I have recently been wrestling with the idea of writing a book. I know it may sound silly but one thing I long to do in my life is to reach people from many different areas. I long to help disciple and to teach everyone around me.
The books focus would be looking at the church in the way that our generation does. What it is that people our age want to see and how we want to see a revolution happen. A lot of books that are released today are pointed to more to the later adult hood age. Even the people that write to people of our age are 30 years older then us most times. I wanted to know your thoughts on this idea and if you think it is something I should pursue. If you think it would be something that maybe you would read or something you think I should undertake let me know. Feel free to be honest and you can even hit the anonymous button if you do not think it is a good idea, so that you do not feel like i will think differently of you.
I feel our generation needs to be herd and I think this would be an interesting book/study that will help people understand.
Thanks
Love You All
Brent
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
Complacent Christians are the Devils Greatest Weapon
It has been over 24 hours since the thought "Complacent Christians are the Devils greatest weapon," came to my mind. Complacency for those of you who may not know what that word means exactly means, one has become apathetic to ones need or problem. Ever since then I have been processing through writing this and what exactly I should say. I have to admit that this in my mind if probably the most important writing I have ever done in my mind. More important then the “where is worship” series I did. This is on a thought that has convicted me and has begun to change my relationship with God.
I began to look at scripture and the main scripture that comes to mind when thinking about complacency is Revelation 3:14-22. In this passage you have God talking to the church at Laodicea and he tells them they are nether Hot nor Cold and since they were nether he was going to spit them out of his mouth. This is the main spot in scripture that I feel really attacks the idea of Complacency. The followers of Christ at Laodicea have become so apathetic in their view for Christ that he says since they are nether hot nor cold he would spit them out of his mouth. I do not know about you but someone spitting something out there mouth does not sound like a good thing. Is this something that we really want done to us as quote unquote followers of Christ?
I have to be honest this thought scares me and makes me look at the world around us. I see a lost and dying world who does not care at all about the creator of this world. The worst part of all this is that Christians have become apathetic to Christ. We do not care anymore, we have allowed sin to creep so far into us that we can not even understand Christ love anymore. We have no love for His word or to pray to their father in heaven, we have a huge heart issue. We should be reaching out but instead we are becoming more like the world everyday. That is why I say we are the Devils greatest weapon.
Every time I look out at my quote unquote Christians brothers and sisters, it seems that we have become more worldly then the world. I understand that this life is not easy and we all fall short of Gods glory but there is difference between being complacent to sin and occasionally messing up and then repenting for it. As Christians we have become a un-repentant group of people and that is the very reason why more people are turning away from Christ then turning toward him. I had a friend say to me the other day that every youth pastor they know do not act like it outside of church. This is what made me think about all this.
I pray this has hit your heart and has convicted you in the way it has convicted me. We need to not conform to the patterns of this world but we need to transformed by the renewing of our minds. (Romans 12:2) :We need to stand up for once and throw away all the garbage that is dragging us down. Whatever it is, cursing, smoking, drinking, porn, lying, and pick up our crosses and run after Christ. The one who saved and redeemed us. It is when we allow God to change our hearts that we can truly change the hearts of others.
I love you all
I began to look at scripture and the main scripture that comes to mind when thinking about complacency is Revelation 3:14-22. In this passage you have God talking to the church at Laodicea and he tells them they are nether Hot nor Cold and since they were nether he was going to spit them out of his mouth. This is the main spot in scripture that I feel really attacks the idea of Complacency. The followers of Christ at Laodicea have become so apathetic in their view for Christ that he says since they are nether hot nor cold he would spit them out of his mouth. I do not know about you but someone spitting something out there mouth does not sound like a good thing. Is this something that we really want done to us as quote unquote followers of Christ?
I have to be honest this thought scares me and makes me look at the world around us. I see a lost and dying world who does not care at all about the creator of this world. The worst part of all this is that Christians have become apathetic to Christ. We do not care anymore, we have allowed sin to creep so far into us that we can not even understand Christ love anymore. We have no love for His word or to pray to their father in heaven, we have a huge heart issue. We should be reaching out but instead we are becoming more like the world everyday. That is why I say we are the Devils greatest weapon.
Every time I look out at my quote unquote Christians brothers and sisters, it seems that we have become more worldly then the world. I understand that this life is not easy and we all fall short of Gods glory but there is difference between being complacent to sin and occasionally messing up and then repenting for it. As Christians we have become a un-repentant group of people and that is the very reason why more people are turning away from Christ then turning toward him. I had a friend say to me the other day that every youth pastor they know do not act like it outside of church. This is what made me think about all this.
I pray this has hit your heart and has convicted you in the way it has convicted me. We need to not conform to the patterns of this world but we need to transformed by the renewing of our minds. (Romans 12:2) :We need to stand up for once and throw away all the garbage that is dragging us down. Whatever it is, cursing, smoking, drinking, porn, lying, and pick up our crosses and run after Christ. The one who saved and redeemed us. It is when we allow God to change our hearts that we can truly change the hearts of others.
I love you all
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Just read/Listen
Just so you understand I really did wing the song, I did not have any words written out or chords prepared or anything. I basically had something on my mind and wanted to do a song/prayer. Usually if I have a lot on my mind or anything I will pick up my guitar and just start singing. This is the first time in my life that I have added something I randomly was singing onto my blog or anything. So please do not judge thats it off tempo or some of the words do not flow well, I just liked the words that came out and I wanted to explain what it is from.
Tonight after the WKU basketball game I got back to my apartment and I got a phone call from a lady at the church where I work. She had informed me that one of my youth's father had died. Understand that I haven't been at this church even a month yet but I was filled with concern for her. It is of course hard to reach out to someone who barely knows you and it is impossible to find words to make any sense of a situation like this. Basically the only words that one could say during this time is to say "I am sorry" and offer to pray with the person. Saying things like "This is Gods will" or "We don't understand Gods timing" honestly do not help. And honestly for young people it can bring a sense of anger against God. So with all this going through my mind I turned on my webcam and started to play guitar and sing. The words I liked a lot and I may rework them a little bit and rerecord it sometime.
The words will be below this but there is one line that stuck out to me after singing. In the song I say "words theres so many words but none can explain the brokenness you feel inside" I wonder how often when trying to help someone we try to make them put words to there feelings when honestly feelings a lot of times do not have words that truly describe them. Well enjoy the song and I hope it can help you in some way.
Words cannot express the feeling you must feel,
Words cannot express a broken heart,
God she needs You now she needs your touch
God come down from heaven; show her your the one
God come down
she needs you now
words theres so many words
but none can explain
the brokeness you feel inside
I come before you now
hoping you will see
the Godwho loves you
the god who loves you
God come now
She needs your grace
Shes broken down inside
and she says it will never be the same
so god come down
she needs you tonight
really now she needs now
So come down from heaven
show her you are who you are
she needs you now
So God come down she needs you
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Thought on Haiti
I have been sitting here thinking and praying deeply about what has happened to Haiti. So i wanted to give you all some thought on what we as Christians should be doing.
First off let me throw out some facts about this earthquake that you may not have herd.
• quake struck on January 12, 2010 at 4:53 p.m.
• The 7.0 magnitude quake's epicenter hit just 10 miles west of Porte-au-Prince and its 2 million inhabitants
• 3 million people are in need of emergency aid after major earthquake
• The major quake sent 33 aftershocks ranging in magnitude from 4.2 to 5.9
• Fear Hundred of Thousands of people may be dead
So what are we as followers of Christ supposed to do? First lets look at scripture.
Matthew 28:19-20 "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age"
Acts 1:8 "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
First I think it is important to understand that scripture does call us to go to the ends of the earth and to make disciples. To us as Americans we need to understand that Haiti is the "Ends of the Earth" as it says in Acts 1:8. We as "Christians" need to understand that if we are not going and making Disciples we are out of Gods will for our lives. The final command God gave us before leaving this earth and going up into heaven was for us to go out and be his witnesses.
Acts 2:44-45 "All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need"
The context of this verse is that it is right after Pentecost and the believers are meeting together everyday and learning from the apostles. These verses come to my second point in that we should be giving to those in need. Scripture talks a lot about giving to the poor and those in need and i picked out this one verse because it is talking about the church. We look at a place like Haiti and we should know that they are in need and we should be willing to help in whatever way we can.
I look at my life and I am a college student (which means poor in American terms) but I am honestly very blessed. I have payed off my rent until June and only have a small cell phone and insurance bills to pay. If i break down how much money I have left over each month after these bills i have plenty of money to be able to give to help out.
Understand I am not some kid who is well off whose parents give him everything, I pay my own bills and work to be able to pay my bills. And I have to admit that I have to much, I own over a hundred DVD's have lots of possessions that honestly are meaningless. I think we are all in this boat, even if we say we have nothing we honestly have more then most people in other countries understand. A few more quick facts
- According to UNICEF, 25,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.
-Number of people in the world living on less than $2 a day: 3 billion
-Number of people in the world who went hungry last year: 852 million
-Number of people in the world who are going hungry this year: 854 million
I wrote this to hopefully make you think about some of the things I have been thinking about. We are called to go and to help those in need, so during this time let us pray about what it is God wants us to give. For some of us he may ask for surrender, others he may ask to give everything we have to help those in need, and others he may tell you to go and help. Let me leave you with one final scripture to ponder on
1 John 3:17-19 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him
First off let me throw out some facts about this earthquake that you may not have herd.
• quake struck on January 12, 2010 at 4:53 p.m.
• The 7.0 magnitude quake's epicenter hit just 10 miles west of Porte-au-Prince and its 2 million inhabitants
• 3 million people are in need of emergency aid after major earthquake
• The major quake sent 33 aftershocks ranging in magnitude from 4.2 to 5.9
• Fear Hundred of Thousands of people may be dead
So what are we as followers of Christ supposed to do? First lets look at scripture.
Matthew 28:19-20 "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age"
Acts 1:8 "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
First I think it is important to understand that scripture does call us to go to the ends of the earth and to make disciples. To us as Americans we need to understand that Haiti is the "Ends of the Earth" as it says in Acts 1:8. We as "Christians" need to understand that if we are not going and making Disciples we are out of Gods will for our lives. The final command God gave us before leaving this earth and going up into heaven was for us to go out and be his witnesses.
Acts 2:44-45 "All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need"
The context of this verse is that it is right after Pentecost and the believers are meeting together everyday and learning from the apostles. These verses come to my second point in that we should be giving to those in need. Scripture talks a lot about giving to the poor and those in need and i picked out this one verse because it is talking about the church. We look at a place like Haiti and we should know that they are in need and we should be willing to help in whatever way we can.
I look at my life and I am a college student (which means poor in American terms) but I am honestly very blessed. I have payed off my rent until June and only have a small cell phone and insurance bills to pay. If i break down how much money I have left over each month after these bills i have plenty of money to be able to give to help out.
Understand I am not some kid who is well off whose parents give him everything, I pay my own bills and work to be able to pay my bills. And I have to admit that I have to much, I own over a hundred DVD's have lots of possessions that honestly are meaningless. I think we are all in this boat, even if we say we have nothing we honestly have more then most people in other countries understand. A few more quick facts
- According to UNICEF, 25,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.
-Number of people in the world living on less than $2 a day: 3 billion
-Number of people in the world who went hungry last year: 852 million
-Number of people in the world who are going hungry this year: 854 million
I wrote this to hopefully make you think about some of the things I have been thinking about. We are called to go and to help those in need, so during this time let us pray about what it is God wants us to give. For some of us he may ask for surrender, others he may ask to give everything we have to help those in need, and others he may tell you to go and help. Let me leave you with one final scripture to ponder on
1 John 3:17-19 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him
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