All of Us

   If you have ever had to do yard work and killing weeds in the midst of grass was one of the task at hand, things could have gotten interesting. From what I have heard, if you are on a tight budget and you go for one of the lower end, traditional weed killers, you also play a huge risk for killing all of the grass around the weed as well.
   So Ive heard stories of those who work in landscaping being outside all day killing particular spots with pesticides to come back and find out that the grass had died as well. Thats because traditional weed killers and not exactly respecters of plants, and they killed whatever they came into contact with, which for the human, we hoped that was mostly weeds.
   Why do I bring up a story and weed killing pesticides? Because the pesticide affected both aspects of the yard, the weeds and the grass, it took all of it. Thats what God does when it comes to us, He takes all of us, the good and the bad, just as we are, and begins molding us into the reflection of Jesus. Thats why He said that all we need to do is call on Him and believe in His name to be saved. He takes us as we are and forms us into the likeness of Him. That is Salvation, the greatest story in existence. So I have one question, has you accepted?

Paying Attention

   We have all heard the story of the person who was burning in the fire and called on God for help. He wanted to be rescued. So He screamed for God and someone passing by said that they knew the way to escape the fire and for him to follow them. Yet the man believed that God was going to save him, so he did not follow, instead he waited in the fire. Then a firefighter came and said that he was there to rescue the man. Still the man remembered that he had called on God to rescue him and so he did not go with the firefighter. Finally the building collapsed and the man lost consciousness. He woke up in the hospital a few days later. Someone picked him up out of the fire after he passed out.
   The man was baffled why he did not see God come down on a cloud of fire and pick him up out of the flames. he started to feel complete doubt toward God. Now we know that God was helping him when he sent the man and the firefighter. But what we don't sometimes see is that this happens everyday in our lives. God may be trying to tell us something extremely important but we are waiting for Him to show up on our doorstep with a stone tablet. Listen to God through Christian counsel, through our conscience of good and bad, and through His Word! He may be speaking more than you think!

Rhythms of Grace

   The founder of Hope Ministries of the Upstate, Shawn Parker, shares his story on the main website. It starts off with a lot of hard times and emotional struggles that he had to deal with. From family problems even before he was born, to drug problems in his adulthood, there was always something coming against his life to prevent him from being where he is today.
   Now, he mentors six guys for 3 out of 5 days a week and demonstrates the way to be a disciple 7 out of 7. His life has totally been changed. He has forgiven those who have hurt him in the past and has mended the various relationships destroyed by past decisions and mistakes through forgiveness and the Power of Christ.
   he used to be on drugs which, as you may well know, could have easily taken his life at any moment in time. But God had a plan. He could have easily been hurt by any number of things while out in the world, but God had a plan. God gave Him Grace, enough time that he could accept Christ into His life and it be totally transformed and he could be a disciple of Christ. God did not say that His time was up, but instead gave him Grace so that he could accept Jesus and be His forever. If you know that the Grace of the Lord has been extended into your life in any way, thank God daily in every way, by living a life Holy, Acceptable, and Pleasing to the Lord!

Full Joy

   The difference between Christianity and the rest of the world is the worldview. Basically, how we see things totally molds us. How we see events of the world, how we see what we call God, why we think we are here, who we are vs. what we do, how do we respond to things, both what we see as good and the bad. This separates us from others.
  We know that our Joy and our strength come from the Lord. So when we see tragedy for example, we know that we count everything we own as loss and Christ is what we have to gain, so we know that in all things, He is still God. While someone who has not received the freedom of Christ might live in the past and have worry, etc. us and Christ know that He is in control of everything.
   So because we see things in the eyes of God, we count this world as a ground, temporary home, to spread the Hope of Christ, so we should not be caught up in the cares of the world, for we dont see them as the rulers of our life, thats why we use the power of our tongue for example, to declare life and freedom, for thats how we see things in the eyes of God. My challenge, watch how we are seeing things, are they through the standards and hopelessness of the world, or the eyes of Christ?

Be Anxious For Nothing

   We live in a society today where instant gratification is king. With internet, cellphones, tablets, and televisions, the age of information technology has truly changed the shape of this world. Now, I can facebook someone in Japan, get their email address, and email them an eBook in less than five minutes.
   We put food in the microwave that was previously slow cooked for hours and expect to get the same taste. We rush into relationships instead of taking the time to see if this is what God truly wants for our lives. We rush into fast food restaurants because we do not want to wait for a premium meal. We rush to read through the Bible to say that we have done it, and maybe get a feeling of some sort of self righteousness.
   But the Bible tells us in Phil. 4.13 (as Paul was writing to the church of Philipi) to be anxious for nothing. That means that we are to trust in the Lord with patience, not being anxious for anything, especially the things of this world. When we trust that God is Able and does provide, then we do not need to be anxious for anything, I mean absolutely nothing. God is Able and takes care of His own, He reigns over the just and the unjust, so be anxious for nothing!

One in the Same

   In my calculus class, we like to think of things in terms of a concept called a set. For example, if you were to have an equation of something and you were to look at the graph of that equation and then a table of the components of the equation, the object is, they are all the exact same thing. They have the same goal, that infinite number of specific components.
   So this is where I am going. If there are two people who claim the Gospel and the Kingdom of God and truly seek Him, they are one in the same. There is no difference. Since we are in Christ, we do not look at others as in the flesh anymore. So yea, we flee from our sins and the sins of each other, but we pray for each others souls and claim one another for we are all one in Christ. We do not disown a Christian because we have certain flaws and commit sins, for we all have sinned and will sin. But in Christ, we stay together growing in Christ together, not disowning each other but instead guiding each other and lifting each other up so that we may all grow and be One in Christ.
   Yes Christ hates our sins. But He loves us a people. Thats how we should be towards others. Imagine if jesus said, "you have just sinned and its in your personality, so now I disown myself from you, for I am perfect." Not Jesus is perfect, but He forgives us as we are united. And that is how we should be towards others, forgiving because we are all united as One, in Christ!

Real Weightlifting

   In the eighth grade, I started playing football. I always admired the sport, and knew inside that I would be at least o.k. at it. So I took on the challenge.
   As far as speed went, I wasnt above average until the 11th grade really. So back in the eighth grade, my speed was only average. So that was not really what I could call my strong point.
   When it came to weights, it did not really matter how much anyone on the team could lift because we had someone at our middle school who was already in the high 200's as far as bench pressing went. He was our tight end and the star of the team as far as weight lifting went.
   Personally, my strong point in turn then was heart. I had the dedication to be successful on the team. So when it came to something like lifting weights, I always would persevere because I wanted to become better than before. And after a month or two, my muscles started to become enlarged and I was getting stronger.
   But in the path of 4 years now, my weightlifting has gotten slim to none compared to what it used to be. And so what do you think happened?
   Well, science wise, since the muscles became developed back then, when I lift just a little now, the muscles oxidize and become bigger, a pump if you will.
   But without lifting, muscle is lost. My point, it is the same way when it comes to Christianity. When you accepted Christ, you probably got a pump. Your patience was strong, and your heart was on fire. But if you stopped working that patient and continually seeking the Lord every day, it can have the effect of one not lifting weights for a while, they may become weak and weary. So my challenge, lift your weights by seeking Christ, His heart and His Wisdom daily to become stronger and stay stronger in the Lord!

Your Trust

   If you have ever attended any college football game, and you go to buy some merchandise for the team, you realize something really quickly. None of their apparel or merchandise gladly portrays anything but the best. Even if the teams rank is #56 out of 12 in the state, their things will still say that they are number one. T-shirts, foam fingers, everything say that that team is number one.
   Why? Inside all of us have the inner yearning to be the absolute best. If we join a football team, we want to start, score every game, and be the star of the team, having it all about us. Rather we admit it or not, we all have this inner yearning somewhere. But as we live our lives and God gives us more wisdom as we grow in Him, we realize the simple fact that we cannot be the best at everything, and that life is not about them.
   So now we have to realize something else. The fact that we are not the best at everything, does not give us justification to exalt someone else on a pedestal. We realized that life is not and never will be about us, and exalting others on pedestals is saying that, life is not about me, but the other person is so awesome that maybe life can be about them, maybe they are perfect at everything. Maybe because of their talent or something else, they should be exalted. That is not true.
   The goal of a pastor or preacher for example is to point you to God. If they are attempting to do that, I urge you not overlook that to look at the person preaching. Do not exalt anyone presenting the Gospel, over the Gospel. All that I am saying is to put your trust in God, not the one that is preaching Him, but God Himself, and only Him, or you will be disappointed.

Prous

   This word, simply put, means the complete truth. This is one of my favorite words in the Bible. This is simply what it means. Jesus told the Truth, he never put any icing on the cake per se.
   We tend to live in a society that likes to manipulate others by manipulating the truth. We grow up listening to opinionated, manipulated viewpoints of society, religion, philosophy, politics and everything else. We listen to the news, and we hear part truth, and part of what the broadcasters think.
   The problem, we listen to emotionally driven people and put them in positions of power because at times they seem to appeal to our emotions. In turn, we like to hear what makes us happy instead of the complete truth.
   This can flow into our friendships and relationships with the ideology that, for the sake of what we think would be hurting someone, we do not tell the complete truth out of fear of their emotional or physical response.
   The truth is, we are supposed to tell the truth about everything, as Jesus did. And by the truth, I mean the complete truth. Half lies ARE whole lies, and there is no grey area. So lets tell the truth in all of our affairs!

ProPresenter

   I do not see alot of Christians at my school or my church carrying Bibles and smacking people in the face with them as an opportunity to share the Gospel. I do not see people smashing wordless books in lunch trays as a way to present the Love of God. I do not see Christian teachers yelling at their students that they are destined for a non stop journey to hell if they have not accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
   I attended Student Life Camp in TN this summer and even though it was a great Christian camp, with my brothers and sisters from my church, the most touching part of the entire camp did not involve anyone that I knew. There were games, water sports, great meals, dorm rooms with best friends, a long road trip, and no parents. But the best part of the entire trip was when a pastor from Alabama asked me my name, and I told it to him. No big deal. But after, the last day of the trip in fact, the preacher stopped me in the food hall and called me by name.
   He remembered my name. That meant that he took the time to actually learn my name and care what it was. He showed me how Jesus actually died because He cared for me. My point, sometimes the Love of Christ is simply shown be taking the time to show compassion to someone, and listen. So take the time to share the Love of Christ in someones life!

Physics and The Gospel

   Recently I just took a test in my physics class and the final grade (in my opinion) of my test depended on one equation, which I gladly stayed up the night before to memorize and knew.
   The equation was y=voy(t)+.5g(t)(t). You see, I needed to know the maximum time of a projectile that was shot out of a cannon. So I had to make y=0. A little physics lesson. Y is the height of the projectile. So there is always two points where y, the height, equals 0. When the projectile is initially launched, and when the projectile hits its destination. So i had to use the time at which it reached its final destination, the one where "t" does not equal 0.
   My point, there was only one thing really that I needed to know to get the deciding grade on my test. That one thing was the equation. And I had it. So I was saved from missing the question.
   If you have not accepted Christ, there is one thing that you need to know to be saved from the sin. That is CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS. He was nailed to a cross, brutally beaten, put a crown of thorns on His head, pierced on His side, mocked, and crucified. But He did NOT stay there. GOD raised his Son Jesus from the grave three days later. He raised from the grave and now sits at the right hand of the Father with ALL POWER in His hand!!! This is what God did for all who would believe in Him and call on His name!! This is the Gospel, and the piece of the puzzle that one must know to be freed from their sin.

Lean Not on your Own Understanding

   When I was around four years old, I used to want to touch the stove when it was hot in tempature. My mom gratefully stop me every time before I burned my hands off. But at that age, i never really understood why she would say that.
   Until I was around 5 or 6, then I realized why she said that I should not touch that. One time I was playing with one of my friends, and he had a lighter. He lit it, and put it really close to our mouths to see if we could take it. That God we didnt burn ourselves, but that is when I realized that fire is really hot.
   So now, because of that, I realized that my mom was totally right in her thinking when it came to that. She told me not to touch the stove and I did not and thus I was not burned on the stove.
   What did that show me? Now that I look back on it, the wisest thing for me to do is what I did. Trust. And most of the time, that means leaning not on my own understanding and taking (in this case) my moms word.
   That is what the Bible tells us to do when it comes to God. Not to lean on our small understanding and earthly knowledge, and truly trust God and his infinite knowledge, for He is the One who created and sustains ALL things! Turst in the Lord and lean on His understanding, not your own!

Word of Encouragement

   I remember when my running was finally starting to get better. And better. Until it was actually an acceptable time that I would be proud to tell people about. My PR finally was cut by a little over four minutes.
   The day after I had just broken my PR, my determination for running was spurred on because of the small milestone of success. So I went out the very next day, and came very close to the PR the day before.
   But the day after that, I became a little fatigue, weary in my well doing if you will. So even though the day before, I was so happy about the change in time that was acheived, I was just a little to tired to keep running every day like my plan intended. So when I actually tried to run the next day, by the half way mark of the second mile, all that I could think about was how easy my life was when I wasnt pushing myself to run at all. I needed encouragement.
   This is to all who have made the best decision of their life and accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior of their life. When Christ was first accepted, your flame was probably higher than it has been in a while. After long years of seeking and finding though, I understand sometimes a continually Truly Seeking heart can become weiry. But if you have accepted Christ, know that it is all more than worth it in the end, when you get to be with the Father God Almighty. So be encouraged. Do not give up in this Great Race!!! Run hard, and with perseverance. God is with you!

The Glory

   The first day of my senior year, for the first class, I had to walk in my calculus class to start the day. We thought it would be like every other class, learning things to regurgitate them in the future, and then take a test and pass it. But boy did we have a surprise in store for us.
   The first day of calculus our teacher said, "babies (for some reason, that is what he calls us), up until this point, you could and probably have faked or memorized your way through school. Your teacher would tell you something, you would write it down, memorize it, and then take a test on it and pass. This is not this class, this is not how life works.  Its not regurgitation. Life is learning. This class is learning, and thats what you will do, learn how to think. Calculus is so broad, you cannot memorize yourself through this class, you must think."
   What was he telling us? He was saying that we were focusing on the wrong things. We were focused on passing a test instead of learning an actual subject of study. We did not really know what education is all about. Not focused on the right thing. We did not go to school to think, rather than to memorize.
   The Ultimate reason for everything is God's Glory. As we go through life, we should focus on doing everything for the Glory of God, not ourselves or anyone or anything else. Christ died for our sins, FOR GOD'S GLORY! The Love of Christ that we show to other people, FOR GODS GLORY! Taking the time to care for others, FOR GOD'S GLORY. EVERYTHING is for the Glory of God!! Let's live like it!

Priorities Part 2

   My sophomore year of high school, I enrolled in a class called SC Best. (Cool fact, I was still at Dorman but on my official transcript, the class was credited to being held at Oakbrook Prep School.) SCBEST stands for Spartanburg County Bible Education during School Time. I would highly recommend this class to anyone possibly looking into ministry, or just wanted to know more about Christianity.
   In this class, we got very educated about alot of aspects of Christianity, fast. We studied the smallest details, the smallest yet vastly significant statements and events in the Bible. We covered almost everything. It was like a mini seminary.
   Now Friday, we talked about practical priorities. We talked about always putting God first, family next, your ministry, your friends, etc.
   Now we are going to talk about the priorities of the Bible. One mindset we must break is that the Bible is about alot of different things. Let me clarify, the Bible does talk about a ton of different things, but the Bible is About one thing. Christ. Him dying for our sins so ULTIMATELY we can be with God the Father because of the sacrifice of Christ. I urge you, never get so engrossed in the eduaction of different aspects of the Bible that you forget that it is about the Gospel. That life itself is about living it and proclaiming it in our lives for all eternity.

Priorities Part 1

   Not saying this to gloat, but I have always had an "A" in my grades for homework. My class grades were pretty well too, but no matter the class grade my homework grade was always an "A." Lets talk about why.
   When I was in elementary school, my mom would always make me do my homework. And I really mean make me. She would require that my homework be completed every day after school before I was even allowed to go outside and play with my friends. Sometimes, my friends would even come to the door with a football or basketball and ask for me to come outside, but before my mom said that it was ok, she would always ask "did you have any homework? well, did you finish it?" If I would answer no, I would have to go upstairs and finish it before I could play.
   I used to hate it when she did that in the past. Why? I wanted to be like alot of other kids in America who loved putting play before work in everything that they did. But I learned that later, if those kids kept that ideology in every aspect of their life, they were generally the ones who gave up on being Firm in their Faith, and even being successful sometimes in the Earthly aspect.
   So from that I realized, priorities are ever so important, especially for the Christian lifestyle. Things like God and the Gospel, Family, Friends, Ministry, Education, etc. My challenge to you, analyze your priorities and see how they line up with the word of God. Then model your life with the priorities that God's Word has given us.

Time For Rest

   I used to run every single day of the week. As I told you before, i did not start out as the best, or even a good, runner. I started out with extremely slow times and needed some practice so that I could get faster. So I started running Sunday through Sunday every week.
   At first, this seemed like a great strategy. My times were getting alot faster and in turn, my health alot better. But after six days straight, I was getting tired. Very tired. Too tired. To the point where I was too exhausted at times to run two days in a row.
   If you have accepted Christ, you accept that God created the world and believe that the seventh day of creation was a day of rest. God rested. And every Sabbath day in the Christian Faith is a day of rest, of no work, time with family, resting as God did during creation.
   My point, if you are in ministry, or just living a life of Christ that gets stressful at times for whatever reason, take time to rest. Prioritize your time and energy into spreading the Gospel, and know when your limits are reached and you need to just sit back and take a break. This never means taking a break from following Christ, this just may mean taking a break from conference calls, ministry paperwork, etc. and resting with friends and family. May the Peace of Jesus be with all who proclaim His name!

The Man on the Street Corner

   Tonight's blog is more of something to ponder on than it is a story or a grand point. Tonight, I want to remind you that God is to be trusted in Every aspect of your life.
   Some have absolutely no problem with putting their trust and belief in the Gospel of Jesus daily and have no problem with the idea or the striving to be in Heaven. Some even have no problem with spreading the Gospel of Jesus to everyone that they come in contact with.
   Yet, most people do not trust Jesus with things like finance, marriage, relationships, friendships, etc. They think of Jesus as the ticket to getting into heaven, and that is it. They have no problem telling others about the Cross, but they have a problem writing out their check for their tithes every week. They have no problem condemning others with the laws or the Word of God, but they have a problem giving their last $20 to the homeless man on the street corner.
   My point, we are to trust God in every aspect of our lives, from the Gospel and the promise of eternal life, to the money in our bank account. In all things, trust the Lord!

"Mom, I need help with lunch!!"

   Before my senior year, I used to eat lunch and breakfast at school every day of the week. If I remember correctly, breakfast used to cost around $2 and so did the lunch. So I was permitted by my parents, because of the amount of money put into my account bi- weekly, to eat breakfast and lunch everyday, only getting extra things when I had cash, not using my account money for extras, just the essential breakfast and lunch.
   But it happened that every year since middle school, I would always somehow owe the school some money at the end of the year. No matter how it was calculated, or how many times it was analyzed, I would somehow owe money.
   I did not have a job (the law- you will follow this in a second.) but somehow those accounts still needed to be paid. I needed a mediator (Jesus) in this case my mom to come pay the lunch account at the end of every year until I graduate. So every year, my mom would pay my lunch account off (dying on the cross) because I could never do it for my self, for it was impossible because I did not have a job.
   You see, I owe God for my sin, but it is impossible for me to pay for it myself for there is no way I could follow the law perfectly, so Jesus came and died on a cross and paid my debt for eternity for I could not myself. That is the Gospel, the center of the story of time, never forget it!

True Satisfaction

   When I was around five years old, I received my first, none working of course, cell phone. I was in the basement of my grandmothers house and I would get that phone, that would not even turn on, and play with it every day, for hours. Then eventually I got to be at the age where my mom would let me use her real cell phone on some days while she was at work just in case of emergencies, etc.
   So imagine the feeling that I had when I was ten years old and was given my first (pre-paid and that point) cell phone. I was extremely happy. I would make 30 second cell phone calls on it every day (because I did not really want to run out of minutes) but the progressions did not stop there of course.
   When I hit my teenage years, my mom bought me my first real (monthly) cell phone. It only had 400 minutes per month but I enjoyed it so so much. I would text people all of the time because it had unlimited text messaging. Now I have unlimited everything on my phone, (which i tend to use) and it is an Android powered device.
   Why do I say all of this, I like my phone, dont get me wrong, but after all these years and phones, this progression helped me realize something, earthly gifts/treasures/accomplishements/possessions will never grant true and eternal satisfaction. The cell phones were great, but with time, and new and better one will always come out. The only gift that brings satisfaction that can never be surpassed with any amount of time is the Gospel, Christ dying for our sins. That is the only true satisfaction for all of eternity!!

Worship

   In one of the previous chuches that I used to attend, I was trained to equate praise to a fast song and worship to a slow song. So, I would go through life listening to music and putting it in the category of either fast and praise or slow and worship.
   I loved and still love music so that was absolutely no problem with me. I would play songs on the sound system for church, and would be asked to look for worship songs to do during the offering time. When I was asked that, they should have just said, "AJ, could you find a slow song to play during the offering time?"
   Well, its time to break a mindset. Worship is not only equated to music, but that is where we will start. Here is the thing, worship in the form of music, in terms of worship and praise, cannot be equalled necesarily to fast and slow. Worship is a state of being, a way of life, a mindset, not another anayzation of music. Yes, there are different characteristics in music and there is no problem with describing certain songs and styles, but do not throw or equate the word worship so loosely.
   Worship is how we live. We worship through music, when we go to the grocery, when we read the word of God, when we drive to the store, when we go to school, when we attend the football game. Do not make worship just music, and especially just one style of music. Let worship be your life. Forever!