Share if you love Jesus...

The other day I was on Facebook and I saw this photo. It's one of those photos that the old people who you have on Facebook that go to your church share. Or maybe the new younglings that attend your youth group pass around and share with the rest of the kids. But is this really what loving Jesus comes to? Ohhhh yeah sharing this photo on your wall is actually a sign of you making a commitment to follow Jesus in your personal time. But in all reality does sharing this photo mean anything?

If you legitimately want to show the world that you love Jesus then prove it by the decisions you make I your life. Stop contradicting what you say and what your posting in social media. Be who you say you are.

Big Bang Theory

I recently started watching The Big Bang Theory and fell in LOVE with it. Well not really but it is really funny and really good. With that being said, one of the characters in this show is named Sheldon. Sheldon is a very interesting character. He is a theoretical physicist and only believes in proven facts. Anyways, the funny thing is Sheldon's mom is a bible thumping Christian (said in the nicest possible way) and calls her crazy because she believes in a supreme being without any proof.  To him, everything needs to be proven in order to exist. If there is no proof then how can it be possible for a higher being to exist.

It's the same with our society these days. They need scientific proof to believe in a higher power like God.As a christian it is our responsibility to build relationship with people so that our lives can be proof of God's existence. And also, the best way for us to prove God's existence is by sharing out story. To be open about the work God has done in our lives. Our testimony is our biggest strength because no one can take away our personal experience with Christ. We just need to be open to meet people where they are at. Maybe they will be open to hear what we hafto say and be open to accepting Jesus as their Saviour.

Stinken Words!

One of the things I love to do is look up newspaper articles or really any articles from different places in the world. I just love knowing what is taking place outside of where I live. During reading break I spent a lot of my free time doing this not in hopes of finding anything to blog about but not find interesting things and to be informed since for the past little while i have had no time to look up anything.

One day as I was researching some articles and some news stuff I came across an article talking about Christianity. Not Christianity as a while but about one church in particular called Mars Hill which is lead by Mark Driscoll. I had never heard of this church until this article. I have never even listened to the speaker all I did was read the article. After reading this article I was kind of upset at some statements made. And I am not saying that Mark Driscoll is to blame it could very well be the author of the article but words are important and they need to be said in a wise way. People believe what they read. And if an article is talking about evangelistic church then they are grouped in with Christians. But not all Christians are alike. And not all Christians believe the same thing. Christians always get grouped together and it makes me angry.

I'm tired of people grouping people together. After reading the article I don;t agree with everything Mark is doing. But that is only based on the article. I really have no idea what Mars Hill church actually is like. But articles and people give a bad view of Christianity which in turn gives a bad view of Jesus. I strongly believe this comes from Christians not taking part in the community they live. If the church would reach out and stand up for what they truly believed was right and try and be as Christlike as they could then the world would have a different view of Christianity. And maybe they would pay little to no attention to what they hear in the media about Jesus and his followers. All it takes is for us to stand out and be different. We are set-apart and it is time to live as though we are.

The Cross!

 

 In my long life of twenty years I have seen many Jesus t-shirts but none that has evoked an emotion. I am a pretty calm person and do not get angry or frustrated very fast. But when i saw this t-shirt I became angry. Angry at the fact that this person did not understand what they were stating in wearing this t-shirt. But then I came to the realization that they don't know or most likely do not know God (especially if wearing this shirt) so I should expect nothing less of this or of anything that does not please God. 

I really do not think people understand what this shirt is saying. It is basically disregarding the greatest sign of love God has given us. It makes it seem so little. That the suffering Christ went through was for nothing. It's really heartbreaking to see that people disregard what God did for them out of not knowing or out of selfishness. 

I am really just tired of people not knowing and understanding  God because of the lack of willingness on our part as Christians to share the story of God. I really hope that this generation and the generations to come are not afraid to share the word of God but the share it without watering it down. I believe what we can do as believers is to be open and asking God to open doors for us to be able to share this with our unsaved family members and friends.

For me, I try to live my life in this way as much as possible. I have realized that sharing the whole truth works better to bring people to God. My entire family does not know God and my goal  is to live out my relationship with God and to be as honest as I can be about the experiences I have with God. Also, over the past two years I have been sharing my relationship with God with my Muslim friend. In doing this it has opened up many conversation about God and Christianity which is amazing!I'm doing my part in bridging the gap. Maybe not as much as I could be doing but I'm trying and I hope others are trying to.

Ain't No Reason

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amwVyRH2B8

For this weeks blog I chose the song Ain't No Reason by Brett Dennan. This song might not be the most obvious choice for an image or something that portrays Jesus but when I heard it for the first time it just made everything clear in my head of why I am at Master's and why I wanna be in ministry.

This song is about the society we live in right now. It describes how broken our society is and saying that there is no reason why things are this way but it will never change. The only thing that can help is love. Because love will set you free.

I'm not sure if Mr. Dennan knew exactly what he was unto in saying those words. But I do know one thing, he is stating truth.

This song just brings to my head the image of the greatest act of love - Jesus dying on the cross for a fallen humanity.And that is the meaning of this song. We are a broken people but through Jesus we have been set-free and forgiven of our sins. We are no longer broken when we come to know him. We are made clean. we are made whole-again.

This song clearly tells me that there is an understanding of love. Maybe not a love from God. But that love is the key to be set-free. The bridge that needs to be built is an understanding of God's love for his children. That love from another human wont feel that emptiness, but that the love God has for us will fill the emptiness and set us free.

The Prophecies Missing Pieces

The whole series of Star Wars is based on a prophecy. A prophecy that one day a Jedi would be born out of midichlorians (also known as the force), would be the most powerful Jedi, and would save the Jedi order by defeating the sith (bad guys). This prophecy is very similar to the life of Jesus.  Jesus was born of the spirit and came to save the world and in the end he will destroy Satan. 

I personally find it funny how many people have fallen in love with Star Wars, created a religion out of these films and even spent time wishing this was reality. They have made these fictional characters become of such importance. They have made some of these characters seen as Saviours. Fictional Saviours.

The most hilarious part about all of this is this story is real. The main Character might not be Anakin and he might not have a light saber or the force. Instead his Name is Jesus, he is all-powerful and has something better then the force. He has the Holy Spirit. And this story is taking place right now. 

It's so easy for people to get caught up in a fictional story. But once they come to the understanding of this story being based on the life of a real Saviour they can't seem to wrap there minds around it. Is it because the story sounded foolish and unbelievable the whole time? Is it a fear that the world has evil to defeat? or the fact that we have a Saviour?

Maybe we can bridge the gap by telling people the missing pieces of the prophecy. Filling them in on the love of God through our actions. Telling them the whole story from beginning to end. From creation, to the birth of Jesus, to the life of Jesus, to the cross, to the resurrection and to the end of time when Jesus returns to create the new heaven and new earth. Maybe they have never been told the whole story? Maybe that's all we need.   

 

Craiglist Jow

http://www.putlocker.com/file/64CF9FDEF64D2BED

      Craiglist Joe is a documentary based on a man named Joe who decides to see if the United States still has a sense of community by finding places to stay, ways to travel, and food by only using Craiglist. This journey lasts one month and all Joe has to begin his 30 day adventure is his computer and a cell phone. The rules are that he is not to contact any friends or family and will not use any of his own money. These thirty days changed Joe's life as he got to meet different people, as he got to hear all of their stories, and as he was able to experience community. 

 This documentary reminded me that God wants us to live in community with each other. When we see someone in need we should help provide for their need. We should be giving and kind towards each other. It really broke my heart that someone needed to go on this extravagant journey to see if their is still a sense of community. Isn't this how I am suppose to be living? in community with believers and unbelievers?

People have had bad experiences walking into a church and feeling unwelcome and I am truly sorry. Our sense of community has become crippled and skewed because of our humanity. It is not the way it is suppose to be or the way God intended it to be. The sense of community portrayed on Craiglist Joe is how we should be living.
 Joe has inspired me to strive towards this sense of community so unbelievers can see the true community of Christ as He intended it to be.

If you have not seen this documentary I would highly recommend you watch it. It was life changing.

Grilled Cheesus

A few weeks back I was watching through season 2 of Glee when the episode Grilled Cheesus caught my attention. At first, I must admit I did chuckle. But then I realized how sad it was when one of the main character Finn began to pray to this grill cheese because he believed he saw the face of Jesus on this piece of bread . The most depressing part about all of this is that in his prayer he turned to Jesus and asked for three selfish prayers to be granted.

It's heart breaking to see that the only time people turn to Jesus is when they need help or want something. People believe that Jesus is always there when they need him to be. But in return they offer nothing. It's a one way relationship.

From this image, I believe that society does not view God as a living God. They view him as a supernatural being that can help them. He is their own personal Ginnie.

The way to redeem society's view of Jesus is to live differently. Live as though God is alive. Let's not be afraid to share the message of the gospel with those who are surrounding us.

Let's do life differently.