Luke 15:11-32

"Jesus continued:"There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them. Now long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that while country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to hill his stomach with the pods the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. When he came to his senses,, he said 'How many of my fathers hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!' I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.' So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. The son sad to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was once dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found. So they began to celebrate. Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. Your brother has come, he replied and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sounds. The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father. 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my fiends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!' My son, the father said,'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and found!"

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It is funny the side of this parable you see when you have not fully accepted Christ into your life and understand mercy and grace! For many years I played the part of the first brother, I followed the rules, did well in school and thought that I was doing what was expected of me to get the praise all while my bother lived a very different life style. For the majority of the people in my life now they are not aware the history that come with my bother and most may not even know that I have a brother at all. For many years I was mad at my bother for decisions that he made that had effected my family greatly and hurt my parents. Without know, God was starting to work in my heart toward a greater understanding of what this parable went and the story of forgiveness and redemption that it told for all of our lives. When I was younger and still living in Colorado I would become upset with my parents when my brother would return home and they would be so happy he had returned with the hopes that his apologizes were sincere and that he was willing to change his life. I would grow up set, arguing with my parents about how they could just welcome him back and would call him: The Prodigal Son! At the time I did not realize how wrong I was behind the meaning of this parable and only saw the side of the first brother.
It was not until I moved to Chicago and God really started changing my life and drawing me closer and more in love with him that I was able to forgive my brother for all that has happened in the past and from there this parable became more and more real to what really happens in all of your lives. I can almost guarantee we all have those people in our lives that need our forgiveness and we all need God to be able to do so. But even more then out humanly forgiveness how much more do these people need Christ in their own lives! Imagine the day when we can say "For this son (daughter, brother, sister, mother, father, husband, wife, friend, boss, friend) was DEAD and is ALIVE again! They were LOST! And now they are FOUND! What a glorious day when we can celebrate having our blood family join the kingdom and become one in the blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
Chris Tomlin released a song called: God's Great Dance Floor! It is the story of the redemption of God's unending love! It tells the story of the lost son and the party that is thrown! The parable of the Lost Son is one that is about each and every one of us! We were all dead and when we came to Christ and gave our lives to Him....HE THREW A PARTY! We have come home! We are God's once again! This is a story that each and every one of us and put a page into, and if you have not given your life to Christ yet I invite you to join the party! Chris Tomlin's song shows just a small glimpse of the party we have waiting for us in Heaven! Imagine the joy in the heart of this father when his son came home. Now imagine how much greater God's joy is when we come home! Join the party today! Give your life to Christ! If you gave your life to Christ pray for those who have not! Forgive those who have hurt you! And watch the video below! Turn it up loud! Worship God openly! Celebrate being apart of the party that is Christ unending love!

"I feel alive! I come alive! I am alive on God's great dance floor!! You never stop loving us! No matter how far we run! You never give up on us! All of heaven shouts: LET THE FUTURE BEGIN!"

Chris Tomlin: "God's Great Dance Floor"

Sermon: Prayer

Listen To It Here: 

http://www.mtoliveefca.org/sermons/Sermon%207-15-12%20Robert%20Bobalik.mp3

            Good morning! When I started praying and trying to figure out what to preach on, I felt that God was telling me I should share about something I struggle with, something He is wanting me to develop a deeper understanding of. if you can’t figure out from that funny little clip we just showed, I will be talking about prayer today. I don't know about you,  but prayer is one of the spiritual disciplines I struggle with the most. While meeting with a few people from church, the question always arises: "How has your prayer life been?"  The answer always seemed to be the same. "it could be worse… it could be better".  Which to me is a pretty lame answer to give about my communication with  God.  Here is a question for you by a show of hands: How many of you have sent a handful of texts or emails before coming to church? (response). And how many people have spent times of Facebook when you woke up this morning? (response) Now don't raise your hands for this next one but answer it to yourself honestly.  How many of you have spent that same amount of time talking to God today? For myself I can honestly say that I spend more time texting people and talking on the Facebook then I do in prayer. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says that: We are to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. We are to pray without ceasing! But I feel like I struggle when just trying to "fit time into my schedule to pray", and I have a feeling that I might not be alone in this. There are a few different passages I'd like us to spend some time in today as we discover just what prayer is supposed to look like and the significant part it plays in our lives. 

             As funny as that video was, I do think that it shows how we view prayer at different times in our walk with God. I know that I have done just about every one of those things when I have prayed. I would get myself pumped about prayer: "Ok, ok! I am going to pray! Seriously this time!  I've got this!" Right before bed, I’d light my candles, set my prayer mood lighting, turn the worship slow jams on and before you knew it, I’d be out like a light! Or I would be praying with some of the guys from church and want to show that I could roll with the big dogs and pray with big people words.  And I know we have all made our lists of things to pray for. I am not saying that these things are wrong to do.  Lists are great and can keep us on track and help us to remember what we are bringing to God. And for a lot of parents, the only time they can get some alone time with the Lord is when the kids are finally in bed and they themselves are settling down for the night. But what if prayer was much more then all of that? Although these things are helpful, sometimes we get too caught up in the lists and the where and whens of prayer and that can actually take away from our prayer time. Matthew 6:7 says "When you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words." We need to be praying with intention and not with just mindless talk. We see specific guidelines on what and how to pray throughout the entire new testament. If you would please turn your bibles to Luke 11:1-4 well start here and read along: One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he was finished, one of his disciples said to him: "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples." Time and time again, the disciples had witnessed Jesus taking time out of his life of ministry to pray.  Although He was both God and man , He spent time in prayer and He understood the necessity of developing a deeper relationship with God through prayer. Jesus would retire away from the crowds and even His disciples to pray and there are multiple accounts throughout the New Testament where He actually broke away from the groups of people in order to go pray. This was a huge sign to the disciples of how important prayer was….and it should be a sign to us as well.. As the disciples were witnessing Jesus’ devotion to God through prayer and the way He communicated with His Heavenly Father, they began to understand that if John taught his disciples how to pray and Jesus spent just as much time in prayer then how much more should they.  One day, the disciples approached Jesus after He had concluded His time in prayer. One of the disciples requested that Jesus teach them to pray as John had taught his disciples. This should be how we approach our own prayer lives.  We are to come to the Lord with the simple mind set of, “ Lord, teach me how to pray.” Without the Lord’s help we will never be able to pray as we ought. Jesus is more then willing to teach us how to pray, but we must ask for His help. We need to be willing to let God change and mold us into the people wants us to be. If the Son of God needed to spend time in prayer with God, how much more important is it for us to do the same?

            Growing up, I was taught to pray the Our Father in church every week. We would all stand, join hands, and begin to pray in unison. I don't know if I actually thought about what I was saying when I prayed that prayer.  I would either be watching the people in front of me thinking, "Man, I am sure glad I don’t have to hold hands with him!" Or I would be sitting there having a hand squeezing contest with my brother.   I feel like the repetition with which the Lord's prayer is prayed, has caused us to lose the meaning of it, and that when we were taught to memorize it, for some we were never taught the meaning behind what we were praying.  Jesus gave his disciples the Lord’s Prayer as a model to guide them in praying. It was not meant to become a robotic answering machine message that is recited out of habit. If we look at Luke 11:2-4 we see what Jesus taught us to do when we pray. Follow along: "He said to them, "When you pray, say: "Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation." Jesus did pray in this manner, as we see when He is praying just before He is arrested for his crucifixion. The only part of this prayer that Jesus would not have prayed would have been for the forgiveness of sins, as Jesus was free from all sin. Let’s go through and look at the model for prayer that Jesus gave us to better understand how to pray. The prayer starts off with the word “Father,”.  Even though this word has become just another word in our prayer vocabulary,  it is powerful because it reminds us that we are God’s children. We are proclaiming an understanding that God is our heavenly Father and that we depend fully on Him. When we come to the Lord, we are to come as children, looking up to our Father, longing for His loving affection and knowing that His desire is to look after us. We continue praying “hallowed be Your name.”  It is not coincidence that just after the proclamation that God is our   Father,  we are announcing that His name is above all names. We are stating that His name is the one True, Holy, Just, and Awesome name. “Your kingdom come”  is a longing that not only would God's heavenly kingdom come to earth but that His will would be done on this earth through us. Oftentimes this line is prayed: “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” . We are praying that God's plan be fulfilled on this earth and that we are happy with its outcome, even if it is beyond our understanding.  We long for His word be fulfilled in every way, because we know that His word is just and true. The statement "give us our daily bread" is asking that God would give us our basic needs daily. Our daily bread is a slight reference to when the Jews were in the desert for 40 years, depending on God to give them daily Manna.  We are praying for the same thing. We are asking God to bring us what we need to survive day by day. God knows what we need and how much of it.  Often times ,we think we need more then we really do, when in reality we have far more then is needed in life.….We are told to pray for what we need to survive.  The next part of the prayer model is the open confession of our sins to God, God already knows our sins, even though we might be thinking we are hiding them.  By confessing our sins, we are admitting that we have done wrong against God and that we need His forgiveness and help to overcome the temptation of sin in our lives. Thankfully, God sent His Son to die on the cross for all of our sins, and by this sacrifice, our sins are forgiven and wiped clean. The next part I don't know if we take to heart too much when praying.  Or possibly we pray it without fully meaning it. We are told to forgive those who have sinned against us.  I am going to give that a few seconds to sink in. ...forgive those...who have sinned against you as God has forgiven you.  How many of us have prayed this to God and not fully forgiven all those in our lives who have hurt us?   Although because we are sinners, we might not be able to fully forgive those who have sinned against us, we need to realize that in God’s power we CAN forgive them.  We need to come before God and confess to Him that we struggle with these people and ask Him for the strength to forgive them. This is something we need to take more seriously in our lives, as it is a straight command from God. He never said to tolerate those around us and put up with them.  He said to forgive them.  Forgiveness may not be an instantaneous thing that happens in our lives, but with the help of God , we can overcome all of the hurts in our lives  I have a  brother, who most of you are not aware of. Concerning forgiveness, my brother has been my biggest struggle over the past five years. He has said things to my parents that have deeply hurt them and has hurt the entire family.  For many years, even though I could forgive other people,  I could not bring myself to forgive my brother. It took the help of and the power of God to finally be able to forgive him.  I will confess that I don’t have a relationship with him and he is not in my life. Maybe one day that will change.   God is the only one can work in his life and turn him from the path of destruction that he is going down.   But the great news for all of us, including my brother, is that God's grace and forgiveness is unconditional. It is available for everyone, no matter what choices we have made in our lives.  There is nothing we can do to stop God's love from reaching us!  Because that is just who God is!  Finally, we are to pray for God to protect us from the temptation of sin in our lives. We need God to help us with the sin in our lives.  We need a longing to draw closer to God. We need a longing to eliminate sin from our lives.   But this longing can only be done with God’s help. Christ gave us this model for prayer in our lives so that can pray effectively to the Lord without babbling.

            All of these things that we follow in this pray model help us to pray effectively. What if I told you that sometimes God doesn't hear your prayers? That seems like a crazy statement because all this time we are told that God is always watching us, always listening, always willing and longing to help.   And that is true.  In the prayer model that Christ gives us, He is teaching us to pray effectively so that we might be heard by God. By the confession of sins and having the blood of Christ to cleanse us, we can come before the Lord, humbly and with God's will in our hearts. This does not necessarily mean that our prayers will be answered the way we want them to be. We are to pray with God's will in our hearts and be joyful no matter what the outcome. God has our best interests in mind and if we pray according to His will, then we are pleasing the Lord. The last part is simple and straight the point. When we pray, we are to pray with full faith that God will come through and His plan will be fulfilled. Mark 11:24 states: Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours. If we are praying a prayer pleasing to the Lord, praying according to his word and His will and if we are praying with the ultimate trust that He will provide, then we can see great, amazing, outta this world things happen! I am sure we can talk for hours about the miraculous ways God has worked in our lives, but I will leave you with these two short examples. When I was a teenager, last week, I was attending a conference with over 2000 teens.  We were told that one of the teens wanted to attend badly but was in the hospital and the doctors told him he was way too sick to leave anytime soon.   We all prayed for him that night and the next day we were told that at around the same time we had been praying, this young man was having horrible pains, bad enough that the nurses and doctors were all in the room but couldn't figure out what was wrong! So again we prayed for this young man, that God would watch over him while he was in the hospital. The next day, when we were preparing for church, we were given an announcement that the boy we had been praying for was with us and had been healed and was able to share in church and communion with us!! Two days prior he had been told he was going to be in the hospital for a long while! God is good!  This last account is recent.  We all know there were horrific fires in Colorado. Each year there is a huge music festival called Heaven Fest.  This year the entire staff, their friends, and families got together to pray for rain to pass over the state. They prayed for a good long time, petitioning the Lord to bring rain.  As they were leaving, a storm cloud rolled over and it began to rain!  How great is our God! For the five of you here who might have possibly read my blog ,  you know that I always give a challenge and I will do the same today.   I challenge all of us to pray this prayer model for one month! I give thanks for each and everyone of my brothers and sisters here! If each and every one of us, sitting in this church today devoted ourselves to prayer,  imagine the ways God would work through us.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

And yet I will show you the most excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of men or of angles, but do not have love, I am only the resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I posse to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

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It is kind of funny how when you listen to K-love, or any Christian music really, you begin to realize just how little scripture you know and how much more you need to spend time in the word. There is a song out right now by for KING & COUNTRY titled The Proof of Your Love, near the end of the song one of the artist in the band quotes this scripture and I thought it was just something nice he had written for the song, silly me. I had began to study this particular passage "by accident" one evening when I was starting to teach a new volunteer for Kids Klub how to plan a lesson, she had chosen to prepare a lesson on love and was lead to choose to the passage right after this one. After studying 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 we thought it would be better to study the entire passage and understand its context in full, and that is where I had my revelation that the reason that the quote from the song was so awesome is because it was directly from God's word! That is when I got one of those NSIC smacks to the back of the head from God.

If you begin to read over this passage at first glance it really does sound like a very beautiful saying that can be quoted when discussing situations of love. I think often times we use 1 Corinthians 13 to describe this earthly love without looking deeper into the true meaning behind what love stands for in its entirety and what we are truly saying he was say that we love somebody or something. As Christians and disciples of Christ we are called to be a walking bill-board of Gods love for His people. 1 Corinthians 13 dives deep into the the true meaning behind love, which correlates to 1 John 4:8: Whoever does not know love does not know God, because God is love. God is the ultimate sign of love, sending his one and only Son to take on the every sin of humanity and become sin (the one thing God HATES) so that we may be saved. God, Christ Jesus, are the ultimate practice of what love is and as disciples we are called to live a life worthy of being called followers or Christ, trying to imitate him in every way.
The passage can be broken down into three parts, three main elements of that it looks like the be a follower of Christ. It covers our ability to speak God's word and give our testimony, it covers our personal walk with Christ, and it covers our call to serve God and his people. I feel like that often times things are done with good intentions but without the practical use of love. There are many good people out there who want to bring people to Christ but do not have the will power and drive to implement God's love into their actions. This passage here is a simple reminder that without love we are nothing and we gain nothing. How many times have we been yelled at on the streets and condemned to hell by a microphone "sharing God's word", or how many times have we ourselves thought we were helping out a friend and shared God's word with them but did so in a condemning way with so sign of God's love in the mix. Although we are all called to share God's word in its fullness to everybody not holding back from the truth, we are also not called to judge or condemn anybody on their actions. We are to share the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ with everybody, which dose include salvation and a life without God but it should be done so in a loving matter. If all we are is people who shove God's word down peoples throats, with harsh words, and unloving comments we mind as well be the sounding of a gong or the clashing of cymbals. God's word is just noise to people if we do not share it with love! God is LOVE! And if we are sharing God's word without love we are not sharing God at all.
It goes on to discuss having all the knowledge of God or having faith enough to move mountains but without love we have nothing. Or if we give everything to the poor but do not have love we gain nothing. I do not know if you see the trend that is happening here but with out love in our lives we are nothing, and ultimately without God in our lives we are nothing. Love is a huge factor in what it means to be a follower of Christ and how to show our love for him and his people. I am not sure if this has ever happened to you but I know when I am trying to further my walk with the Lord people remember times when I have not shown love and call me out on it, and they are rightfully doing so. We are called to be examples of Christ at all times of our lives not just on Sunday and these people without realizing it are keeping my accountable for my actions. This is when they will begin to see, this guys wants me to accept this Jesus in my life, and talks like this but in reality acts like this, and although we can never bring somebody to God, that is God's job, we are called to be his light on this earth.
Some people might read this and begin to think about actions that I do or have done. And I will be the first to admit that I am horrible at showing God's love fully to my family and close friends. I do not have the patiences that I am called to have at times and then treat them unfairly, and this is something that I need to work on. A handful of times I have been called out for living one way in the world and another at home. I am not saying I live a double life, I am saying my patiences for people differs from person to person when it shouldn't. I do not know if in your own life you face many of the same things or are able to read on in 1 Corinthians 13 and see that some of those things that are described as what love truly is, is not something that you are doing. My challenge for you is to ready through the entire chapter of 1 Corinthians 13 and write them down and think carefully for each one, are you doing them and fully to their call? How can you do them better, and be a better light of Christ and example of God's never ending love. Without Love we are nothing....

I pray for you and your walk with Christ!

My Testimony 2 Corinthians 1:21-23

    21Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

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     So obviously you know that I was born and raised Catholic and was pretty involved in extra circular activates that we're based around religion. So I have always had a religious base but having a religion is one thing but having a love and relationship with Christ is another thing. Which to me personally was never integrated in my up bringing either at home or at school. I could spit out facts, I taught, my students well, were smart and knew everything a "good catholic" should know. But still I was doing things because it's what I "should be doing" not to glorify God. Two times the Holy Spirit and the Lord has talked through complete strangers to share a vision, a message with me. The first time was during the senior retreat during adoration. The retreat leader was praying to himself and I myself and

He got up and walked over to me and told me that the Holy Spirit has given him a vision of me: I was this strong ship, I was supposed to go places but I had no mast, no backbone to go anywhere. He said he just felt like he was supposed to share that with me. Keep in mind this man knew nothing about me. So that was the Lords first push at me.

 

      Now this next part I am ashamed of but I know that the Lord, our God, has forgiven me of my past sin. And as sad, and shameful as the event may be they are part of my story, my coming to know Christ. During my senior year into my first year of college I was living a double life. I had "church Robert" and I had "misleading Robert". In high school I was drinking and throwing parties. I threw the biggest party of our senior year for my 18th brithday. The cops were called and a girl was even taken to the hospital. And I was prideful that I had thrown such a crazy party. Even sadder the theme was the seven deadly sins. Fast forward to my freshmen year of college I was still throwing parties (not big onea just "the best ones"), I was ditching class and being lazy, and I started smoking marijuana. Like I said these were shameful events in my life. All this was going on all while I still went to church and I was still teaching religious education. During the summer I interned for a huge music festival called Heaven Fest. God placing me here was not an accident. The main people who put on the festival, a family, we're very loving, welcoming, God fearing people. Luke, kind of my "mentor" at the time had come from a past similar to mine and his testimony started to speak to me. This is the second time God spoke through somebody else to get to me. I had been at something called: 40 nights of prayer. It was me and a total stranger praying to ourselves. He stops praying and ask me if I believe the the Holy Spirit can speak to us through people, I told him kinda sure and then he asked if he could share his vision that the Holy Spirit had given him about me. He told me that he was seeing my as this big beautiful plant that would grow nice and tall and strong but these bugs would come and eat me away down to the base again and the process would repeat itself. He said that the Lord wants me to burn the plant to the ground and start all over again. And this is the crazy part. The next day my aunt emails me and tells me that the family has talked about it and they want me to move out there. Not to worry about a job, money, nothing...just come out!! THE NEXT DAY!!! God is good!

 

     So I move to Chicago and start attending my aunt and uncles church. My uncle is the music director at the church so we live in one of the churches houses. My cousins sing at church and are pretty involved so the Bobaliks are..."know". I attend church there just because I didnt know where a Catholic church was and frankly didnt want to go by myself. As time passed I started enjoying the service. The people at the church were extremely nice, and something was different here that at any Catholic church that I had been to. There seems to be a job at church. I started attending a bible study for young adult at church and my realization and coming to Christ, like REALLY coming to Christ start all with my playing devils advocate and I liked pushing my cousins fiancee buttons. We were debating on who gets to Heaven. And with my previous understanding that good deeds get us into heaven because thats what God wants us to do I couldnt wrap my mind around the argument. How could a person like Mother Teresa not get into heaven with all the good shes done is on her death bed she said she was a lesbian. But if Hitler confessed his sins and excepted Jesus into his heart then he could get in. (Now keep in mind to really argue this you need to look at other things but that wasnt happening then.) Then Tim the youth pastor explain that our salvation is through our Lord and Savoir Jesus Christ and not through our deeds alone. And that by excepting Christ into our hearts we are truly saved. And for some reason it just clicked! And it was as simple as that.

   

      From there my true love for Christ began to flourish. I started reading my bible. Reading Christian books. Praying more. I loved going to church. I began to serve those at church. I was serving in children's ministry events like Vacation Bible School and a camp for inner city youth. I began to help out at a homeless ministry. Worked for children's ministry. Served around the church and began to learn the inner workings. I wanted to know the Lord more. I tell you these things not to be boastful or to be like wow you do alot of good. I tell you that I found a love for the Lord that I started doing as much as I could to serve and follow where he was leading me. I have a love for Christ that I didnt even know was possible. Its funny how God works in such mysterious ways . How carefully thought out his plans are, that span from the very beginning. I love to serve Him and that is why I am choosing to live and follow the path He put out before me. I hope my past hasnt effected the way you see me, but instead see it as how Christ used even my sinful transgressions to bring me out of the darkness and into his glorious light!

Titus 2:11-14

¹¹ For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. ¹² It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, ¹³ while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, ¹⁴ who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.




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     As we know in just a few short days we will be celebrating Christmas, the coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! As we see in this passage and know from the gospels and our own personal testimonies God sent his grace to earth in the from of his son Jesus Christ who was fully man and fully God to bring us salvation. He came to make his people a new, to create pure and righteous people whose one true love is serving Him at any cost. Often times though we read passages like these and see them as a parent telling us what not to do and our teenage rebellious self comes out and we subconsciously begin to think: Well who is God to tell me what to do? That one though (even if guilty at times) I would still have to say....well.....hes GOD! Duh!
    We tend to see these restrictions on our lives such as: no partying and getting drunk, no sex before marriage, no gambling, etc. as some prudish life style from an old testament God who is not "down with the times". I have heard on many occasions that the bible is out of date and the writers could not have foreseen what life would be like in modern day, and I take it this same excuse has been used in every generation from the publication of the bible. But if we step back and look at these "harsh rules" that we are claiming we begin to see the bigger picture. Just like our earthly parents our Heavenly father knows what is best for us and knows the path each ones of us should be one. Sin is defined as: Deliberate disobedience to the known will of God, or in simplar terms anything that draws us away from God. God HATES sin and LOVES us, so he wants us to have nothing to do with such sinful acts that might distract our attention away from Him. All these modern day problems that we claim the writers of the bible could not of foreseen if actually researched can be solved (and should be solved) biblical. I found out a perfect example of this just this last week while studying the word in regard to an issue to me life.
     Before going into my findings I do need to explain the history behind it for my reader who do not know. I at this time in my life am rooming with my long time best friend Christian. The problem is that Christian is a girl, and is strictly a friend and the relationship is platonic. And without going to much into it, besides the fact I needed a roommate this friend needed to get away from Colorado and start a new life, and just as my aunt and uncle so graciously did for me I wanted to do for her as well. The issue with the situation is that living with a girl outside of marriage is wrong and border line sinful. At first I did not understand why my situation was so wrong, there was no sex...so why would it be wrong. I would never live with a girl outside of marriage if it were in a relationship but this was different. But then I began to search the scripture and pray on the issue. My final answer being: first off sexual immorality is ungodly and wrong. We are called to live a life free of sin and even having the appearance of sin in our lives. By living with a girl it has the appearance that we lived out of wedlock and could possibly be involved sexually. The other part of my answer made more sense, considering most people knew that our relationship was platonic. We are to stay awful from things that might cause another person to fall into sin. Being that I am somebody at church who volunteers, and dare I say looked upon, others might see me living with a female appropriate as long as there is no sex. Others though might not be as strong in the sexual will to abstain from sex and might fall into sexual temptations. And THAT is why it is wrong. Take it or leave it. But for my life, God has a different plan for me, or else this would not have happened.
    We are all called to stand out against the crowd. To live a godly life. God blesses those who do live such a life. We are his children and he is waiting to give us his inheritance. God sent his one and only son to come and die so that we might have eternal life. I think sometimes we need to step back and really let that soak in. For those of us who grew up in the church it becomes a fact, another passing statement of faith that we make. Or at least that's how I feel. I challenge you this week to step back and look at all that God has blessed us with. To look at our lives, are we living that pure life we are called to live? Are we ready to step in front of God with open hands and open hearts not ashamed of the lives we are about to present him? Ask for forgiveness for the transgressions that we have come across in our lives. Please don't read these challenges as if I am trying to sound commanding, these are challenges I also put forth for my own life. Our God is a God of love, but also a just and powerful God. Open your heart to him, let him shake your world.

I pray for you and your walk with Christ.

Confession Entry #2

    The more you study about living a life truly in Christ the harder it becomes. Seems kind of funny, you would think that the more educated you become in something the easier it is. I go through life with these high and lows in my life. I let the enemy in far to often and God in not nearly enough. I let peoples words effect me more then they really should, even if their words from friends and family who are not meant to be hurtful. I fear often times I focus to much on what people think about me more then what the Lord thinks of me. I am not simply talking about how people feel about the way I dress or the way I dance around silly at Kids Klub. I struggle with the approval for the life style that I am trying to lead. As I write this it sounds silly to me that I even struggle with such an issue. I for some reason long to have my families approval for going into ministry, even when some of them are slightly against it. Now please do not get me wrong, I am going into ministry to try to look good to man, or to make my parents love and approve of me more. I know that I am going into ministry to serve the Lord. But I still can not shake when things like my father are so against it.
     On top of these minor struggle I preach so often to so many people that we just need to trust in the Lord and he will provide and the Lord has for me time after time and yet I still struggle with trust. It seems lately that my world finical is falling apart all around me. I know that some how I will get around this, I always do the Lord always pulls me up when I fall I still fear for some reason, And some might read this and tell me, well its normal to fear and worry. I want to be beyond that and above that. I need to get life in check where I do not have these fears. If I am serving the Lord fully it should also be with my fiances and this is the section that I am living one of the most unbiblically.
    I think another things that is weighing so much on my heart right now is my ability to ministry and lead others. I am letting the enemy attack me far to strongly in this field. I feel horribly about a gentlemen calling me from Tims House and I keep avoiding the calling. He wants guidance, prayer and me to tell him Gods way. I should be able to do this, I should not be so bothered by helping. And it is not so much I am scared of talking to people it is more the fact that my elder is coming to me for the Lords guidance. But how can I expect to go into ministry and possibly become a Pastor if I can not mentor. The Lord does not put things into our lives by accident and I know he keeps thumping my on the head I can feel it.
     Theses are my confession I am putting them before you and most importantly before the Lord. Please pray that I can overcome these problems. Please pray that I grow spiritually so that I am able to lead anybody that comes to me. I know the Lords will and that I am called to serve His people. Please pray that I can become strong enough to hold my armor and sword and stand strong against the enemy.

I pray for you and your walk in Christ

Ephesians 1:15-23

15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit[a] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. 18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.



Thanks Giving. A holiday where people family's come to together in a meal in which we are celebrating our thankfulness. In this passage in Paul is giving his thanks to the Ephesians for their love in the Lord. He has them in his prayers that the Lord might work and move in them. He prays that's God would give them the eyes and hearts to live as they are called to live. He preaches that our Lord is the Lord of all, the he'd of all church's, our savior.
This thanks giving I also give my praise and thanks giving for my friends and silly and everybody else. Often times our holidays are spent with people slaving over a meal, fighting, and awkward moments. But this year I challenge you sand back and appreciate all that God has given us. Look at our families. Our friends. Our jobs and everything in-between. James tells us that we are to be thankful for the good times and bad and that God uses even the worst moments in our life to make His glory known to the world.
This year I am thankful for all that he has done for me. I am thankful for Sammy yelling at the tv playing football. I am thankful for awesome his from Ellie. I am thankful for stupid jokes and B rate movies with Sarah. Thankful for worship with Rachel. Heart to hearts with Uncle Tony. Reality checks with Aunt Karen. Awkward moments with Anna. Loving parents. Amazing new friends from church. My brothers in Christ at Tim's House. Teasing Kris and gets joked back. Lunches with Tim. Spending Fridays with my awesome 1st-5th graders from Kids Klub. And my friends back in Colorado.
This year I got the opportunity to share in a thanks giving meal with my friends from Timothy Ministry. Some of these men have no family's to go home to or anybody to share the holiday with but we're still thankful for all that God has given them. Over the past four months these men became good friends who I look forward to sharing in the Gospel with each Friday morning. I then spend 2 hours cleaning the kitchen, and I would have to say that this has been the best thanks giving yet, worry less about myself and more about my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
As Thanks Giving comes to an end I give my praise and thanks to God for each of your lives. I hope that God bless you with abundance and with burden. I pay that you open your heart up to Gods will and his blessing. Give thanks to our God for he is good. He is all we need and will always provide.


I pray for you and your walk with Christ.