Young Men

Hey Guys,
It's been awhile since I did one of these. I really want to get back in the habit of them. They really helped me out, keeping me accountable. So please feel free to comment or critique. There will be grammatical errors for all you english people, so I apologize now if I don't catch everything. I really was to start making this an everyday or every couple days thing so bookmark it or follow or whatever the special term people like to use now.
Thanks,

"I write to you dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of His name. I write you fathers, because you have known who He is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you dear children, because you have known the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God lives in you, and you have overcome the evil one." 1 John 2: 12-14

This passage from 1 John is what we looked at on Sunday during our college/young adult bible study. You know it funny how you can hear something a few years back and then hear the exact same thing in the present and you take it a complete opposite way then you did the first time. Growing up in a Lutheran family and raised for the first 15 years in a Lutheran church, I was baptized at birth by my parents decision and then confirmed in 8th grade. In my non-denominational church there are classes to take before you get baptized. Same in the Lutheran church. Before you publicly confirm your faith (Confirmation) there are classes that we had to take. I remember back in 8th grade this passage was one of the lessons we had. Though the teacher was most likely teaching us as we were the young men the apostle John was writing to, I remember hearing it and considering myself as one of the children.

Now lets be honest. How many 13 year old's can you honestly consider as an young adult. Even though we may wish that we were, were not. Not even close to it. Ok, maybe you think you were, I know for me personally I'd rather have the new game system, clothes, basketball shoe, even the new Jay-Z album. I remember getting it and my mom took it because it had bad language. For years I was upset that she did that. There was one word that I hated to hear. Responsibility. That word even scared me up until about a year ago. It's not an age that qualifies you as an adult. It's responsibility, and how you handle those responsibilities. Now I'm not saying that I'm a full adult yet, I still have to work on some of my own basic responsibilities. But I think that's what John was trying to teach the "young men" in this chapter.

Paul says "I write to you, young men, because you are STRONG, and the WORD OF GOD lives IN you, and you have OVERCOME the evil one." That's not a "hey good job guys" or a " yay, your a christian". Its a bold command. When looking at the context of the passage you find out that John is talking to a small church, helping them grow. The children of the church are young, they really can't do to much. The adults, they are getting old, there is no nice way to say it. But the young men, thats our Responsibility to grow the church. That's were the church needs to grow today. We live in a society based on influences. Who are the role models today? Kobe Bryant, Tiger Woods, Ben Rothlisberg, those guys have all gone through giant sex scandals. How about actors and actresses in Hollywood going on 3rd and 4th marriages. Why don't we ever hear about guys like NBA Star David Robinson, who would sit in his hotel room at night when all his teammates would go out and he would write church music. Or Dave Dravecky, he lost much of his shoulder to cancer. But he did what was considered impossible: trusting in God, Dravecky came back to pitch again only to have his bone in his throwing arm snap in mid-pitch. Dravecky now goes about telling his testimony to groups across the country. Thank the Lord there are guys like Tim Tebow. There is a guy who all throughout his college career has proclaimed he was a Christian. There stories from guys on his team that say Tim was the best thing that ever happened to them. That through his example of Christ love and kindness they came to know Jesus Christ.

Do you friends know that your a Christian? Can they tell that you live a life for Christ? Or is He someone that you just keep in your back pocket for security, maybe take him out when your at church so everyone can you. There are not enough young people taking a stand for Christ. Statistic show that at the rate that we are going by 2020 there will be more Muslims in the U.S. than there are Christians. That is only TEN years! TEN!!!! We call ourselves a country founded on Christian principles. "One nation, under GOD, Indivisible." Let not let that happen. Lets take the Responsibility, take the stand for Christ. It doesn't matter how big or small of a role we take. We just need to take one.

Open Me

Shawn McDonald: Open Me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t07u56kktMk

A friend of mine yesterday told me grab a box of tissues and to check this video out. I didn't grab the tissues but I did check out the video. I didn't need the tissue but the song has playing on a loop ever since I got it. The message brought out by the song just left me staring at the computer wanting to hear more and more. If you have never heard about Shawn McDonald, me and him have a pretty similar background. When he was younger he would sneak out of his grandparents house and go party late at night. He would drink alcohol to the point of heavy intoxication. He also started doing drugs, which later led to him selling drugs. After get into trouble with the law his grandma and best friend really reached out to him, inviting him to go to church with them. Though he never went he did decide to one day pick up the Bible that his grandmother had given him and started to read. He read about getting rid of the "demons" in our lives and realized that the demons in his life were his drugs and he got rid of them. A couple days later the police came to search his house for drugs but didn't find any. What a miracle. Now Shawn is a extremely well known Christian song-writer and singer and he using his past as a way to reach out to people now.

The song "Open Me" is more of prayer than a regular song. He asking God to open up his eyes, ears, mouth, and mind so that he could serve God better. So many times we can forget what God has called us to do. His calling of going out into the world and make disciples for his name. Some people think that means going door to door at people homes, or standing in the freezing cold handing out tracks. Now those aren't bad things. Not everyone is comfortable doing that type of thing. But the thing we all can do, and what we are commanded to is said in (John 13: 34-35). "A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." In this hectic season of Christmas, its not about getting the new PS3 or the new Xbox. Its about Jesus' birth, and how he came in such bare conditions, outside in a cave in an animals feeding trough. Christmas is about showing one another the love that God had for us by giving us his son Jesus. I urge you this holiday season to everyday find a way that you can show love to someone. Say this everyday when you wake up "Open me Lord so that I can serve you".

Believing Without Seeing

Blessed is the man that does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. (Psalm 1:1-3)

So I'm starting to do a daily devotion and I didn't really know where to start reading so i decided to open to Psalms (maybe because King David wrote it, I kind of like the name). You know it funny how God works. Just last night I had a long conversation with a friend on what it means to have faith and why I believe in Him. We were talking about faith and what it means. I said to have faith is to believe in something without actually seeing it. Now if I told you that I just beat LeBron James in a game of one-on-one, you would start laughing at me saying yeah right that never happened, you can't do that. You would probably say thing if I said that I could hit a home run farther than A-Rod, or that I am smarter than Albert Einstein. We've been taught today not to believe someone when they say something so outlandish. What about God though. If I told you God changed water into wine, or that he made the blind see and the lame walk with just the words of him mouth. How about that He raised someone back from the dead. How could you possibly believe any of the things. We weren't there to see them happen so how do we know that they really did. God tells us that if we believe in him that we will have everlasting life in him. He give us promise after promise. Promises to never leave us, to never give us more than we can handle. He says cast all your problems, worries, and anxiety onto him and that he will give us "rest". He promises us a life never ending, a unconditional love relationship with him. He allows us to talk to him one-on-one through prayer. Being a young man who doesn't always know what to do or who to trust it was hard for me to put my trust in God. It took miracle from God for me to sell out and to join his family (probably will share that story in a later post). Its not a easy thing, living as a Christian. Being human I still struggle with things just like anyone else. But Gods promises are far more better than anything I might want to do now. Like in the verse above, blessed is the man who meditates day and night; everything he does will prosper. Thats a great promise right there. Yes life is hard right now, the job might not be working out right now. Relationships might be hitting rocky spots. Life can sometime just look ugly these days. But just like he say's in 1 Corinthians 10:13 "God is faithful, he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can handle." To wrap up now, God is powerful, his promises will last forever. He just ask to believe in him, to put our faith in him. If we do that then he will bless us and no matter whats going on in life he will pull us through and let us prosper.

John 20:29 says "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."