Rants on Issues that MATTER!!!
(to me)Archive for July, 2008
.one time at Bible Camp.
So a just over a week ago I was the speaker for 5th and 6th grade week at Twin Peaks Bible Camp located in Colorado. It was good.
Now there were many challenges, there was the typical challenges, because it was my first time preaching at camp. However once we got going I got the hang of it, it was fine. It was like preaching boot camp, twice a day will do that to you.
There were situations that came up that were hard to deal with. So things had to be dealt with, both on a personal level and a teaching level. The amazing thing was the good that came out of this. It is amazing how God uses the hard times for great results.
It was amazing how God used me and all of my flaws to reach campers. After the last night I just kind of sat there just amazed, really stunned. I was just trying to take in all that God had done that week. I was amazed at what he did through the interactions I had and the sermons that I gave.
Also it was cool to see how God used other people. It was neat to see people grow and be stretched and be used to proclaim the glory of Jesus.
It is amazing what happens when Jesus is proclaimed. I hope that I never lose this awe and wonder of the glory of Jesus and that I never stop proclaiming it. I never want to be one that stops proclaiming Jesus.
.religion killed me… Jesus gave me life.
So there probably is a pithy cool way of starting this story.
However I won’t.
I grew up in Christianity that was legalistic. There were a certain set of rules that were supposed to be followed. When I started college I went to a public college, were I was a part of Young Life and attend some campus ministries events and was a part of the college group at church. I was a even part of a Bible study that some friends and I started. It was during that time that I thought if I read enough and prayed enough Jesus would love me. I even timed my prayers, at night I made sure that I at least prayed for 15 minutes. Somehow I thought that this would save me or fulfill me. If I had enough verses memorized, knew enough theology, did enough church stuff, if I had the right morals then somehow I would be a better person.
Then I moved on to the emergent style of Christianity. This happened after I started to go to Cornerstone. It was a movement that was seemed freeing. I attended a emergent church in Grand Rapids for a while thinking wow this is a place where I can be free from religion. The problem is that it was freeing, in fact it was just another religion. It is amazing looking back on it how the children of legalism just created another religion where there were rules to follow. In order to be a good Christian you had to be concerned about social justice. If you aren’t green, feeding the poor. if you aren’t politically liberal, if you aren’t overly tolerant, if you don’t say this is absolute truth then you are a good Christian.
The problem is that these both are religions, they both are moralistic. They killed me, they had a set of rules that I had to follow to measure up.
Then through a series of events the I experienced the grace of Jesus, the healing of Jesus, the power of Jesus. Jesus gave me life, I now can live free from the bounds of religion and live to glorify Him alone. The ironic thing is that I now am free to do the things that used to bind me. I am free to read the Bible, to pray, to be concerned about justice, it is just that now I don’t have to do these things to please God. I get to do them because Jesus has set me free to do them. I can find joy in them because I can do them to glorify Jesus.
Now I get to tell others about Jesus and about the freedom and life that is found in Him alone. So that is where I have been, I hope that you see the Jesus alone in my story.
.back from Colorado.
So I just got back tonight from Colorado where I was a camp speaker for 5th and 6th graders. It was a great week. The weather was great and the scenery was great. I was happy with how the lessons went. It was amazing to see how God worked in the lives of the campers. I hope to blog this a little more when I have time.
.john owen.
“To suppose that whatever God requireth of us that we have power of ourselves to do, is to make the cross and grace of Jesus Christ of none effect.” (Works of John Owen: volume 3 pg. 433)
.the grace that wins.
Here is a quote that a friend of mine named Don wrote.
“We could have done nothing to save ourselves and there is nothing that we can do to stop God from loving is us. God is bigger than any sin we have ever committed or ever will commit. Grace Won.”
It is a quote that is so true.
