I believe that every Christian is commanded to share the gospel. When God says "Go into all the world and preach the gospel," he isn't talking to only the missionaries and the pastors, he is talking to everyone that is a Christ follower. Isaiah 61 says "The Lord has anointed ME to bring the good news to the poor. He has sent ME to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners." As Christians we are supposed to be a light unto the world. We are told to tell others about Christ so that they will see all the good things that he does and then they too will want to follow Christ. The word Christian means Christ follower. If we are supposed to be following him then we will be making disciples because that is what he did when he came to earth. He had twelve disciples. He told them to go to the lost sheep. He said they would even stand before Kings and Queens and they were to tell them and all the nations about Jesus. So this isn't something that you can decide whether or not you want to be a part of it, you are told to do this, so go do it!
Romans 10:14-15 "...How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach , except they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them who preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things."
Friday, August 31, 2012
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Just Another Day
There are times in life when we get thrown a curve ball. The unimaginable becomes a reality. What we once thought was unshakeable is completely shattered. For the Watson family this day was August 10, 2012. This day was just another rainy day like every other day the past two weeks. Their eleven year old son was getting to spend time with his biological mom that he had not been able to see much of the past few years. He and his mom were driving along and she accidentally made a wrong turn. She pulled across the highway so she could get back to where they needed to be. They were then t-boned by a log truck. That one wrong turn has changed their lives forever. She died on the scene. When the emergency Chaplain pulled up, his first reaction was, "how many families will I be calling" because he thought there was absolutely no way anyone would survive. Somehow Dean still had a pulse, he was actually alive. He was rushed into the CCU at a local Enterprise hospital. This is were they found out that he had a bruised elbow, a broken nose, a broken collar bone, bones in the back of his skull and on his face were shattered, he had swelling on his brain and damage to his temporal lobes. All that mattered was that he was still alive. Just another normal day, just a wrong turn, yet it has changed everything. So remember that this could be the last time you see someone and let them know that you love them. It could be their day that changes everything.
I have been blessed!
Sometimes I take my life for granted, but I have a lot to be thankful for. First I have a friend that sticks closer than a brother and he loves me no matter how bad and unlovable I am. He doesn't get mad or bring up past mistakes, but instead he gives me new mercies every morning. Then I have another special guy that is there for me even when I have hard times and he doesn't judge me for it. He is patient even when I am ugly. I have parents that love me and each other. They put aside their dreams and do what is best for us because they love us more than anything else. I have sisters and a brother that bring sunshine into my life and make me either laugh at them or with them, either way it's always fun! I am healthy, maybe even too healthy. I could definitely have it a lot worse. The water that I complain about drinking is desperately needed in other places, but I don't think about that. I just think about how I don't like the taste. I have never been in a major accident or had anything really bad happen to me, because for some reason God has chosen to bless me. I have no idea what it is like to have to fight for survival or to live in nasty areas and I've never had to worry about whether or not I would have food on the table. God has chosen to bless me. I need to be more thankful and use those blessings to glorify him.
The World's Most Unusual Siblings...
I think I have the world's most unusual siblings! My oldest sister likes to act like she is big and bad, but she is nothing like that. She is actually really sweet. She says that she can't wait to leave and that she doesn't like me at all, yet she buys me food just because and sometimes she will accidentally say "I love you." If you make a big deal about it though she will completely deny it and say she messed up. So if that ever happens I just smile and enjoy it. One day I was going into the living room and my brother was in the middle of the hallway jumping up and down waving his hands. I asked him what in the world he was doing and he just as quickly replied, "I had to jump over my awesomeness to see you." He loves himself! He even made up a song and all it says is "I love myself. I couldn't live without myself. I'd die without myself!" My youngest sister is a little chatter box. She loves to talk all day long and I think she has a never ending supply of words. She is so full of life and energy and she just enjoys sharing every detail with us. We were joking around one day about how she is never quiet and we are amazed that she can actually stop long enough to sleep at night. That night she talked to me in her sleep! While they may be unusual and sometimes really crazy, I still love them. It's the least I can do for them when they have to put up with my silliness everyday!
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Football and Jesus
Football teams and churches may seem to be two very diverse topics, but they actually have a lot in common. They both are made up of people coming together for a common goal. Their goals are very different, the football team just wants to win and the church is made to glorify God, but they both have goals and they work very hard to achieve them.
One way they are very different is that a football team has a lot of support from people on the outside, their fans. The fans go to the games and buy all the shirts supporting their team. The church doesn't have a lot of outside fans, if anything it has more critics and people that are very judgmental about them. Both the football team and churches stick together and help encourage each other whether they are winning and doing very well, or if they are going through a hard time and they need extra support to help them stay motivated and positive even when it feels too difficult to be able to overcome.
Football coaches are like the churches pastors and leaders. They are there to instruct you and show you how to reach the goal that you are trying to achieve. They want what is best for you and they will do whatever it takes to help you reach your fullest potential. They also have a lot of pressure. The coach has the pressure to hold his team together and to make them be successful. Pastors have pressures because they counsel so many people and it really is a big load to carry, and because they have to maintain their walk with Christ in order to help support you in yours.They both have great expectations to fulfill and a lot of people that are dependent on them.
Whether you are a member of a football team or a church you have probably realized that you go through a lot together. If you are on a football team you go through very tough workouts together. If you are in a church you go through tough trials together and you are sometimes dependent on each other to help you persevere. Both churches and football teams train for battle together, even though their opposition is different. Sometimes it is hard to get along because we are all different and we have our own opinions and sometimes we are strong willed and stubborn, but we always come out closer and stronger because of it. In both churches and football teams everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses, but after you find out what those are, you can work together to achieve maximum excellence.
One way they are very different is that a football team has a lot of support from people on the outside, their fans. The fans go to the games and buy all the shirts supporting their team. The church doesn't have a lot of outside fans, if anything it has more critics and people that are very judgmental about them. Both the football team and churches stick together and help encourage each other whether they are winning and doing very well, or if they are going through a hard time and they need extra support to help them stay motivated and positive even when it feels too difficult to be able to overcome.
Football coaches are like the churches pastors and leaders. They are there to instruct you and show you how to reach the goal that you are trying to achieve. They want what is best for you and they will do whatever it takes to help you reach your fullest potential. They also have a lot of pressure. The coach has the pressure to hold his team together and to make them be successful. Pastors have pressures because they counsel so many people and it really is a big load to carry, and because they have to maintain their walk with Christ in order to help support you in yours.They both have great expectations to fulfill and a lot of people that are dependent on them.
Whether you are a member of a football team or a church you have probably realized that you go through a lot together. If you are on a football team you go through very tough workouts together. If you are in a church you go through tough trials together and you are sometimes dependent on each other to help you persevere. Both churches and football teams train for battle together, even though their opposition is different. Sometimes it is hard to get along because we are all different and we have our own opinions and sometimes we are strong willed and stubborn, but we always come out closer and stronger because of it. In both churches and football teams everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses, but after you find out what those are, you can work together to achieve maximum excellence.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Will you dare to be different?
Why are teens today allowed to be so immature? Are we expected to be irresponsible? Are we supposed to accept this as normal? I believe that teenagers today have become complacent and many of us are okay with it, but that's not how it should be. 1 Timothy 4:12 says, "Let no man despise your youth: instead be an example to the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity." God's plan for young people is not for us to sit around, but to step up and set an example.
Before the 1800's, there were only three categories of age: childhood, adulthood, and old age. The word teenager wasn't even mentioned until 1941 in a Reader's digest Magazine. So now we have adolescents that are no longer children, but they aren't permitted by law to assume normal responsibilities due to the labor and school reform laws. It hasn't always been this way, and it doesn't have to stay like this.
David Farragut, the U.S. Navy's first Admiral, became a midshipmen at age ten. By the age of twelve, he was in command of his first ship. George Washington mastered Geometry, trigonometry and surveying at what would be our fifth or sixth grade in our day. He ended his formal education at fourteen and at sixteen he became the official surveyor for Culpepper County, Virginia, were he earned $100,000 dollars a year. By twenty-one he bought 2,300 acres of rich Virginia Land. Clara Barton was eleven years old when her brother David fell from the roof of the barn and was seriously injured . Clara had the ability of an experienced nurse and little by little the doctor gave her the full responsibility of nursing her brother. At fourteen, Clara became the nurse for a man who had small pox and then her patient list grew as the disease spread through the Massachusettes village where she lived. By the age of seventeen, Clara was a successful teacher of 40 students, some older then she. It may be hard to excel like them, but you don't have to become just one more average teenager, you can accomplish great things!(Do Hard Things pages 31-33)
You should begin this by rebeling against what is considered normal in our society and setting a new standard. Don't just realize that there is a problem and then ignor it, do something about it! Mark Brown said "The Challenge is to live a life beyond what you think is possible, into the realm of what God thinks you are capable of." If more people lived life in God's power and not their own, so much more could be accomplished because in God's strength anything is possible. Isaiah 40: 28-31 says, "Do you not know? Have you not heard? Yahweh is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth. He never grows faint or weary; there is no limit to his understanding. He gives strength to the weary, and young men stumble and fall, but those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint." So in God's strength you can overcome what may seem difficult. In God's strength we can do hard things. In God's strength we can move out of our comfort zone and into amazing things because that is what he wants us to do and what he has called us to do. He has already made a way, we just have to trust him.
So what are we waiting for? Step up and be the leader God has called you to be! Go against what is normal and be the next great David, George or Clara!
~ These are not my original thoughts but a challenge that was put before me upon reading Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris.
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Sources:
rebelution.com
"Do Hard Things" by Alex and Brett Harris
Before the 1800's, there were only three categories of age: childhood, adulthood, and old age. The word teenager wasn't even mentioned until 1941 in a Reader's digest Magazine. So now we have adolescents that are no longer children, but they aren't permitted by law to assume normal responsibilities due to the labor and school reform laws. It hasn't always been this way, and it doesn't have to stay like this.
David Farragut, the U.S. Navy's first Admiral, became a midshipmen at age ten. By the age of twelve, he was in command of his first ship. George Washington mastered Geometry, trigonometry and surveying at what would be our fifth or sixth grade in our day. He ended his formal education at fourteen and at sixteen he became the official surveyor for Culpepper County, Virginia, were he earned $100,000 dollars a year. By twenty-one he bought 2,300 acres of rich Virginia Land. Clara Barton was eleven years old when her brother David fell from the roof of the barn and was seriously injured . Clara had the ability of an experienced nurse and little by little the doctor gave her the full responsibility of nursing her brother. At fourteen, Clara became the nurse for a man who had small pox and then her patient list grew as the disease spread through the Massachusettes village where she lived. By the age of seventeen, Clara was a successful teacher of 40 students, some older then she. It may be hard to excel like them, but you don't have to become just one more average teenager, you can accomplish great things!(Do Hard Things pages 31-33)
You should begin this by rebeling against what is considered normal in our society and setting a new standard. Don't just realize that there is a problem and then ignor it, do something about it! Mark Brown said "The Challenge is to live a life beyond what you think is possible, into the realm of what God thinks you are capable of." If more people lived life in God's power and not their own, so much more could be accomplished because in God's strength anything is possible. Isaiah 40: 28-31 says, "Do you not know? Have you not heard? Yahweh is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth. He never grows faint or weary; there is no limit to his understanding. He gives strength to the weary, and young men stumble and fall, but those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not faint." So in God's strength you can overcome what may seem difficult. In God's strength we can do hard things. In God's strength we can move out of our comfort zone and into amazing things because that is what he wants us to do and what he has called us to do. He has already made a way, we just have to trust him.
So what are we waiting for? Step up and be the leader God has called you to be! Go against what is normal and be the next great David, George or Clara!
~ These are not my original thoughts but a challenge that was put before me upon reading Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sources:
rebelution.com
"Do Hard Things" by Alex and Brett Harris
God's Perfect Plans
Sometimes we doubt God's leadership because we don't see how something good can come from something as bad as the circumstances we are in, but God sees the bigger picture and he knows how it will all turn out.
God punished Adam and Eve for eating the apple. They were scared to even come and see God because they knew they had messed up, but being disciplined is a good thing because if we weren't disciplined we could do whatever we want and get involved in things that are really bad for us. Discipline sets and enforces boundaries for our own protection.
God also shows his protection for those who obey. With Noah and the ark, God was going to flood the whole earth, but he allowed Noah and his family to be saved by giving them the protection of the ark. In Joshua's life, he was in the middle of a big battle, and he was probably really scared because he didn't have control over the outcome. He prayed and in one battle God caused stones to fall from the sky onto the enemy. In another battle, Joshua prayed for God to hold the sun and the moon in their place, and they didn't move at all until the war was won.
God still does this in our lives today. He uses those times in life when we can't do anything to help ourselves, then he is able to come in and defeat our sins and fears and bring glory to himself. There was a while in my life where a lot of my friends were losing people they loved. I was wondering why God would take those people away and cause such hurt to all of my friends, but God showed me that more people have been changed as a result of their deaths and their lives have touched more people now then they would have while they were alive. God also used those times to bring my friends, their families, and me closer to himself. Even in confusion and sorrow, God shows himself to be strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9- "But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.' Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may reside in me."
God punished Adam and Eve for eating the apple. They were scared to even come and see God because they knew they had messed up, but being disciplined is a good thing because if we weren't disciplined we could do whatever we want and get involved in things that are really bad for us. Discipline sets and enforces boundaries for our own protection.
God also shows his protection for those who obey. With Noah and the ark, God was going to flood the whole earth, but he allowed Noah and his family to be saved by giving them the protection of the ark. In Joshua's life, he was in the middle of a big battle, and he was probably really scared because he didn't have control over the outcome. He prayed and in one battle God caused stones to fall from the sky onto the enemy. In another battle, Joshua prayed for God to hold the sun and the moon in their place, and they didn't move at all until the war was won.
God still does this in our lives today. He uses those times in life when we can't do anything to help ourselves, then he is able to come in and defeat our sins and fears and bring glory to himself. There was a while in my life where a lot of my friends were losing people they loved. I was wondering why God would take those people away and cause such hurt to all of my friends, but God showed me that more people have been changed as a result of their deaths and their lives have touched more people now then they would have while they were alive. God also used those times to bring my friends, their families, and me closer to himself. Even in confusion and sorrow, God shows himself to be strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9- "But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.' Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may reside in me."
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