Decisions

It might seem trivial to ya'll, but I'm excited because I've decided to move my blog from blogspot to wordpress. I like the way wordpress works and the options it offers. the url for it will be (For lack of a better url, I couldn't think of a good one and the explanation of why I choose it might bring an oppurtunity to witness to someone) is http://www.thorntree.wordpress.com/

:-) Hope this doesn't inconveinience(sp????) any of you. Shouldn't cause much troublwe, just change my url in your blog links and type in a new (and catchier) URL.

Just thought I'd share this with you

Just thought I'd share this with you because I found it online and I like it a lot.

Ten Reasons To Not Ask Jesus Into Your Heart

By: Todd Friel
The music weeps, the preacher pleads, "Give your heart to Jesus. You have a God shaped hole in your heart and only Jesus can fill it." Dozens, hundreds or thousands of people who want to get their spiritual life on track make their way to the altar. They ask Jesus into their heart.
Cut to three months later. Nobody has seen our new convert in church. The follow up committee calls him and encourages him to attend a Bible study, but to no avail. We label him a backslider and get ready for the next outreach event.

Our beloved child lies in her snuggly warm bed and says, "Yes, Daddy. I want to ask Jesus into my heart." You lead her in "the prayer" and hope that it sticks. You spend the next ten years questioning if she really, really meant it. Puberty hits and the answer reveals itself. She backslides. We spend the next ten years praying that she will come to her senses.
Telling someone to ask Jesus into their hearts has a very typical result, backsliding. the Bible says that a person who is soundly saved puts his hand to the plow and does not look back because he is fit for service. In other words, a true convert cannot backslide. If a person backslides, he never slid forward in the first place. "If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation." (II Cor.5) No backsliding there.

Brace yourself for this one: with very few if any exceptions, anyone who asked Jesus into their hearts to be saved…is not. If you asked Jesus into your heart because you were told that is what you have to do to become a Christian, you were mis-informed.
If you have ever told someone to ask Jesus into their heart (like I have), you produced a false convert. Here is why.

1. It is not in the Bible. There is not a single verse that even hints we should say a prayer inviting Jesus into our hearts. Some use Rev. 3:20. To tell us that Jesus is standing at the door of our hearts begging to come in.
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock." There are two reasons that interpretation is wrong.
The context tells us that the door Jesus is knocking on is the door of the church, not the human heart. Jesus is not knocking to enter someone's heart but to have fellowship with His church.Even if the context didn't tell us this, we would be forcing a meaning into the text (eisegesis). How do we know it is our heart he is knocking at? Why not our car door? How do we know he isn't knocking on our foot? To suggest that he is knocking on the door of our heart is superimposing a meaning on the text that simply does not exist.
The Bible does not instruct us to ask Jesus into our heart. This alone should resolve the issue, nevertheless, here are nine more reasons.

2. Asking Jesus into your heart is a saying that makes no sense. What does it mean to ask Jesus into your heart? If I say the right incantation will He somehow enter my heart? Is it literal? Does He reside in the upper or lower ventricle? Is this a metaphysical experience? Is it figurative? If it is, what exactly does it mean? While I am certain that most adults cannot articulate its meaning, I am certain that no child can explain it. Pastor Dennis Rokser remindsus that little children think literally and can easily be confused (or frightened) at the prospect of asking Jesus into their heart.

3. In order to be saved, a man must repent (Acts 2:38). Asking Jesus into your heart leaves out the requirement of repentance.

4. In order to be saved, a man must trust in Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31).Asking Jesus into your heart leaves out the requirement of faith.

5. The person who wrongly believes they are saved will have a false sense of security. Millions of people who sincerely, but wrongly, asked Jesus into their hearts think they are saved but struggle to feel secure. They live in doubt and fear because they do not have the Holy Spirit giving them assurance of salvation.

6. The person who asks Jesus into his heart will likely end up inoculated, bitter and backslidden. Because he did not get saved by reciting a formulaic prayer, he will grow disillusioned with Jesus, the Bible, church and fellow believers. His latter end will be worse than the first.

7. It presents God as a beggar just hoping you will let Him into your busy life. This presentation of God robs Him of His sovereignty.

8. The cause of Christ is ridiculed. Visit an atheist web-site and read the pagans who scoff, "How dare those Christians tell us how to live when they get divorced more than we do? Who are they to say homosexuals shouldn't adopt kids when tens of thousands of orphans don't get adopted by Christians?" Born again believers adopt kids and don't get divorced.
People who ask Jesus into their hearts do. Jesus gets mocked when false converts give Him a bad name.

9. The cause of evangelism is hindered. While it is certainly easier to get church members by telling them to ask Jesus into their hearts, try pleading with someone to make today the day of their salvation. Get ready for a painful response. "Why should I become a Christian when I have seen so called Christians act worse than a pagan?" People who ask Jesus into their hearts give pagans an excuse for not repenting.

10. Here is the scary one. People who ask Jesus into their hearts are not saved and they will perish on the Day of Judgment. How tragic that millions of people think they are right with God when they are not. How many people who will cry out, "Lord, Lord" on judgment day will be "Christians" who asked Jesus into their hearts?

So, what must one do to be saved? Repent and trust. (Heb.6:1) The Bible makes it clear that all men must repent and place their trust in Jesus Christ. Every man does have a "God shaped hole in their hearts," but that hole is not contentment, fulfillment and peace. Every man's heart problem is righteousness. Instead of preaching that Jesus fulfills, we must preach that God judges and Jesus satisfies God's judgment…if a man will repent and place his trust in Him.
If you are reading this and you asked Jesus into your heart, chances are good you had a spiritual buzz for a while, but now you struggle to read your Bible, tithe, attend church and pray. Perhaps you were told you would have contentment, purpose and a better life if you just ask Jesus into your heart. I am sorry, that was a lie.

I like this verse

Today I was feeling down and bummed.
I was praying and reading my Bible, but I found no peace. I was praying for trust and faith, but I had no peace. I was doing my Doctrine of God Bible Study that I got from Aaron, and one of the verses I had to look up was Isaiah 40:28-31.

28Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth
Does not become weary or tired
His understanding is inscrutable.

29He gives strength to the weary,
And to him who lacks might He increases power.

30Though youths grow weary and tired,
And vigorous young men stumble badly,

31Yet those who wait for the LORD
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.

Oh my. Hahaha, did you read verse 30? That hit me pretty hard. Of course, it took a while to fully kick in. I was talking to Tiff and being unreasonable and she was calling me a baby. And she said, Do you want to be a man of God. And the Holy Spirit reminded me of that verse. I asked for about 10 minutes and I prayed for awhile.
I just have to trust in Him and take solace in His promises. He promises to be there for us and to always love us and be faithful if we are His. I am His and He will always be with me and inside me. It just depends on how much I trust Him. I'll get tired and weary, but if I wait and trust in God, He'll lift me up. This is a promise for us. Our walk will not be slow and weary if we wait on God.
By the way, I highly encourage doing the Doctrine of God Bible Study by Paul Washer
you can download the PDF here
http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=131080700
:-) I like it.

I find it funny

One of my unsaved friends (though not for lack of seeds, I've witnessed to her several times and always try to get her to listen, bu tshe is very hardened against the gospel) is diabetic. She recently posted a Pubic Note on Facebook asking everyone to please be "hoping/believing/wishing that the cure will be legal by this time next year." I find it very funny, yet incredibly saddening that she will not just say pray. It's like, ok everyone just think really hard about this happening and it will. Reminds me of Tinkerbell...

Please pray for her.
Clair Flynn.

I thought he was going to get stabbed

Watch this, it happend about two years ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVco8t-R8KU


So, apparently Ray Comfort and the camera man who shot this were walking down by the pier in this city a few days ago, and the camera says, Remember those guys Kirk witnessed to a few years ago, the ones we thought were going to but him? I think that's one over there.So they go over and ray comfort asks him, Um sir, are you in a gang?And the guy says, No sir. I'm a Christian.And Ray Comfort says, Umm Sir, about two or three years ago, did you have a talk with a fellow named Kirk Cameron about Jesus here on this peir? And he says, Yes sir, we did. I'm a Christian now, and I feel terrible about what happened that day. I was drunk and I was a fool, and God has saved me now, and I'm living for the Lord. And the other guy Kirk talked to, he's gotten saved too. He's no longer a robber, he's no longer getting drunk, he's married, and he's teaching Sunday School.The power of God. To take a completely corrupt mass, and remake it into something beautiul.:-)How wonderful to have these brothers.

:-)

I love my brothers and sisters in Christ.

They cheer me up.
They make me think right.
They snap me out of silly thinks.
They help me when I need it.
They stay up late to give me advice.

They do it because they love me.
They do it because God loves them.

:-) Our family is the greatest family.
Our family is God's family.

Thank you guys.

What does this mean?

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."



What does that mean? Not any interpretation, just read it. Seriously, what does it mean?

What about:

He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.


What's that mean?

How about this?

"And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved."



I talked with a man who says he is a Christian, but ultimately believed the Bible couldn't be trusted. There were two kids on the bus ride to Austin talking about God, and they ask the same old question, "Will a Buddhist go to Hell, will a muslim, will a pagan...etc." So I speak up and say, "The main problem isn't that they're not Christian, but that they're sinners, and God must judge them." I quoted The top verse and then the "Christian" sitting behind me started debating with me about how we can't trust that that's what that verse means because of age, translation, etc.

Poor man, I pray he's really saved and just misled for a time, but I don't know. I haven't had a chance to talk to him about this yet, but I plan to, God willing.

Ow

I'm having really really really bad heartburn tonight...I'm literally burping acid. Disgusting. But oh well. This week's been pretty boring and slow. Except for today. I'm so glad God gave me today. First off this morning I was praying about my lesson for FCA and I heard God press upon my heart to change it to a walkthrough of some of the tests in 1st John. So I did. But I had little to no preparation. So I was praying a lot, asking for guidance and help. I hope it went well, I was shaking like a leave up there though, and it was a bit choppy and awkward, but it doesn't matter about the vessel, only the Word. I printed off some sheets detailing more in depth how to have assurance you are saved. I included some good websites on there. I only printed off 10 because I didn't anticipate that many people would be interested, but they were all gone after my lesson! I was so excited. And then God gave me the oppurtunity to hand out some tracts to people because they saw them in my backpack and wanted some! God is so good. And then all afternoon has been pretty much nothing much. Just enjoying being home. Tomorrow we have a game at Austin, then the next day we have a marching competition at Jacksonville AL. Projected time home= 3-4 AM. Then Church, then the reunion of the group? Maybe? Ms. Brenda if you read this before then tell me if we're having it. Assume everyone's in. Then I get to go preach...hopefully as a dying man to dying men and women...I heard that phrase today on....*gasp* TBN!!!! I watched like 3 minutes of it, and Kirk Cameron was interviewing someone, and I know what doctrine Kirk Cameron holds to so I thought it was pretty safe to watch. And the guy said that he had a sign on his door that says, "Preach like a dying man, to dying men and women. Preach as if it's your last chance to do so." And hopefully I will. I just need God for this. Pray for me for that please.

Marco?

Marco?

I'm a mix of emotions

I'm happy because I got to hang out with Aaron and Shawna today.
We watched two sermons and then a critique of the Word of Faith movement.
The last one made me cry...
To think that those people are so deluded and off-base...I just want to take them and sit down and show them what the Bible says...even if they kill me.
Then I got home and I've been cleaning and talking to people on facebook. Talked a lot about God with people.
I enjoyed it.
I'm so tired of high school and fake people there and elsewhere, I just want to be able to spend time with the people I know love me.

Outline of my sermon on the 26th

This is a outline of the sermon I'm giving on the 26th. I was going to give it on the 19th, but we don't have evening service. I'd love it if ya'll would read through it and critique it, not on grammatical schtuff, but let me know if I'm misinterpreting any scripture or my theology is way off-base or something like that. Thank you.

Becoming Christ-Like
Main Verse: Romans 8:28-30 “For we know God works all things together for the good of those who love God, to those who are called, according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He might be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He also predestined, He also called; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”

1. What is the good to which all things work for believers?
· It can not possibly mean worldly good. Use Paul as example. Paul was beaten, shipwrecked, arrested, starved, and faced much persecution.
· If this verse meant that God works everything to the worldly good of those who love Him, Paul obviously didn’t love God enough.
· There must be something higher then. If worldly good is not what God wants for us, there must be something higher we are to work to as Christians.
2. What is God’s purpose?
· To understand what higher thing we are to work for, we have to know what God’s purpose is for working everything to our good.
· Luckily for us, Paul explicitly states what that purpose is in the next verse. He says, to those who are called, according to His purpose. The next sentence is an explanation of what that purpose is.
· Read verses. That’s a pretty deep statement, but let me read it again just leaving out one part. “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined; and these whom He also predestined, He also called; and these whom He justified, He also glorified”
· That’s not a reason, it’s a statement and it flows very nicely. But when you insert the part we left out, it breaks the flow up. It sticks out, adding emphasis to it and not only that, but to become is even emphasized.
· So we can take it apart and ask, “What is God’s purpose in making all things work together for believers’ good? So that they might be become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He might be the firstborn among many brethren”.
· So every event in your life as a believer is God Himself shaping and molding you into the image of Jesus. We see that it says that God works all things, not just bad things, not just good things, not just church things, not just work things, but EVERY EVENT IN OUR LIVES to conforming us to the image of Christ.
3. What does it mean to be conformed to the image of Christ?
· That is the highest calling, to become conformed to the image of Christ. Work, Family, Friends, Ministry, Evangelism, and everything else is and should be secondary to conforming your life to the image of Christ.
· Everything in our lives as believers is worthless and pathetic even without a driving focus on becoming more like Christ. Think about it. Anyone with some knowledge of Scripture can get up here and preach. Anyone with good people skills can be involved in ministry. Anyone can read the Bible. But without the driving focus of becoming more like Him and closer to Him it is worthless.
· It is gravel in your gut. It may taste like honey on your lips, but it is gravel in your gut and will not fill you because we as believers are called to higher things. We are called according to God’s purpose that was predestined before the world began that we would be conformed to the image of God’s Son.
· Moses. Largest ministry. Needed to know God. Any man that can be content with usefulness is a very shallow man.
4. How do I conform myself to the image of Christ?
· I don’t want to get up here and tell you that you need to be more like Christ and say alright, bye. But I do want to tell you this. If you are a true believer, then God will not let your walk become stagnant for long. There may be times when your walk slows or stops, but God will come to you and make you grow in your walk and become more and more like Christ. Because if you are truly of God, God will work all things in your life so you become more like Christ.
· If you never grow in holiness and never grow closer to God, you are not saved because God will not let you stay the same if you are of God.
· Ezekiel 36:24-27 "For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” So we see that if you are truly of God you have been given a new heart, a new spirit. You see that God Himself will cleanse you and make you holier and holier and more like Christ. This is isn’t even open to interpretation. This is God Himself telling us what He is going to do to us.
· One of the ways God works in me is through studying His Word. In His Word God is revealed to us. It is His way of telling us who He is. It is how He speaks to us. And the more you study them, the closer you’ll be to Him.
· Because the more you know about me, the more you may hate me, but the more you know about God, the more you will love Him.
· And always be praying to become more like Christ. Always be praying for more righteousness, more compassion, more faith, more like Him, more like Him, more like Him.
· But if you are truly of God, you will become more like Christ. You will become closer to God through every event in your life. Always be focused on that. Always trying to become more like Christ.
5. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.
· And what is Christ like? What did He do that I should emulate? We can sum it all up in one statement that Christ said summed up the Law of the Prophets.
· Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength.
· How long can we go through our life without realizing this? We’re always so distracted by so many things, not only family, friends, work, but things like ministry, study, and other things. Our minds are just so full with things all the time. I can literally go days and weeks without remembering that my main passion and calling should be to Love the Lord my God with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength. God says this is so important that you should write it on the doorposts of your house and on your gates and on your hand and on your head.
· How different would our lives be, if we only were reminded of this maybe 3 times a day?
· So this is it then, we have one great purpose and one great calling of God. To be conformed to the image of Christ and to Love the Lord with your entirety.

I feel

awkward.
School should be interesting though.

Just wondering what you think

What is the Gospel? Explain it to me.

I just thought of this

I saw the date and thought, I have been saved for 4 months and 3 days. :-) And boy, those 4 months and 3 days have honestly been the best of my life. So much in my walk with God has changed and so much about me has changed...I can't wait to see where God will have me 10 years from now.

Revival

I feel like we're on the verge of a great revival or movement of God across America. The cultural church has become so rampant in America, but I really believe that God is raising up so many people that aren't afraid to speak the truth. People who will go out into the streets and preach to the people unapologetically and authoritatively. I feel like we're about to witness a reverting back to Biblical principles and truths by churches. I just have this strong feeling that Yes, things are about to change, that Yes, the truth is coming out, and Yes, the world is going to be changed because of it. I hope and pray for this. I pray that God move in each of us to see the need not only to go to church Sunday and worship Him there, but to carry God to the furthermost places of our lives. To be a shining beacon of Christ's love to people. To be pillars of support to all believers. I just pray God raises us up to meet the challenge of facing the world and battling with it. Not in physical struggles, but in struggles against ourselves and our fear of speaking God's truths because of our fear of the world. I want to go. Anyone else want to?

I enjoy it

When I have my heart so set on something, and so set against something else, but God keeps pushing the thing I don't want on me, and then all of a sudden, it clicks. That feeling of, "Ohh! I get it!" See, in my last post I talked about how set against going somewhere else before seminary I was, and how I thought it wasn't trusting God to get a degree. I basically thought that if God wants me to do it, He'll provide. But after talking with several people about it and hearing what they have to say, I realized this, that maybe God's way of providing for me is to make me get this degree before seminary. I had it in my head that God would do some miraculous thing if I needed money, even though I knew that that's not how God works. So now I have no problem with going to Calhoun and getting some degree. The only question I have is what degree to get. I've looked at a lot of them, and they don't interest me much, but I'll keep praying about it and just trying to hear Him. Thank you.

Don't Trust God Too Much!

So, I feel like I'm being called to be a pastor. God's made it obvious to me that that is what I'm to be. I've heard the call and I pray God's making me ready and making me prepared to be open to Him so I can be a Godly pastor and man. But I have a bit of a problem. My parents are basically telling me to not trust God too much. They say that I can not go into seminary until I have a degree and a job for something else so I can be financially stable. That's their same stance on me doing a mission trip. When they say that something justs...screams inside me. I just want to shake them and beg them to see that God will take care of me, that money doesn't matter. That God will provide for me what I need. I mean, what do ya'll think? I wouldn't have as much as a problem with it if my mother had told me that she's prayed about it and she really felt that God was laying this on her heart that I should go get this degree, then see, but she just straight up tells me that I can not go to seminary until I have this done...:-/ I think I'll talk to her about it and my opinion.

Prayer Request

Tommorrow I'm giving a lesson to the youth group on Matthew 7:13-24. I based it around Paul Washer's shocking message sermon. Please pray that God give me the boldness and lovingness to be as tough as I need to be for these people.
If you haven't heard the message, I greatly encourage you to listen to it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuabITeO4l8

I don't get to go

So, I've been wanting to go to the Deeper conference for awhile, but I've been unable to for a long time. Recently my parents relented and agreed that if I wanted to go, I could go. I was so excited and so pumped, but then I realized that Oct. 18 is a marching competition. Not only that, but it's our major one. So I go in after school and ask Big Dave if I can talk to him for a bit. I explain my predicament how much I really want to go, and how I've been praying and how just recently this oppurtunity opened up. He unfortunately told me I couldn't go and I had to leave. The next day, he called me into his office after school and said he was sorry if he seemed cold yesterday, but his decision stood. Then he started asking me about who was preaching there. So we had a little talk about the people and a tiny itsy public-school-acceptable bit of their doctrine. Then I recommended he listen to some of them. I know God placed me there for a reason, and I hope and pray he listens to some of these amazing preachers and God move in him to whatever end He wants. I don't even mind that I don't get to go because I was able to have a quasi-religious conversation with Mr. Raney. Hopefully God will open that up more because I really don't know that much about his spiritual status.

4 things

Four things about me that you may or may not have known, in no particular order. The directions are at the end.
Four Jobs that I have had:
1. Tender's Cook
2. Tender's Cleaner
3. Babysitter
4. Student
Four Movies I've watched More Than Once:
1. Jurassic Park
2. Lion King
3. The Jungle Book
4. Carnivors
Four Places I Have Lived:
1. Huntsville
2. New Market
3. A different place in Huntsville
4.
Four Shows that I watch:
1. Heroes
2. Lost
3. Way of the Master
4. Nothing
People Who E-mail Me Regularly:
1. Facebook
2. Youtube
3. Spam
4. Spam
Four of My Favorite Foods:
1. Pizza
2. French Fries
3. Cheezeburger
4. Dark Chocolate
Four Places I Would Rather be Right Now: (not in any order)
1. Church
2. Heaven
3. With loved ones
4. Sleeping
Four Friends I Think Will Respond:
1. Nicole
2. Shawnayomama
3. I don't know
4. I don't know
Things I Am Looking Forward To This Year:
1. Christmas
2. Candlelight
3. Chrysalis in January
4. Continuing to grow in Christ
RETURN DIRECTIONS:Now, here's what you're supposed to do... And please do not spoil the fun. Hit forward, delete my answers and type in your answers.Then send this to a whole bunch of people you know, INCLUDING the personwho sent it to you. The theory is that you will learn a lot of little known facts about those who know you. Remember to send it back to the person who sent it to you.

Kinda awkward for like, the past 2 weeks

I've been feeling really really depressed and down in a rut these last two weeks for several reasons. I just feel like so many people just act so fake and don't really care. About God, our friendship, or anything really. It bugs me and makes me sad because so many people are like that, and Satan used that as a lever to get the thought into my head that I really didn't have any friends that cared about me. Because I was sad, and looked it, but no one really cared to figure out why, which just made me more sad. And I know, I know, I was in a self-pity party, but I'm praying God bring me out of it, and He's started to I know. And all this stuff just kept piling and piling up and I just kept feeling worse and worse and worse about myself and these people and just everything. I'd just get out of youth and get in my car and cry on my way home. I don't know what was wrong with me. But God's been showing me that there are people who care about Him and me. People like, Nicoliii, Aaron, Shawnayomama, Mrs. B, Mr. Chris, Trent, and a few others. And these people just lifted me up and they didn't even know I was feeling bad (well maybe they did a little, but not the whole of it). And God's helping me through this silliness and I'm feeling so much better. I'm just praying God move me out of this quickly and grow me from this. Just figured I'd let ya'll know what was going on.
I don't want pity or attention, just prayers please.

People

Where is everyone? Who is everyone?
Take advice from my little header up there and tell me about yourself. What's going on with you. Leave me a comment telling me what's going on!

Just some thoughts

It's been a slow school year so far. It's the beginning of the 2nd month of my junior year and I just can't muster up the excitement over High School I used to. Maybe it's because it's not as new to me, but the main reason I think is because I see how almost pointless a lot of the things I learn are. Even Marching Band which I used to love now seems like a waste of time to me. I was out on the field today during 3rd block with my tuba on and all I could think was, "Why am I doing this? This thing is so meaningless if I'm not doing it for God's Glory. It will pass away with all the rest of the world." I think the same thing through a lot of my school day. All I can do is enjoy what God has given it and give it back to Him in using it to glorify Him. By this I mean, instead of hating school (or substitute work or whatever activity you are in that you feel wastes your time) I should be using the oppurtunities it presents to further the Kingdom. When I have a chance, talk to people, hand out tracts, read my Bible, pray, or just worship. Engage my teachers in religious conversations if I see an opening during class. Christ didn't grumble that He didn't like the particular mount or the kinds of trees that were there when He gave the Sermon on the Mount. He saw an oppurtunity to spread the Kingdom and minister to people, and He took it. So as He is we should be. That's something else I've learned about and am trying and praying to take hold in my life, being conformed to the image of Christ. We pray and beg God to use us and to let us bring Glory to His name, but we're focusing on what we can do for God instead of what God wants for us. There was a time when witnessing and evangelism was an idol for me because I focused on doing things for God more than God. Do ya'll know what that is? That's idolatry. Before you go rushing out to try to do something for God, focus on Him and having Him work in you. Does this mean we should wait to evangelize until we are ready? No, evangelizing is one of God's great ways of growing us, but make sure that you're praying to be conformed to the image of Christ and striving and praying for God to work in your life to sanctify you. Becoming Christ-like is something I've learned a lot about recently. How that being a man is more than just macho-ness, maturity, and knowledge. Being a man is about constantly striving after Christ and supplicating yourself to God's Will for you. Being a man is about taking the responsibility of your life and actions upon yourself and just striving after the image of Christ in word, thought, deed, and prayer. And I'm failing miserably, but I'm trying and praying for it to happen and it slowly is. As a great preacher says, "Wanting to be a Godly Man is half the battle." Just pray and strive to be conformed to the image of Christ. Just wanted to share with ya'll some things that have been on my mind recently.

Please Pray

I like to go to this site called Adventures in Christianity which is a bunch of Christian Blogs about witnessing and parts of the Bible they've read and spiritual topics, but recently they've been having a lot of problems with people hacking into their site and messing it up. Please pray that God help these people and stop the hackers.

Witnessing Sunday

8:45- Wake up and get ready for church
9:15- Leave for Church
9:20- Arrive at Church
9:30- Enjoy the very very very great service
12:00- Leave church to go eat at Burger King
12:50- Leave Burger King to go to the Mall to witness
1:00- Arrice at mall and find everyone.
1:15- Pray, talk, and break up into groups.
Missinator, Little Girl, JC, and I went around the food court and I went up to as many tables as I could and put down a tract. Afterwards we talked to a lady and asked if we could pray for her. She said yes, but not right now, the manager didn't like it. So we told her we would and walked on. Missinator led mostly and prayed with people and I was in the background. Scared to share. Finally after completely messing up and not sharing sooo many times. JC said, Come on man. There're some guys over there just sitting. Missinator was sharing her testimony with some guy and I told JC in a minute. He said, "We're here to witness to people. Not to watch Missy do it." BOOM! God reached out to me through that and I went and began talking to people. Unfortunately I didn't get far with too many people besides praying with them. No one wanted to talk. But God did let me go farther than I ever had. I asked them if they needed anything prayed about and the two boys said nope. I asked them if they had a few minutes to talk. One of them said, sure. I was dumbfounded. Someone wanted to talk to me? What what what? I asked him, if you died righ tnow, where would you go? He said Heaven. I asked him that if he stood in front of the pearly gates and God said, why should I let you in. What would he tell God. He said that he would get in because he trusts in Jesus Christ and knows he can not get in by himself. I shook his hand because I knew he was serious. At first I was a little dismayed since I couldn't lead someone to Christ, but then I realized God had led me that far with that boy so I wouldn't be attacked and discouraged by someone. God had protected me and let me start being bolder wtih one of His children so I could grow and become more comfortable with it. :-) God is good. We prayed with some other people and I met with some other people who said they were Christians. One guy after I asked if he needed any prayer said he had just got done praying. Hahaha. Guys, pray for the people of this city. There are so many lost. All in all it was a pretty successful trip. Chase got to go through the law and gospel with a person! We planted many seeds and hopefully God will grow some of them. Can't wait to do it again. I think Sunday afternoon witnessing is going to become a regular thing now. :-) God willing.

Tomorrow

After church going out to witness to people. Please pray that we be filled with the Spirit and have boldness and compassion for the lost for God's Glory and the advancement of His kingdom.

Spiritual Oppression

I like this topic...I really want to do my next sermon on this.
Ephesians 6:11-17
11Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, 15and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE; 16in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

These verses are some of my favorites. They really show us what our situation against satan and sin is as Christians. It's a Battle. Satan is definitely the greatest liar, deciever, and trickster ever. There are two main ways he works: Antagonistically and Agreeably. When Satan tricked Eve into taking the apple, he didn't scare her into it. Satan spoke lies and deceived her into taking the apple. He worked with her, not against her. But since we as born-again Christians have our natures changed and we want to please God and want to do things that glorify Him, we do not listen so easily to Satan's lies. Sometimes we fall and slip, but if we truly have Christ in us, we are less easily deceived by Satan's lies because we know the truth of Christ. But that doesn't stop Satan, so what does he do (especially in times of new belief or trouble)? He attacks us spiritually. He puts on us a weight, a feeling, doubts, guilt, exhaustion, complacency, and many many other things that stall and hinder our walk with the Lord. He makes it hard for us to continue to deepen our walk with God. If you're walking with God and you're content with how deep your walk is and don't really try to have a deeper walk, then let me tell you, satan has a foothold on you and he is slowing your walk. We should always be seeking and striving to deepen our knowledge of who God is and what his character is. We go through tons of spiritual attacks by Satan who uses the slightest twitch of the eye or smallest word we read and twist it and make us doubt. And what does God tell us to do? Put on the Armor of God
His truth.
Righteousness
The Gospel
Faith
Salvation
The word of God.

It says, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all of the flaming arrows of Satan. Have faith and it will pass. Have faith. See, this is something I forget a lot. Any doubts, any fears, any problems we have can be solved by faith. By trusting that God will take care of us because we are His children. Satan's attacks will bounce right off this impenetrable shield.

It also says, take the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." Hebrews 4:12
The word of God is immensly powerful. People hold a Bible in their hand and don't realize they have the sharpest sword ever made in their hand. Let's go look at Jesus when he was tempted by Satan. Every time the Devil made an attempt to persuade Jesus, Jesus came back by quoting the Bible and Satan could not do anything but try something else.

So whenever you're in spiritual oppression. You feel bad or you're doubting or you have guilt that is not conviction, simply pray and read your Bible. Now it may take some time for it to go away, but everything has to go through the Father Filter, and if God is allowing you to experience this oppression, He could be trying to grow you in dependency on Him or faith or anything else. Always just come to God and wait on Him to deliver you. Surrender yourself to Him and pray for Him to stop the attacks and to open you up to whatever He wants to teach you and read your Bible.

Hope this helps some people. Love ya'll.

Which way is right?

With millions of religions, why should we choose Christianity. If a lost person asks us why Christianity is better than any other way, what would you tell them? Hmm? Because being a Christian ensures you a good, prosperous life? WRONG. We're told the world will hate us because if you're a true Christian, God has set you apart from the world and has made us different. Which is why the world hates us and why we will face persecution and be made fun of. What we preach is foolishness to the Gentiles. So why is Christianity better than any other religion? Why is Christ the only way? What's your answer? Mr. Kerry talked about it a little this morning in Sunday School and that led me to make this blog. Let's take a look at other world religions. Most every religion agrees Murder, Stealing, Lying, etc. Is wrong. That they are sin. That if you do these things you will not make it into "heaven". That if you love other people and do your best you will make it into "heaven". By "heaven" I mean whichever religion's version of the good afterlife. So what do all other religions say to do to get to "heaven"? Be a good person, do your best, don't be bad, and live a good life helping people. If you do something bad, do something good and it'll go away. Tell a lie, give $50 to charity. What does Christianity teach? If you think it teaches those things you're wrong my friend. The Bible states it pretty clearly when it says our best works are like filthy rags to God. Let's be honest with ourselves, how often do you act as righteous and pure as you possibly can? Maybe once or twice a year at most. That's the best you can do, but it's still like filthy rags to God. What about all the other times when you're not doing your best? That's even worse to God. We're so steeped in sin, that any amount of good things we do will never make up for it all. No matter how much we do, we'll never earn our way into Heaven. God knows this and He wants us to be with Him, but the only way He can do that is to make a way for us to be forgiven. He did this through Christ. You ask anyone, "Do you think you're a good person?" 98% Will say yes. Take them through 3 of the 10 Commandments. "Do you think you're a good person?" No. Have you ever lied? Just one lie is breaking the commandment. Ever stolen something, value is irrelevant. Just taking something that is not yours is breaking the commandment. Ever lust after someone, thereby commiting adultery with her in your heart? Just once, and that's adultery. You're a lying, thieving, adulterer at heart my friend. If God looks at you, and just sees those three things, you still are going to get punished. No matter how many good things you've done. Because the good things you do don't make up for the bad things you have done. It's like a judge convicts you for murder, but you say you've given to charity for the last 30 years. Doesn't matter. You broke the law, you have to pay the punishment for it. But God, out of His loving, merciful nature gave us a way to avoid the punishment for what we deserve, Hell. See, Christianity says that there isn't anything we can do on our own to merit salvation and Heaven, but other religions say there is. In fact most every other religion says that you have to do this or you have to do that and have to act this way to earn God's favor. Why are there so many religions like this? Because we want to be able to earn it, we want to be able to boast about it. There is a way that seems right unto men, but it leads to Death. The only way, the only truth, and the only light is to rely and trust in Jesus Christ. :-) I'm so happy I do. if you don't I implore you to speak with me and explain to me why you do not.

Tonight

I messed up...
:-(
Pray for me please.
I need tonight to spend time with the God whom I know will forgive me even though I deserve NOTHING of the kind...

The Schedule for Tomorrow. My last free Friday for 11 weeks.

School
Work in the Music Library, organizing it.
More School
Meeting about a new Gospel Choir at School after school!
Home.
Study.
Sleep.

I'd like to go witnessing soon if anyone would enjoy coming with us.

Preaching

I gave my first sermon tonight and it was very very humbling. Getting put up there with no preparation (I purposely made no plans, papers, or anything besides Bible verses so I had to rely on God and not on myself) and having to rely on God to use me and when I began to go off on my own I get tongue-tied because I have no idea what to do and constantly having to trust God to supply you with what to say so you don't look like an idiot is pretty humbling. I loved it though. Man, I thought I knew a lot, but there's so much more to learn and understand. I love Leonard Ravenhill's quote, "Take this from an old man: There is no finality to the Christian life this side of eternity". I've met, heard, and talked to so many people who are just fired up for God and just want to go out and further the Kingdom and it fires me up too. I love my brothers and sisters in Christ. Some cool ones you should go watch on youtube are
http://www.youtube.com/user/VenomFangX
http://www.youtube.com/user/shockawenow
http://www.youtube.com/user/CrossReach
They're all pretty cool Godly people.
Prayer, Sharing, and Reading are definitely 3 of the most important things to do as a born-again believer.
I need some prayer. My flesh wants one thing, but I don't know exactly what to do about. Hahaha, I love how Aaron said it, "When you ask God a question, He has three answers: Yes, No, and Wait." Also I'm reading a book called waiting on God. So I'm going to wait until His answer is made clear to me either through His word, His people, or circumstances. I love ya'll and I encourage you that if you're a guest to leave a comment.

Geez

Where is everyone?
It feels like I haven't seen or really talked to anyone in days and I miss ya'll a lot.

David Ring

Was amazing. He's a very Godly man. His sermon was touching, powerful, inspiring, and made me so happy. He addressed some issues I've been having and I really heard God calling to me. I had some great prayer time with God tonight and I feel so invigorated. Our walks don't get to a place and stop. There are always challenges and there's always room to grow. As Leonard Ravenhill once put it, "Take this from an old man, there is no finality to the Christian life this side of eternity." I'd been worried because there always seemed so much that I was doing wrong or not getting or failing at, but God brings us through those things so that by our faith in Him and reliance on Him that we might be grown in our relationship with Him. And there isn't a point where God says, "Alright we're done with you Jacob. You're done being conformed to Christ's image." God's always going to be challenging us and growing us and making us more and more His. As long as we have faith in God and Christ and trust in them then everything we go through and everything that happens works for our good. How do I know? The Bible tells us this. Look at David Ring, He had a disability, but as soon as he trusted in God and had faith then God worked his Cerebal Palsy to his good and growth. God is amazing. He can take our worst faults and change them into our strongest strengths! Praise and glory Him. I love ya'll

A thought on why many feel called to a ministry/pastoral role when they first become Christians by Ken Leaver Jr.

"I have met many people who when they first became a Christian, that is, they accepted Jesus Christ as Lord for themselves, many after their becoming a Brother/Sister in Christ, they immediatley feel a calling to enter into the ministry/pastor field. When has recently come to mind is, that this calling, is not just some over-reaction to the love, peace, and joy one experiences when one comes to know Jesus Christ as Lord, but is a genuine calling by God for all to be ministers, for all to be in the priesthood, to care for one another just as many see the "pastor" being responsible for, and it's not until this world, which a great deal of the Church sadly has conformed to in many ways, with it's academic pressures, and negative feedback on the basis that not everyone is called to the "ministry" or meant to be "pastors" and are actually discouraged (I've seen this happen not only to others but myself!) from pursuing a career and that the role of "pastor" should be left to the "professionals". "

"But here's the point i'm trying to make. Or at least one of points. There ARE no leadership positions in the Church, other than Jesus Christ as Lord, High Priest, Head of the Body of Christ, Leader of the Church. Yes there are 'overseers/elders" but those are not offices that were created, rather they were more recognition of those who are mature enough to be entrusted to help in the Holy Spirit's work in guiding the Church to the Truth. It would be difficult for someone who is very young, to help protect others in comparison to someone who is more mature in their relationship with God. But being an elder is not being a leader, for we still are all equal. This is why when I say we are all "called" to the ministry, and many interpret that as being caleld to become a Pastor, I am suggesting that, that is exactly what God is calling us to do. That is help each other as we now see how the Pastor is supposed to do. Help in deciding what is sung and for who and what to pray for during worship (as in how many "House Churches" do), sharing what the Holy Spirit has taught you, etc. It's not that we are supposed to abandon our careers. This is in addtion to our careers. You may ask, how can we do that?! Well, I would respond by showing that Paul did it. In addition to "planting" the many churches, he also worked and until his later years when he was in prison, he performed a trade and supported himself. He didn't recieve a salary and he made a point to make it clear that they were not to send him money or other things for it was important for him not to receive for it is better to give than it is to receive. (Acts)"

This Week

Has been rough. Marching Band's been fun, but hard. The show's going good and discipline is no problem for the majority of the band. Which is a far cry from last year. I look foward to bringing God into this activity more as time goes by. I'm trying to start prayer meetings beforehand and witnessing to the other low brass members. I feel so much more confident this year because of the Lord. A verse this week that's really made me happy is James1:2-8

2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

God will give us what we need, but we musn't doubt that He can do it. He made the earth in 6 days, what problems and trials do you have that He can not take care of? Besides He works all things for the good of those who believe in Him. Not the good of this life, but the good of eternal life and spiritual growth in Christ. That's what is good to Christians. A believer could have his wife leave him, his children die, and get leukemia, but it is all for his good.

Whenever we fall or face trials it is an oppurtunity for us to grow in the Lord. So when troubles hit, don't curse God for letting it happen, give thanks to God for allowing you to be grown by these events. This has been a great verse for me this week. What verse has made you happy and glad in the Lord? What has made you cry out in praise to Him this week? What's your story?

Sadly

They didn't listen....

Kmart told me after marching camp this morning (which I couldn't take part in because of my ankle.) that people were going to McDonalds. Kmart, Smokey, Dreads, Josh, Smartso, and the New Trumpet kid. So we all go down there along with some other people who left later. We all get our food and sit down and talk about band for a little while. Then they start getting worldly in the conversation. I feel kinda awkward because these people expect me to join in, but I'm sitting there looking uncomfortable eating my food. Then tell jokes and end it with "hahaha, I'm going to Hell." "Yeah me too. Front row ticket!" "I gotta apartment down there! Hahaha." "For real man!" And they're all laughing and joking about Hell. All I can think of is them burning forever and how much Jesus did for them all and how they're sitting there laughing about Hell. I know they were joking, but that's not something to take that lightly. Their fruits were thorns. Their view was worldly. Not just because of that, but also because of other parts of conversation. So, I pray. Father, if you want me to speak to these people, let the table get quiet so I can bring You up. A few minutes later it gets quiet, and just as I muster up the courage to speak, they start talking again about fluffy worldly things. Darn it. Same prayer. Same results. This time I get out the word, so. Then they start talking again. This time I pray for quiet, strength, boldness, and quickness. It gets quiet, and I ask....What is the leading cause of death of drivers in the US?....various answers....I say wrong, wrong, wrong....TREES! They all laugh. I say what's the only fish that can blink with both it's eyes. Some one guesses it right the first time. They all laugh. I say, what's the most dangerous job in America. Steel workers, crab fishermen, police officer, etc. Wrong wrong wrong I say, the president! They laugh, and I start to ask the most important question, but there they go off on a conversation about Abraham Lincoln. People check their clocks. OH NO! I thought. I'm not going to be able to give them the gospel! What if they die in a wreck as soon as they leave!? Who knows if I was brought to McDonalds for such a time as this!?!?! I go for it.

Me:So "Smokey". Do you really think you're going to Hell?
Smokey: I'd hope not, but I don't know.
Me to the other people at the table: Do you? Do you? Do you?
Them: Maybe, you can't know really, I don't know, no. YES!!!!
Josh: I'm going to heaven because I confessed he's my lord.
Me: Well, Jesus said that whoever says Lord, Lord will not enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my father shall.
Them: random talking about how you can't know for sure. And how they pray and that means they're good. Dreads was talking about how cool Hell will be.
Me: Well, there's a way you can know for sure. You know what God's standard is, right? His perfect standard is the 10 commandments.
Then I led Smokey through 4 of the 10 commandments, and asked him if God would find him guilty or innocent on Judgement day. Guilty I guess, he said.
Then, as I was preparing to go into the good news and salvation and fruits and how you can know if you're saved and going to Heaven, Satan struck. Dreads said, "So you guys gonna see Pineapple Express?" And boom they jumped onto the other topic. They didn't want to hear any more about God. I was sad. Oh well, I thought, I planted a seed or two. Maybe someone will think about what I did manage to get out. God will do what He wills with them and I did as much as I can do right now. There's always later. I was happy at least that they didn't stone me with hamburgers. Please pray for these people. Then I left and went and sat with Smartso who was sitting with Lannom. We talked about government, religion, salvation, evangelism, and lots of other stuff. Hahaha, I'm glad God gave me smartso to talk to because that conversation cheered me up a lot and I learned a lot about Smartso. Then everyone left. I gave Dreads a tract called 7 false ideas about Hell, hopefully he'll read it. I prayed a lot for these people. They're people who I used to look up to and have fun with, but now I realize how worldly they are. I love them dearly, but they are so worldly! I tried to be polite as I could and nice as I could, but they just wouldn't pay attention. Later Kmart told me that some of them were slightly offended. At what?

Did I do something wrong?
Your thoughts?
Ideas?
Advice?
Prayers?

Ouch

I hurt a lot. My ankle is twisted, my shoulder hurts if I move it, and my body in general is sore. Walls of Jericho was fun, but it was tough! I drove the Singer, Orangey, and the Hunter in my truck. It was 2 miles down (hour and a half walk) to a little swimming hole where we stayed and had lunch and I almost caught a Crawdad! There were tons of fish and tadpoles and I found some cool rocks and an Arrowhead! It was fun. The water was so COLD! Oh man! I jumped off the cliff into the water and it was crazy cold and I hit the bottom and scratched myself. Then we climbed up to the top area and Scott gave us a mini-sermon about going with God's Will like an Eagle with the wind. Then we ate lunch and I changed into my dry clothes and we walked back up. The walk back up was hard. So at the start of a 2 mile hike uphill I twist my ankle.....yeah. So I had to go the whole way on it, and my ankle did not like that one bit. We got back up to the top after about 2 hours and when we got in the truck my left ankle just got real big and my left leg's muscles locked up. But then we stopped at a gas station and I got a Vault and....guess what!....Have you guessed?......I got....FREE PIZZA! Only me though. I asked for some of the pizza they had behind the counter and the guy said I could just grab as many pieces as I wanted. I was a little hesitant because the way he said it sounded like he meant for free, so I asked him if it was free. He said yes. And I made sure again, then thanked him profusely and took 2 pieces od the sausagey, pepperoni-ey, cheesey pizza.. Hahaha, I gave Chase a piece when we got in the truck. Then we drove home listening to the Revival Hymn! I got home and my ankle was killing me. I told my mom and she told me to go down to Tenders and see if I could do anything sitting down. I did and they said not to worry about it since I did so well Tuesday and I was training. Then the manager told me to go on home and rest. I thanked him and went home. Then I got hom eand there was a man who I had seen a few times before and my mom and he were having a conversation. I wasn't paying too much attention until I realized that they were talking about God. Then I joined in on the conversation. Hahaha, I always know when I'm talking to a good Christian when we both are trying to talk because we're so excited and also trying to apologize and let the other go first because we want to hear. Hahaha, we talked about a little New Testament book he'd given my mom, and about the different translations of the Bible, and salvation, and a little more, but then he left before I could really start talking. :-(. Oh well. So when do ya'll want to go witnessing. Saturday ok with everyone? Any ways, so here I am and my family is out to eat with my Uncle Jimbo and Aunt Kathy. They're bringing me back some catfish!!! YUM!!! I love catfish.

It's starting again.

Marching Band! Whoo! It's a lot of fun. Especially playing tuba. That's the coolest part. :-D


I don't know if that's the drill but that's the music for the show.
The last song has a Tuba feature! I'm excited.

But enough about that.

I just finished reading Ecclisiastes today. And no, I wasn't copying Ms. Brenda. I've been reading it for a few days. Trying to slow down my reading. It's a very good book. It helps a lot with some things that have been on my mind. It's really calming, comforting, and great when you pray for God to show you something when you read His Word and then BAM it happens and it's just what you need. His Word is totally sufficient and fulfilling. I'm excited about Marching and being able to share the gospel with people in marching band. I just pray God will let me if it's His will and I pray for Him to give me and all of us oppurtunities and open doors for us.
What's been going on with ya'll?
Hmmmmm?

Hmm,

God's amazing. I need to spend more time daily with Him like today. I've realized a lot. I'm sad I missed reunion group though. I hope it went well. I was feeling unwell earlier, but I was just being childish and silly. Some great verses:

1 John 4:4

4You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

1 John 4: 7-9

7Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
8The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
9By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.

I love ya'll.

Thursday and Friday

It was feirocious. It was angry. It was deadly. And It was coming straight at me. Running at full speed at me. Jaws gnashing at me, reaching for just one little piece of my skin to rip open. What did I do? What could I do? I hit it with a screwdriver and put the rock back down. I hate Black Widows. I found one Thursday because I wanted to go fishing, but had to find worms. So I listed up this rock, and boom there it was. Anyways, that's enough of that. These last few days have taught me a lot about trusting God and how much I need to. Tiffany and I broke up. I'm barely sad about that now. God made it abundantly clear it was His Will I think. I was just too deaf to hear it. At least our last day together was a lot of fun. We went to Dinosaur Uproar, something we had been trying to do since March. I feel like she wanted to give me that day as a good last day. We went and we saw tons of dinosaurs. I got my picture taken by Tiff with a T-Rex and made a loud joke about Coconuts and watermelons. I took a picture of Tiff beside a Maiasaurus and an edmontosaurus. It was pretty cool. Then we went to pizza hut and ate. It was fun. VBS was pretty fun, the moon bonce deflated twice, but we figured out why and fixed it. It was a lot of fun. I was praying alot that night, and mommy came and talked to me. Hahaha, her and Bailey cheered me up. I was sitting on the bench outside praying with my eyes closed, and I heard a sound, looked up, and Bailey was standing there with a crazy grin saying, Jacob. Whjat's wrong? Turn that frown upside down!" That made me laugh.

Witnessing and Work

So, witnessing tuesday wasn't that good. It was short and we didn't talk to many people. Handed out a lot of tracts. Oh well, you go out, make mistakes, and try again. Try, try, try, and try again. Remember that school thing? Try, and try again. If that fails try again. That's the Christian life this side of Heaven. Try to live like christ, try again, try to obey him, try again. Over and over and over and over. Our evangelical attempts Tuesday might have seemed like failures, but we don't know. We might have reached someone. As long as there is the chance someone will hear us and come to Christ, I'll be going out. Hopefully once a week. I'd like to have ya'll with me. Try, try, try, try, try, try to go out and spread the gospel to all creatures. So, who wants to go next time? Anyone? Does anyone still read this? So work was fun. Lots of dishes to wash. I washed a lot of dishes. Lots of washing dishes did I. I cooked some chicken adn bread too. That's about all. 5 hours of dishes, chicken, and bread. That's all I work this week too. :-(. Oh well, more time to do more important things.

God's beginning to tell me something I think.

A Few Little Things

The last few days have been pretty fun. I have a few things to talk about though

1. I've handed out almost all of my tracts! :-) I started by going through the McDonalds drive-thru and handing them to the 1st and 2nd window people. I did this twice with the million dollar bills. It scared me at first. The girl went to my school. Oh no I thought. What if she slaps me, or makes fun of me at school, or yells at me, or spits in my food!? I handed it to her as she handed my change to me. I laughed and said here's a tip and I drove away quickly with my heart pumping furiously. Later I sent her a message and she said it was nice what I did because of various reasons and that it helped her. I'm praying for her, and I hope God works in her life to draw her closer. I've given out other ones, and it's a lot of fun, but the best part is witnessing one-on-one with someone.

2. I LOVE analogies. Which is a big reason Tiffany is my favorite girl. She's great at making analogies. I read a great analogy on a blog at http://www.evtales.com. It told about how going into the public to share your faith is like a battle. There are 4 different types of soldiers on our side:
Prayer Warriors: They speak to the commanding officer behind the lines.
Foot Soldiers: They do the hand-to-hand combat by distributing lots of tracts on the front lines.
Snipers: These are experts in one-to-one conversations. They target the sinner and nail him in the heart with the 10 Commandments, then finish him off with the Gospel.
Airmen: They carpet bomb by dropping their Gospel message wherever people are gathered.

I liked this analogy a lot, and going by what I like to do most and what I'm best at so far, I think I'm a sniper. What are you?

3. Ian called me Jacob today! Well, kinda like Shaychub. But close enough to be Jacob.

4. God's been answering my prayers in such an obvious and blunt way that it's shocked me. It's pretty amazing when you pray to be alone with someone for a few minutes to start the topic of God up in conversation, and immediately everyone else has to leave the room. Praise God. :-) It may seem small, but it's an amazing thing. I was so excited and joyful. My Lord had heard my prayer and had answered it. Oh, what a feeling.

So the last few days have been nice. So much more, but I'll talk about that later. Tomorrow we're going witnessing at 2. It'll be a lot of fun. More on that tomorrow, or the next day. Tomorrow is also my first day of work.

Pretty funny.

John Wesley would train up those who thought they were called to preach the Gospel. He would teach them, train them and then send them out. When they came back he would ask them two questions: “Did anyone get saved?”
If they answered yes, he would keep them in his ministry. If they answered no, he would ask them another question:
“Did anyone get mad?”
If they answered no to this question he would tell them, “You are not called to the ministry!”

Complexities

Why can't things be simpler? Why do things always have to be so darn complex? I'm so worn out because of everything. I need to be still and know He is God, but why is that so hard? I feel Satan's hitting me pretty dang hard right now guys. Pray for strength, perserverence, and patience for me please. I'm sitting here worried about my interview tomorrow, worried about my sister, worried about my dad, worried about Tiff, worried about myself, worried about band, worried about school, worried about so much stuff that I know God has a handle on. Why can't I stop worrying about it? I don't know?! You know what? I just realized I just need to put that stuff down. Just pray for God to take it from me and He will. I feel better now. I love you guys. Please pray not only for me but for God's Will to be done in my life. That whatever I do and whatever happens in my life will be for His Glory. I'll pray for you as well, if you ask me. God is good, all the time. All the things going on in your life, or my life, or any believer's life is all for the good of not only that person but for God's Glory. Good night.

I made this story into a skit I want to perform at church.

(This is a story from a Paul Washer sermon) There was a group of early Christians that were meeting and they were worshipping Jesus. They sat there with their Bibles and they prayed to the Lord and talked about Him and His Grace and mercy. Suddenly they heard a faint booming sound and all their heads whipped around. The booming got louder and louder and louder and over the hill comes a brigade of Roman Soldiers carrying an altar with a little bowl of incense on it. The Roman Soldiers come and they bring forth the altar and they look at the believers and they say, "Come pay Homage to Ceasar your lord." One of the group went up, took a pinch fo ash and placed it on the altar and said, "Caesar is Lord." Another came up and did the same. Then one of the Believers came up, sweating and trembling before the Romans. They looked at him and tell him to pay homage. He picked up some ash and said, "Jesus Christ is Lord." And they kill him. Then one by one the believers came up trembling with fear and declared, "Jesus Christ is Lord", and the Romans slaughtered them all as they came foward like lambs to the slaughter. Then the Roman's picked up their altar and went on.

My Testimony

So, I was thinking about God, and how I really just want to talk about Him on this blog. I've been watching Youtube/Godtube videos, and there are all these people just preaching on there. Sooo many people. Even children. That got me right there. Seeing a little boy on camera talking about Bible passages and what the Holy Spirit had led him to read and understand. It was like God said, "HEY! What are you doing? You want to be a preacher, but you're trying to wait until later to do it. You can do it now!" So I've been thinking, and I really want to use this blog to talk about Him and His Word, basically preach. And then I got a comment from Ms. Brenda saying to pray to God to use my blog to glorify Him. Hahaha, that's God right there. So here I am, and I'm about to tell you my testimony. I figure this is a good place to start so you can know a bit about me, and how much God has really changed my life.

So, I was raised in a "Christian" home. And whenever I use it like, "Christian", I mean people who say they are, they go to church, but they really don't believe or do God's Will. My parents would take my sister and me to an old old church in the middle of nowhere full of older people where my Grandpa would preach. He would get into it and be yelling and chanting and praising God and just full of the Holy Spirit, and I'd be playing tic-tac-toe with my sister. hahaha I was little. When I was about 12 we really stopped going to church. I mean, I wasn't a believer then. Sure, God was real. Sure, satan was real. But I didn't get it of course. we stopped going to church and the world crept into me more than it was. At about the age of 13 I became agnostic/atheist. God had no real part in my life and I really didn't believe in Him. My life was pretty crappy by the way. I was always laughed at or feeling like I was being laughed at, I was ashamed of my body and how large I was, I was ashamed at how stupid and silly I was, I felt like no one loved me, and I was very depressed. I remember I was so depressed I'd lie in bed with a knife some nights, and then I'd get angry with myself because I was to cowardly to kill myself. Thank God I was. A lot of this depression was coming from my father who was always so far-away and uncaring about me besides making me an athlete. That was really all he cared about. I'd have band concerts and my mom would be there, and I'd say where is daddy? Then she'd say something like, "He couldn't make it" or something. After a while I just stopped asking. My life felt so bad even though it was actuallu very good. I tried so much to make myself feel better. I tried witchcraft, satanism, atheism, I even made up my own gods. None of them did anything to stop all the craziness of life. I remember being taught the theory of evolution and shown all the "evidence" that supports it, and I was hooked by one of the most persuasive lies ever to come out of Satan's mouth. I remember being in Honors Biology in 9th grade and seeing believers and thinking how I wished I could be that stupid to believe in God. I really wanted to believe, but I had so many doubts. Then one of my friends invited me to their church which was held in her house. It was nice because I got to hang out with a friend and go to church in their nice cozy church. It was then that God began to work in me I think. He softened my heart a little by little, but I was going to church for the girl rather than for Him. Then Tiffany and I started dating and she invited me to her church and I started going there, once again for her rather than for Him. God really worked through Tiff, Celebration, and other things to speak to me and to show me how real He was. Now, I knew He was there, I had no doubts, but I was not saved. I remember I was so scared of Hell, and I wanted the assurances other people had. I thought God was basically a fire extinguisher. I prayed the sinner's prayer one night, and I cried and called out to God. Hahaha, I thought I was saved, but I went right on back into the same sin I had been doing beforehand. For two years I had been doing this sin. TWO years. And the single longest time I could hold it off without God, just by my own power was a week. A week. I thought I was saved, yet I went right back to doing it. I feel like, that night God prepared me for what was to happen at Chrysalis by opening me up to want salvation for other reasons than for myself. Chrysalis really was an amazing experience and I highly recommend people going there. The three days I spent up there really got me in touch with God. You don't realize how much of a hold the world has on you until you're taken out of it. You don't realize how much of grip Satan has on your life until God shows you. There's so much people don't realize becasue the culture we live in is so saturated with Satan's presence. It makes me sad to see so many people decieved in this world. Chrysalis showed me the truth of the Word. God worked through there to really show me how evil and ugly I was to Him. How much I needed a savior. How much He loved me. I was faced with the ugly, disgusting monster of my sin and I was going to be devoured with Hellfire. I knew it. I was scared to death. The only thing I could do was submit to Him, and beg Him to save me. To repent and hate the sin. Hahaha, and He let me. He saved me and broke me on the capstone then rebuilt me into a new man. I am completely new. I have laid down all the sins that took control of me and have focused my life on Him because He is worthy.

That's my testimony

Great Sermon

Today was pretty interesting

So today was Thursday and it was pretty fun. First off I woke up about 7:30 and tryed over and over again to reach Tiff to see if she needed me to take her to guard practice. My mom finally went up to her door while she was taking Lil Sis to Guard and Tiff had just woken up. Hahaha. Then I went to the gas station and when I came back and pulled into my driveway I scraped my wheel against the concrete things on the side of the beginning of my driveway and it was pretty badly scratched, but it's fine. Then I just cleaned around the house until 3. Then Tiff and I went up to Kroger to use the Coinstar. It was so LOUD! So loud. Tiff had $27 and I had only $14. Hahaha then she bought our lunches against my many complaints and grumbling that I was the boyfriend and I was supposed to buy stuff. Hahaha. Then I took her to work and got stuff for the Youth POOL PARTY! Hahaha, it was a lot of fun. Orangey, Kay, the Singer, and lots of other people were there. We had a blast. We played games and ate hot dogs and had fun. Then I came home and now here I am! hahaha today was a lot of fun and I learned a lot about people. Yesterday was better though. We went witnessing and it was a butt-load of fun. Hahaha, 98 degrees walking door to door to people who don't want to be woken up, but God was in it so we had joy! There weren't a lot of people who wanted to talk to us. I think it was cause we were a little awkward as well. Orangey, Kay, and the singer all went with me to a very rich neighborhood. Brother Jim said it was the hardest neighborhood to witness to since it was so rich. They think they have everything they need. Next time we're going to go to a poorer neighborhood to see what it's like there. Also before we went witnessing, we met at the church. Brother Jim got a phone call there and it was a lady whose mother needed help with her floor. So we went and talked to her, and next Thursday about 5-6 of us are going to help rebuild her floor. Man, we had so much fun. Then Brother Jim taught out youth service wednesday night, and he talked to us about being the body of Christ. It was a great speech, and at the end he asked us what we all felt like God was calling us to do. He called on me first, and I told him that I feel like God wants me to be a preacher. God's continuing to put obstacles and experiences in my path that I ask for, so I'm feeling more confident that this is God's Will. God bless you all Ghost audience.

PARTY!

Hahaha, I had my birthday party yesterday, quite a while after my birthday because so many people were outta town for a long time. Tiff, Big Brotha Tuba Man, KMart, Wesley, Orangey, and Mohonic came over to swim, eat, and watch a movie. Tiff and Wesley couldn't come for awhile, and Orangey forgot his swim trunks. So BBTM, Kmart, Mohonic, and I were all in the pool playing Volleyball with no net. My mom was taking tons of pictures. Then when everyone was there we played Categories. It was pretty fun. After that we all went on the porch and ate Pizza and Cookie Cake. WHO WANTS....PIZZA!? If you didn't just think or whisper to yourself, I do, then you're either a liar or you just ate a lot of pizza. Cookie Cake is definitely the best kind of cake. Chocolate? No. Ice Cream? Ehh, maybe. Cookie? YES PLEASE! After the deliciousness of the eating of the food, us guys went crazy with the hundred or so water balloons. I tried to get Tiff and Kmart and Mohonic to play, but they didn't want to. The first one I used I got Wesley with and I thought, Hmm if i throw it he'll dodge it. So I got really close and made a throwing motion with my arm and popped it in my hand so all the water flew straight at him. It worked really well. Then we all dried off and watched Be Kind Rewind. It was pretty cool. Everyone left and I stayed up till one buying good worship music and audiobooks of the Bible with the 50 dollars of itunes I got. I got a lot of new music and the book of Matthew and still have 37 dollars. So that was yesterday and today I have nothing to do except wait for Tiff to come over so we can go swimming. It'll be fun. Bye Ghost audience.

Just so sleepy

You know the true test of keyboarding skills comes at 10:38 pm after a long day, half-asleep, with the blanket blocking your view of the keyboard. The backspace key hasn't been used this much since it got really really icy cold in my house and my hands kept shaking. So today has been long, but fun. Got up and cleaned. Picked up Tiff from Guard practice. Gave my two Shitzus(Abby and Lizzy) a bath. Funny for me, not so fun for them. They HATE baths. My mom came home from the Hospital. I prayed a lot today, asking God to open people's hearts to Him and using me for His purpose. If you read this, feel free to pray for me. I'll pray for you if you'll pray for me ;-). Anyways, our reunion group (a group of people who've been to Chrysalis/Journey/Emmaus and act kinda like a second family) met for the second time. It was just Mrs. Brenda, Her Husband, Tiff, and I. Oh and their children. I learned a lot about Mrs. Brenda and her Husband. I look up to and love them so much (and not just because she's probably reading this). I remember on Tiff and my way home how she wants to be like them when she's married. OH! And I learned Mrs. Brenda's husband also played Tuba! I was so excited! I must talk to him about his tubaing experiences sometime soon, but for now it's beddy-bye time. Night ya'll. Actually, night no one but myself.

My mother,

Or Motherrrrrrrrr as Tiff (My best and girl friend) would say, is in the Hospital having her appendix taken out. She had pneumonia and appendicitis!!! CRAZY! I know I don't seem too worried, but that's cause I'm not. If she dies (I know she's not likely to die from this, but still, anything could happen) God will have taken her home, and I'll be happy for her. I have no doubt that she will go to Heaven if she dies. I'd rather her be in Paradise with Jesus than on this crummy earth. So today I've just been driving and sleeping. I slept in the MOST comfortable bed ever! Well, except the ones on the cruise boat the band took to Mexico. Those were great. It was in my sister Jennye's house. I slept there last night since my mom was in the Hospital. It's just a little twin-sized mattress. I stayed up pretty late and finished a great book (Justification and Regeneration by Charles Leiter) Then fell asleep on that Mattress. Oh my. It was a great sleep. I dreamed some nice dreams. I was on The Price is Right and like broke every rule, but it was ok. Then I woke up and went in the living room and they were watching it! CRAZY! But it had just turned the TV on, so I hadn't heard it while sleeping! Man, I love stuff like that. Just little coincidences in my life that just give me a little adrenaline rush of excitement at how great He is. Went to see my Mom at the Hospital. She was fine and a little grumpy. Applied at a few jobs. Went home, read some Bible. Went to Tiff's house for a short amount of time. Came home and realized how silly I've been by not continuing things I've started. Now I'm here, posting this for an as yet non-existant audience. Thank you, thank you, writing for you has been most pleasurable ghost patrons!

So

Mrs. Brenda had one, and it was pretty cool. So I want to try it out. Hello? Hello, o, o, o. Kinda empty, eh? Let's filler up then. Oh yeah, I type the way I talk. Ya'll, whatcha, gonna, talkin, etc...
So, I'm pretty weird. I'm in a kinda weird part of life right now though. Not physically, but spiritually. I'm closer and growing closer to God everyday. I see who I used to be and I'm glad Jesus saved me and changed me from it, but I also have no idea who I'm going to be in even a year. The best I can do is let God put one of my feet in front of the other and continue on. Read the Bible. Learn as much as I can about it. Open my heart, mind, and soul to God and just let Him lead me like the Sheep I am. Is sheep singular? It doesn't sound it. I feel called to be a preacher, and I want to be as well. It's the only job I can think of that I'd like to do and bring glory to God. I want to be the crazy old man on the side of the street dancing with a sign that says, "JESUS IS AWESOME!".