I Am Not Ashamed of the Gospel

It's no secret that the gospel of Jesus Christ is not a popular one. Following Jesus requires submitting your will to God's will. We also live in a culture where you can believe whatever you want to believe as long as you don't try to put your beliefs on someone else. Jesus brought an offensive truth when he came to Earth. He revealed all the careful crafting we put in to making our lives appear holy, as empty, because our hearts are dark and do not seek Him. He upped the standard to a heart level. Jesus exposed religion as an institution of slavery. Needless to say people don't like the gospel because it points out a simple well known fact. We are sinners. People become Christians, however. Why? Because Jesus is the most real, loving, and worthy person there has ever been. Jesus actually cares about people and wants to love them and heal their hurts, and for some strange reason beyond my comprehension He chose Christians to demonstrate this to all the world. It's our job to bring the gospel to a world that desperately needs Him. As I said before it's not a popular gospel, but it is our job to tell it as Jesus lived it. It's not our job to change it to make it more culturally acceptable because we don't want to offend anyone. We cannot be ashamed of the life Jesus Christ lived. Jesus did not call us to blend in to the culture we live in. We are an alien race that is part of a Heavenly Kingdom, and we have a King whose authority we are under. Jesus said if you deny me before men I will deny you before my Father who is in Heaven. Is that really something that you are willing to risk just because you don't want to offend someone, or you want to fit into a crowd that will never love you or accept you the way Jesus does? This is something that we as Christians have to prepare for everyday that we step outside of our house. We take Jesus' message of love to a sick and dying world that hates Him because that is their nature. They don't know how to love God and even if they did they wouldn't chose to because they have instead chosen to follow in the footsteps of their father Adam in sin. They need Jesus to come into their lives and give them a new heart. They need a heart that seeks and loves Him. How will this happen unless we tell them about Jesus? We are either going to offend man or we are going to offend God. God wins. When it's all over every knee will bow before him and every tongue will confess that he is Lord, but unfortunately for some it will be too late. Let us proudly bear the name of Jesus Christ to the world. He was a homeless carpenter who was thrown out of his hometown, betrayed by one of his closest friends, deserted by all of his followers, rejected by his own Father, and murdered for the sins of the world. Praise be to Him who endured all things. I am not ashamed.

It's Not About Behavior Modification

Many Christians have a legalistic view of God. God says do this and don't do this, the people at church don't do this, therefore I can't do it either, etc. This form of legalism is called religion and many people believe this is what the Bible teaches us to do and how to live. This is one of the most convincing lies that the devil has ever told. Religion says nothing about heart change, but rather behavior modification. Behavior modification says if you look at porn you need to stop looking at porn, if you are an alcoholic you need to stop drinking, if you have a problem cursing you need to quit and stop speaking that way. You might ask, "well whats wrong with ceasing to do all those thing? They are sins aren't they?" Yes they are sins, but in your walk with Jesus he is not interested in you modifying your behavior, he is interested in changing your heart. Almost always when you change your behavior without Jesus changing your heart beforehand there is always either a return to that sin, or a replacement of one sin for another i.e. I'm going to stop drinking, and instead I am going to smoke. That is a far fetched example but people do it all the time. In essence, as you are walking with the Lord and he shows you an area in your life that you need to repent of, you don't look at that area and stop doing it, you look into your heart and see why you were doing it in the first place. Many people have addictions that they face whether it be cigarettes, alcohol, pornography, drugs, or food and they seek a way to modify their behavior to get these addictions under control. Instead you need to look at it from God's perspective. God is good. He knows what your needs are. By rejecting God and embracing sin we tell the Lord that we do not trust in him to provide for our needs. Since I have named these examples I will continue to use them, but be aware just because I have not mentioned it there are many other areas where heart change is necessary, it does not just apply to addictions. However, when you look at porn, with your choice you tell God that you do not trust his goodness to provide for your sexual needs. When you continually retreat to alcohol and get drunk to forget your problems you tell God with your choice that you do not trust in his goodness to provide in the situation that you are running from. You are putting your trust in alcohol and not God. When you worry about food all the time and when you will get your next meal, you tell God with your choice that you do not trust in his goodness to provide for you daily bread to sustain you. Instead in each situation you need to pray to the Holy Spirit and ask for his power to change your heart, that you do not want to reject God and live for yourself, but want to live by the power of the Holy Spirit so that in your weakness he can be strong. Do you think that if you pray and ask the Holy Spirit to give you the strength to trust in his goodness and provision for your needs he will deny you that request. Absolutely not. Do you think that if you submit yourself to God, stop living for yourself, start asking God to change your heart that he will refuse? Absolutely not. God wants to change your heart. Changing hearts is his specialty. If you try to modify your behavior you will either become proud because you succeeded, or you will fall into despair because no matter what you do you fail each time you try to change yourself. Jesus didn't die on a cross so you could get saved, take over and perfect your own faith. He died to save you and what he started in you He plans to carry it on to completion by changing your heart. Stop trying to change yourself. That is not how God intended your relationship with him to work. Ask God to show you what areas you need to repent of and then ask him to change your heart to be like Jesus in that area. He will answer.

Well here is my attempt at blogging. Generally I dislike bloggers because most of them complain and criticize without offering any solutions to anything. I would like to use this blog to help people by showing them my failures and flaws as I walk daily with Jesus in relationship, and how he works in my life as I learn to submit my will to his (Kenosis). Hopefully I will keep all blog posts short and to the point because I know it can be arduous to read a blog that could pass for a novella. I'm not an English major and I'm not really concerned with my grammar and punctuation as I write, so those of you sticklers for grammar and punctuation will just have to deal with it. My reason for making a blog is to publish what I am studying and learning in hopes that someone will read it and learn, or be encouraged in some way.  Feel free to comment, ask questions, or if you have any encouraging words for me please leave them. Encouragement and prayers from fellow brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ are needed more than anyone will admit. I need them.