relationships, which is absolutely unheard of for me. I'm learning that everything but Christ is basically crap. And that's a scriptural notion. All else is loss compared to Christ. Living is for Christ, but dying is even better, in the words of Paul. I have doubted my salvation lately, and that I'm even chosen, but I can look and see how my life has changed and how my feelings for girls don't bind me like chains anymore, so I know I'm saved. That was a miraculous difference for me.

Thanks for reading, thanks for commenting, thanks for giving me reason to keep reflecting online on what God teaches me week by week. I suck as a person, I'm messed up, I give people the cold shoulder and don't talk to some but others I just pour my time into. I'm not even going to apologize yet because that would be dishonest. I'm not sorry. But I know that Christ will change my heart and I will be sorry. And then I will seek you out and treat all of you equally instead of ignoring some and favoring others.

I just want you to think about one thing this week. And sunday is the beginning of the week, not monday. Think about this, it's based on Luke 15:26. In whatever you do, as soon as you wake up till the minute your eyes close at night, does what you're doing say that you love Christ more than anything?

Fall Break beach trip

SUP dudes and dudettes! I'm feelin' good, just finished a short week, short as in 3 days. Check out my facebook album from Fall break. Got some cool pictures of waves and babes (actually just men, pretty much, aw...) Well, anyway. It was good getting away, and it was warm and beautiful.

As for today I had a fabulous quiet time with God in the morning and I just felt all smiles. Feeling good now, I just need to fix my gaze on Christ, not girls. I'm getting distracted and Christ deserves my strength. Gonna read some Romans... the deep stuff. Get ready for some crazy videos from me and Matt Warnick. Be checkin facebook over the next few days.

Does being good help you?

I started to type about my everyday life, but I'd rather not, that's been quite dull.

Historically I've made a god out of women. Recently though, I've begun to shift my focus and understand a few things about myself. I've realized that there is nothing about a woman that can save me from my malfunctional self. I've also realized that the reason I do good things is not because it makes me better, but because it glorifies Christ. Christ is glorious, but as for me, I am dust. I'm gonna talk about this topic, not women.

As for the part about doing good things, I've seen people get puffed up and broken down many times, including myself. I think that in a performance-oriented, individualistic society, it's nearly impossible to avoid thinking about life in terms of me, my struggles, my needs. Can a bent tree simply grow straight? We'll always deal with it.

I want to caution us, and to challenge us, that we will not count ourselves any better (or give ourselves any credit) for doing the right things. That's where the cycle starts... the cycle of works-righteousness. People give themselves credit.

It starts when you stand up and say no to porn, or when as an anorexic you deny that dessert at a restaurant, or when you stop your tongue from saying something crude. You feel good about the fact that you caught your sin between the hammer and the anvil, and dang, it feels good. That's it right there... the credit you give yourself.

That's not counting all else as loss. That's not self-denial for the sake of Jesus.

So what happens after this? The porn addict feels good he's not done it, and because of his pride that accumulates over days, he is deceived, and he slips back into his habits because he feels he can "afford just one more time." As for the anorexic, she feels good about not having that chocolate cake at Olive Garden (idk, do they have chocolate cake?), so she prides herself in it. The next day when she's hungry, she feels bad when she compares herself to her "better" image a few days before, when she "won" and did what was "righteous", by not eating the cake (so not surprisingly, she doesn't want to eat). As for the one who shuts herself up right before gossiping about her messed-up ex, she feels better about herself because like the porn addict & anorexic, she thinks, "Hey! I'd be worse if I'd done it! That's one step closer to heaven and I can put a hop and skip in my step today."

This is idolatry.

The porn addict worships (well, obviously, porn). But he also worships himself as his own higher power. That's why he elevates himself as a result of triumphing over his addiction. So God hands him back over to it until he finally learns, many emotional scars of guilt later. His emotional self-worth is loss compared to Christ.

The anorexic worships control. She worships image as well. Which is why she measures her worth, her righteousness, by how she looks (or for that matter, how she thinks she looks). And no regard is given to the health of her soul. Only her body. So God hands her over to her vicious cycle until she learns that everything, even self-image and control of our lives, are loss compared to Christ.

The one with the slippery tongue worships pride. That was the reason for both her urge to gossip, AND her urge to shut up. Her control over her behavior only served the same goal... to feel better about herself and better than her ex. Although she has a healthy understanding that her ex was a jerk, what she doesn't understand is that she's just as sinful, so God lets her cycle of guilt and anger continue. She doesn't know her pride is nothing compared to Christ.

Let us not think that what we do will help us at all. Let us not think that anything about us will make us any better. I can say this a thousand times, but if you don't understand, it won't help. Going to Bible study will not make you "closer to God". Neither will going to Church or listening to your favorite Christian songs instead of awkward new songs you don't know.

What makes you and me "good", at all, is what Christ did for us filthy sinners. We have loved everything BUT our rightful companion, Christ, and in so doing, we are whores. Ezekiel 6:9.

This is the "electricity" that keeps the Gospel charged and amazing. The utter messed-up-ness of man and woman, and the utterly undeserved grace of God through Christ.

There is absolutely no place in Heaven for proud Christians.

What's the goal of a good church?

Today was great. I took my little brother to a Christian concert for 92.7 FM. James Gray, Addison Road, and Sanctus Real all played shows. It ran really long... We got there at 6:15 and we left around 11:05. It was SUCH a good concert... the music quality was awesome, stagelights and LED racks were beautiful. What delighted me most was the key ingredient... the Gospel. I was hoping they would be truly Christian bands and they were. Hopefully the people there who looked dead were just being challenged at heart and they didn't feel too great. I pray that God opens their eyes and convicts them of a fresh, wonderful reality in which they're free to serve Christ and discover more of Him each day.

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I ran across an upsetting book in Barnes and Noble once. On the back cover it read something like this... and keep in mind, it's targeting elderly individuals...

"Has your church taken a turn for the modern? Has your choir been replaced by a new, flashy praise band?" It proceeded to criticize modern church services as generally being silly, irrelevant, and shallow. It disturbed me because although sometimes this may be true, there are a lot of valid churches out there that serve Christ lovingly and passionately. I don't think the writers of this book understood that the "contemporary face" we put on our church services is more than a face. It's a tool. What's our mission? I present the Gospel and develop Christ-centered individuals.

I think the goal of a good church is just that. To present the Gospel. I grew up attending a sleepy Methodist service that talked a lot about parables and how good of a guy Jesus was, and occasionally I was challenged. I can tell you that when I started praying and self-examining in college and maybe late high school, I felt like their services spoke to me. BUT this church did not influence me enough to give me an epiphany and start loving Christ. I credit Campus Crusade with that, and I credit God for making me miserable and creating a drive in me to find a way out through Him. My point is that you need to present the Gospel to win people over. I don't think the point of church is to simply keep the organization's head above the water financially and keep holding on while maintaining tradition. I think the point of church is to, with our blood and tears and sweat, start a revolution in our communities with hearts that love Christ.

Things you need to emphasize if you're going to present the Gospel:

-We are utterly sinful.
-All sin has the effect of earning us death, so all sin is equal in its final effect. In other words, no one is worse or better than you, because we all equally deserve Hell. That's what makes Christ's deed understandably so glorious.
-Sin is not just what we do... it's also the state we're designed in (we normally want anything more than God, so we're all idolaters, from which all sin comes).
-God's grace is more powerful than your sin.
-We cannot earn our salvation. If you try to earn it, you're putting yourself in Christ's place, who bought it for you. Nothing you can do can make you pure like God. By nature, you're not.
-It's not about you. God loves you, but if you make your life about you, you'll idolize yourself and lose sight of the fact that throughout Scripture, God is all about God. It's all about bringing praise back to Him because that's what you should want.

And one more thing. This is ruining the contemporary church and we need to understand this.

Worship is NOT:
a setting
a praise band or music
bowing to a statue

Worship IS:
in any and every situation, you value God's desires first. They become your desires and you hold Him most precious. Therefore you can play basketball to the glory of God by evangelizing to players, drink orange juice to the glory of God by thanking Him you can afford healthy food, or whatever. It's any choice you make to treasure God, Christ, in your heart.

So don't think that when you praise God while your band plays, that you're getting your worship time in for the week. Because everything in creation was created for Christ, if you interact with something in a way that disagrees with or says nothing about God, you're not worshipping. You're committing idolatry and breaking the first two commandments. Worship is demanded of us all the time. Every last baby moment we possess is God's.
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I haven't blogged in a while... you gotta expect me to dump a heavy one! And the clock's a filthy liar... it's 4:30 AM and I'm just finishing this. -G