Todd's Question

Last night Todd Stewman asked a question that was so good it was almost hilarious. I’d like to ask it to all of you. Read Matthew 5:16. Read Matthew 6:1. Keep in mind Jesus said both of these things in the same sermon. Both verses are talking about doing things so that other people can see them, but 5:16 says that you should do it and 6:1 says that you absolutely shouldn’t do this. How do you reconcile these two seemingly contradictory verses?

Matthew 7

Read it here.

And he fought to stay, but always dreamed that he could leave this place.

I heard a couple songs today that I hadn't listened to in awhile, and they really stirred something in me that they tend to stir every few months: a deeper passion for God and lost people. I want to share them here. They are by a band called Brave Saint Saturn who broke up a long time ago and who also doesn't keep up with their website. I'm just going to post the lyrics and let them do what they may.

Estrella
i write clever words on paper
i sometimes think i don't believe at all
i've never felt so fake
so false
i'm such a liar
i couldn't even look him in the eyes
he was 25 like i was
but he was deaf and slowly going blind
he made my faith seem worthless
the things i hoped were pointless
and he fought to stay but
always dreamed that he could leave this place
the angels wings will cover you tonight
hallelujah
press your head
against the breast of christ
hallelujah
It made me feel so empty
collapsing on some dirty bathroom floor
and isn't it just like me to warn his passing breath
when he will never suffer anymore?
beautiful his pictures
fading black and silver
and i sing of faith but his was true and fierce
and i will miss him
the angels wings will cover you tonight
hallelujah
press your head against the breast of christ
hallelujah
the angels wings will cover you tonight
hallelujah
press your head against the breast of christ
hallelujah

Heart Still Beats
The girl in the alley kneels with exhaustion
She's guarded by the skinny guy who limps from some infection
Behind a veil of bleached thin hair her eyes tell a story
Like a photo of Berlin, December 1944
She's looking for a handout, she's been high for several weeks now
She's too far gone for whoring and the money just gave out

And her heart still beats inside
And the blood runs in her veins
A remnant of life remains
Her heart still beats inside

The man finally comes to the door, I've seen him several times
He always looks pissed off and his sunglasses stay on
I think he got his biceps and tattoos while in prison
And it doesnt seem to bother him when he says "go to hell"

And his heart still beats inside
The blood runs in his veins
A remnant of life remains
His heart still beats inside

The thought it comes to my mind, to somehow intervene
But it could bring me trouble, and what could I do anyways?
It's hard to be affected when it happens so often
To see a life unraveling, through drawn venetian blinds
I'm sickened by compassion, I'm stifled by my limitations
Anesthetic apathy, come take the pain away

And my heart still beats inside
The blood runs in my veins
A remnant of life remains
And my heart still beats inside

Oh God, we need you here
We're sinking fast and we dont care
The evidence is all around me, on both sides of my door
Our hearts beat


If anyone else wants to post songs or places or books or art or whatever else that stirs your passion for God, you should.

Mission to Mars

Sam dropped me off at the airport at about 2:30 pm for my 4:00 flight. Due to weather in Houston we weren't able to take off until after 9:30, and needless to say I had missed my connecting flight from Houston to Seattle which was supposed to leave at 5:50. We roll into the E terminal in Houston at 10:40, and the last flight to Seattle leaves at 10:45. I book it over to the gate where it is scheduled to depart and get on standby. Luckily that plane had been delayed also, and didn't end up taking off until almost midnight anyways. So I'm on standby along with about a million other people it seems, and they start boarding and they tell us that the flight is really full. The next flight isn't until 7:50 in the morning, which even if I was able to snag a seat on that plane would put me at least 30 minutes late for my noon appointment.

They start calling standby names. Collective groans go out after each name is called as all of us in the crowd become more and more pessimistic about our chance of getting on this plane. Finally she calls the last name, and the person goes over and gets his ticket and boards. They are about to shut the doors when a guy who had been standing there for some time stops them. He has a boarding pass in hand and asks if there is a spare seat for his friend, who is still in the crowd. She says no, that they are all full, and that he needs to get on the plane so they can go. His friend's voice coming from the crowd tells him the same, "Go ahead man, I'll catch up with you later." The guy with the ticket responds, "No way. All for one and one for all," and gives his ticket back to the flight attendant. She hurriedly reaches for the list of standby names and says:

"Matthews, George."

I think I probably screamed like a little girl. I went from being positive that I was going to miss the only reason I was going to Seattle, to being elated at getting literally the last seat on this plane, and a seat that had already been given to someone else.

Can I just reiterate my belief that our God is the God of the super clutch? It was as if he was saying, "Oh hey Cabe, I see your having trouble making it to Seattle. It's cool, I'll give you a ride. This one's on me."

It was a fun trip. Mars Hill is amazing; I feel like I would fit in well and like it would shake my world in a way that it needs to be shaken, and that it would also change my life and my future ministry. And Seattle is beautiful. The high was 72 degrees, the trees look like Christmas trees, and they have bigger hills than Austin, along with a slew of highways and tiny urban roads that weave and wind up, down, around, over and even under the hills and buildings.

I am supposed to find out in the next week whether I'm accepted. I'll keep you all posted.

Matthew 6

Read it here.

What Jesus Offers the Underdog

Matthew 5:1-16

This huge crowd of people from all over the place is following Jesus around, some probably because they wanted to be entertained and some because of the irresistibility of groupthink, but definitely also some who really don't know why they are following him around hoping for a glimpse of something special, but they just feel very compelled to follow him, like the salmon feel when it's time for them to leave the salt water and take to fighting upstream.

So Jesus climbs up onto this slope and sits down, then his disciples come and join him and he just starts teaching.

He starts listing types of people, many of them associated with labels that most people would rather not have for one reason or another - the meek, the persecuted, the mourners, the poor in spirit. Others might carry labels which sound like really good qualities, but if you think about it people who are characterized by these things are often taken advantage of or trampled upon and forgotten in this dog eat dog world of ours - the people who are hungry for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers.

All of these people probably had a really tough time living in Jesus' day, and probably led a very frustrating existence, feeling as though perhaps the whole world was against them. They are misfits - going through life always feeling like they have to oppose the whole world, always overwhelmed by this feeling that this isn't their home, that maybe they are missing something, that things really should be very different. These people certainly don't feel blessed or happy or fortunate, they aren't favored but instead feel much more like the little guy, the underdog.

Jesus offers that these people too can be "makarios" - blessed - and offers to them not acceptance or integration into a culture or a system, but instead offers them a place in a Kingdom Family.

He then makes them new. He takes these newly "blessed" people and gives them a new identity. No longer is their name meek or merciful or persecuted or poor in spirit, but instead they receive a new name from Jesus. He calls them Salt and tells them to go change the world, and then he also calls them Light and tells them that they are to be a beacon that advertises God's glory.

Pretty cool assignment for this band of misfits.

This seems to be somewhat of a central theme in Jesus' teachings. He's opening the door wide, and he wants the downtrodden and the perpetually disenfranchised to join him in Kingdom living.

This kind of bothers me, because the churches that I have always gone to in my life have not been full of people you might describe as disenfranchised at all. Where are the lepers and the prostitutes and the poor in spirit in our churches?

Some Support Updates

I just wanted to share how amazingly support is going. I am now at 56% of my monthly goal and 78% of my one time goal. It's ridiculous. It's been amazing because it's not me at all. It's like God has spent the last 3 generations of my family getting things ready for me to raise support. Just the fact that my dad is a banker is kind of an act of God. He graduated from Texas with a degree in Chem Engineering and worked in that field for four years.

A combination of things brought him to McAllen. Mostly my mom's dad. McAllen to me is like living in a suburb of a big city, minus the whole big city part. About the only thing you're missing is the big attractions a city would have and a downtown. Oh well. The great thing about it's size is that many people have been here for my whole life and much more. McAllen's still got that small town connectedness on some levels. Maybe that's not even it. Maybe it's just God being awesome.

I can't really comprehend what it must have taken for God to set up this network of supporters He's providing for me. My parents friends have already heard of Crusade, and almost all of them are excited about me going. It's kind of ridiculous, and I hope you guys know I'm sharing this because it's not me it's God. I haven't had a bad appointment yet. Every appointment that God has provided, ends with a new supporter on some level.

I feel that I have to share that with you guys otherwise I would be taking it for granted. Rejoice because God is really freaking good. He really really is.

Matthew 5

Hooray! Beatitudes and the beginnings of other general mountain-sermon materials. Read it or weep. Whatever that means.

Read it here.

Last Night of MSP

No not with support, though that is going well. I just finished my talks at Mission Service Project (MSP). I'm really glad I had the opportunity to speak to them. It was a great experience and a great opportunity. I didn't realize I had the capability to get up and talk for 25-35 minutes. Even on my "short" nights I was hitting the 20's. Haha, I always knew I was a bit of a windbag. Maybe if I got rid of the ums, uh's, and other nervous tic's I'd shave off some time. Aside from those things I really feel like it went well.

I had a few conversations with kids that made me think that at least for some of the kids what I was saying was going through. I hope they take back the idea's of community, that they live their lives willing to be used by God. Most importantly I hope though that the realized what they have in Christ. What we all have in Christ. Perfect relationship, Savior, Friend, Father, Leader, Guide, Mentor, Role Model, everything exemplified in Him.

I just hope they get it, if not now some point in their life. Not that being Christian is cool, it's not. Not that our walk will be fun and rewarding, though it can be and it is respectively. I hope that they get how big a deal God is. I hope that when they realize that, they realize how huge Christ is. And when they glimpse that they see how ridiculous it was that He came and died for them on and individual level. That's sick. It's epic. It's flat out ridiculous that the God of the Universe loves them that much. He loves us that much.

I read some Philippians with them and I was just blown away by how much passion Paul has for the Gospel, and for the Church at Philippi. I moved by the passion in his words. He so loves the Gospel and so loves the people. If we could all have love like Paul, man.

I'm also glad to be done. At times this really stressed me out. I prefer it to support raising, but I get back each night exhausted. I am worn out. I spend all day preparing and then each evening delivering and it doesn't seem like it should be so draining but it is. It was a good experience. I don't know if I have any future in this groups speaking role, though I already have my next offer (currently I have a no with a small window that I might say yes next week).

It was good though. I said what I wanted to say. The Gospel was shared and doubts were talked about. Community was discussed and the importance of Christ centered loving community was described. Living a life of being willing to be used by God was talked about even though I didn't have any great concrete applications points beyond asking God to give you His desires, and tonight we sorta wrapped it all up.

Amen.

Galilean Idol

Matthew 4 is kind of strange. Jesus gets baptized by John the Baptizer at the end of Matthew 3, and then he gets called out into the woods to fast for forty days, and then after forty days he starts getting a bit hungry, so Satan comes and tempts him, Jesus resists, angels come and take care of him, and that's the first half of the chapter. In the second half of the chapter, he goes from being someone who no one has heard of (and who just now almost starved to death) to being the next big pop star in the Galilee traveling rabbi circuit.

Maybe it’s just me, but that seems like a pretty dramatic shift.

What exactly do you think caused things to happen so quickly?

And what is that darn "gospel of the kingdom" he keeps referring to, and what does it mean for it to be "at hand"?

Question

Tomorrow is my last night speaking to this group of high schoolers. I'm leaving them with some resources like biblegateway, and everystudent.com. I was thinking about giving them this site address so they could see how community is played out in a group of guys who lives all over the world and Texas. I don't know if you guys are comfortable with that, or if you even think that's a hot idea.

I will let them know that we're not perfect and that they won't find answers here, but maybe some good questions to ask or something along those lines.

Thoughts? Is this community for us, or is it for the World?

Matthew 4

This one is exciting, guys. Jesus gets tempted in this chapter, and then he starts healing people. Pretty cool stuff...

Mars Hill Statement of Purpose

I am applying to Mars Hill Graduate School to seek a Masters of Divinity, and so I am posting my admissions essays here. Let me know what you think; I have to email them tomorrow.

Essay 1 - Statement of Purpose
Submit a Statement of Purpose essay which may include: What element(s) of your story motivate your desire to study at MHGS? How do you personally understand & identify with the mission & vision of MHGS? What do you hope to learn about yourself, God, the world and others while at MHGS?

I remember a couple of years ago I had been reading through the Old Testament starting in Genesis, and I was so moved by the stories. The Old Testament has some of the best stories I have ever heard, involving kings, prophets and average ordinary people and how they walked with the Lord – or didn’t in some cases – and how many of them experienced God in these really amazing ways that really seemed a lot more real than the way I had been experiencing a relationship with God. After all, I have never had a real audible conversation with him, and he’s never saved me from being burned in a fiery furnace, and I’ve never been led through a desert for forty years by the presence of God in the form of a cloud which also fed me bread which fell from the sky every morning. It really kind of made me jealous, that even though we were all redeemed from sin by the same Jesus Christ, it seemed like these people who lived before Christ became flesh got to experience his presence in a way that looked a lot more concrete than the way I had been experiencing a relationship with him.

I’ll never forget the day while I was sitting on the Capital Metro bus on my way home and thinking about all of these Old Testament characters and how they got to experience God. I think on this particular day I was thinking about the way David, the “man after God’s own heart”, walked with God in a way that seemed so intensely real and personal. In comparing my relationship with God to his I admit I was slightly frustrated by the differences I saw, and I offered a silent prayer in my head, “God, why can’t I have the depth of relationship with you that David has?” Almost before I could finish the thought an answer came back.

“You can,” was the silent but quick reply back to me.

My pursuit of ministry is nothing more than a follow up of that answer to prayer – to be whatever an Old Testament “man of God” looks like in today’s world, whether for me it’s a pastor or a missionary or whatever. I just feel an incredible pull towards serving the Body of Christ in some more direct, vocational capacity.

So where does Mars Hill come into the picture?

An emphasis on the Biblical text is, of course, critical to me when thinking of a place to pursue an M. Div. I feel like the Bible is a lot more than the simple “handbook for living” that it seems to be defined as in so many churches today, and I think this view is expressed well in the doctrinal statement on the “About MHGS” page of your website. Instead of hundreds of bullet points explaining your official position on this theological point or that one, you have a simple but profound statement whose point is only to say that you believe in reading the Bible, and it then goes into only a bit more detail on how you read it. I think that is revolutionary in its simplicity and nothing short of exact when it comes to accuracy. If we are to hold on to the Bible as the inspired Word of God, then I think we would be fools if we didn’t study it in such a way that its words impacted every aspect of our lives. I think that this school’s vision is consistent with the priority and authority that should be associated with the Biblical text.

I originally heard about Mars Hill from the Campus Crusade for Christ staff member who discipled me in college, Will Walker. He told me that if I wanted to go to a seminary which will change my perspective on life and also change my attitude towards the world, then I should go to Mars Hill. And that’s really what I would love to have. It seems like the more stretching and molding and challenging my soul endures the stronger the Lord’s hold on it will become. I’m a pretty young guy, with a lot of sanctification that I will undoubtedly undergo between today and the day that I die, and it seems like your vision with regards to training souls to live lives worthy of the gospel is aligned with the Holy Spirit’s vision for my soul as well.

Furthermore I feel like scriptures are very clear when it comes to the importance of evangelism. We live in a world that often asks the right questions but automatically rules out Christ as the answer. I firmly believe that he is the answer to a lot of life’s toughest questions and it really makes me sad to see all of the people who seek his answers in such dead ends as addiction to drugs, sex or themselves. I really believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the most universally applicable set of ideas ever, and somewhere along the way the church has somehow come to be viewed in many circles as irrelevant to life. I think this is probably one of the greatest tragedies in human history, and I think we should seek to engage our culture in a way that emphasizes that our great faith is not just one for people who lived two thousand years ago, but one that is absolutely crucial to a full life in any historical period, and particularly today in 2006. The importance Mars Hill seems to put on engaging our culture in an effort to better convey the gospel by meeting people where they are at, highlighted even by the name that was chosen for the school, is very exciting to me as a potential student.

I imagine that if I was admitted to Mars Hill I would have a pretty intense three or so years worth of stretching, challenging spiritual growth. I would expect to come out of the experience a much more qualified and capable ambassador for Christ in my increased knowledge and abilities to communicate and articulate that knowledge. I think I would probably also grow in empathy for the disenfranchised peoples of the world, and also I would likely become more and more broken hearted for the lost people in the world who don’t know the love and grace of Jesus.

And most importantly I imagine that a few years on Elliot Avenue would foster in me a deeper love for Jesus Christ, and this is why I would like to pursue a Masters of Divinity from Mars Hill.

Bring it on Home

I am applying to Mars Hill Graduate School to seek a Masters of Divinity, and so I am posting my admissions essays here. Let me know what you think; I have to email them tomorrow, so get back to me pretty quick if you can.

Essay 2 - Bring it on Home
Choose a Biblical story that has meaning for you, and discuss it alongside a “cultural artifact” of your choice. (A cultural artifact could be any piece of art, architecture, film, etc…that enhances, reflects or informs the meaning of your chosen text.)

In the first couple chapters of Genesis God creates the universe and everything in it, and afterwards admits that it’s all pretty good stuff. He can’t help it really, making things that are good. It’s one of those things that God does that characterizes who he is as much as anything. He creates. He makes stuff. Good stuff. And he makes lots of it for that matter. It might be one of the coolest things about our God really.

Of course the universe and the earth and all of those beautifully complex animals were really pretty awesome, and God seems to have enjoyed them quite a bit. You know that feeling you have when you are completely engrossed in doing what it is that you are made to do? You know, like the feeling musicians get when they are playing music, or that one that I’m sure carpenters get when they are working with wood, or the feeling computer programmers get while writing code. It’s that amazing feeling of beauty and worth that we all get when we are fulfilling what we were designed to do or be. It is home. I bet God felt something like that as he relaxed on that seventh day and just took a step back to admire all of the wonder he had created. Wow.

But something wasn’t right. I mean, everything was good, even awesome, but God knew things could be better. He had already invented physics and biology in all of their intricacies and complex yet beautiful workings, but there was something even greater than science that needed to happen.

And so he made something for him to love, and something that could love him in return.

Of course in order to experience real love there must be the possibility of your lover leaving you. It’s not possible to really love someone out of obligation. It’s something you have to choose to do, and something you have to be willing to let others choose or not choose.

So he made us, male and female out of the dust of the ground and he built a really beautiful garden for us to live in. It was a really nice place, probably one of the best gifts that have ever been given. It was a completely ideal situation for us, a location for us to live out our lives and our love for God and for each other, and a place where we had everything provided for us. It must have been pretty flattering to Adam and Eve, to get placed in this amazing dream of a place, because they hadn’t done anything to deserve it.

I can hardly imagine what an amazing relationship they had with their creator God. I’m sure they would chat all the time while strolling around in the garden in the cool of the day. That phrase by itself is very indicative to me of how wonderful this place was, because living in Austin, Texas I have rarely heard the words “cool” and “day” in the same sentence, except where the word “not” accompanied them. And of course Adam and Eve were naked all of the time, which means there was absolutely no insecurity or hiding behind cloth. Everyone just was who they were, and no one was worried about what anyone thought of them because everyone knew at a very deep personal level that they were beautiful bearers of the image of God. This was, of course, just how God wanted it – nobody was worried about what anybody thought of them because God by himself was enough for them.

Unfortunately this ideal setup didn’t last for very long. It is a very complex and meaty story about how it happened, and rightfully so entire books have been written dealing almost completely with the approximately half of a chapter of Biblical text which treats the actual events of the Fall. In a nutshell, a seed of doubt was planted in humanity’s brain. A question: “Does God really have my best interests in mind? Why does he get to be in charge of everything?” It is almost comical that the idea of wanting to “be my own god” is often thought of as such a new one. In fact it is the very root of our Original Sin.

So we chose to walk away and not trust God. We took a bite from a pretty delicious looking fruit, a direct act of rebellion against our benevolent creator God who had been so absolutely unrelentingly loving and caring and had provided for our every need so completely thus far. He had done nothing but shower us with gifts, but when given a choice between God and ourselves, we chose ourselves.

Then we figured out we were naked. I’m sure that to a degree we knew before that point that we were hanging around in our bare skin, but I would imagine the idea of clothes just had never occurred to us. And why should it have? It probably didn’t matter to us that we were naked, because in an absolutely perfect love relationship stuff like that just doesn’t matter since no one is concerned with how they are portrayed – they are only concerned with the well being of the one whom they love.

So we put on some fig leaves because we needed something to hide behind, and then God comes walking along through the garden in the cool of the day, and we have the nerve to hide from him. I guess it can be pretty easy to forget that God knows everything, and to think that we actually can successfully hide from him, but in this story it seems kind of ridiculous, since we had been pretty close to God up until this point and one might expect we should know him a bit better than that.

Then God speaks. “Where are you?” he says, I’m sure knowing full well the answer.

Then Adam answers back, “I heard you coming, and I was afraid because I was naked, and so I hid myself.”

Next come what are probably the saddest words in the whole Bible. God answers, “Who told you that you were naked?” I imagine God was pretty upset by the betrayal in this act. Apparently we had decided we didn’t need him anymore, which is a pretty big slap in the face to someone who had done nothing but love, protect and provide all of Adam and Eve’s lives. It was the most extreme of turning points, the day that we decided we would rather make our own way than take our God’s. It was pretty heart wrenching, I’m sure, from God’s perspective.

I relate a number of different songs to this feeling of lost love experienced by God in the betrayal of the fall. This is one of my favorites:

If you ever change your mind
About leaving, leaving me behind
Oh, bring it to me, bring your sweet lovin’
Bring it on home to me.

I’ll give you tulips and money too.
That ain’t all, that ain’t all I’ll do for you.
Bring it to me, bring your sweet lovin’
Bring it on home to me.

I tried to treat you right
But you stayed out, stayed out day and night
But I’ll forgive you
Bring it to me, bring your sweet lovin’
Bring it on home to me. (Sam Cooke, “Bring it on Home to Me” 1962)

Not unlike what Adam and Eve did to God, Sam Cooke is singing about some woman that used him for his stuff, cheated on him, and then left him all by himself. I really love thinking about this song in the context of the Fall, because I can really feel and relate to Sam Cooke’s pain as he continues, even after all she has put him through, to claim his love for her and beg her to come back, even promising to provide for her once again and forgive her completely for all of her wrongdoing. He really loves this girl unconditionally it seems, and God loves humanity in a way that is even deeper than that. "Bring it on Home to Me" is a song about redemption that is being freely offered to a former lover. Similarly, the entire Bible after this point in the story is a tale of continual cycles of redemption and betrayal, which is ultimately capped off by the redemption offered in the person of Jesus Christ.

He stands at the door and knocks, hoping that his former love will answer the door and let him back into their hearts, surrendering control of their lives while regaining his unfailing provision.

Sharing the Gospel

Woooo. Man I am wiped out. After an epic 6 page opening talk, man I realized I will be changing up my strategy for the rest of the week.

First of all, the talk went well. The Gospel went out tonight. It is up to God to bring those who are ready to Him. It was long, but it was detailed and good. So tonight was good, I just flat out don't want to talk that long tomorrow night. Though we'll see.

I'm going to throw open the gates to suggestions: I have 3 nights to talk left. What should I tell a bunch of high school kids. Kids who by the way look like their 8 and some look like they could play football for well maybe not Texas but perhaps A&M.

High school covers a large age group fyi. I'm going to talk about community I think. I'm also goign to hit up confession, but not do a whole talk on it. So I'm not sure where to go from here. Any ideas?

Anyone remember any cool stories to tell?

A few reasons why I like John the Baptist

“Now John himself had a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.” – Matthew 3:4

I’ve always really liked John the Baptist. He seems to have been a really great guy, and what an honor to be the prophet who gets to usher in the Messiah. I think if Sam was a prophet, he would be Sam the Baptist, because he is the kind of guy who would live in the woods wearing camel hair and eating bugs.

The New Deal

So, for all of you who arent already aware, today was my final day working as a software requirements analyst at Seilevel, Inc. I’m ok with all of that because I have felt led recently to pursue some form of full time vocational Christian Ministry. I think I resisted this at first because I felt like I was just following the crowd and I wasn’t really entirely sure if it was for me, but after spending eight weeks in Corporate America I feel like getting a “job” and working for “the man” probably doesn’t match up with my skills or my passions.

Seilevel was very kind and gracious in their goodbye, and made sure I was well aware that them not wanting to renew my contract had nothing to do with me, but much more to do with the fact that their sales have dipped pretty far below what they had budgeted for this year. I feel like this job was a gift from God, in that I was less than a month away from not being able to make rent before I got the job, and now my savings acount actually has savings in it and I should be able to easily transition to wherever I’m going next with little trouble. I also learned a lot about MS Office and being responsible and disciplined and how to better communicate in small and large group projects, something I didn’t have much of as a physics undergrad. It also gave me something to do in an era of my life where I needed to keep busy in order to keep my mind from dwelling on certain things, but instead was cursed with endless amounts of free time. And of course I now own a lot of clothes which you might call “business casual”. I like to call them “clothes-that-cause-the-ladies-to-lust”.

So, thus ends another chapter of Cabe’s life, hereafter referred to as “The Chapter in Which Cabe Had Money”. However depending on how my next plans pan out the money will likely not last for long. I have applied for admissions to Mars Hill Graduate School where I will be pursuing a Master of Divinity. I will post my admissions essays sometime this weekend. It’s going to be a pretty expensive three year program and I will probably be living in relative poverty for that period of time in Seattle, WA. This is a very exciting prospect for me for a number of reasons, one of which being the city of Seattle and its alleged similarities in personality to my beloved Austin, and of course the classes that I will be taking should be amazingly challenging and enlightening and stretching for me spiritually.

I’ve also applied for a number of jobs at churches, mostly in the Youth Ministry genre, currently with three officially in the pipeline (you can call them Houston, St. Louis and Berkeley). I think I would prefer to wait a year for seminary and do one of these if I can swing it.

Also with my newly found free time I plan on posting to the blog more often, reading books, being still and knowing that He is God, and going on a couple of road trips. I will at the very least be joining my hao pengyoumen (incorrect Chinese for “good friends”) Colin and Rene on a trip to Seattle for the first half of July, which I am quite stoked about. All in all I would say I am pretty optimistic and excited about this new direction, and I just ask that you pray that God will give me discernment on what to do in the coming months.

Witful Signage

I always really enjoy seeing the signs which Austin’s exceptionally clever homeless population likes to display on our roadsides while panhandling. I lived the first 18 years of my life in Houston, and I’ve never seen such brilliance.

Here are a few for your reading pleasure:

“Family killed by Ninja. Saving up for Karate lessons.” (2222 & Mopac)

“Why live in a $200,000 house when you can live under a $20,000,000 bridge?” (2222 & Mopac)

“Need a beer.” (Ben White & IH 35)

These are just a couple of my favorites from the last 4 years. I’ll post more as I see them, and feel free to post yours in the comments or wherever. I want to emphasize that these guys are almost always pretty cool people, and you all should make an effort to roll down your window on occasion at those highway intersections, if for no other reason than to ask them how they are doing and wish them a good day.

Forgiveness, Confession, Prayer

Quick support update. God is amazing. I haven't been able to work real hard this week on support because of planning these talks for next week. Doesn't matter. God is showing how faithful He is. I praise Him for how amazing He has been. I am at about 40% overall of my support goal. Praise God for His providence.

So onto my second talk. There's a few spots in the middle of this talk that I really hope some of you will take some time to think about and comment on. I'm not sure if I've got it all right when it comes to how this life of faith is hard, how our struggle against our sinful flesh and our desire for God is played out. If you only read part please read that part and let me know what you think.

I know I'm dumping a lot of content on here in rapid succession, but I'm speaking this next week, so I'm trying to get it on here as I finish it.

Here we go:

Tonight we’re going to hit a few topics. I really am enjoying these talks because in preparing them, they’ve allowed me to take everything I’ve learned from the past four years and process it and think it through.

First we’re going to talk about forgiveness from sin. In preparing this talk I realized I had a lot unconfused sin in my own life. That’s sort of disconcerting when you’re preparing to speak for God to you guys. But realizing it was good because two things happened. One I had to deal with some sin in my life. The other I realized that this week there is no one better then a recent college graduate and confessed sinner to speak to you today.

In a bit we’re going to have some time at the end to confess our sins before God. But I want to talk about why confession is so important. I’ve grown up Protestant, so I believe confession is direct with God. I would encourage anyone who feels confession must be through a priest to join with us tonight and then later tonight take the time to confess with your priest.

I’m not going to talk a lot about sin itself tonight because I don’t have much to say about sin, except it necessitates a lot of things in our relationship with God. Don’t get me wrong sin is devastating. It will always have consequences whether internal or external. So that to me begs the question of how do we deal with sin in our lives?

Well if Jesus came to die so that we could be forgiven, then if we have accepted Him as our Savior from sin then we never sin anymore correct? If anyone tells you that I would tell him he is a liar. 1 John 1:10 says “If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His Word has no place in our lives.” If we say that we don’t sin, or hypothetically if we stopped sinning on our own, we stop needing God. It just doesn’t work that way.

God has a process called sanctification which over our lifetime growth in faith, He through the Holy Spirit, and our dependence on Him, He will make us holy in our actions. But this is not of our own power. This is through our faith in Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. I’m saving the Holy Spirit for tomorrow, so you guys will have to come back.

So let’s go back to forgiveness. So we sin. Even though we have surrendered control of our lives to Christ, there is still sin in our life. This is probably one of the most frustrating parts of living the life of following Christ. Even the great Paul admits his frustrations here. In Romans 7:14-25 we have almost verbatim what every believer goes through in his or her mind at some point in their life.

“For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold into slavery under sin. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells in me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Ok that’s really long, but my junior year in the fall I remember thinking along these lines. Asking God why in the world did I want to follow Him but not seem to actually be doing it? I remember distinctly thinking, isn’t this supposed to be easy? I don’t know where I got that. I’m going to be honest with you, it’s not easy. Jesus tells us it won’t be. We’ve picked the narrow gate, the narrow path that many people fall off of. It’s not advertised as easy. Jesus does say my yoke is easy and my burden is light, but we are also told me must die to ourselves, pick up our cross and follow Him. He also promises that the world will hate us.

Let me clarify a second. Living out God’s Plan for our lives will be rewarding, it will flow and we will be carried by the Holy Spirit, and it will never be harder than we can handle. What will be hard is the internal battle we will have with our selfish desires of the flesh and our desire to seek after God. I may have bitten off more then I can chew in here theologically. I don’t know how this part all works, remaining in God’s will, being free from sin and yet battling sin daily. All I can tell you is from my experience it will be hard. You’re going to need help, both from God and from others.

So let’s go back to forgiveness. Good news, if you’ve accepted Christ as your savior you are already forgiven. So why do we do confession? We’re already forgiven right? Yes, but similar to the gift of salvation, we must claim that forgiveness. Confession is essential to our relationship with God, because it is a humbling process that brings us to our knees before God. It acknowledges our dependence on Him. Bill Bright the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ describes confession as, “an expression of faith and an act of obedience, which results in God making real in your experience what He has already done for you through the death of His Son.”

A brief side note. The reason I refer to Bill Bright so much is that as part of my training for East Asia this summer I am reading several books he wrote on key points of our faith. They are essential and vital to living out our faith and growing closer to God. That’s why so much of what I am sharing I refer back to him.

When we don’t confess our sin, we are in effect hiding from God. Think back to when we were kids. We all did something bad, and inevitably our parents found out. Remember the times before you got punished, before your parents came and talked to you, but you knew they knew? It was terrible. When I grew up my parents will tell you our household had a devious character named “Bad Matthew” running around. I’ll tell you he was a scoundrel. If something got spilled or broken, it was a lot easier to tell my parents when Bad Matthew did it and not me. I didn’t know it, but my parents did, these were my first feeble attempts at confession.

Like any relationship unconfessed sin halts our relationship with God. Not because God stops loving us. No we are righteous in His sight. But from our end, how can we seek after God and abide in His love, when we are slinking around trying to avoid being caught, or walking on our tip toes afraid of doing something wrong.

Confession is a process of restoration. It involves (power point slide here!!!) agreeing that your sins are wrong and grieving to God. Sin is real and very serious. God is Holy and sin is repulsive to Him. You must view your sin as God does, repulsive and divisive. Then you can accept the forgiveness God has already given you through the death of His Son on the cross. This is part of our continuing faith in God’s promises. We must claim His promise of forgiveness so that we can be freed in our relationship with Him. The last part is perhaps the hardest part. Repent. Change your attitude which results in a change of thoughts and action. Here is where in the Holy Spirit, and really only in the power of the Holy Spirit we can change. If we truly repent and turn away from sin, God will help us and transform our lives.

Now confession isn’t a once a month thing, or a this regularly scheduled event. We need to confess each time we become aware of our sin. This involves asking God to make us aware of our sin so that we can confess it to Him.

The verses I want to leave you with for forgiveness and confession is in 1 John1:5- 2:2. I would encourage you all the read this tonight, but certainly during lunch tomorrow at your works sites. The other thing I want to say is that when you pray be honest. If this has completely confused you, sorry it confuses me at times. But if we approach God honestly seeking His guidance He will be faithful to us. He is good and loves us.

Let me say just a few things about prayer while we’re on the subject. I hope it’s been abundantly established how much God loves you. I encourage you to think of the impact you’re having on the people you’re serving by repairing or building their house. You are a part of God showing His love to that person. That blows my mind. You’re part of His living active plan for someone else’s relationship with God. I hope it impacts you heavily. Now try to realize that the same way God is using you to love these people, God has used countless other people in your life to communicate His love to you.

The God of the Universe loves you. Everything we’ve talked about so far has been so that He can have relationship with you. He wants you to love Him. Our love for Him manifests itself in many ways. Obedience, loving each other, serving others, all are ways we love Him. But in any relationship you must communicate. God speaks to us through His Word, the people He puts in our lives, and sometimes directly to us in a variety of ways.

Prayer is the direct means we have to communicate with the Father. It’s easy to take this for granted and not realize how mind blowing this is. It’s not just words but expressing your heart, your emotions, your thoughts to God.

I saw X-men 3 with one of my friends the other day, and we were talking about all the X-men’s. I don’t know how familiar you are with the movies, but Professor Xavier has the power to read minds. But he doesn’t without permission. God doesn’t need our permission to know what’s on our hearts, what is burdening us, but He waits for us to come to Him. Why? Because He loves and respects us. God is the perfect Father. He disciplines when necessary and helps when necessary. If God were to prevent us from messing up, making mistakes, it’s like an overprotective parent who never allows their child to grow up. That’s why prayer is so vital to our relationship with God, He wants us to come to Him.

So am I going to give you a how to on prayer? Not quite. I don’t think prayer should be formulaic or programmed. However, there are some things that help us understand the nature of prayer, and like any communication there are ways we can communicate more effectively and meaningfully.

In tomorrow’s conversation starters I’ll have several verses on prayer. For time I’m not going dive deeply into them tonight, but here are several keys to prayer:

Pray continually -1 Thess. 5:17

Watch and pray - Luke 21:36

Pray with thanksgiving –Philippians 4:6 and Colossians 4:2

Pray in the Spirit – 1 Corinthians 14:15

Always pray and not give up – Luke 18:1

Pray for those in authority – 1 Timothy 2:2

Pray for Boldness – Acts 4:29

If you don’t know how to pray, ask God. Approach Him humbly and honestly. There’s an acronym to help in praying, but don’t think you’re limited to praying like this.

A-adoration- Praise God for who He is and what He has done.

C-confession- bring your sins to God, accept His forgiveness and repent

T-thanksgiving- we have so much to be thankful for. Thank God for the ways He has blessed you.

S-supplication- is the time to ask God to meet your needs and the needs of other. He want us to ask for His help.

All that said, there is nothing wrong with a prayer that says “God help me!” or “God I need you now.” He will meet you where you are. But it is vital to our relationship to daily approach God in significant conversation.

Before we close let me say one last thing about prayer. Like everything we’ve talked about pray in faith. Believe and know that God hears you and is responding to you. It may not be how you want. You may get a no, He may answer on His own time. But you must pray expectantly. Don’t hold back. Remember Jesus said to Mary, “Did I not tell you? If you believe you will see the glory of God.”

Alright, this is the closing. I want to end on Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” We must approach the Father in confession to grow in our relationship with God. There is an exercise I want to do with y’all. Like most things I got this from Bill Bright, but on the piece of paper each of you already have, we’re going to take some time, Jarrod’s going to play softly in the background, and confess.

Take some time to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you how you have sinned. As they come to mind list your sins. All of them. Don’t look at any one else’s and no one will look at yours. You can cover your paper if you want to. This is between you and God, and complete openness is very important. Maybe your sin doesn’t seem large, it just seems like you have small stuff. Ask the Spirit to reveal it all to you. Carrying 50 smaller rocks is just as paralyzing as one large boulder. If you feel like you have a sin that’s too big, put your fait in Christ’s death and resurrection. He has paid your penalty and defeated sin and death. You can and must trust that God will forgive you no matter what you’ve done. God promises us this. As each sin comes to mind lift it up in prayer and confess it, accept God’s forgiveness, and repent.

(1-2 minutes)

Now what we’ll do is write across the list God’s promise. It’s up here on the screen, from 1 John 1:9. Write it boldly across the entire page. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

Now destroy it. Those sins are dead. You are forgiven. I have a shredder up here. If you want you can just rip it up at your seat. Throw them away on your way out.

The last thing is to make restitution. If God reveals to you that you need to ask forgiveness from someone do it tonight. If they’re here pull them aside later when you get back to your churches and do it then. If they’re not here, call them or ask them to swing by the church. We cannot maintain a clear conscience before God if we have a guilty conscience before people.

You’re still going to struggle with sin. As soon as you get in your church vans to ride home, someone will annoy you, you’ll think bad thoughts, or something else will happen. It’s a constant process. But God is constantly forgiving and constantly loving. If you struggle with something consistently and we all will, grab your two or three closest friends and be open about it. If you’re one of the two or three friends, remember Romans 8:1, “There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus.” You’re not there to condemn your friend, support, bear with them their burden. Help and encourage them. This road of faith is not supposed to be a lonely one. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Our first speaking gig.

I say ours, because I certainly don't feel like I'm ready to speak on my own, without a few of my most trusted people reading over what I plan on saying. So I ask that you read over it and please do comment, even if its just I like it or I hate it, though the more constructive the better.

I realized some more explanation may be necessary. This is a week long mission trip for these high school students. Some are from the area but all are staying at churches through out the week. They're building or repairing houses in the area. Each night all of them gather together to eat dinner and worship and hear some thoughts. Some years past you could have called it a message or a sermon. This year we'll humbly call it thoughts. I'll be referring to them as discussions.

One paragraph has been changed. Will had some good ideas so I took them. I leave the old paragraph up and insert the new one and mark them both.

Here it is:

Sunday:

So a little about me. My name is Colin Bready I just graduated UT, did MSP all through high school with St. Mark. Now that I’m a graduate a relevant question I face is “what do you want to do with your life?” Unfortunately I have no answer for that question. All I know about my future is that for the next year, perhaps 2 I will be spending it in a country I like to call “East Asia”. Now you may ask yourself East Asia? That doesn’t sound like any country I know. Some of you may have just taken World History or Geography and are positive there’s no country by that name. Well since I’m up front and you’re sitting down there, I’m right and you’re wrong. Just kidding, East Asia is not the technical name for where I’ll be hanging out next year, but it’s the super secret code word. I don’t know if I can let all of you in on the secret, but I’ll give you all some hints. Here is a map of “East Asia” (power point slides), I’m sure you’ve all heard of the great wall of East Asia. Perhaps if you follow sports you may have heard of Yao Ming, East Asia’s premier sports star who plays in our NBA.

Seriously though, East Asia is a country that is not capitalist and their government is still officially closed to Christianity. This “closed country” status is why we call East Asia, “East Asia.” Don’t worry about me I’ll be safe their but this is primarily for the security and safety of the citizens of East Asia. So now you know. East Asia = East Asia (power point slide)

So the answer to your question is yes I am a professional Christian. But contrary to popular belief, professional Christians do not have all the answers. What I do have are stories. I hope you’ll let me let tell my story for the next few minutes. I was born in McAllen, if you’re not from the Valley, Who’s not from the Valley here? That’s right next door to Mission. I grew up going to St. Mark. When I say grew up I mean when I was 6 months old I was baptized there, and was a fixture there until I went to college 4 years ago. When I was little apparently I asked about our pastor at the time, “Mommy is that the God?” In my defense it may have been my first time to actually attend the service and not spend it in the nursery.

While at first I may have been confused about the identity of God, as I grew up in the church I learned more and more about Him. It was easy to learn about God. We have the Bible, though I don’t understand all of it, you can make some observances about the character of God. God is good. He is loving. He is just. He is almighty and all-knowing. You sing songs, and read stories about God. Everything is simplified. God is a big happy pillow you hug and goodness just comes out.

Ok sorry I went a little overboard, but it’s much harder to know God then it is to know about God. In fact we can’t, can not, know God. We are unable to have relationship with Him. When I was young and learning about God for the first time, this reality was not talked about much, but it was implied. I realized this in that when I went to church and Sunday school I was more focused on my friends and having fun then I ever was about God.

I began to realize though, that I did want to know God. I didn’t just want to know about Him, I wanted that relationship. I knew it was impossible for me to accomplish be cause I could never be good enough for God. But I was also learning about Jesus.

Jesus is God’s son. That famous verse they show at super bowls, concerts, NASCAR races etc. You know John 3:16. He’s the one it’s about. For God so loved the world, us, that He gave his only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

God loves us. But we are sinful. Is not just doing bad. Sin is choosing self over God. It can be active rebellion against God or passive indifference to Him. It’s anything short of perfection. So we sin not just by action, but even by inaction.

That’s why I realized I couldn’t have that relationship with God. But that super bowl verse says there is a solution. In Romans 5:8 Paul tells us that, “God demonstrates His love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” Have you guys seen the Passion? Mel-Gibson’s movie? That’s this part. That immense pain and suffering was for the reconciliation of man and God. That’s the blood that washes away our sins, and allows us to have that relationship with God.

I knew all this growing up. I’m sure many of you guys know this today. It didn’t all click though until one afternoon when I was about 8 or so. My family was watching a preacher on TV one afternoon. I know I know, televangelists and all that, but he explained it all very clearly. There must be acceptance on our part for Christ to be our savior. A common analogy is used that when someone offers you a gift it’s not yours until you take it. It was that afternoon that I realized I had to accept Christ in order to be saved, to have relationship with God. And I did. I prayed that afternoon to accept Christ as my savior from sin, so that I could have relationship with God.

So that was pretty early in my life. I got really involved in my church youth group. Did MSP. I thought I had it all together. It looked like I did, but I didn’t. I was still bound by following rules, and being a “good Christian”. What I hope for this week, is that maybe we’ll get past being “good Christians”. I would rather us be real or authentic Christians.

So I’m going to guess that most of you know what it means to be a Christian, but there might be some of you who don’t. There also could be some of you who feel like you know it, but have doubts or worry that accepting Christ isn’t enough or perhaps it just doesn’t feel like you’ve done it right.

Deep within us there is a longing. A deep desire to have relationship with God. I think subconsciously or maybe even consciously that’s why you’re here. Do you know why you’re here? Examine your heart, do you have relationship with the Father? Do you know Him? Or do you know about Him? There is a very distinct difference. God created us to have fellowship, relationship, with Him. We’re not here to know about Him, but to know Him.

Do you know God? I don’t know where you are. Some of you maybe stronger in your faith then I am, to those I say I’ll see y’all in East Asia. But many of you doubt, you have questions. I think there is a great misconception about doubt. Perhaps I am wrong, I give you permission to doubt me on this, but I think doubt is a good thing. How you handle it is where the bad or good part comes in. Doubt means you don’t know the answer. When you don’t know the answer you have three options:

1. Continue to question, but not seek answers. This leads to a faith that crumbles. Relationship with God is strained or perhaps never existed.
2. Seek answers. I think this is the healthiest response to doubt. Here what is seen as a weakening force in fact makes you stronger as you respond to your own questions and seek God through them.
3. Ignore the doubt. It doesn’t go away, but you don’t focus on it. It festers, and it acts like an invisible barrier to growing closer to the Father. Your mind says how can I have relationship with God when I don’t know this key fact about him?

This last semester I took a Rise of Christianity class. It was about the growth of the early church, the writings of the New Testament and the world from the time of Christ to about 300 AD. Actually in class it was referred to as CE for Common Era. This is the secular way to refer to the year. This was after all the University of Texas, the bastion of liberal and free thinking in the great state of Texas. This class had a reputation for causing doubt in Christians. Things that were never discrepancies or conflicts in the Gospels before to me suddenly conflicted. I found myself having to make sense of a lot of different things that I thought already made sense to me. What I found was that every discrepancy that the professor pointed out, he did with the intention of causing doubt. Some of my friends in the class really didn’t like that and in fact really did not like the class. I think the professor maybe promoted too much doubt, but you come out of his class either strong or weaker in your faith. I think that is true to most of life. Perhaps it’s more gradual then that semester class, but during your life you will either be growing in your faith, growing closer to God, or you will be stagnant and your faith will become weak and brittle, your relationship with God will suffer.

I’ll talk more about growing in your faith versus being stagnant later in the week, but tonight I want to start fresh. Some of you have doubts. Let’s try to deal with those now. First of all, I want you to look around at who you’re here with. None of you can build a house by yourself. You’re here in teams. You have different abilities. None of you can fully experience a relationship with God by yourself. If you have doubts talk about it with a friend tonight. I want you guys to think of someone who’s here this week that you can talk to about this. It can be a group or just one person. Guys don’t use this as a chance to try to pick up girls. Believe it or not this is more important then having a girlfriend.

What does it mean to be a Christian? Ephesians 2:8&9 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God – not the results of works so that no one may boast. This is very important. This is foundational to being a Christian. You did nothing to merit your salvation. None of us did, none of us could. Romans 3:23 says, “for all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God.” That’s where God’s grace comes in. God’s grace, his free gift of love for us, was the sacrifice of His son on the cross for us. This was absolutely necessary, because God is holy and man is sinful. Romans 6:23 says, “the wages of sin is death.” There is a penalty for sin. It’s like science, every action has a reaction. The reaction or consequence of sin is our death. Death here means physical death, but also the instantaneous complete and eternal separation from God the Father. That is why Jesus had to die. He did die. He died for you, so that now you may have relationship with the Father.

But you already knew that, or most of it. You’re still not sure maybe. That’s because it’s not enough to know. Knowledge empowers us to act. That is the case with anything. Being informed is not enough. Being informed compels us to act. Two of my friends attended a conference during which they learned about the ongoing genocide occurring in Darfur, Sudan. When they got home they were informed. That wasn’t enough though, and it’s not enough for our salvation. God wants man to choose Him. That’s why He created us. He gave us free will so that we could choose. Love involves choice. Salvation and relationship with God the Father involves choice.

What are you choosing? I’m not going to tell you so American dream Gospel. This isn’t the case. You won’t become a Christian and then all the sudden get straight A’s, or be accepted into the best college. What I will promise is that God has a plan for you. It is the best plan. That’s something you’ll have to wrestle with. Do you really believe God’s plan for you is the best plan out there? It’s hard to say no. But it’s hard to say yes because of the implications of that.

I’m not saying that God is going to send all of you to East Asia, or have you all take vows of poverty. I don’t know the details of what God’s plan is for you. I do know that it will be the most rewarding life you can live. I say that with no reservations.

So you must know, and you must choose. The last thing you must do is believe. When you choose to accept Christ you do so in the faith that He will uphold his promise to come into your life and restore you with the Father. In Revelations 3:20 Christ says, “Listen! I am standing at the door knocking; (GET NASB version). You must believe that Christ will fulfill His promise. This is part of Faith. It’s not in your control. That’s probably the biggest hold up a lot of people have. You’re giving up control of your life to God. That’s daunting, but He is infinitely more in control then you will ever be. Faith is believing and trusting.

Just after Lazarus died, Mary and Martha see Jesus and are mourning, they say things like if you had been here he’d still be alive. They know Jesus is powerful, but they don’t understand. Jesus wants to open the tomb so that Lazarus can be raised from the dead, but Mary says Lord no it will stink. Jesus turns to her and says in John 11:40, “Did I not tell you? Believe and you will see the glory of God.” That’s my favorite verse in the bible. There is so much promise there. It is so beautiful. More beautiful in fact then Vince Young’s last touchdown run against USC.

So we’ll close up here. I didn’t talk about emotions. Emotions are a part of life, but everyone responds to experiences differently. You may not have a big emotional experience. Maybe in the past you accepted Christ, but you didn’t “feel” different. Don’t rely on emotions. They’re confusing. Rely on Facts, the Bible, the promises of God and Jesus. Then you must choose to accept Christ as your savior. That He is the only way to the Father. This is a humbling process. You are surrendering control of your life to the power of God. The last thing you have to do is believe and have faith that God is faithful, that He will uphold His promises, you are now one of His Children. In John 1:12 it says “But to all who received Him, who believed in His name, He gave the power to be children of God.”

Old Paragrph: This is a one time thing. You only need to do it once. If you’ve done it before but still doubt and do not believe the promises that God has for you in His Word, do it again tonight. Ask Him to come into your heart, accept Christ as your savior, ask Him to forgive you of your sins. Give up control of your life to God the Father who is in control of everything. Pray all these things in Faith. Believe that God will be faithful to you. He promised He would. If you believe you will see the glory of God.

New Paragraph: One one hand, this is a one time thing. When God saves you, you become His child once and for all. You do not need to keep applying for adoption. But our decision to follow Jesus is also a decision that we reaffirm everyday in our beliefs and actions. So what does that mean for you? Well, it means that wherever you are along the spectrum of faith in Christ ... Having never believed, to thinking you may have believed before, all the way to the strongest faith here ... Wherever you are, today is a day to believe in Jesus and give yourself to Him. If you've done it before, it isn’t that you need to accept Christ again. It’s that you never stop needing Him to to be in control of your life. So give up control of your life to God the Father who is in control of everything. Pray all these things in Faith. Believe that God will be faithful to you. He promised He would. If you believe you will see the glory of God.

One last thing. Don’t do this alone. You’ve got friends here. God puts people in our life to help us. He speaks through our friends. I believe these friendships are absolutely essential. Don’t leave them out of what is going to be the most important decision of your life.

Father, thank you for all these students here in your name. I ask that you would let them impact this town, especially the neighborhood that their in. Thank you for the opportunity we have to serve you and to serve others. God I hope you will draw us nearer to you this week. I hope the experiences we all have will let us know you more. I ask that you would provide safety while working and in transportation. Most of all let us experience with each other your love. All these things we pray in the name of your son, Amen.