Fruit

   Healthy things make healthy things. Fruit bears after itself. The seed of an apple has the ability to produce another entire apple tree. The seeds of a pumpkin can easily produce another healthy pumpkin to add to a beautiful pumpkin patch.
   As Christians it is true that we are called to share the Gospel and the Love of Christ to those who have not accepted Jesus as the Lord of their life. As Jesus came to seek and to save what was lost. So lets think of another aspect.
   If fruit produces itself, then is it not important that we continually help to grow and to nourish ourselves and other Christians so that when we do produce (sharing the Gospel with those who do not yet belong to Christ), we produce others that go out to follow Christ for themselves healthily.
   Basically what I am saying is, we want to be at the point where we can produce others who want to seek Christ for themselves, learning to love and worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. But the only way that we can reproduce that, is to be at that point where we are genuinely seeking ourselves. So remember, healthy fruit reproduces after itself.

Not Just a Building

   A few weeks ago, I blogged about the fact that in Christ, we are all truly one. One Christ died for all of the sins of all of us. Whether you go to Macedonia North Baptist Hill Presbyterian Ethnic Community Church or wherever you may choose, you are still One Body in Christ.
   The thing is, we like to put our "churches", or congregation of people in buildings. That is not the problem. The problem arises when we start to think of these various buildings as defining the church. We can even get to the point of thinking that because you have a three thousand per week congregation on average, a four million dollar paid off facility, and a fat paycheck every month, you must have a good church in the eyes of God.
   While there is nothing wrong with those things necessarily alone if they either have the intention of or are fruits from a relationship with God, there are two things to caution in that statement. The first thing is that the goal is to bring people to Christ and have their eyes and hearts open to God, and if that goal is being met, then the building that you inhabit on Sunday morning has the right things occurring inside of it. The other thing to caution is that its not your church, it two ways. You dont own it, God does, and your congregation are by no means the only ones involved. We as Christians are the church!

First and Foremost

   I'm sure most of you have at least rode in a new car once in your lifetime. Maybe you even own one. So tell me, if you know anything about cars, what happens when your axle begins to become off centered?
Well your car spaces out. It starts to drift slowly off of the road and over time it takes more and more to be able to control it. This progresses until the car is either eventually uncontrollable or you get it centered correctly again.
   If you leave your car the same way, and you have to drive through tough conditions for example, say a snow storm, and you must stay straight on the road, guess what, you may be in trouble. Now you are going through a test when you need all of your parts to work but they do not, because they were never fixed. Now you are going from side to side on the road, hoping to reach your destination safely.
   But say when you realized that your axle was starting to become slightly off centered, you immediately got it fixed or "refocused" if you will. When the snow is on the ground (or the storm in life approaches), you will have confidence that your car will last.
   That is the seasoned Christian. It seems as some graduate if you will from the Cross and the Gospel. But this is our Salvation. And it does not matter how much scholarly information you can swallow about Religion, if you dont have the relationship from the Cross of Calvary, you really dont have what is first and foremost, and that is Christ dying for our sins.
  

Time Out

   We live our days in absolute high gear all of the time. With Droids, iPhones, iPads, laptops, basically modern convenience technology,  we are used to a lot of instant gratification and access to infinite information. With a single question or command, technology now responds to us to as close as human form as possible, and it is getting really close.
   We drive fast cars to distant places with lots of people seven days a week, going as fast as we can all of the time. Most of the time, hopefully, we are running so hard to in some way show the love of Christ to someone else, in which, in my opinion, is amazing!
   But answer this, when have you just stopped your car on the side of the road with a lot of trees, and just listened to the breeze rustle through the leaves? When have you just went somewhere by yourself, and rested and listened to the Lord, without a phone, or anything that could be a possible distraction?
   Exactly. Hopefully your answer is not never, but it probably is not as often as it should be. God is with you everywhere, true, but dont you think that maybe we should get some quiet time alone with Him, so that He may renew, grow, and comfort us?

Who vs Do

   In a few months, I will be getting ready to move into a college dorm somewhere probably in the state of South Carolina to live on campus. Ill study for four years, and then four more years to get a license in pharmacy.
   If the Lord does not choose the path of a worship leader full-time, then I would show up at a pharmacy for whatever my hours may be and do work.
   Some would consider me a pharmacist. But I am a minister, full time all of the time. Christians, we are all called to the same thing, all of us are all full time ministers. In every way, we are supposed to show and share Christ.
   Some would say well dont you do pharmacy? And the answer is yes. The problem is though, what I do does not define who I am. I repeat, what I do is not who I am. Who I am is defined by Christ and what I do will then fall in line with His Will.
   Once we understand that actions do not define our identity, but nearly a derivative of our identity that has been given to each one of us individually by our Creator, Christ. So let us not think that our actions or the actions of others define who we are, but let who we are dictate our actions!

Until the End

   For about four hours earlier today, I sat at the computer and worked to unlock an iPhone 3gs. Four hours. If you speak tech lingo, the firmware would not download, so in turn no jailbreaking occured, and thus no unlocking, for about 4 hours. If you do not speak tech lingo, it is as complicated as it sounds.
   It was sort of like a race. You run and run in the beginning and everything seemed fine. So you keep running, but all of a sudden, there is that feeling of oh crap, when something happens and your endurance and dedication is starting to be tested.
   But there is something that you have to realize, as soon as you start, you are past the point of no return. Once the race begins, in your mind it ends, because a Christian mindset never gives up when it comes to seeking our goal, Christ.
   A Christian has trials that they go through during life all of the time. From the peer pressure of the world, the little cares of this life, various troubles of this world, etc, but what seperates us from everyone else, we persevere and seek Christ. You see, what I learned in those four hours today was simple, if you keep seeking, you will find a solution, in this case, configuring the iPhone. The same for Christianity, if you seek (Christ) you will find the solution (Christ). So continue to seek, UNTIL THE END of the race!

From Whom Do You Judge

   When I play a game of football, I tend to continuously, intentionally, and intensely measure myself against everyone else that also takes the field with me. For example, if I am at the position of a running back, the only thing that tends to go through my mind is the performance of the other running backs during the game.
   The same goes for lifting weights. I tend to easily compare my muscle size and work intensity to the others who lift around me. It may even get to the point where my ego takes control and I want to lift with someone who does not lift as much as me, just because in the light of weight lifting, I look better.
   Other than the pride, the problem with this story is that I judged my success by the placement of others. I judged how my running skills were by the skills of another running back. I also judged my lifting strength by someone with less strength than I have.
   So tell me, why do us Christians tend to do the same thing? We tend to take our relationship with Christ and judge it by the lives of American Christians around us. And when we do this, we seem to want to look at the Christians who are having a tough time right now. Our growth in Christ should solely be judged by our relationship with Christ, not the appearance of other people. Remember that Christ is the only judge of our relationship and growth!